Genocide & International Justice after 1919 - Webinars June 2 & 3

 

We are pleased to announce the first events of our projet "Ideas & their Consequences: Genocide and International Justice after 1919", scheduled to take place on June 2 & 3, 2021.   Co-funded by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union, this project aims to explore the growth of two opposing movements which emerged in Europe in the interwar period: the movement towards humanitarianism and international justice, on the one hand, and the development of radical political ideology on the other hand.   The project also intends to show that the genocide of 1915 is very much a part of European history, that it inspired horror, compassion, fascination and passionate debate in European countries before, during and after its occurence, and that it profoundly influenced political thinking in Europe.

LIVE WEBINAR 02.06 The Rise of International Law: The Talaat Pasha Trial in June 1921 Wednesday 2 June - 19:00 CET on Zoom On 2 June 1921, the Armenian student Soghomon Tehlirian assassinated the former Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire and chief perpetrator of the Armenian genocide, Mehmed Talaat. After a cursory two-day trial Tehlirian was surprisingly acquitted by a Berlin court. The trial turned into a tribunal on the victim's crimes against humanity, and it made legal history. Even Raphael Lemkin, the "founding father" of the UN Genocide Convention, has always referred in his lifetime to this spectacular Berlin trial of June 2-3, 1921 as his initial experience to coin the term genocide. Hannah Arendt cited the trial strategy as a reference in her book Eichmann in Jerusalem. The lecture sheds light on the background of the trial and its impact on the development of international law. With Rolf Hosfeld - Historian, Director of the Lepsiushaus in Potsdam Moderated by Roy Knocke - Historian, Associate Lecturer at the University of Potsdam Register now LIVE WEBINAR 03.06 The Original Sin of Europe's Dark 20th Century: (Re)Integrating the Armenian Genocide into European and World History Thursday 3 June - 19:30 CET on Zoom With French/English live translations Our knowledge of the Armenian Genocide and of what it meant for the world at the time has been expanding rapidly over the course of the last years. As Stefan Ihrig shows it also provoked intense debates in Germany after World War I – to such an extent that we can clearly identify a larger and true genocide debate taking place there over the course of a few years. Many Germans came to the wrong conclusions though: for German nationalists and the Nazis, the Armenian Genocide presented core lessons about ethnic policies and the international order. By virtue of its reception and the debates it provoked, the Armenian Genocide thus was part of the pre-history of the Shoah. What does this mean for our understanding of the 20th century? In this lecture Ihrig will develop some ideas on how we have to rethink some core notions of the history of the last century. With Stefan Ihrig - Professor of History, University of Haifa Moderated by Claire Mouradian - Director of Research Emeritus at CNRS Register now This event is organised in partnership with the Memorial de la Shoah in Paris, as part of the exhibition The Armenian Genocide of the Ottoman Empire. The project "Ideas & their Consequences: Genocide and International Justice after 1919" is carried out by AGBU Europe, in partnership with the Lepsiushaus in Potsdam, the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) and the Roma organisation Phiren Amenca. The project is co-funded by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union.