Philippe Sands > Quotes

“Does the difference matter? someone else asked. Does it matter whether the law seeks to protect you because you are an individual or because of the group of which you happen to be a member? That question floated around the room, and it has remained with me ever since.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“These two distinct crimes, with their different emphases on the individual and the group, grew side by side, yet over time genocide emerged in the eyes of many as the crime of crimes, a hierarchy that left a suggestion that the killing of large numbers of people as individuals was somehow less terrible.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“The three things in life he’d wanted to avoid had all come to pass: “to wear eyeglasses, to lose my hair, and to become a refugee.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“Why had I chosen the path of the law? And why law of the kind that seemed to be connected to an unspoken family history? 'What haunts are not the dead, but the gaps left within us by the secrets of others,' the psychoanalyst Nicolas Abraham wrote of the relationship between a grandchild and a grandparent. The invitation from Lviv was a chance to explore those haunting gaps.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“Imagine the killing of 100,000 people who happened to come from the same group,” I explained, “Jews or Poles in the city of Lviv. For Lauterpacht, the killing of individuals, if part of a systematic plan, would be a crime against humanity. For Lemkin, the focus was genocide, the killing of the many with the intention of destroying the group of which they were a part. For a prosecutor today, the difference between the two was largely the question of establishing intent: to prove genocide, you needed to show that the act of killing was motivated by an intent to destroy the group, whereas for crimes against humanity no such intent had to be shown.” I explained that proving intent to destroy a group in whole or in part was notoriously difficult, since those involved in such killings tended not to leave a trail of helpful paperwork.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“Lauterpacht's intellectual development coincided with this crucial moment. Engaged n Zionist activity, he nevertheless feared nationalism. The philosopher Martin Buber, who lectured and led in Lemberg became an intellectual influence, opposing Zionism as a form of abhorrent nationalism and holding to the view that a Jewish state in Palestine would inevitably oppress the Arab inhabitants. Lauterpacht attended Buber's lectures and found himself attracted to such ideas, identifying himself as a disciple of Buber's. This was an early fluting of skepticism about the power of the state.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“What haunts are not the dead, but the gaps left within us by the secrets of others,” the psychoanalyst”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“It affirmed that international law was not only law 'between States' but 'also the law of mankind'. Those who transgressed it would have no immunity, even if they were leaders, a reflection of the 'outraged conscience of the world'.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“Despite their common origins, and the shared desire for an effective approach, Lauterpacht and Lemkin were sharply divided as to the solutions they proposed to a big question: How could the law help to prevent mass killing? Protect the individual, says Lauterpacht. Protect the group, says Lemkin.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“Britain objected to any depletion of sovereignty – the right to treat others as it wished – or international oversight. It took this position even if the price was more ‘injustice and oppression’.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity

“The community of nations has in the past claimed and successfully asserted the right to intercede on behalf of the violated rights of man trampled upon by the State in a manner calculated to shock the moral sense of mankind.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity

“I appeared as counsel in the first case, in a barrister’s wig and gown at a hearing in a makeshift courtroom in Hamburg’s Town Hall; years later, Judge Mensah told me, with a big grin, that he wondered on that occasion whether the world of international justice would ever not be populated by a regular British presence.”
― Philippe Sands, The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain's Colonial Legacy

“He liked Washington, the “subdued elegance” of Sixteenth Street and the extravagance of Massachusetts Avenue, the simplicity of the monuments, the lack of pretension.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“poet Józef Wittlin inquired in 1946.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“Sofka: The Autobiography of a Princess, a book”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“Vae victis,” he said, a Latin adage, offered with a shrug of the shoulders. Buko looked at us knowingly. Woe to the vanquished, to the victor the spoils.”
― Philippe Sands, The Ratline: A Nazi War Criminal on the Run, Family Love, and a Curious Death in the Vatican

“Dos 70 ou mais familiares que vivam em Lemberg e Zolkiew quando a guerra começou, o único sobrevivente foi Leon.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

“C'est compliqué, c'est le passé, pas important.”
― Philippe Sands, East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"