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Human Rights and Decolonization

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Abstract

The contemporary concern for human rights is inextricably linked to their violation by the German National Socialists as well as the weak reaction from abroad from 1933 until their defeat in World War II. The inhumanity of the Nazis and their allies, including the Italian Fascists before the war, culminated in an explicit program to exterminate Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and other ‘subhuman species’, especially in the German occupied territories. One of the purposes of the newly established United Nations was to see to it that this was never to happen again.

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© 2005 Peter R. Baehr and Leon Gordenker

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Baehr, P.R., Gordenker, L. (2005). Human Rights and Decolonization. In: The United Nations: Reality and Ideal. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501096_5

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