Raphael Lemkin papers

Identifier
WLMF59
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 71241
Dates
1 Jan 1947 - 31 Jan 1959
Level of Description
Collection
Languages
  • German
  • Spanish
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Raphael Lemkin was an attorney and professor of law who coined the term 'genocide' and was responsible for the United States genocide convention. He was born in Eastern Poland on 24 June 1901. He studied philology, mastered nine languages, served as Warsaw's public prosecutor, and practised and taught law until 1939, when the Nazi invasion forced him to flee to Sweden. In 1941 Lemkin emigrated to the USA on the invitation of the Duke University Law School and was later associated with the Yale Law School. During the 1940s and 1950s he devoted most of his energies to the crusade for the international adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which was adopted by the UN  General Assembly in 1948. He continued to lobby for unanimous ratification. Although the United States failed to ratify the convention, it became international law in January 1951. Lemkin never married and died of a heart attack in 1959.


Acquisition

Raphael Lemkin papers

Donated December 2013

Donor: John Cooper

Scope and Content

This collection of Raphael Lemkin's papers documents his intense interest in the subject of genocide. The originals are held at the New York Public Library, from which the text of the following catalogue was obtained. The papers largely document Lemkin's intense interest in the subject of genocide. With the exception of a draft of his autobiography, Unofficial Man, the collection contains very little personal material. The correspondence is both incoming and outgoing, with public officials, newspapers, academics, and religious groups. It relates to Lemkin's struggle for support for the ratification of the genocide convention. Much of the correspondence is filed by country. The autobiographical writings consist of outlines and summaries of Unofficial Man as well as holograph and typescript drafts of several chapters and abundant notes, memoranda, reports and other documents written by Lemkin and others on the subject of genocide and the struggle for the ratification of the convention. Much of this material is fragmentary. The printed material includes press releases and United Nations publications and reports.

System of Arrangement

The papers are arranged into 8 sections: correspondence, photographs, biographical and autobiographical sketches, public statements, interviews, autobiographical writings, writings on genocide, clippings and printed material.

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Microfilm

People

Subjects

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.