rené cassin: an appreciation

on 10 December 1950, Human Rights Day wascreated when a resolution was passed by the Unitednations. the date is a high point in the calendar of theUnited nations HQ in new York City, and is normallymarked by both high-level political conferences andmeetings by cultural events and exhibitions dealing withHuman Rights issues. every five years the United nationsprize in the field of Human Rights and the nobel peaceprize are awarded at this time. Many nations, civil andsocially-orientated organisations use this day for special

René Cassin: an appReCiationby Clemens n nathan

Cassin Booklet-4:Layout 1 10/02/2011 13:23

occasions, as has your Rabbi. it is very appropriate that atour post-Hanukah dinner which celebrates our ownfreedom a little earlier – 2,000 years ago – should also talkabout Human Rights. What is even more appropriate isthat one of the outstanding individuals who had a verydeep influence on the evolution of modern thinking onHuman Rights was a Jew, René Cassin, born in 1887. Hewas buried in paris at Montparnasse in 1977.

such was the respect given to this man that hisremains were transferred in 1987 (can you imagine, 10years later), from a grave at Montparnasse’s Jewishcemetery for a state Funeral. it was a strange ceremonyto witness. the Chief Rabbi of France, René sirat andRabbi Farhi were present; they said Kaddish for Cassinand other prayers. they then made circuits around thegun carriage on which the coffin rested, reciting psalms.

René Cassin in later life


the gun carriage bearing the coffin then left theJewish Cemetery, escorted by mounted RepublicanGuards – their swords glistening in the sunlight – andmoved to the Quadrangle of Honour at Les invalides.the Minister of Defence, andré Giraud, gave him fullmilitary honours there and made a speech about theFrenchman’s background and how he had been acompanion during the second World War to General deGaulle in Free France, and on the French radio,supporting all the French soldiers.

the following day at Les invalides, the primeMinister designate, Jacques Chirac, spoke of the FrenchRevolution and all its ideals of Liberty. a huge crowdgathered along the long route from Les invalides to thepantheon on both sides of the road. Many of them wereex-servicemen, widows and orphans who had in one wayor another benefited from Cassin’s fight for their interests,after both the First and second World Wars. in theafternoon on this second day, the coffin was moved in agrand ceremony which took place there in the presenceof Francois Mitterand, the president of France.

Chirac spoke to the crowd on this momentousoccasion when the gun carriage arrived at the pantheon.

This Professor of hope was tenacious, uncompromising,

modest; his virtues were those of a free man who was

true to a certain idea of France and of human

brotherhood. This “soldier of human rights”, as he

liked to be called, has left such an impression in his

century with which no-one can compete.


Cassin was also honoured on other occasions – forexample, when he received the nobel prize in 1968, theChairman of the nobel Committee made the followingeulogy:

To the millions of people who live today in the darkness

of oppression, this document was unknown. But a

small light was lit, and the moral commandments

contained in the Declaration, like those written on the

tablets of Moses, will in the years to come play a forceful

role in reforming the conscience of man and his

understanding of what is right and wrong.

René Cassin had some fascinating characters in hisancestry. one of his ancestors fought for napoleonagainst the Duke of Wellington in spain, although he wasdefeated. after the War he received from napoleon aDecoration for his bravery. another, a doctor, had beenwounded and lived in Bayonne where Cassin was born.Cassin was very proud of his lineage, which seemed tohave influenced him in his adult life.

What René Cassin was like, and why he was somotivated by all these matters, is difficult to say. Butperhaps if we look back on his life a little we may get aninkling about his personality. He had a conventionalJewish background at home with a Bar Mitzvah. He camefrom a sephardic family (Gomes) and from a branch ofthe distinguished Dreyfus family. His brilliant academiccareer enabled him to develop many of these ideas at the


different universities where he lectured. Before the First World War Cassin went to a Lycée

and then studied Law at aix-en-provence. He becamevery experienced with technical treaties on contracts andinheritance, concepts of domicile, and inequality betweenmen and women in civil legislation, writing endlessarticles, including those on Human Rights. He wasfortunate that his Grandfather won in a lottery 450,000gold Francs, giving the family capital.

During the First World War he was seriouslywounded in 1916 whilst fighting for France. By a miracle,his Mother was one of the Field nurses working not farfrom where he was stationed, and she begged the doctorsto save his life. He survived but for the rest of his life hewas in pain from these war wounds. it was a miracle thathe was able to achieve what he did in spite of thishandicap.

after the First World War, Cassin went on tobecome professor of Law at Lille University, and laterwent to paris where he practised as a lawyer and taught atthe University of paris. after the First World War he alsocampaigned successfully throughout France for pensionsfor the widows of war veterans and their children. Hebecame the president of an organisation for them and forex-servicemen. one can see Cassin’s name on manystreets throughout France evidencing gratitude for whathe achieved. He represented France at many internationalconferences, at the League of nations and at theDisarmament Conference. He tried very hard in drafting


legal documents supporting various motions dealing withHuman Rights, often in conflict with national interests.

When in 1939 France resolved, along with england,to lend assistance in the legitimate defence of poland, therealisation burst on Cassin that, “a conflict of awesomeproportions was inevitable.” General de Gaulle hadmoved to england and called on Frenchmen to join him.Cassin was one of the first.

During World War two at the Headquarters of FreeFrance in Carlton terrace, London, Cassin draftedcountless legal documents relating to a new constitutionfor France. He was himself deeply involved with deGaulle and Churchill who acknowledged that de Gaullerepresented Free France. When de Gaulle went overseas

The League of Nations in the 1930s


Cassin was given the mandate to deal with many matters.He made speeches on the radio for the troops. some ofde Gaulle’s speeches were in fact drafted by Cassin.

Meanwhile, in France, many Jewish organisationshad collapsed. However, the alliance israélite Universellewas one of the important Jewish organisations to surviveoutside France. it was created in 1860, with schools in theMiddle east and north africa serving approximately40,000 children. there was deep concern for how theywould be looked after. Cassin was probably influenced byhis Mother’s enthusiasm for the alliance and he kept aneye on those schools which were in other countries notoccupied by the Germans. When the War ended, deGaulle asked him to become its new president. De Gaulle

Alliance Israélite Universelle, Tunis, 1901


considered it his duty to help those Jews left alive torecreate their heritage, and fortunately Cassin acceptedthis great honour, among many other chairmanships oforganisations who needed his help.

Many people could not grasp his concepts ofHuman Rights for all people until much later, but Cassinwas asked to participate in the United nations in sanFrancisco in 1946. Later he worked under eleanorRoosevelt on the Human Rights Committee. no-onequite knew how this would develop, but with theinspiration of Cassin and the others on the committeegradually there evolved a Declaration of Human Rights.this Declaration was the maximum that could be

Eleanor Rossevelt with a copy of the UDHR


achieved at that time, as opposed to an actual law orcovenant; a declaration is of course a non-bindingdocument, but it still has force in that it is a benchmarkfor the future. after 100 sessions of his committee andof the General assembly, Cassin was able with his skillsin drafting to come out with 30 articles for thisDeclaration. the Declaration was accepted in 1948 by 48countries around the world without any opposition andonly a few abstentions. this was different to the Covenantof the League of nations before the second World War,which had envisaged sponsoring only the protection ofcertain categories of men, national minorities andpopulations of territories controlled by other countries.

When the Declaration was finally passed by theGeneral assembly, Cassin stated, “now that we possessan instrument capable of lifting or easing the burden ofoppression and injustice in the world, we must learn touse it”. as corollaries to the right of every individual tolife and to full participation in society, the Declaration ofHuman Rights incorporated in the list of rights the Rightto Work, and a certain number of economic, social andcultural rights.

one of the great influences on Cassin in drawing upthe Declaration was the blatant inability of most nationsto protect their citizens. there was a need for a supra-national body that could protect individuals, and to whichindividuals could turn if they could not have protectionin their own countries or were deprived of the rights laidout in the Declaration. it took many years after this for


the more powerful Covenants of Human Rights to beestablished in different parts of the world. subsequently,the Human Rights acts evolved in the UK and elsewhere.the Declaration gave the inspiration for furtherimplementation of their concepts that fortunately havenow been accepted as benchmarks, and these are graduallysucceeding – although there remain some countries thathave still not accepted them. We have seen how manywars have taken place since the Declaration was agreed atthe United nations: it is not easy to enforce somethingthat people absolutely refuse to implement even if theyhave agreed to it previously. But the disgrace of breakingthe Declaration of Human Rights is a useful tool forHuman Rights activists to highlight what can and shouldstill be done.

Cassin is known to many as the footman of HumanRights, an impression he left in his country and in hiscentury. Like others who were buried in the pantheon –Marie Curie (honoured for her contributions to science),author and statesman andré Malraux (whose ashes weretransferred on the 20th anniversary of his death), writerand Human Rights activist Victor Hugo, and Jean Monnet(who created the concept of the european Union) – soRené Cassin too was recognised by everyone as thisoutstanding foot soldier who fought for the defence ofus all.


summing upwhat kind of manCassin was is noteasy. Firstly, i believehe was absolutely nota pacifist. neitherwas he a politician inthe conventionalsense – but he didknow how to bringpeople of differentpolitical parties andnations together. itwas this skill thatmade him stand outas a particularlyremarkable politicianwithout having any

political affiliation. He was modest but possessed an ironwill; he had incredible perseverance, as could be seen inhis determination to avoid political decisions that had thepotential to destroy his ideas. He was looking for goodwillat all times. He wanted a new way for humanity, for allhumans’ sake, to try to push mankind together not onlyfor the better but for the sake also of self-preservation.

one of Cassin’s very moving comments was,

How is it that, once victory took form and the horrible

spectacle of the extermination camps was revealed, we

Cassin pictured in front of a French

version of the UDHR


could have shamelessly broken the promises made to the

peoples in those years of ordeal.

interestingly enough, he also believed that theproblems of the rights of a state to dispose ofinheritances left by individuals was not correct. Hehighlighted the international Labour organisation as anexample of the only agency with a broad mandate, but itwas limited of course to the protection of the rights ofworkers only. Here, in his Declaration, he was trying toencompass all human activity. He was also keen to bringin the influences of non-Governmental organisations(nGos) in slightly broadening the possibility for privateindividuals to have access and appeal to agenciesenforcing the later covenant concerned with civil andpolitical rights. His enthusiasm for nGos was one of thedeep influences which i recollect, although he was already87 years old when i met him!

peRsonaL ReFLeCtions

When i was a young man in my twenties, Cassin wasalso Chairman of the Consultative Council of Jewishorganisations (CCJo), the function of which is to‘encourage the recognition of human rights for all peopleand to ensure the input of the Jewish ethical tradition inthe development of international human rights law’. inmy capacity as a member of his Board, i learnt tounderstand a little of the complexity of what he was


working on, and which we tried to cooperate with. i am amember and currently president of the ConsultativeCouncil of Jewish organisations. the organisation was acoalition of the alliance israélite Universelle (aiU),anglo-Jewish association (aJa) and the american JewishCommittee (aJC) when it was created.

When i was first involved, we used to hold meetings,mainly in paris, where we would exchange information onall subjects relating to the persecution of different people– especially Jews – and would debate what could be done.at one such meeting i was asked to prepare a report onthe persecution of Jews in the soviet Union, and workedquite hard to get all the information together to make areasonable argument on the subject. after i had spoken,René Cassin approached me and said, “Young man, iwant you to accompany me to meetings at the Unitednations. i liked your speech very much.”

i was quite relieved, and of course a little flattered –but not as much as when, during that same evening, wewere all invited to dinner at Baron edmond deRothschild’s wonderful apartment in avenue Hoche. itwas arranged that i should sit next to René Cassin on oneside and edmond de Rothschild on the other. My wifewas seated next to the Baron. When we came back toLondon, i said to my wife, “My speech must have madean impact, for me to be given such a great honour!”

shortly afterwards i was instructed to go to Brusselsto the Committee for Human Rights in the soviet Unionwith René Cassin. this was in 1970. He was chairing this


huge conference to highlight the iniquity of the lack offreedom of minority groups in the soviet Union. Cassinmade it clear that the conference was not to attack thesoviet Union, but rather to appeal to them to try toimprove the image of the soviet Union worldwide. itseemed a difficult if not hopeless task, especially as weappealed for Russian Jews to be allowed to leave theircountry and go where they felt they could live in freedomand worship as they pleased. But remarkably, only a fewmonths later, 30,000 Jews were allowed to leave andemigrated to israel and the United states.

at this conference it was very fortunate that duringmy speech i was suddenly given a fax from the Board ofDeputies in London stating that Vladimir Bukovsky, whohad just been on trial in Moscow, was about to besentenced. He was later sentenced to seven years penalservitude. in this final speech which he was invited to give,he made a very strong appeal for the future of Russia andthis was deeply moving. i was able to read his speech outaloud – apparently much to the annoyance of theauthorities in Moscow. Remarkably, the speech which imade, together with the appeal by Bukovsky, were beamedto every european country in the soviet Union for oneweek by Liberty Radio, an american-based radio station.this had an impact in many places. even more movingstill, though, was that my speech was heard in far-awayGeorgia. two years later i met in israel some immigrantsfrom there and now living in israel who had heard myspeech. incredibly, because of that one appeal on a radio


broadcast they hugged me and wept; it was a deeplymoving experience, and showed me that sometimes theinitiative and vision of a great lawyer can have majorpositive consequences larger than one could ever haveimagined. the Georgian immigrants to israel told me thatmy speech had given them hope that one day they couldleave the soviet Union; they were so touched thatunknown people were able to stand up for oppression.

apart from this event, i met with Cassin in paris fordiscussions on other topics, such as the problem of Jewsin different parts of the arab world – what should bedone, what was the solution – especially as the allianceisraélite Universelle where he had remained Chairman hadschools in many countries at that time (north africa, iran,

René Cassin at the inauguration of the

René Cassin high school, September 1974


iraq, syria, Lebanon and israel). in fact, there were over40,000 students, all focused on French education. thework which they were doing was remarkable and remainsso today.

the situation was extremely delicate for them at thattime in view of the conflict between israel and the arabcountries, but the schools were not harmed. if anything,they were very well protected by the authorities in all thosecountries. in some countries the Headmaster had to be aMoslem, but this was only a nominal thing; the DeputyHeadmaster would carry on with the work at the school!2010 marks the 150th anniversary of the alliance.

René Cassin was very interested in many of thesedetails. He was a precise man, and hated sloppy quotationsfrom different international laws and statutes. i rememberat one of our meetings there were several former primeMinisters of France who happened to be Jewish, sittingon the side of the French. among them were Jules Mochand pierre Mendès France. We on our side were a goodteam. When he was speaking, one of the former primeMinisters quoted incorrectly from a French statute, andRené Cassin jumped to his feet and severely reprimandedthe speaker! it was quite amusing to see this, but theformer prime minister took it in good cheer andapologised like a schoolboy most sincerely for hisinaccuracy. this satisfied the 90-year-old Cassin!

one of the problems for us as english people wasthat, as a French lawyer, Cassin spoke at great length;sometimes the meetings were exceptionally long because


in our own precise language we could have said the samething in a shorter time. it was not easy to sit there andlisten patiently, hour after hour, to explanations of someof the different Human Rights activities which we alreadyknew about.

Despite this Cassin’s achievements are more thanmost of us can achieve in our lifetime. after the secondWorld War he became president of France’s highestadministrative court, the Council of state (Conseil d’etat).He was a delegate to the United nations Commission onthe inquiry into War Crimes from 1943 to 1945, as wellas Chairman in 1944 of the Legislative Committee for theConsultative assembly, set up as part of the government-

With Eleanor Roosevelt during a radio interview


in-exile in algiers in 1943. internationally, he helpedfound the United nations educational, scientific andCultural organization (UnesCo) in 1944, and was aFrench delegate there from 1945 to 1952.

His achievements were remarkable, to say the least.He himself once said,

…it is the tireless determination of a fiery man to rise

to an ideal for which he is capable of giving his life, even

if he does not reach it, for the salvation of the living

and for generations to come.

What can i conclude with? to me, René Cassin, with modesty, determination

and perseverance, shaped a new way of thinking ofhumanity, of a human condition. He created anextraordinary movement which pushed humanity to cometogether for the better, for the sake of self-preservation.He would today be disappointed at how many countrieshave still been involved in warfare, or do not honour theDeclaration. But he would, i think, be satisfied to see thatfrom the Declaration, the covenants of Human Rights inafrica, america, europe and elsewhere have evolved; thatsubsequently national Human Rights acts have appeared.everyone must strive more and more to reduce areas ofconflict and poverty wherever possible, and highlight theimportance of the individual as well as that of the state.even in Russia today, the state accepts that it is not onlytheir function to look after the Human Rights of their


citizens; the citizens also have some rights beyond thestate. in China this is of course not recognised by thestate, but if the Chinese want to avoid internal or externalconflicts they will needto change.

Cassin was thehuman of HumanRights; the man of theRights of Man. it isappropriate today tospeak of him as one ofthe defenders whoacted to end discrimin-ation – the theme ofthis year’s HumanRights Day.

Gérard israël, René Cassin: (1887-1976): la guerre hors la loi, avec de

Gaulle, les driots de l’homme (Prophètes pour demain)

Marc agi, René Cassin: Prix Nobel de la paix, 1887-1976: Père de la

Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme

andré Kaspi, Histoire de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle - De 1860 à nos

jours

Monique nahon, Hussards de l’Alliance: Rachel & David Sasson


the Clemens nathan Research Centre, an organisationdedicated to the promotion of international human rights, is theresearch arm of the Consultative Council of Jewish organisations,a human rights nGo with consultative status at the United nations,founded in 1946 by the nobel prize Laureate René Cassin. itsconstituent organisations are the anglo-Jewish association and thealliance israélite universelle. it is named after Clemens nathan whois also its first chairman. alan stephens is director of research. theactivities of both organisations have included holding lectures andconferences, and sponsoring books on human rights.

since its establishment in 2004, the CnRC has initiated anumber of innovative programmes, including a long-term researchproject, in collaboration with the international Bar association andthe Raoul Wallenberg institute, Lund University, sweden, toformulate rules of conduct for human rights fact-finding missions.since February 2005, the CnRC has organised numerous successfulconferences - in Lund, on Fact-Finding; in London, on Religionand Human Rights (with the Commonwealth institute, Universityof London), on terrorism and Human Rights, on Foreign policyand Human Rights, on the Freedom of the Media and HumanRights; in Geneva on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights; andin strasbourg at a conference on ‘the spoken and Written Wordand their implementation’ in the presence of the president of theeuropean parliament and other distinguished guests. all CnRCconferences generate edited publications.

the CnRC also organizes periodic René Cassin MemorialLectures. the CCJo delegate at the Council of europe is MaîtreLouis Bloch. a younger members group, the CCJo René Cassin,is active in London.

Clemens Nathan originally gave this lecture to the congregation of

Jonathan Wittenberg in 2010.

Produced by the Clemens Nathan Research Centre

Flat 10, 3 Cambridge Terrace, London NW1 4JL

T: 020 7034 1986 F: 020 7034 1981

www.clemensnathanresearchcentre.org


rené cassin: an appreciation

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