INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LEMKIN HELD AT CJH
Peter Balakian
Asbarez
Dec 7th, 2009
NEW YORK-The Center for Jewish History On Sunday November 15 hosted an
international conference titled "Genocide and Human Experience: Raphael
Lemkin’s Thought and Vision," featuring 13 internationally renowned
scholars of both genocide and of the life and legacy of Raphel Lemkin.
A Polish-born lawyer, linguist, and scholar, Lemkin escaped to the
United States during the early years of World War II. He coined the
term "genocide" and is considered as the architect and chief motivating
force behind the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
More than 250 people attended the conference, which focused on
specific aspects of Lemkin’s original formulation of the concept of
genocide. The first panel spoke on the notion of cultural genocide,
one of Lemkin’s prime areas of concern, although its definition was not
ultimately included in the UN Convention. The second panel focused on
economic and social genocide. The third dealt with the role and place
of international law in our understanding of genocide. The conference
also included several presentations from individuals, including opening
remarks by Vartan Gregorian, the president of the Carnegie Corporation.
The conference was held to coincide with the opening of the landmark
exhibit organized jointly by the Center for Jewish History, Yeshiva
University Museum, American Jewish Historical Society: "Letters
of Conscience: Raphael Lemkin and the Quest to End Genocide." The
exhibition explores the life and legacy of Lemkin. From a young age,
Lemkin was obsessed with a relatively simple question: "Why is it
a crime for one man to kill another, but not for a government to
kill a million?" Inspired after reading the great work of historical
fiction, Quo Vadis? Lemkin began to explore cases of unique persecution
throughout history. The exhibition presents four case studies based
on Lemkin’s own research, collected and housed by the American
Jewish Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History. These
include explorations of the treatment of early Christians in the
Roman Empire, the 200-year genocide perpetuated against Japanese
converts to Catholicism, the Armenian Genocide, in which more than
1.5 million Armenians were systematically displaced, disenfranchised,
and murdered by the Ottoman government, and the Holocaust, which
claimed almost 50 members of Lemkin’s family.
The exhibition explores not only the process of composing and lobbying
for passage and ratification of the UN Convention, but also presses
forward to explore the tragic ways in which the world has remained
unchanged, despite Lemkin’s life work. Ultimately, since his death
in 1959, the world has been witness to genocides in Guatemala and
El Salvador, in Cambodia, in Rwanda and the Sudan, in the former
Yugoslavia, and elsewhere.
Lemkin lived his life as an activist, a man who believed in the power
and right of international law. It is this legacy that the exhibit
is proud to present and explore
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
