Title: Raphael Lemkin and the Genocide Convention | Facing History and Ourselves
Headings: Raphael Lemkin and the Genocide Convention
Raphael Lemkin and the Genocide Convention
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Content: Why might it have been important to imagine “future Hitlers” even when leaders were still trying to address the crimes of the Nazis? Numerous words that described mass killings were available to Lemkin, including “crimes against humanity,” “slaughter,” “race murder,” and others. He rejected all of them in favor of a word he made up himself. Does the word genocide convey something the other terms do not? When a people is destroyed, what is lost in addition to their lives? How does the Genocide Convention address these losses? Lemkin believed that new words must be created when new ideas or events “strike at our consciousness.” How can coining new words help us understand old issues? What is the role of language in dealing with social problems? How do innovations in language educate those who use the language?