THE TERM GENOCIDE The term genocide did not exist before 1944. It is a very specific term, referring to violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group. Human rights, as laid out in the US Bill of Rights or the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, concern the rights of individuals. In 1944, a Polish-Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) sought to describe Nazi policies of systematic murder, including the destruction of the European Jews. He formed the word genocide by combining geno-, from the Greek word for race or tribe, with -cide, derived from the Latin word for killing. In proposing this new term, Lemkin had in mind a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The next year, the International Military Tribunal held at Nuremberg, Germany, charged top Nazis with crimes against humanity. The word “genocide” was included in the indictment, but as a descriptive, not legal, term.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 13:44:32 +0000
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