Raphael Lemkin and the Debates about the Genocide Convention in Early Post-war Germany
Raphael Lemkin and the Debates about the Genocide Convention in Early Post-war Germany

Summary/Abstract: On 9 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Genocide as a crime under international law was defined in Article II as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”1 Although the convention was unanimously accepted by the 55 members of the General Assembly, the discussions that had preceded the vote demonstrated quite clearly the cleavages of the Cold War that was just beginning.

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