Chapter 2, "A Crime Without a Name" Summary

In 1921, a young Armenian survivor, Soghomon Tehlirian, assassinated Talaat. While he was awaiting trail, a young Polish Jew, Raphael Lemkin heard about his case and became intrigued with why Talaat had not been arrested for his crimes in the first place and why there were no international laws covering such atrocities. Lemkin had long been fascinated by atrocity, even before he heard of Talaat's assassination. He had read many of the histories detailing mass slaughter.

Later, as a lawyer, he made plans to speak at an international law conference, drafting a paper that discussed Hitler's rise to power and the Turkish slaughter of Armenians. He proposed a law that would prohibit the destruction of racial, ethnic, and religious groups. He believed that both the physical and cultural existence of groups needed to be preserved. However, Polish officials prevented...