Oskar Schindler, Raphael Lemkin, and the Question of Genocide: The Trial of Amon Goeth
September 25, 2013
In this groundbreaking lecture on Tuesday, October 1, 2013 (7 p.m., Wallace All Faiths Chapel), Professor David Crowe explores the intersection among Oskar Schindler, a Nazi Party member who became a rescuer; Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish émigré lawyer from Poland who worked tirelessly to promote the concept of genocide; and Amon Goeth, the sadistic Nazi who implemented genocide.
The Plaszów concentration and forced labor camp is forever linked to the name of its brutal commandant, SS Hauptsturmführer Amon Goeth. In March 1943, Oskar Schindler persuaded Goeth to allow him to build his own sub-camp near his Emalia factory so that his Jewish workers would not be subjected to Goeth’s unpredictable brutality and random executions. By doing so, he saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews.