Publication Date: July 11, 2017
Print Length: 464 pages
Winner of the Bailie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction
Previous Publications:
38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pnochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia (2025)
The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain’s Colonial Legacy (2022)
The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive (2020)
Torture Team: Uncovering War Crimes in the Land of the Free (2008)
Lawless World: The Whistle-Blowing Account of How Bush and blair are Taking the Law into their Own Hands (2005)
SYNOPSIS
In this fascinating historical account, Philippe Sands details how his grandfather’s Ukrainian past in Lviv intersected with the lives of two prominent Jewish lawyers whose commitment to international justice was driven by their tragic family histories during WW2.
While describing Lviv’s tumultuous history as part of Austria, Poland and Germany, Sands details the parallel legal training that Hersch Lauterpacht and Raphael Lemkin received. He also recounts how both Jewish scholars promoted concepts of international law as they grappled with the Nazi crimes being perpetrated against their families during the Holocaust, a fate endured by Sands’ own relatives.
As a legal scholar, Sands describes how Lauterpacht codified the concept of crimes against humanity, while Lemkin developed the legal underpinning for genocide. Both innovative legal approaches were used during the Nuremberg trials and now serve as a foundation for the legal code employed by the International Criminal Court as well as the United Nations. Yet, as Sands points out, it was the passionate commitment of the two legal scholars that assured these innovative concepts of international justice would be widely accepted.
REVIEWS AND AUTHOR INFORMATION
Levy, Bernard-Henri, “EAST WEST STREET, On the Origins of “Genocide” and “Crimes Against Humanity,” The New York Times, May 23, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/books/review/east-west-street-by-philippe-sands.html
Nevin, Tilly, “Review: ‘East West Street,” The Oxford Culture Review January 31, 2017. https://theoxfordculturereview.com/2017/01/31/review-east-west-street/
Karnavas, Michael, “Book Review – EAST WEST STREET: on the Origins of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity, by Philippe Sands” International Criminal Law Blog, December 29, 2016. https://michaelgkarnavas.net/blog/2016/12/29/book-review-east-west-street/
Gerwarth, Robert, “East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.” The Irish Times, July 9, 2016. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/east-west-street-by-philippe-sands-review-shapers-of-the-nuremberg-trials-1.2713897
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How effectively was Sands able to recreate the experiences of his family as well as the families of Lauterpacht and Lemkin during the German occupation of Lviv?
In what ways did the changing history of Lviv influence the legal training that Lauterpacht and Lemkin received?
Within the system of international justice, why did Lauterpacht believe that the charge of crimes against humanity was more powerful than genocide? Is one type of crime more important than another or did Lauterpacht believe case of genocide would be more difficult to prosecute?
Since WW2, how successfully have the concepts of crimes against humanity and genocide been employed within international courts of law, for example in the cases of Chile, Yugoslavia and Rwanda?
