'Never Again'? German Chemical Corporation Complicity in the Kurdish Genocide

45 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2014

See all articles by Michael J. Kelly

Michael J. Kelly

Creighton University School of Law; American Bar Association, Business Law Section; American Society of International Law

Date Written: March 5, 2014

Abstract

German chemical corporations were complicit in the gassing of Allied troops in World War I and concentration camp prisoners in World War II. The shock of the Holocaust resulted in adoption of the Genocide Convention and the determination to never let this happen again. Genocide, of course, has happened again, but the great irony is that German chemical corporations were once more complicit in the genocide that wiped out thousands of Kurdish civilians in northern Iraq in 1988. Corporations should be criminally liable for their conduct - including genocide. This paper reviews the evidence and makes the case for prosecuting German chemical corporations for their involvement in the Kurdish genocide.

Keywords: genocide, Germany, Nazi, chemical, gas, poison, Jew, Kurd, World War II, phosgene, Iraq, Saddam, International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court, ICC, Rome, Berlin, chemical weapons, mustard gas, nerve agent

JEL Classification: K00, K14, K22, K33, K29, K39

Suggested Citation

Kelly, Michael J., 'Never Again'? German Chemical Corporation Complicity in the Kurdish Genocide (March 5, 2014). Berkeley Journal of International Law (BJIL), Vol. 31, No. 2, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2405075

Michael J. Kelly (Contact Author)

Creighton University School of Law ( email )

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American Society of International Law

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