China and India's foundational role in WW2 era war crimes prosecutions in Europe and Asia

Author: Megan McNichols

Dan Plesch

Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy  SOAS, University of London

Presenting a document unseen for 70 years – a United Nations War Crimes Commission indictment of Adolph Hitler, dating from December 1944 – Dr. Dan Plesch begins his review of a largely forgotten chapter in human rights history. This seemingly modest scrap of typewritten paper that looks, Plesch quips, “like a traffic ticket for war crimes,” serves as introduction to the extensive U.N. mechanisms, in force long before the famed Nuremberg trials, that sought to define and prosecute crimes against humanity during the Second World War.

Dan Plesch’s visit to Notre Dame was sponsored by the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and The Center for Civil and Human Rights. His full presentation can be viewed below.