René Cassin and Human Rights: From the Great War to the Universal Declaration

Contents......Page 9
Plates......Page 11
Preface and acknowledgments......Page 15
Introduction to the English edition......Page 19
Abbreviations......Page 24
Part I In the shadow of the Great War......Page 27
The family......Page 29
Education......Page 35
Friends......Page 40
2 The Great War and its aftermath......Page 45
A casualty of war......Page 46
Victims’ rights: a prelude to social security in France......Page 51
President of the UF, 1922-23......Page 59
The national commissions for disabled veterans and wards of the nation......Page 61
Autonomous and centralized commissions......Page 62
Joint control......Page 64
Increasing influence......Page 69
Professor of law......Page 70
The UF and the National Commission for Disabled Veterans (ONM)......Page 72
The National Commission for Wards of the Nation (ONP)......Page 74
3 Cassin in Geneva......Page 77
The third way, the ILO and veterans’ politics, 1919-25......Page 78
CIAMAC......Page 85
The League of Nations......Page 89
Intellectual cooperation......Page 91
L’Union Internationale de Secours (UIS)......Page 94
The Geneva Protocol......Page 96
A political interlude......Page 98
Disarmament: endgame......Page 102
4 From nightmare to reality, 1936-1940......Page 106
A personal reckoning......Page 107
From collective security to the Leviathan state, 1935-40......Page 110
Growing isolation in the veterans’ movement......Page 120
The end of a world......Page 128
Part II The jurist of Free France......Page 133
5 Free France, 1940-1941......Page 135
The Churchill-de Gaulle accords: negotiations and outcomes......Page 136
The Defence Council of the Empire......Page 142
Living under the Blitz......Page 154
6 World War, 1941-1943......Page 160
Permanent secretary of the Defence Council......Page 161
Exiles......Page 167
Cassin among the Allies......Page 169
Minister of Justice and Education......Page 176
Ambassador of Free France, 1942......Page 177
The organization of the Ministry......Page 184
The study of post-war problems......Page 185
Human rights......Page 187
The Provisional Consultative Assembly (ACP)......Page 191
What now?......Page 194
The re-establishment of Republican legality......Page 205
Cassins political thinking and the law of 21 April 1944......Page 210
Dealing with the victims of Vichy......Page 214
Vichy repression and respect for the general principles of law......Page 219
The course of justice and the crime of national indignity......Page 246
The man in the portrait......Page 250
The teacher......Page 255
Loyalties......Page 259
Part III The struggle for human rights......Page 269
9 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: origins and echoes......Page 271
Rethinking state sovereignty: Geneva and The Hague......Page 272
Towards UNESCO......Page 277
The Commission on Human Rights......Page 283
The Universal Declaration: a collective manifesto......Page 286
The European turn......Page 301
The Nobel Prize and after......Page 309
10 The vice-president of the Conseil d’Etat, 1944-1960......Page 315
New directions for the Conseil d’Etat......Page 316
The war in Algeria......Page 324
Chairing the executive board of ENA......Page 329
From the Fourth to the Fifth Republic......Page 343
11 A Jewish life......Page 351
The legacy of the war......Page 353
The President of the Alliance Israélite Universelle......Page 359
Cassin, the AIU, France and Israel......Page 372
Cassin and the French Jewish community......Page 386
Conclusion......Page 391
Sources and archives......Page 404
Bibliography......Page 407
Index......Page 411