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27 Liverpool L. Rev. 1 (2006)

handle is hein.journals/lvplr27 and id is 1 raw text is: Liverpool Law Review (2006) 27: 1-3                 © Springer 2006
DOI 10.1007/s10991-005-5344-3
MICHAEL SALTER and LORIE CHARLESWORTH*
GENOCIDE AND WAR CRIMES TRIALS: PART TWO
This is of course the second volume of the Special Edition on
Genocide and War Crimes Trials, immediately following the previ-
ous edition of this journal (Vol. 26, No. 3). This earlier edition in-
cluded studies on the deployment of atrocity film evidence at the
Nuremberg trials, plea-bargaining in recent ad hoc UN tribunals
and a case study on the differential legal treatment of two Nazi war
criminals: SS Karl Wolff and Field Marshall Albert Kesselring.
This successor volume complements these earlier studies with arti-
cles by Suzanne Ost, Susan Twist, Salter and Charlesworth and
Barbara Korth, each of which we discuss in turn.
Ost's article is based on extensive archival research that uncov-
ered the implications of newly declassified US intelligence files and
other sources. These include, relevant trial documents translated
from the original German language and, administrative documents
and letters sent to the director of the Kaufbeuren psychiatric insti-
tution in Bavaria from individuals within the Reich Ministry of the
Interior. The topic is one aspect of the extreme form of utilitarian-
ism which lay behind the euthanasia programme, and the associ-
ated objectification and reification of certain individuals as 'stock'
or 'subjects' in order to serve the perceived needs of Nazi German
society. The Nazi eugenic programme involved the killing of men-
tally and physically sick individuals whom officials from this regime
deemed to lack continuing worth. Her account supplements earlier
studies on the Nazi's so-called 'Euthanasia' policies. It also draws
attention to gender issues, not least the fact that women, as well as
men, can be cold, hard killers. Ost brings out new details of the
manner in patients of the institution were, from their admission on-
wards, redefined as disposable objects. She discusses the difficulties
the prosecution's strong evidence posed for the defence case. One
* Dr Michael Salter is Professor of Law at the Lancashire Law School, University
of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom; Dr Lorie Charlesworth is a Senior Lecturer
at the Law School, Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom.

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