ABSTRACT
I. I n t r o d u c t i o n 4 4 7 II. The League o f Nations and the M i n o r i t y Clauses 449 I l l . The Pioneer Role o f A n d r e Mandelstam and the
I n v o l v e m e n t o f Nongovernmental O r g a n i z a t i o n s 4 5 0 IV. The Emergence o f N a z i Germany and the
H a i t i a n Proposals t o the League o f Nations 455 V. C o n t i n u i n g N e g l e c t o f the H u m a n Rights Concept
b y Prewar P o l i t i c a l T h o u g h t 459 VI. The Rights o f M a n Campaign o f H . G . W e l l s 4 6 4 VII. President Roosevelt and the Four Freedoms 468 VIII. The H u m a n Rights M o v e m e n t D u r i n g W o r l d War II 471 IX. The O p e n i n g Phase o f the San Francisco Conference 4 7 4 X. E p i l o g u e - The Need f o r Further Research 4 7 7
I . INTRODUCTION
T w i c e in the course o f history the idea o f human rights arose as awave, exerting ap o w e r f u l i n f l u e n c e in the fields o f p o l i t i c s , legislation and the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n o f justice. The first wave had its beginnings in the seventeenth century and its c u l m i n a t i o n towards the end o f the eighteenth century. The second wave began its rise in the present century and has, Iam sure, n o t yet reached its c u l m i n a t i o n . But w h a t was the o r i g i n o f this revival o f the human rights idea? W h e n d i d i t come a b o u t and how? M a n y historical accounts treat this question in aw a y that c a n n o t satisfy
me. H a v i n g d e a l t w i t h the famous declarations o f the late eighteenth century,
they make ab i g j u m p t o t h e San Francisco Conference o f 1945 w h e r e the p r o m o t i o n o f human rights was i n c l u d e d a m o n g the purposes o f the U n i t e d N a t i o n s . This i n c l u s i o n is then e x p l a i n e d as areaction to the atrocities c o m m i t t e d d u r i n g the Second W o r l d War. Id o n o t d o u b t t h a t there is al i n k between the horrors perpetrated b y the Nazis d u r i n g the w a r and the emphasis p l a c e d on human rights in the San Francisco Charter, b u t this can o n l y be ap a r t i a l e x p l a n a t i o n . H u m a n rights already had been recognized as am a t t e r o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o n c e r n in i m p o r t a n t p o l i c y statements w h e n the most sinister p a r t o f these h o r r o r s - t h e h o l o c a u s t - w a s yet to come. O n 6j a n u a r y 1941 President Roosevelt said in his State o f the U n i o n
Message: " F r e e d o m means the supremacy o f human rights everywhere. O u r s u p p o r t goes to those w h o struggle t o gain these rights o r keep t h e m . " A t t h a t t i m e the U n i t e d States, the Soviet U n i o n and japan w e r e n o t yet i n v o l v e d i n the war. O n N e w Year's D a y 1 9 4 2 , less than f o u r weeks after Pearl Harbor, the A l l i e d Powers i n c l u d e d the p r o t e c t i o n o f human rights among t h e i r w a r aims b y stating " t h a t c o m p l e t e v i c t o r y o v e r t h e i r enemies is essential . . • to preserve human rights and j u s t i c e i n t h e i r o w n lands as w e l l as in o t h e r l a n d s . " Evidently, human rights were already b a c k on the p o l i t i c a l scene at an e a r l y stage o f the war. O n e m i g h t even guess t h a t the c o m e b a c k o f human rights as g u i d i n g p r i n c i p l e s f o r n a t i o n a l and i n t e r n a t i o n a l relations had begun in the p e r i o d between the First and the Second W o r l d War. That p e r i o d had seen the rise o f an e w p h e n o m e n o n , the T o t a l i t a r i a n State, whose total disregard f o r human l i f e and l i b e r t y made p r e v i o u s forms o f despotism appear c o m p a r a t i v e l y m i l d . W o u l d n ' t i t seem l o g i c a l to assume that, in the face o f the t o t a l i t a r i a n threat, f r e e d o m - l o v i n g i n t e l l e c t u a l s had rediscovered the v a l u e o f the human rights concept? For m a n y years Ihave w i s h e d t o read ab o o k a b o u t the o r i g i n o f the
r e v i v a l o f t h e h u m a n rights idea i n the t w e n t i e t h century. Iam p a r t i c u l a r l y i n t r i g u e d b y t h i s q u e s t i o n because the idea o f human rights, w h i c h had e n j o y e d tremendous p o p u l a r i t y i n the late eighteenth c e n t u r y , f e l l i n t o v i r t u a l o b l i v i o n u n t i l m y o w n l i f e t i m e . In v i e w o f the absence o f ab o o k on this q u e s t i o n , Imade an i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f m y o w n d u r i n g the past f e w months. For t h i s purpose Irelied m a i n l y on t w o l i b r a r i e s in m y h o m e t o w n The Hague: the Royal L i b r a r y ( w h i c h is the D u t c h n a t i o n a l l i b r a r y ) and the l i b r a r y o f the Peace Palace. The results o f t h i s l i m i t e d research w e r e surprising. Ilearned about the
i m p o r t a n t c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f t w o men Ihad n e v e r heard o f before: the l a w y e r - d i p l o m a t s M a n d e l s t a m and Frangulis, aRussian and aGreek w h o l i v e d as emigres i n Paris. C o n t r a r y t o m y expectations, If o u n d t h a t the c o m e b a c k o f h u m a n rights t o the p o l i t i c a l scene had n o t r e a l l y started before the Second W o r l d War. Idiscovered t h a t t h i s c o m e b a c k was m a i n l y due to alarge-scale c a m p a i g n i n i t i a t e d b y aperson Ik n e w v e r y w e l l b u t n o t in that role: the British a u t h o r H . G . W e l l s . F i n a l l y , the p r o m i n e n t place o f h u m a n rights i n the U n i t e d N a t i o n s Charter t u r n e d o u t n o t t o be areaction t o i n f o r m a t i o n
1 9 9 2 Road t o San Francisco 449
t h a t had b e c o m e a v a i l a b l e i n San Francisco after t h e c o l l a p s e o f the T h i r d Reich. In the f o l l o w i n g sections Ir e p o r t o n the f i n d i n g s o f m y i n v e s t i g a t i o n .
