Genocide and Accountability: Three Public Lectures by Simone Veil, Geoffrey Nice and Alex Boraine PDF
Preview Genocide and Accountability: Three Public Lectures by Simone Veil, Geoffrey Nice and Alex Boraine
Genocide and Accountability Genocide and Accountability Three Public Lectures by Simone Veil Geoffrey Nice Alex Boraine Edited by Nanci Adler Vossiuspers UvA is an imprint of Amsterdam University Press. ThiseditionisestablishedundertheauspicesoftheUniversityofAmsterdam. Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (UniversityofAmsterdam,RoyalNetherlandsAcademyofArtsandSciences) Cover design René Staelenberg, Amsterdam Lay-outJAPES, Amsterdam ISBN90 5629 364 8 NUR824/828 © Vossiuspers UvA, Amsterdam, 2004 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoa retrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans(electronic,me- chanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise)withoutthewrittenpermis- sion of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Table of Contents Introduction Simone Veil The Shoah in the Netherlands and in History 10 Geoffrey Nice The Reality of the Modern War Crimes Trial 22 Alex Boraine Retributive Justice and Restorative Justice: Contradictory or Complimentary? 39 5 Introduction InheropeningstatementsattheinauguralceremonyoftheCenterforHolo- caust and Genocide Studies, Simone Veil, survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, and now president of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah,assertsthatthe“Shoahwasnotsupposedtoleaveasinglewitness,nor beapartofHistory”.Neverthelessthesepagesinhistoryhavebeenrecorded, and told and retold by survivors and others. Knowledge of the facts led to acknowledgement,andAuschwitzbecamesynonymouswithabsoluteevil.In theaftermathoftheNurembergTrials,theUNConventiononthePrevention andPunishmentoftheCrimeofGenocidewasapproved.Thewords‘never again’cameintouniversalusage.Thewordsdidnottranslateintodeeds;they did not stand for prevention, as is generally known. Thereremainmanylessonstobelearnedbycontinuedandintensivestudy oftheShoah,andmaterialisstillbeinggathered.Thenewlyopenedarchives inEasternEuropeandtheformerSovietUnionwillofferinsightintotheop- erationofthedeathcamps.Theywillalsosurelyraisenewquestionsonthe functioningoftheNazi(andSoviet)terrormechanism,sinceJewsweresome- times simply massacred in public view, rather than behind barbed wire or closeddoors.AmongthekeyissuesaddressedsopoignantlybySimoneVeil arenotonlyhowtheHolocaustcouldcomeaboutandgainsupport,andhow oneactledtoanother,buthowmankindcouldpossiblycometothe‘FinalSo- lution’.MadameVeilimploreshistoriansandotherstotreattheHolocaustas auniquephenomenon,because“thehistoryoftheShoahsufficesuntoitself”. AswerecoilfromtheenormityandsavageryoftheShoah,weareforcedto acknowledgethatitwasnotonlycommittedbydemons,butbymanyordi- nary people. Under some circumstances, their inhumane behavior is all too human.Oneconstraintoninhumanebehavioristoincreasetherisk,arem- edy that may be provided by the legal system. GeoffreyNice,PrincipalTrialAttorneyoftheOfficeoftheProsecutorof theInternationalTribunalfortheformerYugoslavia(ICTY),grappledwith some of these issues on a daily basis as he stood across from Slobodan Milošević, once president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, now pris- oner in a United Nations detention unit in Scheveningen, the Netherlands. 7 NiceseekstounderstandhowgenocidecouldcomeaboutintheformerYu- goslavia.Hereflectsonthedarkforcesthatcantransformordinarycitizens intomurderersinthe‘spaceofafewdays’,andofferschillingexamples.Thus, even as Nice advocates prosecuting the leaders of repression, he recognizes whatHannahArendtdescribedas‘thebanalityofevil’,theotherwisecasual behaviorthatpermitsordinarymentobecomemassmurderers.Niceactively pursuesanunderstandingofthemechanisms–suchasideologyandpropa- ganda – which joined together to lead people to kill one another. GeoffreyNiceconcludesthatthe‘neveragain’optimismhasprovenanil- lusion,andrecommendsamorepessimisticorperhapsrealisticviewofman- kindwhichensuresthat“theprocessisinplacetorestrain–sofarascanbe done–arecurringpatternofhumanbehavior”.Hehopesthatthe‘unmask- ing by law’ of perpetrators of grave criminal acts will serve as a deterrent. Intheaftermathofgravehumanrightsviolations,retributivejusticeisone wayofdealingwithwhathappened.So,too,isrestorativejustice,whichin- cludestheuseoftruthcommissions.AlexBoraine,presidentoftheInterna- tionalCenterforTransitionalJusticeandformervice-chairmanoftheSouth African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, argues in favor of the latter approach.Hecontendsthatrestorativejusticeovercomestheinequityofre- tributive justice, as exemplified by the Nuremberg Trials, in which only a handful of the thousands of perpetrators of the Shoah were convicted. Alex Boraine notes that a focus on prosecution, furthermore, does not necessarilyachievereconciliationinthecountrieswherethecrimeswerecom- mitted. In his view, punitive measures alone perpetuate a culture narrowly focusedoncrimeandpunishment,butdonotdoenoughtoconsolidateacul- tureofhumanrightsincountriessufferingfromtheeffectsofstate-sponsored repression.Hemaintainsthatthevictimsandvictimizedsocietywouldbene- fit from the resolution that truth telling can offer. Boraine recommends a ‘holistic approach’ that includes accountability (punishing those who have violated the law), truth recovery, reconciliation, institutional reform, and reparations. TherecentlyestablishedCenterforHolocaustandGenocideStudies,whichis fundedbytheDutchgovernmentandtheUniversityofAmsterdam,isactively involvedinpublicdebate,andintheresearchanddisseminationofmaterial 8 relatedtothefacts,causes,andconsequencesoftheHolocaust,genocide,and otherformsofmasspoliticalviolence.Thestudyofmassterrorandvictimiza- tionincludeslookingathowtheseatrocitiesareprocessedbytheindividual, public,andstate,aswellastheiraftermathandlegacy.Thepurviewoftransi- tionaljusticeencompassesthehistoricandtherapeuticprocessesof‘coming totermswiththepast’withthegoalofproposingstrategiesfordealingwith the present and future. By including transitional justice in its program, the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies not only takes part in analysis, but through continuous and sometimes comparative evaluation, hopes to contribute to the remedy as well. MadameVeilandMr.Nicedeliveredthespeechespublishedhereinattheope- ningceremonyoftheCenteronSeptember8,2003.Dr.Boraine’sspeechof March19,2004constitutedpartofourpubliclectureseries.Itisourprivilege onthefirstanniversaryoftheCHGStopresentthelecturesofthreesuchdis- tinguished speakers in this volume. Nanci Adler, Johannes Houwink ten Cate August 15, 2004 9
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