ABSTRACT
What seems, at first consideration, surprising is the rather muted character of any explicit acknowledgement of the relevance of the Holocaust to most accounts of the origins of the movement for the international protection of human rights. It is particularly surprising because the historical setting of the late 1940s was significantly shaped by the shocked awareness of the systematic extent, ferocity, and forethought of Nazi genocidal atrocities. This awareness was an essential aspect of the moral consciousness that dominated the period during and immediately after World War II. It was in these years that any kind of political and legal commitment to international human rights was initially clearly articulated. The inspiration for this development was most prominently provided by Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms.” This description of the war aims of the victors in World War II paved the way for the insertion of several hortatory provisions in the United Nations (UN) Charter, which in turn led to the first comprehensive formulation of international human rights in a text that was to achieve enduring influence and admiration, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
