Raphaël Lemkin and the Concept of Genocide

Abstract

When German forces invaded Poland in September 1939, Lemkin recalled in his autobiography, “the meaning of the Blitz was brought to the mind of every Pole not through a definition in the dictionary, but through the falling ceiling of the state and private life over his head.” On 6 September, Lemkin followed an order to evacuate Warsaw. Burning houses lit his way “ like candles.” At the train station, babies cried themselves to sleep. People repeated the names of others quietly, imploring God to keep them alive, saying last goodbyes. In the morning, Lemkin’s train lurched forward, “slowly and cautiously,