The Man Who Coined 'Genocide'
The 51st yahrzeit of Dr. Raphael Lemkin, the international lawyer who created the United Nations Genocide Convention, will doubtless pass unnoticed on August 28, just as his 50th did last year. This is not unexpected: Lemkin — who coined, conceptualized and defined genocide and who worked tirelessly inside and outside the U.N. to make its prevention and prosecution part of international law — does not have a street anywhere named after him, or a memorial of him at the U.N. Nor was he awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for which he was unsuccessfully nominated five times.