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Annual Celebration 2017 | 10th Marburg Lecture on International Criminal Law with Bishop Wolfgang Huber
On December 5, 2017, the ICWC held its annual celebration. In this context, the 10th Marburg Lecture on International Criminal Law also took place. This year, we were able to welcome Bishop Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Huber, former Chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, for the keynote lecture, which greatly enriched the celebration with his compelling presentation on “The Cultural Dimension of Genocide.” As usual, the ICWC annual celebration also showcased the center’s academic results and activities, and honored this year’s graduates of the Trial-Monitoring Programme.
As in previous years, the event attracted a large audience from both the academic community and the local public, who were welcomed by the Executive Director of the ICWC, Prof. Dr. Stefanie Bock. The Vice President of Philipps University, Prof. Dr. Joachim Schachtner, as well as Prof. Dr. Benedikt Stuchtey, Dean of the Department of History and Cultural Studies, also addressed the guests with welcome remarks. Prof. Dr. Schachtner particularly praised the ICWC’s outstanding collection of sources on Second World War war crimes, which includes documents from the U.S. National Archives and the Belgian State Archives, and which, according to the Vice President, provides an excellent basis for future research projects. He also highlighted the interdisciplinary character of the center, reflected in its research and teaching as well as its close cooperation with the Center for Conflict Studies, the Department of History and Cultural Studies, and the Faculty of Law. In this context, the ICWC Trial-Monitoring Programme—which this year was awarded the Hessian University Prize for Excellence in Teaching in the category “Student Initiative”—was emphasized as highly significant for the university. Prof. Dr. Stuchtey additionally underscored the ICWC’s role at both the national and international levels, noting that the center makes an important contribution to addressing humanitarian issues in areas such as international criminal law and the penal system.
IIn the subsequent activity report of the center, Prof. Dr. Bock pointed out that the ICWC database already included approximately 11,000 proceedings and 23,800 individuals. These comprise war crimes trials conducted by the United States in the Philippines, as well as cases in Belgium and the French zone. Additionally, post-World War II cases from Luxembourg have been included. During the process of inputting the data, various focal points of the trials emerged, according to the Executive Director. A particular highlight this year was the collaboration with the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, where the ICWC contributed to the creation of an interactive map of the so-called “Flyer Cases.” Cooperation with the IStGH Legal Tools project was also continued. Special recognition was given to the research projects of the center’s academic staff, including the dissertation project by Dirk Stolper, which examines the work and perception of “Eichmann’s lawyer” Robert Servatius. In keeping with the center’s guiding principle of “internationality and interdisciplinarity,” the ICWC’s teaching activities this year also reflected this focus, with contributions from Mr. Taxiarchis Fiskatoris, a research associate at the center, through his seminars on “Leading Cases of Modern International Criminal Law” and “Transnational Crimes: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.”
Moreover, during the past summer semester, the interdisciplinary seminar “Transnational Justice in Cambodia” took place, which also served as preparatory content for the twelve students who accompanied the ICWC Trial-Monitoring 12-day excursion to Cambodia. Additionally, this year a four-member team from Marburg once again participated in the Nuremberg Moot Court and was awarded for the best prosecution brief. Another four students had the opportunity in April to take part in the Model International Criminal Court in Krzyżowa (Poland).
The highlight of the event was the 10th Marburg Lecture on International Criminal Law, delivered by Bishop Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Huber. The former Chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany held his first professorship in Social Ethics at the University of Marburg and later taught in Heidelberg, Atlanta, and Berlin. In his keynote lecture, he shared with the audience his reflections on “The Cultural Dimension of Genocide.” He particularly criticized the neglect of the cultural dimension in the definition of genocide, illustrating his point with Heinrich Heine’s famous words, “He who burns books, burns people too.” In a historical context, this referred to the destruction of Jewish property during the pogrom night of 1939; today, the identity-targeted violence of the Islamic State and the destruction of cultural heritage in Aleppo and Mosul demonstrate the inseparable link between the destruction of culture and the destruction of people. Bishop Huber compared the protection of cultural diversity to biodiversity. One must not understand humans merely as a species in need of protection, but rather focus on the individual’s capacity in relation to themselves. The sustainable preservation of human culture is therefore indispensable.
The subsequent standing reception in the cloister of the Old University provided numerous guests the opportunity to engage in lively discussions about the lecture. The ICWC 2017 Annual Celebration was thus a complete success, and we look forward to welcoming you again next year.