The Genocidal Crimes of Imperialist Regimes. From the Second World War to Ukraine | 8–9 December 2022, Warsaw - Instytut Pileckiego

International academic conference | The Genocidal Crimes of Imperialist Regimes. From the Second World War to Ukraine | Project summary | 8–9 December 2022, Warsaw

International academic conference
The Genocidal Crimes of Imperialist Regimes. From the Second World War to Ukraine
Project summary

8–9 December 2022, Warsaw

THE STASZIC PALACE IN WARSAW
NOWY ŚWIAT STREET 72

The 20th century, and specifically the period of the Second World War, brought with it the greatest number of civilian victims – defenseless and terrorized – in history, countable in the tens of millions. The mechanisms of terror were aimed against various groups, communities, and entire nations, all of which were consigned to annihilation on the basis of political decisions, grounded among others in totalitarian ideologies. The crucial factor which led both Hitler and Stalin to strive for dominance in Europe through armed force and terror was their stated hatred of the Versailles Order. At the same time, the first half of the 20th century witnessed the gradual development of international law and the concept of ensuring effective protection for peace and human rights – not only those of the individual, but also of whole communities and groups. Rafał Lemkin – best known as the author of the concept of “genocide” – was in the forefront of these activities from the early 1930s.The international legal milieu of the interwar period, of which Polish scholars and judicial practitioners constituted an important part, gave birth to new, pivotal concepts of law. Our point of reference was Lemkin’s theoretical concept, which was intended to stigmatize, punish and at once prevent the occurrence of genocide in future. The present year’s conference, constituting the final installment of the research project titled “The Input of Polish Legal and Scientific Thought into the Development of the Concept of the Crime of Genocide. Rafał Lemkin and the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Polish Experience of Occupation by National Socialist Germany”, which was implemented under the “Szlakami Polski Niepodległej” program, is an excellent opportunity to summarize the project and the problems discussed during its course. Their tragic relevance today is confirmed not only by the events in Srebrenica and Rwanda, but also by the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine. This is why we discuss various crimes committed in the 20th century – along with their perpetrators and victims – and also study the horrors of the contemporary era, and particularly the first case of open aggression in Europe since the Second World War. Actions aimed at saving lives, presented on specific examples of assistance granted to victims of the total wars waged against the civilian populations of Europe and the world, provided an additional angle of study. This is also a question of new international legal and political mechanisms that will help protect the right to life of individuals and entire nations.

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