Verfassungsblog (Jul 2024)

“Never Again” - The Holocaust, Trauma, and Its Effect on Constitutional and International Law

  • Mattias Kumm,
  • Liav Orgad

DOI
https://doi.org/10.59704/4c7cfdf3272a4005
Journal volume & issue
no. 2366-7044

Abstract

Read online

“Never again” is, first and foremost, a story. It’s a story about our collective fears, anxieties, and aspirations, those moments and events that we have promised ourselves that will never be repeated. The Jewish story is interwoven with the Holocaust—the killing of six million Jews in Europe and the urgency of the re-establishment of a Jewish state to solve the problem of Jewish homelessness. Yet the constitutional and international meaning of “never again” depends on one’s position and point of view, and it changes over time. The chain reaction that began with the horrors of WWII continues to drive constitutional and international agendas. It is clear that “history talks,” but in which direction?

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