East West Street

On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"

By: Philippe Sands

Narrated by: David Rintoul, Philippe Sands

When human rights lawyer Philippe Sands received an invitation to deliver a lecture in the Western Ukrainian city of Lviv, he began to uncover a series of extraordinary historical coincidences. It set him on a quest that would take him halfway around the world in an exploration of the origins of international law and the pursuit of his own secret family history, beginning and ending with the last day of the Nuremberg Trials.

Part historical detective story, part family history, part legal thriller, Philippe Sands guides us between past and present as several interconnected stories unfold in parallel. The first is the hidden story of two Nuremberg prosecutors who discover, only at the end of the trials, that the man they are prosecuting, once Hitler's personal lawyer, may be responsible for the murder of their entire families in Nazi-occupied Poland, in and around Lviv. The two prosecutors, Hersch Lauterpacht and Rafael Lemkin, were remarkable men whose efforts led to the inclusion of the terms crimes against humanity and genocide in the judgement at Nuremberg, with their different emphasis on the protection of individuals and groups. The defendant was no less compelling a character: Hans Frank, Hitler's personal lawyer, friend of Richard Strauss, collector of paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, and governor-general of Nazi-occupied Poland.

A second strand to the book is more personal, as Sands traces the events that overwhelmed his mother's family in Lviv and Vienna during the Second World War and led his grandfather to leave his wife and daughter behind as war came to Europe. At the heart of this book is an equally personal quest to understand the roots of international law and the concepts that have dominated Sands' work as a lawyer. Eventually he finds unexpected answers to his questions about his family in this powerful meditation on the way memory, crime, and guilt leave scars across generations.

©2016 Philippe Sands (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Important lessons for today

East West Street is a must read for today because it reminds us that evil exists amongst us and must always be seen
Hans Frank's son was a family member who chose to disavow the evil of his father. A good lesson for nations.

Loved reading this story

In the backdrop of the author's grandfather and grandmother escaping from Lviv to Paris, this story is very well investigated and written. All the principal characters are from Lviv or Lemberg or it's various names while under Ukrainian, Polish, German and then back to Ukrainian control.

The development of international law as regards to killing of people and as enshrined in law is discussed along with the two principal lawyers who developed these laws, Lemkin and Lauterpacht. One wanted Genocide to be forbidden and punishable under the UN laws and the other wanted Individual Right to life and liberty to be written into the UN charter after the Nuremberg Trials. Both succeeded.

Along with the law, the actual life of the characters were retraced and written about. The book was spellbinding from the beginning to the end.

Memoir Marvelously Mixed with History

I listened to this book because it was recommended as a way to understand the Israeli Palestinian War currently happening. It wasn’t the kind of help I expected. However, I just finished it and haven’t had time to digest it all. It is a well crafted book with interesting stories about Jews and Poles and the brave people who helped them and the lawyers who formulated the Nuremberg trial. The narrators were both excellent. Even with all the characters with foreign names and place names I was able to fairly easily follow the story. And, as these things sometimes go, several other holocaust stories came up from unrelated sources which placed more importance on this listen.

Devastating

A sad but historical gem of the wars in Europe in the 20th century culminating in the attempt to eliminate the Jewish race along with millions of innocent people . This was all the responsibility of one man & a demented mind Adolf Hitler & all those that blindly followed him . This is a scholarly report that tries to answer unanswerable questions ‘ WHY ? ‘ it is good vs evil . Can we ever learn or is it just human .

Incredibly researched; pulls you in

Sands doggedly researches through interviews, documents searches from the United States, England, and the European continent to bring to us a book that reads like a detective thriller that sucks you in. It is in one respect stories of families caught up in the holocaust of WWII, another about the Nuremberg trials, and the two brilliant lawyers from the same Polish town, one from the east side the other from the west, who developed the criminal offenses that would define international jurisprudence. Extremely engaging and interesting. Not just another book about the holocaust or the Nuremberg trial. Not only interesting for the lawyer like me, but anyone who likes an entertaining history read. Additionally the readers are excellent.

Excellently researched and Brilliantly narrated

This is a must read/listen for anything truly interested in 20th International Law, political science and War.

AUTHORITARIANISM

“East West Street” is narrated by two people, the first narrator defines the origin and legal definition of “Genocide” and “Crimes Against Humanity”. The second narrator recounts real-life’ details that relate to those definitions. The first public use of “genocide” is introduced in the Nuremberg Trials of former Nazi administrators. Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) wrote a book, “Axis Rule in Occupied Europe”, that introduces the term “genocide” in 1944. He becomes a needling gadfly in the Nuremberg trials. The word “genocide” is initially rejected but becomes a part of the trial as it proceeds.

The author notes "Genocide" has become international law used for the first time in 1998 to convict Jean-Paul Akayesu for Rwandan murders. Sands suggests the concept of genocide remains controversial in the sense that it magnifies potential for conflict between groups.

Sands captures the true threat of authoritarianism in “East West Street”. One person can enslave, torture, or kill another person. More ominously, one person can influence a government to become an enslaver, torturer, and killer of millions. The first is a crime against humanity; the second portends genocide.

Very powerful book -- and not just for international lawyers

In 2012, I saw Philippe Sands present on the story that ultimately culminated in this book, before an audience of international lawyers. He entranced us all. This book does the same. Yes, there is fascinating intellectual history. But this is also a deeply personal, deeply moving inquiry into origins, shared humanity and also the famous banality of evil. A triumph of scholarship and storytelling.

Captivating.

Just when you think you've heard it all, there is more.

The arguments about genocide versus crimes against humanity should have been obvious in both cases.

Enjoyed the personal stories.

Arresting narrative crafted beautifully

This book spoke to me. I loved the parallel narrative, the sensitivity of the tone, the level of research, the intellectual sophistication, and the performance of the readers. The worst part about it is that I’ve finished it.