Rafael Lemkin
| Raphael Lemkin | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Rafał Lemkin |
| Born |
June 24, 1900 Bezwodne, Volkovysk, Grodno Governorate, Russia (now Belarus) |
| Died | August 28, 1959 (aged 59) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Known for | Coining the term genocide and drafting the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide |
Raphael Lemkin (June 24, 1900 – August 28, 1959) was a lawyer of Polonized-Jewish descent who is best known for coining the word genocide and initiating the Genocide Convention. Lemkin coined the word in 1943 or 1944 from the rooted words genos (Greek for family, tribe, or race) and -cide (Latin for killing).
Lemkin was born Rafał Lemkin on 24 June 1900 in Bezwodne, a village near the town of Wolkowysk in the Russian Empire. He grew up in a Polonized Jewish family on a large farm near Wolkowysk and was one of three children born to Joseph Lemkin and Bella née Pomeranz. His father was a farmer and his mother a highly intellectual woman who was a painter, linguist, and philosophy student with a large collection of books on literature and history. Lemkin and his two brothers (Elias and Samuel) were home schooled by their mother. As a youth Lemkin was fascinated by the subject of atrocities and would often question his mother about such events as the Sack of Carthage, Mongol invasions and conquests and the persecution of Huguenots. Lemkin apparently came across the concept of mass atrocities while, at the age of 12, reading Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz, in particular the passage where Nero threw Christians to the lions. During World War I, the Lemkin family farm was located in an area of fighting between Russian and German troops. The family buried their books and valuables before taking shelter in a nearby forest. During the fighting, artillery fire destroyed their home and German troops seized their crops, horses and livestock. Lemkin's brother Samuel eventually died of pneumonia and malnutrition while the family remained in the forest.
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