Born in 1900, Raphael Lemkin, devoted most of his life to a single goal: making the world understand and recognize a crime so horrific that there was not even a word for it. Lemkin took a step toward his goal in 1944 when he coined the word “genocide” which means the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group. He said he had created the word by combining the ancient Greek word genos (race, tribe) and the Latin cide (killing). In 1948, three years after the concentration camps of World War II had been closed forever, the newly formed United Nations used this new word in a treaty that was intended to prevent any future genocides.

Lemkin died a decade later. He had lived long enough to see his word widely accepted and also to see the United Nations treaty, called the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by many nations. But, sadly, recent history reminds us that laws and treaties are not enough to prevent genocide.

Key Questions

1. What is genocide? What are the strengths and limitations of the law in preventing genocide and massive human rights violations?

2. How can new words change the way people think about a problem? Can they change people’s attitudes?

3. What is sovereignty? Why does it sometimes stand in the way of stopping mass violence?

4. What is the difference between national and international crimes? When do individuals, groups, and nations have the right or duty to intervene on behalf of victims in other countries?

5. What legacy did Lemkin leave for the struggle against state-sponsored violence? What work remains to be done?