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Rafał Lemkin (1900-1959)
co-creator of international criminal law
Short biography
Adam Redzik
Rafał Lemkin (1900-1959)
co-creator of international criminal law
Short biography
Warsaw 2017
5
INTRODUCTION
In the literature today there is no beer known
Polish lawyer in the world than Rafał (Eng.
Raphael) Lemkin[53, 57]*. This is due to his struggle
to establish laws penalising crimes driven
by hatred towards people of specic races,
religions, ethnicity or social groups. Today
not only every lawyer, but every educated
individual ought to know that mass killings
commied with the intention of exterminating
in whole or in part the aforementioned groups
constitute genocide. The notion itself is widely
* The numbers in square brackets indicate the items in the bib-
liography. The number after the comma is the page. Items from
the bibliography are separated by semicolons, e.g. [27, 117;
34, 110] = W. Korey, An Epitaph for Raphael Lemkin, New York
[2001], p. 117; S. Mikke, Adwokat Rafał Lemkin – wybitny nieznany,
“Palestra” 2006, no. 1–2, p. 110.
6
known and is used, sometimes maybe too
often.
With the development of international crimi-
nal law, including protection against the most
severe crimes, came an interest in the life and
activity of the man who was the creator of the
notion of “genocide” and the main author of the
UN Convention on the Prevention and Punish-
ment of the Crime of Genocide of December 9,
1948. This man was Rafał Lemkin (1900–1959),
a Polish jurist, a prosecutor and later an ad-
vocate, alumnus of the Lwów school of crim-
inal law of Juliusz Makarewicz[40, 495–496], and
lecturer of the Free Polish University in War-
saw. Although there is a lot of world literature
dedicated to Lemkin, it is largely inaccurate
when it comes to two-thirds of his life[20; 21; 22; 23; 24;
27; 31; 37]. It is incorrect both factually and on the in-
terpretative level. This paper aims to eliminate
these errors – it is a synthetic monograph on the
life of the “man from the genocide Convention”,
whose knowledge, capabilities, experience and
position amongst those learned in international
law concerning the notion of the unication of
criminal law, were acquired in Poland during
the interwar period as a state ocial.
The paper is largely based on archives and on
other sources, complemented by the literature
in this eld. The sources and the literature can
be found at the end of this paper.
7
YOUTH
Rafał Lemkin was born on 24 June 1900
in a farm called Bezwodne/Bezwodna
(near Międzyrzecz, south of Wołkowysk) to
a family of Jewish far-mers, Joseph and Bella née
Pomeranc. He had two brothers: Elias (who died
in 1983) and Samuel (who died ca. 1917)[2; 48; 53].
His father was a tenant farmer of an agricultural
farm in Bezwodne, and then Ozierzysko (rus.
Ozjerisko), which he ran, and his mother, a well-
read woman, raised the children[123, 3–19]. Three
languages were spoken in the Lemkin family
home: Yiddish, Russian and Polish. Russian
literature dominated the bookshelves, but books
in Polish were probably to be found there too,
including the works of Henryk Sienkiewicz*[53, 2].
* Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916), eminent Polish writer, winner of the
Nobel Prize and author of Quo Vadis.
8
At rst he was home-schooled – during the winter
evenings, free from work at the farm. After the
Lemkin family moved to the nearby Wołkowysk,
the sons started their education at school. The
turmoil of war and the consequent marches of
the Russian and German troops through the
town largely destroyed it. Li le is known of what
exactly happened to Lemkin between 1913 and
1919. According to some testimonials, he left
for Vilnius for a short time to a end secondary
school (Gimnazjum).
The application form which he lled in at the
University of Jan Kazimierz suggests that he then
moved to Białystok and passed his baccalaureate
there on 30 June 1919. It cannot be explained how
he did this, since there was no state secondary
school in Białystok at the time[57, 144–145]. Did he sit
external exams?
Manor in Bezwodna (Bezwodne). Probably Lemkin’s birthplace
9
EDUCATION
– Jagiellonian University
in Kraków
and Jan Kazimierz University
in Lwów
In 1919 Lemkin moved to Kraków and enrolled
in the Faculty of Law and Administration of
the Jagiellonian University (matriculation book
no 3188, date of payment of the student fee
8 October 1919)[2; 7; 57, 144]. He aended two full
semesters in the academic year 1919/1920, i.a.
the lectures of professors Stanislaw Wróblewski,
Stanisław Estreicher, Stanisław Kutrzeba,
Rafał Taubenschlag, Michał Rostworowski,
and of a criminal lawyer and law philosopher,
Edmund Krzymuski.
10
The case of Lemkin’s studies in Kraków is lit-
tle known, so it is worth presenting a more de-
tailed account.
From 1919 the candidates to Polish academic insti-
tutions were required to present certicates proving
that they had served in the Polish Army or in the
allied armies[40, 163]. Enrolling for the winter semes-
ter 1920/1921 – right after the Polish-Bolshevik War
and the “Bale of Warsaw” – Lemkin enclosed
a certicate that he served in the sanitary unit of the
chancellery of the military court (sąd polowy) of the
2nd Army Command in Wołkowysk. He was enrolled
for the third semester[9; 57, 144]. At the beginning of 1921
notication arrived to the President of the
Jagiellonian University (from the chancellery of the
provost court of the 2nd Army signed by director
Zbigniew Pawłowski) informing that Lemkin was
unknown to the chancellery, and that the certicate
that he had presented had been forged, probably by
a student of the Faculty of Law of the Jagiellonian
University, sergeant Michał Schneeweiss, who was
working as a court stenographer[57; 146–147].
On 22 February 1921 the Dean of the Faculty of
Law and Administration Prof. Stanisław Kutrze-
ba led a complaint to the Academic Senate to ini-
tiate disciplinary proceedings against Lemkin and
Schneewess, and the Academic Senate on 10 March
1921 adopted a resolution to hand over the investiga-
tion to Józef Brzeziński (professor of canon law and
the dean of the Disciplinary Board of the Jagiellonian
University)[57, 148–149]. At the time, Lemkin was study-
ing and living in Kraków at ul. Św. Sebastiana 20
(20 St. Sebastian Street). The Disciplinary Board led
a notice to interrogate director Zbigniew Pawłows-
ki on 31 May 1921 to the court-martial of the Second
Army to determine how he knew that Schneeweiss
“forged certicates, and in particular Lemkin’s”,
and to ask a few more questions. From the con-
tent of the leer we can assume that the certicate
11
that Pawłowski had informed about in writing on
January 1921 was not in the les of the Jagiellonian
University. The Disciplinary Board requested in
that manner additional explanations as to how
Pawłowski came in possession of such informa-
tion[57, 149–150]. From the minutes of the interview with
Pawłowski conducted on 13 June 1921, it appears
that he heard about the certicate from private
persons in Wołkowysk, whom he was “no longer
seeing”[57, 150–151]. It is astonishing that he had not
known from his own experience that Schneeweiss
issued certicates, all more so since Lemkin had
beneted from them (“I heard about it in a private
conversation”). In all cases, Pawłowski was referring
to private conversations he had had with persons
unknown to him. This sounds like revenge: some-
one wanted to harm Lemkin. During the disciplinary
proceeding Lemkin testied that he had worked as
a volunteer at the court-martial, that he even kept the
minutes, but he later retracted these statements, stat-
ing that he had worked at the sanitary unit. It is hard
to establish what the truth was[57].
Wołkowysk was liberated in 1920 by the 3rd Infan-
try Division of the Legions of General Leon Berbecki,
ghting as part of the 2nd Army of General Edward
Rydz “Śmigły”. There was ghting in the city and
its outskirts. This was the place where the aacks
came from on September 1920 during the Bale of
the Niemen River (the second great bale after the
Bale of Warsaw). Sanitary units operated under the
division of the 2nd Army. Lemkin surely worked in
one of them. One cannot exclude that he could have
had contact with the military courts, but he was not
formally a court clerk, and neither was he at the front.
Did this have any meaning? Lemkin surely presented
a certicate of his work in the sanitary units, and in
his résumé he mentioned about his work in the mili-
tary court. He testied that he wanted Pawłowski to
issue him a work certicate, but Pawłowski refused,
and Sergeant Schneeweiss, a court reporter, came
12
to his aid[57, 152–155]. When Pawłowski had learned that
Lemkin was still studying in Kraków, he wrote to the
authorities of the university about his suspicions of
possible forgery.
The case had grave consequences for Lemkin.
The Disciplinary Board composed of Prof. Brzeziń-
ski, Prof. Tadeusz Dziurzyński and Prof. Rafał
Taubenschlag, at a session held on 23 June 1921,
petitioned to give Lemkin a reprimand and not to take
into account his summer semester in the academic
year 1920/1921. His repentance and his guilty plea, in
spite of Pawłowski’s unfavourable testimony, were
outlined[57, 154–155]. At a session held on 8 July 1921 the
Academic Senate took the decision to indenitively
expel (ultra petita) Lemkin from the Jagiellonian
University[57, 155]. On 15 July 1921 the Senate sent to
Lemkin notication informing him that according to
article 98 of the Act on Academic Schools from 1920
he was expelled denitively, underlining that his
guilt was beyond doubt, because he knowingly and
willfully presented a forged certicate[57, 155–156]. After
reading the notication, Lemkin sent a request to
issue him a nal certicate, because he had “not been
deprived of the possibility of continuing his studies at
another university”[57, 156–157]. The university president
sent a leer to the dean’s oce asking for an opinion.
Dean Kutrzeba indicated that Lemkin had pleaded
guilty and that he had shown “true remorse”, and
in view of these facts, also taking into account the
fact that the Disciplinary Board had petitioned only
to give him a reprimand, and that the Academic
Senate had expelled Lemkin, he agreed to “lower the
sentence” and not to “inscribe the expulsion” into his
student record book[57, 157].
On this basis, Lemkin was given his nal
certicate on 3 August 1921, with a certication
that he had completed two semesters of legal
studies (1919/1920), without any mention of
13
the disciplinary sentence, with a note that these
semesters met the requirements of the binding
academic law[57, 157–158]. With the certi cate, Lemkin
went to Lwów (now Lviv) to enroll in the Faculty
of Law and Political Science (perhaps also the
Faculty of Philosophy). In Kraków the case had not
ended yet, because the new university president
ordered the disciplinary sanction to be inscribed
in Lemkin’s student record book[57, 158]. By that time
Lemkin was already in Lwów, maybe the le er
from the Jagiellonian University got lost.
In Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów Lemkin
matriculated on 12 October 1921[12; 17, 152]. The
subjects that he had passed in the rst year
in Kraków were acknowledged by the new
university. He repeated the second year in
Lwów. He a ended lectures on the history of
Main building of the University of Jan Kazimierz in Lwów since 1921,
formerly the seat of the Diet of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,
today the main building of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv
14
law by Oswald Balzer, on Roman law by Leon
Piniński and by Marceli Chlamtacz, on church
law by Władysław Abraham, on philosophy by
Mścisław Wartenberg, on civil law by Ernest Till
and Roman Longchamps de Bérier, commercial
law by Aleksander Doliński, civil procedure
by Kamil Steo and Maurycy Allerhand,
constitutional law by Stanisław Starzyński,
administrative law by Zbigniew Pazdro,
nancial law by Ignacy Weinfeld, statistics by
Jan Piekałkiewicz, economy by Leopold Caro,
criminal policy by Juliusz Makarewicz, criminal
law by Julian Nowotny, criminal procedure
by Piotr Stebelski and on international law by
Ludwik Ehrlich. He was on closer terms with
Prof. Juliusz Makarewicz, a renowned expert in
criminal law, an enthusiast of the sociological
school of criminal law and the main author
of the Criminal Code of 1932. He aended
his seminars for a couple of years. It was at
Makarewicz’s seminars that he prepared his
rst academic works. Makarewicz himself wrote
about Lemkin’s association with his seminars
in the preface to the translation of the Soviet
Criminal Code of 1922 (Kodeks Karny Republik
Sowieckich[59]) made by Lemkin and Tadeusz
Kochanowicz (in collaboration with Ludwik
Dworzak, Zdzisław Papierkowski and Roman
Piotrowski. Among other scholars, Lemkin’s
circle of consultants could have consisted of
experts in criminal law, constitutional law and
international public law (law of nations)[44]. As
already mentioned, he aended lectures of at
least three criminal law specialists, in Kraków,
15
E. Krzymuski, and in Lwów the venerable
P. Stebelski and J. Nowotny. As far as constitu-
tional law and the law of nations are concerned,
he aended the lectures of S. Starzyński and
L. Ehrlich in Lwów, and he was in touch with
M. Rostworowski. Probably in Lwów he
met Emil Stanisław Rappaport, an assistant
professor (docent) of the Jan Kazimierz
University. Although Rappaport is not
mentioned in the certicate of completion of
Lemkin’s studies, Lemkin could have met him
at the Makarewicz seminar, all the more so in
view of the fact that Lemkin was an observer
at the non-resident Criminal Law Section’s
sessions of the Codication Commission
of the Republic of Poland (Rappaport was
a member and secretary of the CCRP).
In Lwów Lemkin published the translation
of Chaim Bialik’s work entitled Noah i Maryn-
ka. He wrote a preface to it, comparing Bialik’s
work to Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz[60].
Fragment of the en-
rolment card for the
fourth year of legal
studies at the Law
Department of the
Jan Kazimierz Uni-
versity in Lwów.
16
Stanisław Starzyński (1853-1935), professor of constitu-
tional law, one of Lemkin’s lecturers at Lwów Uiversity
Juliusz Makarewicz (1872-1955). Rafael Lemkin’s men-
tor. Lemkin worked under his guidance for several years
17
Ludwik Ehrlich (1889-1968), professor of international
law, one of Lemkin’s lecturers at Lwów Uiversity
Oswald Balzer (1858-1933), professor of history of law at Lwów
University, one of the most renowned Polish historians of his times.
Lemkin’s promoter (professor taking the ceremonial doctoral oath)
18
Lemkin did his doctorate on 9 July 1926 on
the basis of three rigorous exams that he passed
(the so-called „rygoroza”): the judge’s exam
(passed 22 April 1925), political (passed 27 April
1925), and historio-legal (passed 3 July 1926)
[18, 615]. His „promoter”, that is the professor
taking the ceremonial doctoral oath, was Prof.
Oswald Balzer, and it is he who is inscribed
on Lemkin’s doctoral diploma as his promoter
(he did not need to have any close links with
the promoted doctor), alongside the university
prorector, Włodzimierz Sieradzki, and the dean,
Przemysław Dąbkowski[19, 684].
Entry from the Book of doctoral dissertations
of Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów (1926)
19
INTEREST
in the Armenian Genocide
in the Ottoman Empire
During his studies Lemkin was interested
in soviet and fascist criminal law and in
international criminal law. He observed the trial
of Saghomon Tehlirian, who on 15 March 1921
shot in Berlin the former minister of internal
aairs of Turkey – Talaat Pasha, who was
responsible for the genocide of Armenians in the
years 1915-1918. After he had killed him, he said,
“this is for my mother”. After the trial, which was
widely publicised throughout Europe, Tehlirian
was acquied by the jury. The trial of the assassin
Szolem Szwarcbard who shot a Ukrainian leader
Symon Petlura on 25 May 1926 had a similar
ending. He was also acquied by the jury[48, 146–149].
20
In his autobiography (Totally Unocial...,
p. 20[123]), Lemkin writes that he spoke with
his professors at the JKU on the issue of why
international society did not react when Turkey
killed hundreds of thousands of Armenians. The
professors replied that it was a sovereign state
power. Lemkin’s interlocutors could have been
criminal lawyers or constitutional law experts.
However, we can only presume this. Lemkin was
undoubtedly on closest terms with Makarewicz,
but who else might his interlocutors have been?
Starzyński? Ehrlich? Someone else? Only after
many years did he resume his reections on
the problem that he had noticed during his
legal studies in Lwów. In the meantime, he
was pursuing his career in the Polish system of
justice.
21
PROSECUTOR,
LECTURER, OBSERVER
of the work of the Codification
Commission
After his studies, Lemkin did his military
service in Grodno (as stated by R.
Szawłowski[53, 4]), and soon after he started his
prosecutor’s professional training. Probably
thanks to the high position in the government
of Prof. Wacław Makowski, whose seminar he
had aended in Warsaw at the university, or of
the aforementioned Emil Stanisław Rappaport,
Lemkin became the secretary of the Appellate
Court in Warsaw. In 1927 he published
a translation of the new Criminal Code of Soviet
Russia with the foreword wrien by prof.
22
Makowski (Kodeks karny Rosji sowieckiej 19271[61]),
and in 1929 a translation of the fascist criminal
code – also with Makowski’s foreword (Kodeks
karny faszystowski2[63]). In the same year he joined
the editorial board of the “Revue Polonaise
Civile et Criminelle. Législation Criminelle”,
edited in French in Warsaw. In volume 3/4 for the
years 1931-1932 he wrote an article Les principes
essentiels du Code Pénal Polonais de 1932[68].
After completion of his legal apprenticeship,
Lemkin was nominated a sub-prosecutor of the
District Court in Brzeżany (the area of Court of
Appeal in Lwów), but soon he was transferred
to Warsaw[53, 5]. There he worked as a prosecutor
and secretary (recorder) in criminal law sections
and subcomissions of the Polish Codication
Commission, which was probably made possible
thanks to E. Rappaport, who since 1924 had been
the General Secretary of the CCRP. It was also
thanks to him that he was employed at the Free
Polish University (Wolna Wszechnica Polska). The
cooperation of Lemkin with Rappaport resulted
in the publication of a short commentary to the
criminal code (Kodeks karny r. 1932: z dostosowane-
mi do kodeksu tezami z orzeczeń Sądu Najwyższe-
go3[72]). He himself published the Criminal Code
in short version (Kodeks karny r. 1932 wraz z Pra-
wem o wykroczeniach i Przepisami wprowadzającymi
1 In English: Criminal Code of the Soviet Russia.
2 In English: Fascist Criminal Code.
3 In English: Criminal Code 1932: with appropriate references to Supreme
Court opinions, relevant quotes from the legislative reasons of the project
of the Codication Commission, with an index and with explications by
J. Jamontt and E. St. Rappaport; with the support of R. Lemkin.
23
Wacław Makowski (1880-1942), a specialist in criminal and constitu-
tional law, professor at the University of Warsaw, the last Marshal of the
Polish Sejm of the Second Republic, Rafał Lemkin’s mentor in Warsaw
Emil Stanisław Rappaport (1877-1965), Secretary General of the Polish
Codi cation Commission, lecturer of the University of Jan Kazimierz
in Lwów, professor of the Free University of Poland in Warsaw, partic-
ipant of numerous international congresses, Rafał Lemkin’s mentor in
Warsaw and on the international forum
24
kodeks karny i prawo o wykroczeniach (this was
a text of acts with information about case law)4[73].
In 1933 Lemkin published a treatise, wri en on
comparative legal method published by of the
Institute of Criminology of the Free Polish Uni-
versity (volume 1 – the only one) – entitled: Sęd-
zia w obliczu nowoczesnego prawa karnego i krymi-
nologii5[82].
4 In English: Criminal Code 1932 with the Act on Misdemeanors and
with Introductory prescriptions to the Criminal Code and the Act on
Misdemeanors: with a preface and an index by R. Lemkin.
5 In English: The judge in the face of modern criminal law and crimi-
nology.
Rafał Lemkin. Photograph from ca.1934.
25
POLISH DELEGATE
to international criminal law
congresses, including
the conference of the International
Bureau for the Unification
of the Criminal Law
The rst Conference for the Unication of
Criminal Law, organised under the auspices
of the International Association of Criminal
Law (AIDP – Association Internationale de
Droit Pénal) was held in Warsaw in 1927.
E. S. Rappaport was involved in the organization
of the conferences on the Polish side. It was most
likely he who prompted the young alumnus of the
Lwów school of criminal law to take an interest
in the problems of international criminal law in
26
practice and made him a member of the Polish
delegation to following international congresses
and conferences. In 1931 Lemkin was a secretary-
-member of the Polish Society of Criminal
Legislation, which was the Polish branch of the
AIDP. Towards the end of the pre-war years,
Lemkin was the general secretary of the society.
Lemkin was a participant of the Polish
delegation at the 3rd International Conference
for the Unication of Criminal Law in Brussels
(25-27 June 1930). Aleksander Lednicki, Dr
Włodzimierz Sokalski and Prof. E. S. Rappaport
were also among the delegates.
Lemkin was also a delegate to the 10th Inter-
national Criminal Law and Penitentiary Con-
gress, which took place in Prague on 25-30
September 1930. Besides him, the delegation
consisted of, among others, Juliusz Makarewicz,
Emil Stanisław Rappaport, Aleksander Mogilnic-
ki, Edward Neymark, Mieczysław Einger and
Helena Wiewiórska[35, 582].
Lemkin participated in the 4th International Con-
ference for the Unication of Criminal Law, which
was held on 27-30 December 1931 in Paris, during
which he gave his rst lecture on the use of sub-
stances that might constitute a general hazard[67].
In August 1932 Lemkin aended, as a Polish
delegate, the 1st International Congress of
Comparative Law organised by the International
Academy of Comparative Law in The Hague. On
April 1933 he presented a lecture about the role
of the criminal judge in light of modern law and
criminology at the 3rd International Congress of
Criminal Law in Palermo[76].
27
“BARBARITY”
AND “VANDALISM”
– the concepts of crime in light
of the law of nations prepared
for the Conference in Madrid in 1933,
which Lemkin did not attend
In 1933 Lemkin was supposed to be a delegate
to the 5th International Conference for the
Unication of Criminal Law in Madrid. At that
time he was a vice-prosecutor in the District
Court in Warsaw. He prepared a lecture for
the conference in which he postulated that
the international society should regulate ve
crimes “against the law of nations”: barbarity
(“Whoever, out of hatred towards a ethnic,
religious or social group or with the goal of
28
its extermination, undertakes a punishable
action against the life, the bodily integrity,
liberty, dignity or the economic existence of
a person belonging to such a group, is liable,
for the oence of barbarity, to a penalty of...
unless punishment for the action falls under
a more severe provision of the given Code.
The perpetrator will be liable for the same
penalty, if an act is directed against a person
who has declared solidarity with such a group
or has intervened in favour of one”)6, vandalism
(article 2 – Whoever for the same reasons as in
article 1, “destroys works of cultural or artistic
heritage, is liable, for the oence of vandalism“)7,
Whoever knowingly causes a catastrophe in
international transport by ground, sea or air
(article 3), an interruption in the international
postal, telegraph or telephone communication
(article 4) and knowingly spreads a human,
animal or vegetable contagion (article 5).
The lecture was given in french (Les actes
constituant un danger général (interétatique)
considérés comme délits de droit des gens. Rapport
spécial présenté à la V-me Conférence pour
l’Unication du Droit Pénal à Madrid 14–20 X
1933) and he sent it to the planned aendees of
6 Polish: “Kto z nienawiści do zbiorowości rasowej, wyznaniowej lub
społecznej, albo też w celu wyniszczenia (eksterminacji) tejże przedsię-
bierze czyn karalny przeciwko życiu, nietykalności cielesnej, wolności,
godności lub podstawom bytu gospodarczego człowieka, należącego do
takiej zbiorowości, za to przestępstwo barbarzyństwa ulegnie karze…,
o ile czyn jego nie jest zagrożony surowszą karą w odnośnej ustawie
karnej. Sprawca podlega tej samej karze, jeśli jego czyn skierowany zos-
tał przeciwko osobie, która oświadczyła swoją solidarność lub ujęła się
za jedną z wyżej wymienionych zbiorowości”.
7 Polish: “niszczy dzieła kultury lub sztuki, będące wytworem jej ducha”.
29
the appropriate Commission of the Conference.
It was also printed in Madrid. The paper was
also printed in “Głos Prawa” (Przestępstwa
polegające na wywołaniu niebezpieczeństwa
międzynarodowego jako delicta sui generis...8[78]).
Lemkin mentioned that the draft resolution
was backed up by one of the vice-presidents of
the Bureau for Unication (surely Rappaport).
The main theses (about the crimes of barbarity
and vandalism) were presented by Lemkin in
German in a Vienna journal (Akte der Barbarei
und des Vandalismus als delicta iuris gentium[79]).
The composition of the delegation to Madrid
was changed at the last moment. Lemkin did
not go. Perhaps Lemkin was stopped from going
to Madrid by the minister of justice Czesław
Michałowski and by Prof. E. S. Rappaport –
some say that the reason for this was fear about
the reaction of some delegates and countries
to the theses of Lemkin’s lecture.[48; 53]. It ought
to be underlined that the notion of “barbarity”
dened by Lemkin, became in 1944 the crime of
“genocide”.
8 In English: The crimes constituting a general international danger as
a delicta sui generis (Conclusions for the V Conference of the Bureau
for the Unication of the Criminal Law in Madrid – “Głos Prawa”
1933, no 10.
31
TRANSFER TO THE BAR
and further activity
on the scientific
and international fields
At the beginning of 1934 Lemkin quit his ser-
vice as a prosecutor and led a motion to
join the Bar of the District Chambers of Advo-
cates in Warsaw[43, 296–297]. Probably, he entered the
Bar in early spring. He opened his oce in Al. Je-
rozolimskie 23, later (probably 1938) he changed
address to Kredytowa 6, where he worked until
September 1939 – in his own apartment.
In English literature it is wrien incorrect-
ly that he was “sacked from the prosecutor’s
oce” because of Polish antisemitism or because
he had criticised Hitler, or moreover because the
32
Polish government was on good terms with Hit-
ler’s Germany (the words of the ambassador of
USA from the administration of B. Obama – Sa-
mantha Power[37]). This is certainly untrue, and
Lemkin transferred to the Bar for nancial rea-
sons, which he mentioned, although not directly
(in his autobiography)[123, 65-66].
In the 1930s Lemkin was active as an academic,
writer and as an advocate. He published articles
in “Palestra”, “Gazeta Sądowa Warszawska”,
“Głos Prawa”, “Głos Sądownictwa”, „Wiado-
mości Literackie”. In 1933 he wrote an article
for “Palestra” entitled Specjalizacja sędziego kar-
nego (1933)9[80; 81]. In 1935 he wrote an article for
“Gazeta Sądowa Warszawska” entitled Teroryzm
(with a draft of an international regulation about
Terrorism)[87]. He also wrote for “Głos Prawników
Śląskich”10 (1937, vol. 2) and for “Encyklopedia
Podręczna Prawa Karnego”11, edited from 1932
to 1939 under the editor-in-chief Wacław Ma-
kowski[90, 97].
As an advocate Lemkin took part in an interna-
tional congress of the International Law Associa-
tion (ILA), which took place in Budapest on 6-10
September 1934. The Polish delegation was made
up of Dr Karol Bertoni (head of the delegation,
diplomat, lecturer at Jan Kazimierz University in
Lwów), Prof. Julian Makowski, judge of the Su-
preme Court Jan Namitkiewicz, advocate Alfred
Kielski, advocate Tadeusz Kraushar, advocate
Roman Kuratowski, advocate Jerzy Rotwand,
9 English translation: The specialisation of a criminal law judge.
10 “Voice of the Silesian Lawyers”
11 “Encyclopedia Handbook of criminal law”
33
counsel of General Counsel to the Republic of Po-
land Jerzy Rundstein, advocate Jerzy Wienberg
and Edward Neymark [53, 17].
In 1935 Lemkin took part in the 6th Conference
of the International Bureau for the Unication of
Criminal Law, which was held in Copenhagen.
He gave his lecture on terrorism (the one pub-
lished in the “Gazeta Sądowa Warszawska”)[86; 87].
On 26-31 July 1937 Lemkin, together with,
among others, Rappaport, advocate Antoni
Chmurski, Prof. Stefan Glaser and advocate
Helena Wiewiórska, took part in the 6th Inter-
national Congress of Criminal Law organized
by AIDP[92], ignored by the Third Reich. Lemkin
gave a lecture entitled Ochrona pokoju przez pra-
wo karne wewnętrzne12, relating to the innovative
Polish solutions of the criminal code. Soon after
this, in August (4-11 August) Lemkin aended
the 2nd International Congress of Comparative
Law in The Hague prepared as a grand-scale
project with a large group of Polish scholars,
and most of all, with great jurists from all over
the world. He wrote about this congress on the
pages of “Głos Sądownictwa” (no. 10, 1937[89]). In
the next year, in January, he was at the 7th Inter-
national Conference for the Unication of Crimi-
nal Law that was held in Cairo. He gave a lecture
on the forgery of passports[93]. Lemkin also took
part in the 1st Criminology Congress in Rome (3-9
August 1938), where he spoke of the judge’s role
in combating crime[94], and in the 40th Conference
of the ILA in Amsterdam (29 August-2 September
1938). Within the ILA functioned a ten-person
12 English: Preservation of peace by means of domestic criminal law.
34
Commiee of Criminal Law, to which Lemkin as-
pired – as Szawłowski writes[53, 17]. The chair had,
however, been taken by the head of the faculty of
international law in the Ministry of Justice, Luc-
jan Bekerman. The meetings of the ILA oered an
oppportunity to establish connections and to ob-
serve the fast changes taking place in Europe and
lawyers themselves. In December 1938, Lemkin,
with Rappaport, took part in an informal meet-
ing of the Bureau for the Unication of Criminal
Law[53, 23].
Besides the international conferences and con-
gresses, Lemkin took part in domestic ones. He
continued writing. In 1936 he published a com-
mentary to the Amnesty Act (Amnestia 1936. Ko-
mentarz)[88]. Up to 1938 he published three times his
commentary to the Fiscal Penal Code[90]. In 1939,
together with Prof. Malcolm McDermo, whom
he had met in Poland in 1935, he published in the
USA his translation of the Polish Penal (Criminal)
Code and the Law of Minor Oences (Polish Penal
Code of 1932 and Law of Minor Oences, 1939)[98].
His practice as an advocate led him to aban-
don for a moment his interest in criminal law.
His work published in 1939 in Paris on interna-
tional payments, entitled La régulation des paie-
ments internationaux. Traité de droit comparé sur
les devises, les clearing et les accords de paiements,
Les conicts de lois (Paris 1939) with the preface
of Marcel Van Zeeland, the director of Bank for
International Selements, may serve as an ex-
ample[99]. It was an important change in light of
his previous publications, but as it turned out,
a very useful one.
35
THE DEFENSIVE WAR
of 1939, departure from Warsaw...
via Wołkowysk, Wilno, Grodno and
Riga to Stockholm
Lemkin was in Warsaw during the outbreak
of World War II. He described the next
few weeks in his autobiography, and the blanks
in his narration were lled by Ryszard
Szawłowski[53, 25–28]. On 7 September 1939,
answering to the call to arms by the leadership
of the Polish Army, he travelled eastwards
by train. The train was bombed and he had
to continue on foot and by horse and cart. He
reached Kowel, then – despite being caught by
the Soviets – he was released and reached his
hometown of Wołkowysk. After a short time he
went to Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania), where
36
he met his colleague, an advocate from Warsaw
and visited Bronisław Wróblewski – a renowned
criminologist and professor of the Stefan Batory
University in Wilno. Lemkin said to Prof.
Wróblewski, that he will once again make an
a empt to raise the notions of „barbarity” and
of „vandalism” to the rank of international
crimes[123, 25–78].
From Wilno, overcrowded with refugees,
Lemkin sent telegrams to lawyers whom he
had met at congresses: Karol Schlyter, former
minister of justice of Sweden, the president of
the AIDP Carton de Wiart, and the co-author
of the above-mentioned translation of the crimi-
nal code into English, Prof. McDermo . Probably
thanks to their help he quickly got a visa to Swe-
den. It was stamped in his passport in Kaunas
(where he had moved after a short stay in Wil-
no). Without hesitation, he went to Riga, which
was not yet occupied, and he ew from there to
Stockholm at the beginning of 1940[53, 28; 123, 79].
Bronisław Wróblewski (1888-
-1941), a distinguished Polish
criminologist, penologist and legal
theoretician
37
YEAR-LONG STAY
in Sweden
He stayed for over a year in Sweden. Thanks
to his work on international payments,
which was printed in Sweden as well, he
received an invitation from Karl Schylter to
give lectures in Swedish on that subject at the
University of Stockholm just ve months after
his move to Sweden[53, 28–30; 123, 79–97]. The lectures
were published in 1941. Lemkin had a unique
linguistic talent – he knew Yiddish, Russian,
Polish, French, German, English and now, since
his arrival in Sweden, Swedish too. Not only
did he learn the language and gave lectures,
but he also gathered material on German law in
the occupied territories and studied the history
of the mass killings of populations, including
those related to the Mongolian invasion in the
38
13th century, which enabled him to arrive at
the conclusion that Poland was not subject to
a genocide for the rst time, because in 1241
Mongolian hordes murdered whole cities in
a very brutal fashion, which in turn led to selers
being invited from the West. At the beginning
of 1941 he was promised a visa to the USA
with a proposal of work at Duke University in
Durham in North Carolina. He went to Moscow
via Riga (and had a short stay there), after that
he travelled by train to Vladivostok, next to
Japan, from there to Seale, then to Chicago and
nally, by April, he reached Durham (this route
was reconstructed by R. Szawłowski on the
basis of Lemkin’s autobiography and his own
research)[53, 28–30].
39
USA
– Axis Rule in Occupied Europe
At Duke University he taught comparative law
and roman law. In the USA he used the name Ra-
faël. In mid-1942 he left for Washington, where
he took the position of the main adviser of the
Board of Economic Warfare[53, 32]. He worked in
this post more than two years and studied Amer-
ican law part-time and nished writing a book in
which he laid down his conception of genocide,
i.e. the famous Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, pub-
lished in New York on November 1944 (in the
preface there is a date – 15 November 1943[107; 124]).
Lemkin’s work was not received without criti-
cism in the literature. It was seen as an import-
ant compilation of information (data about Nazi
law, e.g. Hersch Lauterpacht), but the concept of
genocide presented in the book was overlooked.
It probably was not always understood. Lemkin’s
work on “the governments of the Axis states in oc-
cupied Europe” was not published in Polish until
2014, and then only in part, as Rządy państw Osi
w okupowanej Europie (Axis Rule in Occupied Europe).
41
GENOCIDE
and the International Military
Tribunal at Nuremberg
After the expiry of the contract, Lemkin
became unemployed. When the US
President H. Truman nominated the Supreme
Court Judge Robert Houghwout Jackson on
2 May 1945 as the representative of the USA
for the preparation and prosecution before the
International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg,
Lemkin instantly sent him a leer with a monthly
journal that contained his article entitled
Genocide – a Modern Crime[108]. In response,
Jackson took Lemkin’s Axis Rule...[107] with him
to Europe, and its author was oered a job in the
Bureau of War Crime in the War Department[53,
32]. In this way, Lemkin became Jackson’s adviser.
He ew to London in the summer of 1945. Under
42
Lemkin’s inuence a passage can be found in
the indictment from 6 October 1945 stating
that the accused, “commied knowingly and
systematically a genocide, that is a conducted
extermination for racial and national reasons of
groups of the civilian population on occupied
territories.” Later Jews, Poles and Gypsies were
mentioned[53, 38]. In view of the fact that the
accused were to be held responsible for crimes
dened in the Charter of the International
Military Tribunal (London 8 August 1945), in
article VI, i.e. crimes against peace, war crimes
and crimes against humanity (denition of the
British lawyer Hersch Lauterpacht – born in
a family of Polish Jews in Żółkiew, who - like
Lemkin – studied at the University of Lwów.)[48],
in the rulings, however, the term genocide did
not appear. Lemkin was in London for around
a month and a half. He came back to Europe in
the summer of 1946. Earlier, on 20 May 1946,
he sent the Secretary General of the UN a leer,
where besides introducing himself, he lay down
his vision as to the need of an international
regulation concerning genocide. He spent the
rst period in Nuremberg, and later he took
part in the rst post-war conference of the ILA
that took place in Cambridge. Three hundred
lawyers took part in it, including a delegation
from Poland. Lemkin spoke about genocide, but
this topic was noticed by few. He came back to
Paris. Then, by sea, he travelled to USA[53, 40–42].
43
A LONELY STRUGGLE
for an international law
on genocide: from a resolution
to a convention
Afew months later Lemkin intensied his
eorts on numerous formal and non-formal
meetings for the endorsement of a resolution
concerning genocide. He became the consultant
of the Legal Commiee of the UN. On
11 December 1946 the resolution on genocide
was passed unanimously by the UN General
Assembly[53, 42–44; 24, 157–158].
A convention would be the next goal to
achieve. He lobbied for it for two years, himself
being the main author of its draft (the second
was Henri Donnendieu de Vabres). Finally he
44
succeeded. After a plenary debate on the draft
on 9 December 1948 The Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide was unanimously adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly. Lemkin
had achieved his life goal. In the late hours of 9
December, crying, he stated that the convention
is an epitaph on his mother’s grave who was
murdered by the Germans in Poland, and proof
that many millions of people have not died in
vain.
According to one relation, on the second day
an Italian journalist asked Lemkin when the
notion of genocide rst came to his mind. He
replied, “when I was a child and I read Quo
vadis, by my compatriot Henryk Sienkiewicz.”
Although many jurists participated in the
nal design of the project, it was Lemkin’s
enormous sacrice – conducting numerous
meetings, correspondence, and lobbying for
the convention – that led to the adoption of the
convention by the General Assembly of the UN.
In the next few years the convention was ratied
by some 150 countries. It entered into force on
12 January 1951 (90 days after it was ratied
by the rst 20 countries). Lemkin considered
that day as a triumph of humanity and one
of the best days in his life. Poland ratied the
convention on the basis of an Act of parliament
of 18 July 1950 on the accession of the Republic
of Poland to the convention of 9 December 1948
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime
of Genocide (ustawa z 18.07.1950 o przystąpieniu
Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej do konwencji z dnia 9
45
grudnia 1948 r. o zapobieganiu i karaniu zbrodni
ludobójstwa, Dz.U. 1950, Nr 36, poz. 325)13,
with reservation as to article IX and XII of the
convention.
13 (Journal of Laws 1950, No 36, item 325)
Rafał Lemkin. Photograph from ca. 1948.
47
LAST YEARS
During the last period of his life, Lemkin
made eorts to ensure that the convention
would be applied. He opted for the creation
of a court able to hear criminal cases of those
charged of commiing crimes of genocide.
He had chronic health problems, and after
he lost his work at Yale University (he worked
there until 1951), he was unable to nd
a regular occupation. He gave many lectures,
but they too became less frequent. He did not
have any savings and lived in poverty. At the
same time, he got involved in publicising all
sorts of examples of genocide in the world
and urged the USA to ratify the convention[53,
55]. After the convention had entered into force,
he could talk about genocide commied by the
Soviets on the conquered nations of Central
48
and Eastern Europe[121]. He cooperated with
the Polish American Congress, the Congress of
Ukrainians in America, and with the Assembly
of Captive European Nations after its foundation
in September 1954. On the rst congress of
the Assembly in 1954 he delivered his speech
alongside Poles like Zygmunt Nagórski and
Marek Korowicz. He talked about genocide
and of its examples carried out by the Soviets.
He spoke out about the genocide carried out
by Stalin in Ukraine in 1933 (holodomor), but
also about other examples of genocide in the
world. From time to time he received modest
donations from small foundations and from
private people. He did not, however, manage
to receive any grants. In 1955 he briey became
a law professor at Rutgers University[53, 58–59].
Despite his dicult situation there were also
high points. The Nobel Commiee in Oslo
received nominations for Lemkin to receive
the Nobel Peace Prize from 1950 onwards.
Szawłowski established that in the years 1950-
1958 there were in total more than twenty of
them. He did not, however, receive the Prize.
He got a few national distinctions. In 1950 he
received a Cuban distinction (the Grand Cross of
the Order of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes of Cuba),
and in 1955 the Order of Merit of the Federal
Republic of Germany[53, 61; 70–71].
Rafał Lemkin, who remained single all his
life, died on 28 August 1959 in New York. Only
a few people took part in the funeral organized
by Maxwell Cohen, a fellow lawyer from New
York. He is buried in Mount Hebron Cementery
49
in Queens, New York. The inscription on the
gravestone is: “Dr Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959).
Father of the Genocide Convention”[53, 72].
***
Rafał Lemkin’s brother Elias with his wife Lisa
and son Saul survived the Holocaust, because
in June 1941 they were in Russia. After the war
Elias se led in Montreal.
Rafał Lemkin’s gravestone at Mount Hebron Cemetery in New York
50
Map of Wołkowysk Poviat (County) during the Second Polish Republic
with the following places marked: Bezwodna (Rafał Lemkin’s birthplace),
Ozierzysko (the place where he spent his childhood) and Wołkowysk
(where he lived with his family during his youth).
51
POST MORTEM...
Lemkin was forgoten for many years after his
death. He was rediscovered in the 1990s. On
February 1991 the rst Lemkin symposium on
genocide took place at Yale University (Raphael
Lemkin sympozium on Genocide). The Raphael
Lemkin Centenary Conference took place in
October 2000 in London.
In later years, many universities decided
to create institutes or departments dedicated
to genocide. In 2006 two theatre plays about
Lemkin were performed in the USA. Since 2000
the Institute for the Study of Genocide in New
York issues an award named after Lemkin (the
Lemkin Award).
In 2013 the International Award of Rafał Lem-
kin in Poland was established by the Ministry
of Foreign Aairs, but after the rst edition, the
second one has not yet been proclaimed[30].
52
The plaque on the building at 6 Kredytowa Street in Warsaw, where Rafał
Lemkin lived and ran his lawyer’s o ce before September 1939; unveiled
in 2008 on the initiative of the Polish Institute of International A airs
and Prof. Adam Daniel Rotfeld.
The plaque on the building at 21 Zamarstynowska Street in Lwów, where
Rafał Lemkin probably lived as a student in 1923, unveiled on 11 Novem-
ber 2017.
53
The literature concerning Lemkin has grown
immensely (e.g. J.F. Cooper 2008[21]; I. -E. Douglas,
2017[24]; P. Sands, 2016[48]), but still there is no full
biography. However, a biography which was
recently published by the author of the most
extensive biographical work about Lemkin –
Ryszard Szawłowski.
***
Books on Lemkin, published in recent years, re-
hash mistakes concerning his life and the legal
community of pre-1939 Poland. The works of
Lemkin’s masters like Juliusz Makarewicz, Wa-
cław Makowski, Emil Stanisław Rappaport, Sta-
nisław Starzyński, Ludwik Ehrlich or Bronisław
Wróblewski merit separate biographical studies
to be published in English so as to make them
beer known to international readership.
55
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. ARCHIVES
Archive of Jagiellonian University in Krakow – Archiwum Uniwersytetu
Jagiellońskiego (AUJ)
[catalogue number]
1. AUJ: S II 86.
2. AUJ: S II 290b.
3. AUJ: S II 291b.
4. AUJ: S II 298b.
5. AUJ: S II 728.
6. AUJ: WP II 85.
7. AUJ: WP II 294.
8. AUJ: WP II 297.
9. AUJ: WP II 298.
10. AUJ: WP II 407.
11. AUJ: WP II 516.
56
State Archives of Lviv Oblast – Державний Архів Львівської області
(DALO)
[catalogue numer]
12. DALO, fond 26, opys 15, sprawa 193 [1921-1922].
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2. LITERATURE
20. Beauvallet Olivier, Lemkin face au génocide – Suivi d’un texte inédit
de Lemkin (The Legal Case Against Hitler, wyd. 1945), Michalon 2011.
21. Cooper James Fenimore, Raphael Lemkin and the Struggle for the
Genocide Convention, Houndmills, Basingstokes, New York 2008,
pp. 337.
22. Dirk Moses A., Raphael Lemkin, Culture, and the Concept of
Genocide, Oxford [2010], p. 20-41.
23. Elder Tanya, What you see before your eyes: documenting Raphael
Lemkin’s life by exploring his archival Papers, 1900–1959, “Journal of
Genocide Research” (2005), 7 (4), December, p. 469–499.
24. Irvin-Erickson Douglas, Raphaël Lemkin and the Concept of
Genocide, Philadelphia 2017, pp. 312.
25. Ishay Micheline R., The History of Human Rights: From Ancient
Times to the Globalization Era, Berkeley: University of California
Press 2008, pp. 451.
26. Jaremków Monika, Polskie przekłady literatury pięknej z języków
hebrajskiego i jidysz jako książki (1918–1939) – rekonesans badawczy,
“Przekładaniec” no. 29/2014, p. 130.
27. Korey William, An Epitaph for Raphael Lemkin, New York [2001],
pp. 152.
28. Kornat Marek, Rafał Lemkin (1900–1959). Studium biograficzne,
“Zeszyty Historyczne” 2004, z. 147, p. 107–157.
29. Kornat Marek, Barbarzyństwo – wandalizm – terroryzm – ludobójstwo.
O Rafale Lemkinie i idei zdefiniowania „zbrodni w obliczu prawa
narodów”, “Polski Przegląd Dyplomatyczny” 2008, no. 3 (43), p. 79-100.
57
30. Lutwak Władysław, Pierwsza edycja Międzynarodowej Nagrody
im. Rafała Lemkina dla sędziego Philippe’a Kirscha, “Palestra” 2014,
no. 7–8, p. 293–294.
31. Maza Herbert, Raphaël Lemkin et la Convention contre Génocyde,
[in:] Maza Herbert, Neuf Meneurs Internationaux: de l’initiative
individuelle dans l’institution des organisations internationales
pendant le XIXe et XXe si
è
cle, Paris 1965, p. 343–357.
32. Mazurkiewicz Maciej Jan, Koncepcja zakazu ludobójstwa Rafała
Lemkina a eliminacjonizm Daniela Jonaha Goldhagena: próba
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33. McFarland Sam, Hamer Katarzyna, Jak ludobójstwo zostało uznane
za zbrodnię: dziedzictwo Lemkina, [In:] „Civitas et Lex” 2016, [no] 2,
p. 69-85.
34. Mikke Stanisław, Adwokat Rafał Lemkin – wybitny nieznany,
“Palestra” 2006, no. 1–2, p. 110-113.
35. Milewski Stanisław, Redzik Adam, Themis i Pheme.
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Iskry 2011, p. 220, 225, 337, 354, 364, 418, 479, 552, 582, 590.
36. Panné Jean-Louis, Rafał Lemkin, czyli potęga bezsilności, przekład
z francuskiego P. Grzebyk, “Polski Przegląd Dyplomatyczny” 2008,
no. 3 (43).
37. Power Samatha, “A Problem from Hell”. America and the Age of
Genocide, New York: Basic Books 2002, pp. 640.
38. Rabinbach Anson, Raphael Lemkin et le concept de génocide,
«Revue d’Histoire de la Shoah » 2008/2 (N° 189), p. 511-554.
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S. Dębski, Warsaw 2010, pp. 319 (authors: Adam Daniel Rotfeld,
Ryszard Szawłowski, Marek Kornat, William Korey, Jean-Louis
Panné, Stéphane Courtois, Steven Leonard Jacobs, Claudia Kraft,
Anton Weiss-Wendt, Roman Serbyn, William A. Schabas, Daphna
Shraga, Zdzisław Kędzia, Blaise Misztal).
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Wojtkiewicz-Rok Wanda, Wołczański Józef, Wróblewski Andrzej
Kajetan, Academia Militans. Uniwersytet Jana Kazimierza we
Lwowie, ed. Adam Redzik, 2. Edition, Kraków: Wydawnictwo
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nauki prawa konstytucyjnego, Kraków: Wysoki Zamek 2012, pp. 324.
58
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Warszawa 2014, p. 225, 245, 295, 296, 392.
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heritage, red. nauk. Agnieszka Bieńczyk-Missala, Warszawa:
Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego 2017, p. 235-240
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1988, p. A31.
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in International Law – A Personal History, “Case Western Reserve
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Crimes against Humanity, New York: A.A. Knopf 2016, pp. 430.
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śmierci), “Państwo i Prawo” 1999, z. 10, p. 74–86.
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Quarterly of International Affairs” 2005, no. 2, p. 98–133.
53. Szawłowski Ryszard, Rafał Lemkin, warszawski adwokat
(1934–1939),twórca pojęcia „genocyd” i główny architekt konwencji
z 9 grudnia 1948 r. (“Konwencji Lemkina”). W 55-lecie śmierci,
Warszawa: Redakcja “Palestry” 2015, pp. IV+83.
54. Troebst Stefan, Galicja a prawa człowieka = Galicia and human rights
[rozmawia Jakub Muchowski, z ang. przeł. Paweł Łopatka], [in:]
„Herito: dziedzictwo, kultura, współczesność” 2015, no 4, p. 128-137.
59
55. Troebst Stefan, Lemkin and Lauterpacht in Lemberg and Later: Pre-
and Post-Holocaust Careers of Two East European International
Lawyers [2013] http://www.iwm.at/transit/transit-online/lemkin-
and-lauterpacht-in-lemberg-and-later-pre-and-post-holocaust-
careers-of-two-east-european-international-lawyers/
56. Weiss-Wendt Anton, Zakładnik polityki. Rafał Lemkin o „sowieckim
ludobójstwie”, przekład z angielskiego J. Dołęga, “Polski Przegląd
Dyplomatyczny” 2008, no. 3 (43).
57. Żukowski Przemysław M., Krakowskie czasy studiów Rafała
Lemkina, “Dzieje Najnowsze” 2011, z. 1, p. 139–158.
58.ЗеманІгор,НаукаміжнародногоправауЛьвівськомууніверситеті:
монографія,Львів:ЛНУіменіІванаФранка2015,pp.320.
3. LEMKIN’S PUBLICATIONS
59. Lemkin Rafał, Kochanowicz Tadeusz, Kodeks Karny Republik
Sowieckich, przedmowa Juliusz Makarewicz, „Wydawnictwo
Seminarium Prawa Karnego Uniwersytetu Jana Kazimierza we
Lwowie”, Warszawa 1926 [1927], pp. 132.
60. Bialik Hayyim Nahman, Noach i Marynka, przetłumaczył i wstępem
zaopatrzył Rafał Lemkin, Lwów: Snunit 1926, pp. 90.
61. Lemkin Rafał, Kodeks karny Rosji sowieckiej 1927, przedmowa
Wacław Makowski, „Wydawnictwo Sseminarjum Prawa Karnego
Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego”, Warszawa 1927, pp. 48.
62. Lemkin Rafał, Organizacja gmin żydowskich, Warszawa 1928, pp. 80
[Yiddish and Polish].
63. Lemkin Rafał, Kodeks karny faszystowski, przedmowa Wacław
Makowski, Warszawa: Księgarna F. Hoesicka 1929, pp. 138.
64. Lemkin Rafał, Ustawa przemysłowa oraz Statuty cechów i wydziałów
czeladniczych; Rozporządzenie o komiwojażerach; Komentarze
i wzory podań, Warszawa 1929, pp. 193 [Yiddish and Polish].
65. Projekt wstępny Ustawy o wykroczeniach administracyjnych wraz
z sumarycznem uzasadnieniem, oprac. Emil Stanisław Rappaport
przy udziale wykonawczym R. Lemkina, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo
Urzędowe Komisji Kodyfikacyjnej 1931 - Komisja Kodyfikacyjna.
Sekcja Prawa Karnego, t. 5, z. 7, pp. 32.
66. Opinje o projekcie kodeksu karnego, z. 1-5, pod kierunkiem Włodzimierza
Sokalskiego, oprac. Rafał Lemkin, Warszawa: Polskie Towarzystwo
Ustawodawstwa Kryminalnego, „Biblioteka Polska” 1931.
60
67. Lemkin Raphaël, Emploi international des moyens capables de faire
courir un danger cummun (rapport la 4e Conférence internationale
pour l’unification du droit penal), no. 8, 1931, Paris: Librarie du Recueil
Sirey, 1931, pp. 11.
68. Lemkin Rafał, Karyory Jan, Ustawa karna skarbowa z dn. 18 marca
1932 r. wraz z rozporządzeniem o wykonaniu ustawy karnej
skarbowej, Warszawa: F. Hoesick 1931 [1932], pp. XI+493.
69. Lemkin Rafał, Les principes essentiels du Code Pénal Polonais de
1932, “Revue Polonaise de Législation Civile et Criminelle. Législation
Criminelle”, t. 3/4 (1931–1932).
70. Lemkin Raphaël, La réforme du droit pénal en Chine, «Revue de Droit
Penal et de Criminologie», no. 8, July 1932, p. 739-747; reprinted Paris:
Librarie des Juris-Classeurs, 1932, 9pp.
71. Lemkin Raphaël, Le nouveau Code pénal polonais. Partie générale du
nouveau Code pénal polonais, «Revue de Droit et de Criminologie»
1932, vol. 12, no. 12 (December 1932), p. 1184-1190.
72. Lemkin Rafał, Kodeks karny r. 1932: z dostosowanemi do kodeksu
tezami z orzeczeń Sądu Najwyższego, odpowiedniemi ustępami
uzasadnienia projektu Komisji Kodyfikacyjnej oraz ze skorowidzem,
oprac. i objaśnieniami opatrzyli J. Jamontt i E. St. Rappaport, przy
udziale R. Lemkina, Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Biblioteka Prawnicza,
druk Piotr Pyz i s-ka 1932, pp. XXXVII+450.
73. Lemkin Rafał, Kodeks karny r. 1932 wraz z Prawem o wykroczeniach
i Przepisami wprowadzającymi kodeks karny i prawo o wykrocze-
niach, opatrzony przedmową i skorowidzem w oprac. R. Lemkina
(ten sam wydawca, 1932, pp. XIX+204.
74. Lemkin Rafał, Ustawa karna skarbowa z dnia 18 marca 1932 roku
(Dz. U. R. P. Nr 34/32 R.): komentarze, orzecznictwo Sądu Najwyż-
szego, motywy ustawodawcze, okólniki ministerialne, Warszawa:
„Biblioteka Prawnicza” 1932, pp. 256.
75 Lemkin Rafał, Amnestja 1932 r.: rozporządzenie Prezydenta
Rzeczypospolitej z dnia 21 października 1932 r. o amnestji (Dz.U. R .P.
91/32): doktryna, komentarze, orzecznictwo Sądu Najwyż., okólniki
ministerialne, Warszawa: Gebethner i Wolff 1932, pp. 47.
76. Lemkin Raphaël, De quelles mani
è
res pourrait-on obtenir une meilleure
spécialisation du juge pénal?, Paris 1933 [Report: Third Congress of the
International Association for Penal Law, Palermo, April 1933].
77. Lemkin Raphaël, Les actes constituant un danger général
(interétatique) considérés comme délits de droit des gens. Rapport
61
spécial présenté àla V-me Conférence pour l’Unification du Droit
Pénal à Madrid 14–20 X 1933, Paris: Editions A. Pedone 1933, pp. 7.
78. Lemkin Rafał, Przestępstwa polegające na wywołaniu niebezpie-
czeństwa międzypaństwowego jako delicta iuris gentium. Wnioski
na V Międzynarodową Konferencję Unifikacji Prawa Karnego w Ma-
drycie, “Głos Prawa” 1933, no. 10, p. 598-604.
79. Lemkin Rafał, Akte der Barbarei und des Vandalismus als delicta iuris
gentium, “Internationales Anwaltsblatt” 1933, vol. 19, no. 11, p. 117-119.
80. Lemkin Rafał, Ewolucja władzy sędziego karnego, „Palestra” 1933,
no 3-4, p. 158-180.
81. Lemkin Rafał, Specjalizacja sędziego karnego, “Palestra” 1933, no 5,
p. 288-313.
82. Lemkin Rafał, Sędzia w obliczu nowoczesnego prawa karnego
i kryminologii, „Wydawnictwo Instytutu Kryminologicznego Wol-
nej Wszechnicy Polskiej”, no 1, Warszawa: „Bibljoteka Polska” 1933,
pp. 142.
83. Lemkin Rafał, Społeczeństwo, przestępca i sąd, “Wiadomości
Literackie” 1934, no. 4, p. 7
84. Lemkin Rafał, Reforma prawa karnego w Niemczech, “Wiadomości
Literackie” 1934, no. 30, p. 7.
85. Lemkin Rafał, O wprowadzenie ekspertyzy kriminalo-biologicznej do
procesu karnego, „Głos Prawa” 1934, no. 3.
86. Lemkin Raphaál, Le terrorisme. Rapport et Projet de textes, „Actes de
la V-me Confèrence Internationale pour Rapport et l’Unification du
Droit Penal”, Madrid, Paris: A. Pedone 1935, pp. 48.
87. Lemkin Rafał, Terroryzm, “Gazeta Sądowa Warszawska” 1935,
p. 561–564.
88. Lemkin Rafał, Amnestja 1936 r.: komentarz, Warszawa: Księgarnia
Powszechna 1936, pp. 80.
89. Lemkin Rafał, Drugi Międzynarodowy Kongres Prawa Po-
równawczego (Haga 1937 r.), „Głos Sądownictwa” 1937, no 10,
p. 757-761; „Głos Prawników Śląskich” 1937, no 2.
90. Lemkin Rafał, Prawo karne skarbowe. Komentarz. Przepisy związko-
we z objaśnieniami – orzecznictwo – okólniki, wyd. 3, Kraków 1938.
91. Lemkin Rafał, Ustawodawstwo karne Rosji Sowieckiej: kodeks
karny, procedura karna, [w:] „Encyklopedia Podręczna Prawa
Karnego”, ed. Wacław Makowski, Warszawa 1938, t. III; Warszawa
1938, pp. 7.
62
92. Lemkin Raphaël, La protection de la paix par le droit pénal interne.
Rapport presents au IVe Congres International de Droit Pénal (Paris,
26-31 Juillet 1937), Paris 1938; „Revue internationale de droit pénal”
1938, vol. XV, no 1, p. 95-126.
93. Lemkin Raphaël, Verso una convenzione internazionale per la
prevenzione e la repressione della falsificazione dei passaporti
unificazione delle incriminazioni (Report to the Sixth International
Conference for the Unification of Penal Law, held in Cairo in January
1938), „La Giustizia Penale” (Rome), 1938, pp. 225-238.
94. Lemkin Raphaël, Rôle du juge et sa préparation dans la lutte contre la
criminalité, „La Giustizia Penale” (Rome), 1938 (October - November
1938), pp. 778-789.
95. Lemkin Raphaël, Terrorisme, Paris 1938.
96. Lemkin Raphaël, Revue de jurisprudence et de legislation p
é
nale
en Polgne, Citta di Castello, Societ’a tipografica “Leonardo da Vinci”;
Estratto dalla “La Guistizia Penale” (Rome) 1938, pp. 24.
97. Lemkin Rafał, Ustawodawstwo karne Stanów Zjednoczonych
Ameryki Północnej, Warszawa: Instytut Wydawniczy „Biblioteka
Polska” 1939, pp. 10.
98. Lemkin Raphaël, The Polish Penal Code of 1932 and The Law of Minor
Offenses, translated with Malcolm McDermott, Durham, North
Carolina: Duke University Press 1939, pp. 95.
99. Lemkin Raphaël, La régulation des paiements internationaux.
Traité de droit comparé sur les devises, les clearing et les accords de
paiements, Les conflicts de lois, Paris: A. Pedone 1939, pp. XXIV+422.
100. Lemkin Raphaël, Droit pénal en matiére de devises: étude de droit
comparé, Citta di Castello: Tip. Leonardo da Vinci, 1939 [Milano],
pp. 74.
101. Lemkin Raphaël, Valutareglering och clearing: bearbetat efter
författarens föreläsningar vid Stockholms högskola hösten 1940,
Stockholm: Kungl, Boktryckeriet, P.A. Norstedt and Soner 1941, pp.
VIII+170.
102. Lemkin Raphael, The Treatment of Young Offenders in Continental
Europe, „Law and Contemporary Problems” 1942, vol. 9, no 4,
p. 748-759.
103. Lemkin Raphael, Law and Lawyers in European Subjugated
Countries, [in:] Proceedings of the Forty-fourth Annual Session of
the North Carolina Bar Association, May 1942, Durham, N.C., 1942,
p. 107 -116.
63
104. Lemkin Raphael, Key laws, decrees and regulations issued by the
Axis in occupied Europe, Washington: Board of Economic Warfare,
Blockade and Supply Branch, Reoccupation Division 1942, pp. 170.
105. Lemkin Raphael, Orphans of Living Parents: A Comparative Legal
and Sociological View, “Law and Contemporary Problems” 1944, vol.
10, no. 5, p. 834-854.
106. Lemkin Raphael, Copyright Law and the Author in Nazi
Germany, “Author’s League Bulletin”, Vol. 31, no 7 (October 1944),
p. 15-17.
107. Lemkin Raphaël, Axis rule in occupied Europe: laws of occupation,
analysis of government, proposals for redress, Washington: Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace - division of International Law
1944, pp. XXXVIII, 674.
108. Lemkin Raphael, Genocide – A Modern Crime, “Free World:
A magazine devoted to the United Nations and democracy”, New
York, April 1945, vol. 9, no 4, p. 39–43.
109. Lemkin Raphael, Genocide. “The American Scholar”, vol. 15, no 2,
Spring 1946, p. 227-230.
110. Lemkin Raphael, The Legal Case Against Hitler, “The Nation”,
February 24, 1945, p. 205, continued in March 10, 1945, p. 268.
111. Lemkin Raphael, Le génocide, “Revue Internationale de Droit pénal”
1946, no 3, 4.
112. Lemkin Raphael, Le crime de génocide, «Revue de Droit International,
de Sciences Diplomatiques et Politiques », vol. 24 (octobre-décember
1946), p. 213-222 ; also: «Revue Internationale de Droit Pénal», vol.
17 (1946), p. 371-386.
113. Lemkin Raphael, Genocide as a Crime under International Law,
“American Journal of International Law” 1947, vol. 41, no 1, p. 145-151.
114. Lemkin Raphael, [Letters to the editor], “New York Times”: August 26,
1946; February 6, 1947; December 20, 1947; June 14, 1952.
115. Lemkin Raphael, Genocide as a Crime under International Law,
“United Nations Bulletin”, Vol. IV, Jan. 15, 1948.
116. Lemkin Raphael, War Against Genocide; General Assembly of the
UN faces problem, “Christian Science Monitor Magazine”, January
31, 1948, p. 2.
117. Lemkin Raphael, Genocide Must be Outlawed, “National Jewish
Monthly” October 1949, p. 44.
118. Lemkin Raphael, Senate weighs genocide convention, “Foreign
Policy Bulletin” 1950, no 29, 20 January, p. 2-3.
64
119. Lemkin Raphael, My Battle with Half the World, “Chicago Jewish
Forum: A National Quarterly”, no. 1 (1952), p. 100‒101, no 2 (1952),
p. 98.
120. Lemkin Raphael, Is it Genocide?, “Anti-Defamation League Bulletin”,
vol. 10, no 1 (Jan. 1953), p. 3,8.
121. Genocide: (the newest Soviet crime), as discussed by Raphael
Lemkin and Joseph P. Burns, January 30, 1953, New Haven, Conn.:
WNHC-TV, [1953], pp. 7.
122. Lemkin Rafael, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. Laws of Occupation.
Analysis of Government. Proposals for Redress, ed. 2, introduction
William A. Schabas, introduction to the first ed. Samantha Power,
New Jersey 2008, pp. XXIII+XXXVIII+674.
123. Totally Unofficial. The Autobiography of Raphael Lemkin, red.
Dona-Lee Frieze, New Haven & London: Yale University Press 2013,
pp. 293.
124. Lemkin Rafał, Rządy państw Osi w okupowanej Europie, przekład:
Agnieszka Bieńczyk-Missala, Patrycja Grzebyk, Bogusław Lackoroń-
ski, Marek Madej Warszawa 2013, pp. 302.
65
Table of contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 5
Youth ................................................................................................................7
Education – Jagiellonian University in Kraków
and Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów .......................................................9
Interest in the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire....................19
Prosecutor, lecturer, observer of the work
of the Codification Commission ................................................................... 21
Polish delegate to international criminal law congresses,
including the conference of the International Bureau
for the Unification of the Criminal Law...................................................... 25
“Barbarity” and “vandalism” – the concepts of crime in light
of the law of nations prepared for the Conference
in Madrid in 1933,
which Lemkin did not attend ..............................
27
Transfer to the Bar and further activity on the scientific and
international fields ........................................................................................31
The defensive war of 1939, departure from Warsaw... via
Wołkowysk, Wilno, Grodno and Riga to Stockholm ..............................35
Year-long stay in Sweden ............................................................................37
USA – Axis Rule in Occupied Europe .........................................................39
Genocide and the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg ..........41
66
A lonely struggle for an international law on genocide:
from a resolution to a convention ............................................................. 43
Last years .......................................................................................................47
Post mortem... .............................................................................................. 51
Bibliography ................................................................................................. 55
Archives ..................................................................................................... 55
Literature ................................................................................................. 56
Lemkin’s publications ..............................................................................59
67
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the invaluable input and help I received
from many experts, friends and colleagues who in various ways
contributed to this work. I am particularly grateful to Prof. Philippe
Sands for the inspiration he gave me. I am very thankful to Prof.
Ryszard Szawłowski, Prof. Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Prof. Norman Davies,
Dr. Patrycja Grzebyk, Prof. Arkadiusz Radwan, Dr. Wojciech Rogowski,
Dr. Paweł Zdanikowski, Mr. Krzysztof Bobiński, Mr. Patryk Gacka for
their precious remarks and feedback received on earlier drafts of this
book. I want to thank Julian Bąkowski, Paul Newberry, and my wife
Małgorzata for the translation and for proofreading. Finally, I would like
to thank Mrs. Małgorzata Głuszczak for typesetting and for her endless
patience for the author. Any errors or omissions remain the latter’s sole
responsibility.
Legal History Section of the Allerhand Institute
© Copyright by ADAM REDZIK
Typeseing
MAŁGORZATA GŁUSZCZAK
Translation
JULIAN J. BĄKOWSKI
Language consultation
PAUL NEWBERY
Front cover
Rafał Lemkin, drawing JOLANTA MARCZEWSKA
Instytut Allerhanda
www.allerhand.pl
instytut@allerhand.pl
ISBN 978-83-931111-3-8
Notes
Notes