aftermath brochure

8/13/2019 Aftermath Brochure

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A CHANGED

WORLDTHECONTINUINGIMPACTOF THEHOLOCAUST

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DURING THE HOLOCAUST

Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish refugee from Poland,coined the wordgenocidein 1944 to describe whatwas happening in German-occupied Europe.

AFTER THE HOLOCAUSTIn 1948, the United Nations adopted the GenocideConvention, which requires governments toundertake to prevent and punish the crime ofgenocide.

CONTINUING IMPACT

Preventing and responding to genocide remainsone of the worlds most perplexing and urgentproblems. Genocide has continued to plague theworld, from Cambodia to the Balkans, Rwanda,and Sudan.

PREVENTING AND PUNISHINGTHE CRIME OFGENOCIDE

Former YugoslavPresident SlobodanMilosevic stands trialfor war crimes at theInternational CriminalTribunal, The Hague,2001.AP/Wide World,New York

BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST

Individuals were rarely held liable for state policiesresulting in mass murder and other crimes againstcivilians.

AFTER THE HOLOCAUST

Prosecution of top Nazi leaders at Nurembergestablished the principle that individual officialscould be held responsible for crimes againsthumanity and for implementation of policies thatviolated international law, without being able torely on their status as government officials as adefense and regardless of whether they were atthe scene of the crime.

CONTINUING IMPACT

Tribunals created by the United Nations are tryinggovernment officials for crimes committed in theformer Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Cambodia, amongother countries. The International Criminal Courthas been established to continue trying such crimesin the future.

INTERNATIONALACCOUNTABILITY

FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

A refugee displacedby the genocide in theDarfur region of Sudanwaits in the Farchanacamp in Chad, 2007.Michael Graham forUS Holocaust MemorialMuseum


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BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST

Governments were considered to have largelyunfettered authority over individuals within theirborders, and international efforts to oppose humanrights abuses were limited.

AFTER THE HOLOCAUST

Recognition that the protection of human rightsis an international concern expanded dramaticallywith the 1948 adoption by the United Nations ofthe Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

CONTINUING IMPACT

Protecting human rights continues to be aworldwide problem and is the focus of effortsby governments, intergovernmental bodies, andnongovernmental organizations.

INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OFHUMAN RIGHTS

DURING THE HOLOCAUST

Nazi doctors conducted life-threatening medicalexperiments on many concentration campprisoners.

AFTER THE HOLOCAUST

During the postwar trial of Nazi doctors in194647, a US military tribunal issued newguidelines for the ethical use of human subjects inmedical studies. The Nuremberg Code establishedthat the voluntary consent of the human subject isabsolutely essential.

CONTINUING IMPACT

The Nuremberg Code has influenced numerousinternational ethics statements but failed to finda place in either the US or German national law

codes. The need to fully inform patients of thepotential risks of experimental treatments is anongoing concern, particularly in light of rapidscientific and technological advances.

THE PRINCIPLE OF

INFORMED CONSENT

Elie Wiesel, Holocaustsurvivor, Nobel laureate,and Museum foundingchairman, speaks out onbehalf of human rights.US Holocaust MemorialMuseum

Carl Clauberg (farleft), a researchgynecologist, conductedcruel experiments at

Auschwitz, mostlyon Jewish prisonersin 194344, with theaim of developing aninexpensive methodof mass sterilization.Instytut PamieciNarodowejKomisjaScigania Zbrodniprzeciwko NarodowiPolskiemu, Warsaw


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DURING THE NAZI ERA

Jews fleeing the Germans and their collaboratorsoften found that entry to other countries, includingthe United States, was barred. Some courageousdiplomats gave visas to refugees, in spite of their

governments restrictive policies.

AFTER THE HOLOCAUST

Under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention,governments promised not to return refugeesto places where their life or freedom would bethreatened on account of race, religion, nationality,membership in a particular social group, orpolitical opinion.

CONTINUING IMPACT

Protecting and assisting the estimated 15 million

refugees worldwide remains a challenge.

PROTECTIONS FOR

REFUGEES

DURING THE NAZI ERAMost Jews who sought to escape Nazi persecutionwere trapped in German-occupied Europe becausevirtually no nation was willing to admit largenumbers of Jews, even on a temporary basis.

AFTER THE HOLOCAUSTAfter World War II, the United Nations dividedPalestine into two potential states, one for Jews and

one for Palestinian Arabs. The State of Israel wasfounded in 1948 as a homeland where any Jew couldbecome a citizen under any circumstance.

CONTINUING IMPACT

In the decades since the founding of Israel, Jewshave fled persecution and hardship in Arab lands,the Soviet Union, Ethiopia, and other places aroundthe globe for refuge in Israel. Wars and continuedviolence have created serious obstacles to peace forboth Israelis and Palestinians.

THE IDEA OF A

JEWISH HOMELANDHawa Salihdin, a refugeefrom the genocide inDarfur, waits with herchildren at the Iridimicamp in Chad, 2004.Militias attackingher village killed herfather and brother.US Holocaust MemorialMuseum

Jewish refugeesfrom Europe aboardtheRMS Mataroacarrya Zionist flag as theirship legally enters theport of Haifa, July1945. US Holocaust

Memorial Museum,courtesy of IsraelGovernment Press Office


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DURING THE NAZI ERA

The Nazis exploited centuries of negative Christianteachings about Jews and Judaism to foment hatredand promote their own racist, antisemitic policies.Most Christian churches failed as institutions toprotest or systematically oppose Nazi persecutionof Jews.

AFTER THE HOLOCAUST

Many Christian churches have renounced anti-Jewish teachings. Examples include the 1965 VaticanII declarationNostra Aetateand Pope John Paul IIscondemnation in Jerusalem in 2000 of hatred, acts

of persecution, and displays of antisemitism directedagainst Jews by Christians at any time and in anyplace. Following a visit by Lutheran leaders to theMuseum in 1994, the Evangelical Lutheran Churchin America repudiated the anti-Jewish writings ofMartin Luther.

CONTINUING IMPACT

Many Christian denominations continue to addressthe role played by centuries of Christian antisemitismin contributing to circumstances that made theHolocaust possible. Yet there has been a significant

increase of antisemitic incidents in recent years,particularly in Europe and Islamic countries.

RECONCILIATIONBETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND JEWS

Pope John Paul IIplaces a prayer inthe Western Wall inJerusalem during hishistoric trip to Israelin 2000.Photo courtesyof A Blessing to OneAnother

To learn more about the topics introduced in this brochure,

please visit ushmm.org/continuingimpact.

First they came for the socialists,

and I did not speak out

because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,


because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,


because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me

and there was no one lef

to speak for me.

Martin Niemller,a German theologian and pastorwho was an early Nazi supporter but was later

imprisoned for opposing Hitlers regime

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Hours:10 a.m.5:30 p.m., dailyClosed Yom Kippur and Christmas Day.

For more information, visit ushmm.org orcall 202.488.0400.

A living memorial to the Holocaust,the United States Holocaust MemorialMuseum inspires citizens and leadersworldwide to confront hatred, preventgenocide, and promote human dignity.Federal support guarantees the Museumspermanent place on the National Mall,

and its far-reaching educational programsand global impact are made possible bygenerous donors.

100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 ushmm.org

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