Event - Instytut Pileckiego

The present edition of the conference will provide a platform for re-examining the legal and political trends of the interbellum, actions undertaken by individuals and the efforts made during the Second World War to extirpate and stigmatize genocide.

The 20th century, and in particular the period of the Second World War, brought with it the greatest number of civilian victims in history, countable in the tens of millions. The instruments of terror were aimed against groups, communities, and entire nations, all of which were consigned to annihilation on the basis of political decisions grounded in totalitarian ideology. But it was earlier experiences – the First World War, the Armenian Massacre, the pogroms of Jews in the Russian Empire, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the vociferous reaction against the Treaty of Versailles that had confirmed the independence of once-enslaved nations following the demise of four established European empires – that provided the fundamental backdrop to the tragedy which unfolded as the immediate consequence of Nazi and Soviet efforts aimed at achieving dominance in Europe through armed force and terror.

During the first half of the 20th century, attempts were made to organize a response to these emanations of violence, thus helping foster the gradual development of international law and the idea of ensuring effective protection for peace and, crucially, rights – not only those of the individual, but also of whole communities and groups. One of the singularly significant elements of this process was the pioneering conceptual work of Rafał Lemkin, the author of the notion of “genocide”. It is worth noting here that the issue of organized mass killings, viewed from a historical and legal perspective, had focused his attention since the early 1930s.

The international legal milieu of the inter-war period, of which Polish scholars and judicial practitioners constituted an important part, gave birth to new, pivotal concepts of law. Having this context in mind, the Pilecki Institute is hopeful that the present edition of the conference will provide a platform for re-examining the legal and political trends of the interbellum, the underlying concepts and ideas of the epoch, actions undertaken by specific individuals, and, finally, the efforts made during the Second World War to extirpate and universally stigmatize genocide.

It is our intention to analyze the activities and endeavors of lawyers, diplomats, and politicians – both Poles and nationals of other countries – which were aimed at saving lives, assisting the countless victims of the total war waged against the civilian populations of Europe and the world, and introducing into international relations legal and political mechanisms that would become effective guarantors of the right to life of individual people and entire nations.

The event will be held online on Zoom:

Day 1: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tcULEUC_QxSXADIMh1SACA

Day 2: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ExHZAnxYQsiQ0WsMfNEHfg

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