Description: Leading up to the second World War, two Polish men witnessed the targeted extermination of Jews under Adolf Hitler and the German Reich before the reality of the Holocaust was known, but their messages were met with skepticism and denial. Annette Becker examines how Jan Karski and Raphael Lemkin have had a lasting influence on ongoing conversations in human rights and law.
Brief description:
Annette Becker is a professor of contemporary history at Paris-Nanterre La Défense and a senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France.
Review Quotes: "Becker shows the impossibility of understanding that the extermination of the Jews was rooted in the moment of the invasion of Belgium by the German army in August 1914. . . . Even today, people remain incapable of seeing what they see."-- "Le Monde"