Fran Hirsch
@FranHirsch
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Historian: UW-Madison; Author of Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg, https://t.co/SLtPkk4Hne
Joined August 2019
Evidence presented by the Soviet prosecution at the #Nuremberg Trials:. "Before their retreat from Mariupol the German occupational authorities burned down all the 68 schools of the city, 17 kindergarten schools . and the Palace of the Pioneers.".
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Yes, the word genocide was indeed created to describe what is now transpiring in Ukraine. And the term totalitarianism was invented to describe the kind of regime that is now in place in Russia.
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We will need another #Nuremberg. To bring Vladimir Putin and his generals to justice. And also to create a comprehensive record of the truth.
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‘De-Ukrainization’ is #genocide — Biden was right to sound the alarm. The world must act. My piece for The Hill-.
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Russia hasn't broken "western" rules of law. It has violated universal principles. These were principles that the jurists and diplomats in the Russian Empire and in the Soviet Union had once had a major role in formulating.
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Russia has become a totalitarian society. Public opinion does not matter. It's all about complacency.
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Soviet-style show trials are about to begin. We have seen this kind of thing before--and Putin has long been planning for this moment. The international community must not stay silent.
Evacuees are being taken to a Russian prison colony and could be put on trial as “Nazi war criminals�� rather than exchanged for captured Russians, as Kyiv hopes
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It is time to take concrete steps toward making this happen. I agree with @DianeMarieAmann that an important first step is the creation of a new war crimes commission.
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In the lead-up to #Nuremberg, Soviet lawyer Aron Trainin rejected the defense of “acting on superior orders”—arguing that rank-and-file soldiers who “plunder and kill on the orders of their superiors” were just as guilty as those who “plunder and kill of their own accord.”.
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Hitler was dead before the International Military Tribunal convened in November 1945. This did not make it of any less importance.
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Plans should be made to establish a #Nuremberg-like tribunal even if Putin is ultimately tried in absentia.
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Such a commission (whether modeled on the United Nations War Commission or the Soviet Union's Extraordinary State Commission or something else) would compile documents, visual evidence, and eyewitness testimony.
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In his closing speech at the #Nuremberg Trials in 1946, British chief prosecutor Sir Hartley Shawcross used the term #genocide to describe the Nazis’ “deliberate and systematic plan” to wipe out peoples and cultures.
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This work--the creation of a documentary record of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity--will be critical for future trials.
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My piece on the Lawfare blog:.About how Putin's memory laws set the stage for the invasion of Ukraine.
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It is of crucial importance--especially now with journalists leaving the region.
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Absolutely thrilled to receive this award for Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg from @asilorg. And deeply grateful to the @UWHistoryDept for providing a supportive and intellectually rich environment where scholarship and creativity can thrive.
Congratulations to Professor Francine Hirsch, who has received the 2021 Certificate of Merit for a Preeminent Contribution to Creative Scholarship from the American Society of International Law! @FranHirsch @UWMadisonLS
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Russian state TV repeating the calls for “deukrainization”—I.e. #genocide. To understand Russia’s war aims we must take this seriously.
Last night Russian state TV got as close as I've seen it get to that horrifying article published by RIA Novosti. I've added some subtitles (I hope you'll excuse my rushed job). The first man speaking is a pro-Kremlin former Ukrainian MP. The second is presenter Vladimir Solovyov
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Crimes against humanity as defined in the #Nuremberg Principles of 1946 ."Atrocities and offenses, including but not limited to murder, extermination, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape, or other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population…”.
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As a bandit state in full breach of international law, Russia should be expelled from all international institutions and designated a state sponsor of terrorism.
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Putin has been cynically using the language of “denazification” in a barrage of propaganda to rally Russians behind an unjust war against Ukraine. This is right out of Stalin’s playbook.
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On October 1, 1946, the #Nuremberg Tribunal delivered its verdicts. Hitler was long dead. His top generals, government ministers, police leaders--and his authorities in the occupied territories--were found guilty of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
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My piece for The Boston Globe's Ideas Section . Putin’s Russia has crossed a threshold: It now looks like 1933 Germany via @BostonGlobe.
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This. This is another reason why a #Nuremberg-like tribunal of Russia's leaders will be so important. It is about justice--and also about the historical record.
.@ZelenskyyUa : “If Ukraine is to have a secure future, the Russian information barrier will have to be broken. Russians don’t just need access to facts; they need help understanding their own history, what they have done to their neighbors.”
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The RIA-Novosti article--a horrifying treatise for #genocide--is a ramped-up and developed version of a "plan" for "deukrainization" advocated by the Russian economist and publicist Mikhail Khazin back in 2016.
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76 years ago, on September 30, 1946, at the Palace of Justice in #Nuremberg the judges began to read out the Nuremberg Judgment--holding the leaders of Nazi Germany criminally responsible for perpetrating war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace.
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History Job at UW-Madison! Please share widely. Position: Russian Empire, including its constituent lands and peoples (18th or 19th century). Research interests may be in any region or thematic field. #twitterstorians.
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From the Soviet case at the #Nuremberg Trials:. "In accordance with their criminal plans for the enslavement of the freedom-loving Ukrainian people, the Hitlerite conspirators endeavored to annihilate its culture.".
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It takes more than a single leader to launch a predatory war of aggression, conduct mass terror, illegally annex territories, and carry out a genocide. Nuremberg made that clear.
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From the Soviet case at the #Nuremberg Trials . "The historical and cultural treasures in the cities of Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, in the Provinces of Stalino [Donetsk] and Rovno [Rivne], and many other larger and smaller cities, were subjected to plunder and destruction.”.
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From the Soviet case at #Nuremberg. "An incredible picture emerged. of the looting which took place in every community, of general devastation, of revolting acts of rape, ill-treatment, and mass murder-all committed against peaceful citizens by the fascist German" occupiers.
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If you've read the RIA-Novosti piece, if you've seen images of Bucha, if you're following all this and still think "deukrainization" isn't #genocide, please have another look at the term's definition.
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Karaganov described Putin's "new foreign policy" as "constructive destruction" in an RT article back on the eve of the war.
Kremlin advisor Sergei Karaganov is using the phrase “constructive destruction” to describe Russia’s actions . Russian officials are arguing that Russia is destroying the unipolar order by invading Ukraine and replacing it with a more equitable multipolar order.
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Yes, we will need war crimes trials and a new #Nuremberg to try the Putin regime, Putin's generals, and rank-and-file Russian soldiers.
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Yes, Putin should be indicted for war crimes--and also for waging an illegal war of aggression. I never thought I'd see my research on #Nuremberg cited in a model indictment--but here we are. Would be proud to play even the smallest role in bringing Putin to justice.
UW-Madison Professor @FranHirsch's work has been cited in a model indictment for crime of aggression against Ukraine. Click below to read full article.
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From the Soviet case at the #Nuremberg Trials. “Outstanding in the long chain of vile crimes committed by the German fascist invaders is the forced deportation to Germany of peaceful citizens, men, women, and children, for slave and forced labor.”.
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Over the moon about Ben Nathans' review of Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg in the New York Review of Books! .
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My latest piece--for Time magazine. On how #Russia and #Ukraine are both looking back to the #Nuremberg Trials of 1945-46--but with very different goals.
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For now, there is one question that all international lawyers, academics, diplomats, and citizens of the world should be thinking about. How to stop a #genocide in Ukraine.
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Russian plans for a sham #Nuremberg continue. Talk in Russian newspapers today of a possible two-stage process: . Trials in Mariupol and other cities this summer to be followed by an "international" tribunal held by Donetsk, Lukansk, and the Russian Federation.
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Lectured on the Soviet show trials of the 1930s this morning--highlighting how those on trial were falsely accused of "having worked for foreign organizations" including the Gestapo and British intelligence.
Russian media report @vkaramurza is to be charged with "high treason". He is accused of "having worked for organizations from NATO countries" (which would include the cafe I am sitting in). FSB poisoned Kara-Murza twice, and angry he survived, now wants to jail him for 20 years.
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Glad to see @nytimes reporting on this--but would love to see more rigorous analysis. To start, Putin's claim that "Ukraine is infected with Nazism" is not "tenuous". It is a lie.
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Watching footage of the ongoing Russian assault on Kiev and remembering that 76 years ago today the Soviets were presenting their case on “crimes against humanity” at the Nuremberg Trials.
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Russia must be held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity--including #genocide. @eugene_finkel and I on how the Soviet experience might provide a model. Op-Ed: Lessons from the Soviets on how to hold Russia accountable for war crimes
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“In the Security Council (where it possesses and has abused the veto), and in the General Assembly… the USSR has increasingly attempted to cover its aggressive aims… with vicious charges of fascism, war-mongering and imperialism against [other] states. " 1951.
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But for now--the international conversation about this genocide should focus on prevention.
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Russia is carrying out an illegal war of aggression in Ukraine. It has committed crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It has also embarked on "deukrainization.".
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To me, this much is obvious. We've seen it before. I've spent my career as a historian studying it.
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Have been thinking a lot about the uses and abuses of #history in Putin's Russia. Several things to keep in mind about this new exhibit, "NATO: A Chronicle of Cruelty," besides its obvious propaganda purposes. First, it has been in the works for quite some time.
The Russian Museum of Contemporary History has a new exhibit, "NATO: A Chronicle of Cruelty," which includes Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria & of course "current events in Ukraine, which were caused by its cooperation with NATO"
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International lawyers and international institutions must make absolutely clear that Russia's staging of such a show trial would be a grave criminal act. Western journalists must make this absolutely clear in their coverage as well.
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I don't understand how international lawyers and academics can put forward draft proposals for the "restoration of peace" at this moment that take Russia's claims about "security concerns" seriously--that expect Ukraine to make concessions.
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Russia is guilty of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Russia must be removed from the UN Security Council. It's time to take back our international institutions and to show that the Nuremberg Principles still mean something.
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Repeated calls for "deukrainization”--on Russian State Television, in the Russian press, and by Russian officials like Dmitry Medvedev-- are calls “destroy, in whole or in part” a nation. These are calls for #genocide.
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Sharing my latest piece on the Lawfare Blog. Putin's newly revised “foreign agent” law is part of a larger offensive to crush Russian civil society. It serves Putin’s war of aggression and thus poses a threat to us all.
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I'm not a lawyer. I'm a historian of World War II and the #Nuremberg Trials. Let's be clear: Putin's circle is calling for #genocide.
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Trainin insisted that “an order to commit a crime is not a military order” but “an instigation to evil-doing, for which both the instigator and the agents can and must bear full responsibility.”.
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Putin's circle and the Russian military are waging an illegal war of aggression and have carried out war crimes and crimes against humanity. Why wouldn't we take these calls for #genocide seriously?.
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Putin and his generals wage a brutal war of aggression against Ukraine and commit heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. while the Russian Prosecutor's Office invokes Nuremberg and the Genocide Convention to justify its closing down of Instagram today.
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Russia must be held accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and launching an illegal war of aggression. Ukraine must win this war and have its Nuremberg moment. Many thanks to @aseeestudies for publishing this piece which first appeared in @just_security.
NewsNet July 2022.“Nuremberg and Russia’s War Against Ukraine” by Francine Hirsch, University of Wisconsin – Madison. Full issue is available free:
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A critical step. Recognizing that Putin is a war criminal is an essential starting point for any conversation about the war and the future of the region.
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But we must talk about Russia’s genocidal aims in this war because it shift things. I don’t see how Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, could possibly be expected to “negotiate” with Putin given such intentions.
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Another History job at UW-Madison! Please share widely. Position: Modern France (19th or 20th century). We are especially interested in candidates whose research and teaching examine France's relationship to the wider world. #Twitterstorians.
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As a result of the efforts of Raphael Lemkin, the term #genocide was included in the Indictment for the #Nuremberg Trials of 1945-46 under the category of War Crimes.
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Genocide can be prosecuted as a war crime (as it was at Nuremberg) or as a crime against humanity. Or it can be prosecuted on its own. Plans for genocide, calls for genocide, acts of genocide all demand an immediate and robust response.
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Oleg Morozov, head of the State Duma Control Committee, notes matter-of-factly that a key goal of "special operation" is to dismantle the Belavezha Accords--which declared the end of the Soviet Union.
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Glad to see U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken @SecBlinken officially declare today that members of the Russian armed forces “have committed war crimes in Ukraine.”.
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I'll be speaking about Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg tomorrow at 3pm EST on Zoom at University of Toronto's Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies. Sign-up link below if anyone would like join us.
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Russian show trials in Donetsk will begin by targeting three foreign prisoners-of-war--two from Britain and one from Morocco.
Militants want to shoot three captured foreigners
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Russia must be expelled from the United Nations Security Council. The United Nations General Assembly must act to uphold the Nuremberg Principles and to show the world that international law still matters.
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Victor Klemperer, I Will Bear Witness 1933-1941: A Diary of the Nazi Years. The entries from 1933 are especially powerful. "Every new government decree, announcement, etc. is more shameful than the previous one. ". "And. everyone's keeping his head down. ".
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Let's worry about plans for a peace settlement later--when we have all the facts straight. And lets make sure that Ukrainians are leading this process.
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Soviet chief prosecutor Roman Rudenko also used the term #genocide in his closing speech a few days later. He expressed outrage at the atrocities committed by the Hitlerites and upheld the right of the Allied nations “to punish those who made enslavement and genocide their aim.”.
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I teach a course on Totalitarianism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Here are some reading recommendations from my syllabus.
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From the #Nuremberg Indictment, Count Three. "In certain occupied territories purportedly annexed to Germany the defendants methodically and pursuant to plan endeavored to assimilate those territories politically, culturally, socially, and economically into the German Reich.".
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Russia is committing war crimes, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Every day there are new horrors. It's very presence on the United Nations Security Council is making a mockery of our international institutions and international law.
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As a bandit state in full breach of international law, Russia should be expelled from international institutions and designated a state sponsor of terrorism.
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Totally excited about David Reynold's generous review of Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg in the Times Literary Supplement!.
'Nuremberg did indeed become a show trial, but in ways that Stalin never intended'
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Shawcross emphasized that the Nazis had pursued genocide “in different forms” in Poland, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Alsace-Lorraine.
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Shawcross revisited the evidence about the Einsatzgruppen and Auschwitz. But he also reminded the Tribunal that #genocide had not been limited to the murder of Jews and Gypsies.
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