ECCHR Newsletter 05 2009 ENG

8/2/2019 ECCHR Newsletter 05 2009 ENG

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documentation o the conerence, such as reports,

video contributions, and interesting interviews with

conerence participants (including Colin Gonsalves

rom India and member o the ECCHR advisory

board Peter Weiss rom the U.S): http://www.ecchr.

eu/tnc.html.

The brutal murder o the Chechen critical Umar

Israilov on 13 January 2009 in Vienna has raised

much alarm and concern. In Austria on June 13,2008 the ECCHR pressed criminal charges o mur-

der and torture against the President o the Russian

Constituent Republic Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov,

based on the principle o universal jurisdiction.

Kadyrov made a stopover in Austria during the UEFA

European Championship. The unpublished charge

against him is mostly based on the testimony o

Israilov, who has also lodged a complaint against

Russia to the European Court o Human Rights.

Israilov has described how he had been arrested

ECCHR! NEWSLETTEREUROPEAN CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS

CONTENT

01 Introductory Remarks by Wolgang Kaleck

Business and Human Rights

02 ECCHR Conerence Report and European Cases

Database

Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights

03 Second Edition o Extraordinary Rendition

booklet now available

Universal Justice

04 ECCHR criminal complaint against Ramzan

Kadyrov on the charge o torture06 The obligation not to keep silent - Interview

Ellen Marx

Conference Announcements

12 Conerence NATO and Human Rights in

Strasbourg on April 1, 2009

14 Conerence Impunity or Torture in Berlin on

April 3, 2009

14 Lectures on Law Schools in the USA

15 Impressum

No. 5 / 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Dear Friends,

In the latest edition o our newsletter, you will learn

about the recent activities o ECCHR in our three

major lines o work: business and human rights,

universal jurisdiction and the ght against terrorism

and human rights.

We are happy to announce a new edition to the sta

at ECCHR, increasing the number o European sta

members in our team: Along with German-Hungarian

Operations Manager Albert Koncsek, Greek jurist Dr.

Jorgos Sotiriadis, British political scientist Ben Hayes

and Polish jurist Kamil Majchrzak (all working in the

eld o counterterrorism), Dutch jurist Grietje Baars

(director o the program or universal jurisdiction) will

now be working with us. Dr. Miriam Saage-Maa (di-

rector or the program o business and human rights)

is the only German in our team other than mysel,

Wolgang Kaleck, Secretary General o ECCHR.

Additionally, there are 12 interns and trainee lawyers

currently working with us.

We would like to draw your attention to our two up-

coming events: NATO and Human Rights. The Role

o NATO Post-9/11 on April 1, 2009 in Strasbourg

and Impunity or Torture: The long-desired end

or continuity? on April 3, 2009 in Berlin (urther

details below).

During the ECCHR conerence Transnational Cor-porations and Human Rights, held last October

2008, we discussed the possibility o holding corpo-

rations that commit human rights violations legally

accountable. With the guidance o Denise Bentele

we gathered together and analyzed numerous ca-

ses (the majority o which were European cases)

that dealt with this issueand created an overview

o the proceedings that took place over the last ew

years. Our ndings and analyses are published on

our website: http://www.ecchr.eu/casesdatabase.

html. On our website you may also nd extensive


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by Kadyrovs ollowers and tortured in a detention

center. Israilov had seen how other detainees were

tortured, sometimes even by Kadyrov himsel. What

is particularly disturbing about this case is the act

that Austrian authorities ailed to take action whenthere was evidence o a threat against the witness

and his amily. Moreover, even when Israilov made

a request or personal protection shortly beore his

murder, the authorities did not provide it.

Tremendous hopes were brought along with the shit

o governmental power in the US, many o which

have been realized since President Obamas rst

week in oce. The ormer Bush Administration not

only passed along a substantial decit and economic

crisis into the hands o the new administration, but

also let a very sensitive, legal decision to be made.

The question o whether the Obama Administration

should undertake criminal prosecutions against high-

level ocials o the ormer administration or torture

has been widely debated over the past ew months.

From a critical human rights perspective, we oer

our support and guidance to the new administration

in deciding what measures to take or this issue.

Conjointly with the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture,

Manred Nowak, the ECCHR has made criminal pro-

ceedings against the ormer US President George W.

Bush. Nowak, also a renowned Viennese proessor

has written an introduction or the newly revised,

second edition o our book CIA Extraordinary

Rendition Flights, Torture and Accountability A

European Approach , which is available in hard

copy and on our website at http://www.ecchr.eu/

Sincerely,

Wolgang Kaleck

ECCHR Secretary General

Business and Human Rights

ECCHR Conference and European Cases Database

On October 9 and 10, 2008, experts rom around

the world came together in Berlin or the ECCHR

Conerence, Transnational Corporations and Human

Rights , which was organized in cooperation with the

church aid organizations Bread or the World (Brot

r die Welt) and Misereor. There, representatives

o human rights and development organizations,lawyers, social activists, and academics discussed

human rights violations committed by transnational

corporations and ways to hold these corporations

accountable. Especially at issue was the eect o

globalization on issues o human rights. Twenty-

eight speakers and over two hundred participants

rom more than thirty countries and ve continents

attended the conerence.

The ECCHR has already published documents rom

the conerence, including summary reports rom

panel discussions, selected interviews, and videos.

This comprehensive material is now also available

in PDF ormat and can be downloaded at: http://

www.ecchr.eu/tnc.html.

European legal systems are not equipped to deal

with human rights violations caused by transnational

corporations. It is thereore very dicult to seek legal

redress, whether in civil or criminal proceedings.

Legal norms and standards are insuciently applied

to TNCs by courts and law enorcement agencies in

European countries; their legal systems are ailing to

address the reality o globalized economic structures.

This conclusion ollows the analysis o 69 court

cases across Europe involving alleged human rights

violations by transnational corporations under the di-

rection o Denise Bentele o ECCHR. The 69 lawsuits

contained in ECCHRs European Cases Database

stem rom 46 separate cases.


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The European Cases Database can be downloaded

at: http://www.ecchr.eu/casesdatabase.html.

More detailed inormation in regard to each case can

be ordered by writing an e-mail to [email protected].

The methodology employed by ECCHR allowed

comparative analysis o these cases, despite the

jurisdictional and procedural dierences among

European legal systems.

Now that some o the largest TNCs are comparable

to the GDP o entire countries, these corporations

wield tremendous power over European economies

and labor markets. The growing power o TNCs has

not been matched by legal checks-and-balances or

mechanisms or accountability. This is particularly

the case in politically and economically unstable

regions, where TNCs can have a substantial eco-

logical, political, social and cultural impact. This

oten includes the violation o civil, social, cultural

and economic human rights.

In the opinion o ECCHR and many others across civil

society, legal responsibilities arise rom the actual

power o transnational corporations. This opinion is

also shared by many nongovernmental, as well as

scientic organizations. The international ECCHR

conerence held in 2008 extensively discussed this

topic as a key issue.

As stressed by John Ruggie, Special Representative

o the UN Secretary-General on Business and Human

rights, the corporate responsibility to respect human

rights exists independently o state obligations.

Prerequisite or the successul use o legal instru-ments against transnational corporation and board

members responsible or human rights violations is

both a careul analysis o the legal situation in the

aected jurisdictions and a systematic analysis o

previous legal practice.

Until now, there were no attempts on the European

level to systematically record and evaluate procee-

dings concerned with human rights violations o

corporations with headquarters in Europe. Some

databases record proceedings across Europe, but

these databases neither record all proceedings,

nor do they provide an analysis o the proceedings.

The present study o ECCHR aims to remedy the-

se inadequacies. However, the intention is not tocontinuously update this database, but rather to

review and analyze previous legal work, with hopes

o learning lessons or uture cases.

As a European organization, ECCHR aims to identiy

human rights violations o European corporations

and tries to hold these corporations responsible or

their actions.

Counter-Terrorism andHuman Rights

Second Edition o ExtraordinaryRendition booklet now available

We are delighted to introduce to you our second edi-

tion o the ECCHR publication: CIA Extraordinary

Rendition Flights, Torture and Accountability A

European Approach. The second edition o the pu-

blication provides an overview o the legal reactions

o aected European countries (Germany, Poland,

Italy, Spain, etc.) and the USA regarding the CIAs

extraordinary rendition program.

Pro. Dr. Manred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur

on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading

Treatment and Director o the Ludwig Boltzmann

Institute o Human Rights in Vienna (Austria), has

written an inspiring introduction or this new editi-

on. He argues that it is important to deal with the

present topic as current U.S. practice provides anextremely poor and dangerous example. Margaret

L. Satterthwaite o New York University School o

Law has, or the second time, contributed to the

new article The U.S. Program o Extraordinary

Rendition and Secret Detention: Past and Future.

She examines the secret CIA programs discord with

international law as well as potential changes that

the new administration in Washington D.C. might

bring about. The authors o ECCHR provide detailed

analyses o the civil and criminal proceedings initiated

by victims and human rights organizations in Europe


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The printed version o the booklet is available through

the ECCHR at a service charge o 6 EUR + shipping ees.

Please contact [email protected] or more inormation.

Universal Justice

ECCHR criminal complaint against

Ramzan Kadyrov on the charge o torture

On January 13, 2009, Umar Israilov, considered

a persecuted political reugee in Austria, was shot

dead in the streets o Vienna. The circumstances

o the event show that Israilov was the victim o a

politically contracted murder.

Previously, Israilov had served as a chie witness in

the court proceeding against Russia, held beore

the European Court o Human Rights (EGMR) in

Strasbourg, and in another proceeding led by the

European Center or Constitutional and Human

Rights (ECCHR) against Ramzan Kadyrov, the sitting

president o the Republic o Chechnya. On June 13,

2008, Austrian lawyers on behal o ECCHR led a

complaint against Kadyrov on charges o torture and

attempted duress. The public prosecution in Vienna

is currently pursuing a preliminary investigation

concerning this issue.

Prior to his murder, Israilov had reported that he had

been illegally detained in Chechnyas Camp Tsento-

roi rom April to July 2003 and tortured repeatedly

by President Kadyrov himsel. Moreover, during

his captivity at Tsentoroi and subsequent period

o orced labor imposed by the Chechen security

service, Israilov witnessed numerous accounts o

systematic torture and unlawul executions conduc-ted by Kadyrov and his associates.

The criminal complaint led by ECCHR contains

detailed testimony rom Israilov regarding the hu-

man rights abuses committed by Kadyrov and his

subordinates, the so-called Kadyrovsty. These

members are known to be involved in arbitrary de-

tentions, kidnapping, blackmailing, harassment o

amily members, torture and unlawul executions.

Unortunately, Israilov and his amily discovered

these truths the hard way.

and the U.S. Moreover, they examine attempts to

comprehensively clear up acts by trying to legally

enorce the ree fow o inormation.

Over the last years, the ECCHR dealt with the CIAprogram and the responsibilities o European states

in several events, or instance in Berlin, Warsaw

and Copenhagen. Human rights organizations and

committed lawyers in aected countries oered their

support and assistance in clearing up the overall

program, as well as in the resolution o individual

cases. However, despite the positive impact o the

investigations, it must be emphasized that the inves-

tigations aced several legal and political obstacles.

The ECCHR learned rsthand about these obstacles

when attempting to expose the CIAs abduction oGerman citizen, Khaled El-Masri. In September

2007, the German government announced that, in

order to avoid political confict, it would not request

extraditions rom the United States. Thereore, in

June 2008, the ECCHR led a complaint against the

Federal Republic o Germany at the Administrative

Court in Berlin on behal o El-Masri. An extradition

warrant was requested or the CIA agents involved

in the abduction o El-Masri, who had already been

issued an arrest warrant by the district court o

Munich.


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return to Chechnya. It is assumed that this man was

instructed by Kadyrov. These warnings, directed at

Israilov and his amily, declared: I we can clariy all

issues on the phone tonight talk to you no harm

will happen to you or those who are close to you...so nobody can touch them. Also: I came only

because you have children and a wie and because

someone will go to your amily and torment them.

The seriousness and legitimacy o these threats was

never doubted. It is mentioned in past reports by

independent human rights organizations that the

disappearance o amily members and endangerment

o lawyers is not unusual in Chechnya.

Kadyrov himsel openly boasted about the policy o

clan liability and explained: We will punish their

relatives according to law ... and i there is no such

law, we will ask or it; we will turn to the Russian

State Duma and they will pass such a law so that it

becomes possible to punish.

Evidence and testimony against Ramzan Kadyrov

prove that he is strongly suspected to have commit-

ted crimes such as torture and attempted grievous

duress. In response, ECCHR has already inormed

the Austrian authorities on July 13, 2008 o their

plan to press criminal charges against him.

Yet it is dicult to understand why the Austrian

authorities neither started investigations in the rst

place nor issued an arrest warrant when Kadyrov

visited Austria, as now conrmed by Austrian autho-

rities, during Russias participation in the EM ootball

games. Numerous opportunities or investigation

were available, as it was known that he was attending at

least part o the games between Russia and Greeceon June 14, 2008, between Russia and Sweden on

June 18, 2008, and between Russia and Spain on

June 26, 2008.

As or their response, the Prosecution o Salzburg

claimed to be unable to issue an arrest warrant

without rst transerring the proceeding to the com-

petent authorities in Vienna. Originally, however, the

public prosecution declined to react because it was

the weekend. Aterwards, without having questioned

Israilov and without conducting any type o investiga-

Israilov reported that on April 15, 2003, Kadyrov

and his bodyguards entered his cell and harassed

him unconscious with cigarette butts, pistol grips,

and other instruments. First, his bodyguards began

to beat me, Israilov recounted. Then, Kadyrovhimsel hit me with his pistol and started kicking

me. I tripped and lost consciousness.

On other occasions, Israilov was tortured with elec-

tric shocks. In reerence to Israilovs testimony:

Kadyrovs guards orced me to sit on an exercise

machine and attached one cable to my ear and

another to my pinky nger. Then, Kadyrov began

turning the crank handle which delivered an electric

shock. I elt an awul pain in my head and my hand.

In addition, Israilov recalls being abused with a metal

rod as thick as a nger and stabbed in his legs. The

scars and burns caused by the torture that Israilov

experienced during his our-month detainment are

still visible years ater the mistreatment had occurred.

A medical evaluation conrmed that the physical

injuries were compatible with the statements made by

Israilov. Moreover, the Independent Oce or Asylum

(UBAS) approved the credibility o the allegations o

torture and considered him a reugee.

Israilovs ather had undergone similar experiences.

He, along with his wie and sister-in-law, were unla-

wully arrested on Kadyrovs order in autumn 2004.

At this time, Israilov and his wie had managed to

escape to Poland with ake passports.

Israilovs ather was also tortured and subjected to

inhuman and degrading treatment by the securi-

ty service in an attempt to encourage Israilov to

move back to Chechnya. This continued or overten months. Among other episodes, he was beaten

unconscious while tied to a pool table and tormented

with electric shocks. During his imprisonment, he

also witnessed systematic torture and mistreatments

and is now willing to testiy beore court.

President Kadyrov, besides being strongly suspected

o committing these ill-treatments, was also believed

to have attempted grievous duress. In 2008, a male

individual contacted Israilov and threatened him

to withdraw his complaint beore the EGMR and


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according to Art. 5 o the Convention irrespective o

the laws applicable at the scene o the crime. Thus,

the penal investigations against Kadyrov should have

been instituted immediately while he was present

in Austria.

As President o Chechnya, a non-sovereign ederal

state within the Russian Federation, Ramzan Kadyrov

is unable to plead personal immunity on any account.

Thereore, Austria did not meet its legal responsi-

bilities regarding the UN Convention against Tor-

ture to bring action against Kadyrovs allegations o

torture. In addition, in January 2009 the Austrian

police still reused to provide security protection to

Israilov, his pregnant wie, or his three children. At

this point, there was sucient evidence indicating

the preparation o a politically contracted murder

and organized displacement o dissidents. The tragic

consequence was the assassination o Israilov in

Vienna on January 13, 2009.

What rests now is the hope that the Austrian autho-

rities thoroughly investigate both the assassination

o Israilov as well as his preliminary harassment and

that the proceeding against Ramzan Kadyrov on

charges o torture continue to be actively pursued.

The obligation not to keep silent:Interview with Ellen Marx

On March 24, 1921, Ellen P. de Marx was born in

Berlin; on September 11, 2008 she died in Hogar

Alredo Hirsch, a Jewish residential care home in

the province o Buenos Aires. During the last decades

o her lie, Ellen Marx was one o the most importantrepresentatives o the Argentinean human rights

movement. Ms. Marx came to Argentina in 1939

with a group o Jewish adolescents. Her mother

and nine other members o her amily had been

killed by the National Socialists. In August 1976,

during the last military dictatorship in Argentina, her

youngest daughter Nora had been kidnapped. To this

day her whereabouts remain unknown. Testimony

suggests that she did not survive her rst days in

custody under grave torture. Ever since, Ellen Marx

struggled to uncover the truth and seek punishment

tion, they reused to issue an arrest warrant against

Kadyrov claiming that the evidence brought orward

would be insucient.

Wolgang Kaleck, Secretary General o ECCHR, hasassailed the behavior o the Austrian authorities by

saying that these incidents are unacceptable or a

constitutional state. Austria is obligated to intervene

in such cases under the UN Convention against

Torture.

Austria ratied the UN Convention against Torture

in 1987. Article 5 (2) explicitly states that every

contracted state is obligated to take the necessary

measures in order to establish its jurisdiction over

such oences in cases where the alleged oender

is present in any territory under its jurisdiction.

Manred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture,

conrms that this implementation o the principle o

universal jurisdiction obligates all 154 contracting sta-

tes o the UN Convention against Torture to institute

penal investigations against every person suspected

o torture who is present in its territory or whatever

reason. This obligation stands irrespective o where

the crime was committed and the nationality o the

oenders and victims.

The only precondition necessary to establish the

jurisdiction o the state is the presence o the al-

leged oender. Since Kadyrov remained in Austria

during much o the European Championship, this

precondition was clearly met.

Moreover, article 6 (1) o the UN Convention Against

Torture reads that a Party State, in whose territory

a person alleged to have committed any oencereerred to in article 4 is present, shall take him

into custody or take other legal measures to ensure

his presence.

According to this provision, persons alleged o torture

shall be arrested immediately and criminal investi-

gations shall ensue.

The Austrian ederal government understands that

universal jurisdiction is applicable in Austria and

armed that Austria will make use o the jurisdiction


7/15

went to school the next morning. There, the deputy

headmaster handed out a letter to me in which the

mayor o Berlin asked my ather to take his daugh-

ter rom the school. One o my teachers took me

aside and whispered that he wished me all the best.Other teachers and classmates looked away. Ater

the Kristallnacht, all Jewish students were thrown

out o the school day ater day. I received my nal

marks and that was it. I had not even made my

nal secondary school examinations (Abitur), and

although I later tried to catch up in Argentina, I

never succeeded.

From 1933 onwards I was already aware o a gro-

wing stifing atmosphere. The teachers all identi-

ed themselves more or less with National Soci-

alism. Many o the girls at school were members

o Bund Deutscher Mdel [League o German

Girls, the emale branch o the Nazi party youth

movement]. Since many Jewish amilies had been

living in Charlottenburg, there were many Jewish

girls at this school in the beginning. The rst ones

that let the school came rom amilies that had fed

Bolschevism in the Soviet Union or anti-Semitism

in Poland and Hungary. Apparently these amilies

had preserved their instinct or danger. In contrast,

the long-established Jewish educated bourgeoisie

elt itsel as part o the German culture and people,

and chose to ignore the danger.

I had also elt like I belonged to the German culture.

By the way, I still do. I still remember verses o Schil-

ler and Goethe in critical moments. I experienced

German culture by the Berliner Kulturbund, which

was established ater 1933 or the Jewish cultural

lie. I was also very much interested in history.

Already my grandather and my mother had beenmembers o the Social Democrats. My ather and

my maternal grandmother had been democrats.

I read a lot o authors rom the Weimar Republic.

What was your relationship to Judaism at that time?

While I was going to school, I was a member o the

Jdischer Bund. My ather made sure that I was

part o the youth movement o the Central-Verein,

as I was his only daughter. There we discussed

Jewish culture, Jewish history and the development

or the crimes o the dictatorships in Argentina and

Germany. Until recently she headed a group con-

sisting o mothers o German origin o disappeared

persons and other victims o the dictatorship. In

1998, this group, together with the ArgentineanNobel Peace Prize Laureate Adolo Perez Esquivel,

provided the impetus or the establishment o the

German human rights network Coalition against

Impunity. Since then, the coalition and its lawyers

have initiated criminal investigations by German

prosecuting authorities in the name o 39 victims o

the dictatorship amongst them Nora Marx against

a total o 90 members o the Argentinean military

as well as high-ranking sta o Mercedes-Benz. At

least 14 independent unionists disappeared in the

companys Argentinean actory.

In recent years, Wolgang Kaleck (1999) and Gert

Eisenbrger have each interviewed Ellen Marx. Mr.

Kaleck spoke with her about her adolescence in

Berlin and her emigration to Buenos Aires, while

Mr. Eisenbrger discussed her commitment in Ar-

gentina. From their interviews, they have composed

the ollowing text which provides insight into a great

humanist and an exceptional woman.

Ms. Marx, what are your memories of your time in

Berlin before you emigrated to Argentina?

I was born on March 24, 1921 in the Oranienbur-

ger Strae in Berlin-Mitte. My ather, who dealt in

leather goods, had an oce there with a cellar. First

I attended the 24th elementary school which was

situated behind the Garnisons-church, then the high

school in the Ziegelstrae. Ater we had moved to

Charlottenburg I attended the Frstin-Bismarck-

School. One o my most traumatic memories isrelated to the Reichskristallnacht. On the night

between November 9-10, 1938, I awoke because

o loud noise. I heard cars driving up and down

the street and the sound o glass breaking. I got up

and looked through the window. Across the street,

windows o a grocery story owned by Jewish widow

Kppen had been smashed. The cars then departed.

From the distance, I heard re department sirens

on Kurrstendamm. The next day we heard on the

radio that all synagogues not adjoining German civil

buildings had been burned down. Nevertheless, I


8/15

How were the preparations for your departure?

The Jdische Bund prepared its members or a

joint emigration ater the Kristallnacht. I had taken

lessons in Spanish at the Frstin-Bismarck-Schuleor two years. I had always been very interested

in oreign languages and knew Latin, English and

French. Apart rom that, we had very little time to

prepare our emigration, since we were no longer

allowed to meet as an overall organization. All Jewish

associations were closed. We used to go in pairs to

the houses and wait until the others had disappeared

around the corner beore leaving ourselves.

How was the emigration itself?

Three groups departed rom Berlin consecutively,

and I was in the third group. On April 13, 1939 we

departed rom Janowitzbrcke station. My mother

and my grandather accompanied me to the sub-

urban train station in Bellevue and said goodbye

to me on the platorm. My ather was not able to

bear the arewell, so he stayed at home. This was

the last time that I saw my amily. We then came to

Aachen, where we were harassed again but or the

last time. They strip-searched us and wanted to see

whether we had taken more than 10 Marks with us,

the maximum amount permitted. Because o that

procedure we missed the train, and our group o

32 or 33 people had to take a local train at around

midnight, arriving in Paris early in the morning. There

we received visas and tickets or Argentina that the

aid organization HIAS had arranged or us. We had

to commit ourselves to work hard and to reund the

costs later on. The young people were all between

17 and 25 years old. We stayed in Paris or ve days.

Our group leader reminded us that we are about tosay arewell to European culture, so we made visits

to Versailles, the Louvre and to the Rodin museum.

We all came rom various dierent cities, but we still

got to know each other.

From Le Havre, we took a French cargo steamboat

to South America. We reached Buenos Aires on

May 25th, Argentinas National Day. There we rst

had to stay on the boat because we only had visas

or Bolivia. We had already heard about boats that

had been sent back. The next train to Bolivia was

o the youth movement. We acquired good Jewish

education. Apart rom our group there was the

Haschomer Hazair, the so-called Werkleute.

They were oriented towards emigration to Palestine,

and they were running arms rst in Germany andlater on in Denmark. I had become very amiliar

with these groups. From April 1939, all attention

was ocused on saving our lives and using every

opportunity to leave the country.

Why did you and your family decide that you would

be the only member of the family to emigrate?

On December 10, 1938 the Gestapo came to our

apartment to arrest my ather. He had, however, just

let or the little synagogue in the Johann-Georg-

Strae in order to save ritual objects, among others

the Torah scroll. They wanted to bring my ather

to the concentration camp in Oranienburg. Since

he was not present, the Gestapo let. From the

window, my mother saw my ather coming around

the corner. He passed by the Gestapo guys without

anyone taking notice. My mother then relocated him

to my grandathers house. He stayed there until

the danger was over. In November and December

1938 many Jewish men were arrested and brought

to concentration camps. Most o them could leave

ater our to six weeks because they had assured the

authorities that they wanted to emigrate. Some o

them endured orced labor. The winter o 1938/39

was extremely cold. They had to push railway cars

that were so cold that some o them lost their ngers

to the rost. You could see many men with ngers

rozen-o on the streets at that time. In view o the-

se events, everything was clear to us. My mother

started making plans or my emigration. She hersel

did not want to leave Berlin because she was takingcare o her 85-year-old ather who had only recently

become a widower. She did not want to leave him

alone. Another reason or my parents and many

others choosing not to emigrate was that they no

longer could dispose o their savings. Especially my

ather, who elt too old to start orm the beginning

again somewhere else. That is why my parents, like

many other older amilies, stayed in Germany. When

I boarded the train to Paris, I was conscious that this

was a nal arewell, although I was o course hoping

that I would one day see them again.


9/15

job in a day nursery, which had just been ounded

or children o Jewish emigrants. Through this work

I learned a lot about the problems o emigration. Not

only did we look ater the children during the day,

but we also took care o their health and possiblepsychological problems, though this began later.

There was not a lot o knowledge about psychology

in Argentina in the beginning o the 1940s, but some

immigrants brought this knowledge with them. We

also took care o the parents who came to us with

their problems. We came to learn o all their stories

and hardships.

Did you have any information about the destiny of

your family in Europe during the years of war and did

you and other emigrants know of the extent to which

the persecution of Jews in Europe had reached?

I had written to my parents. However, ater the war

began only open postcards were allowed. Sometimes

you received air post on very light paper. The cards

wore stamps with the swastika. They were very

bland and scripted postcards, in which you talked

about the weather or about the visit that an aunt

had paid. One day, towards the end o 1942 or the

beginning o 1943 there was a remark on the edge

o the postcard: Ms. Pincus is now just by hersel.

That meant the news o the death o my ather. I only

learned o the exact date o his death in 1983, and

that his grave was in East Berlin. Through my visit to

the memorial o Yad Vashem in Israel, I learned that

my grandather was brought to the Theresienstadt

concentration camp. My ather had a school riend

who had let or Sweden and he had the inormation

about that.

At the memorial I ound out all about my amily. Intotal, ten people were hauled o. The transports

had dierent numbers. My mother was on the 31

Transport to Auschwitz. There she had to do orced

labor. Prior to that when she was still in Berlin, she

also had to do a year o orced labor. One year later

she was gassed. I ound that out through a remark

on a postcard to me, and later through my research

at Yad Vashem.

In Argentina I received periodic hints about what was

happening in Germany. One aunt had escaped to

not scheduled until ve days later. But the Jewish

aid organization nally provided visas or Argentina,

which were initially valid or only six months. We were

completely and ocially legalized later on.

Upon our arrival in Argentina we only had ten Pesos

in our pockets. I the aid organization had not rented

some rooms in a guesthouse or immigrants in Bel-

grano, we would not have known where to sleep. We

were dependent on nding a job as soon as possible.

We girls took every job available, as home help or

as nannies. It was clear to us that we did not have

the possibility to choose. Most o the boys started

working as Pen unskilled workers. At my rst job,

where I stayed or ve months, I was asked to teach

their child English. This child was only a little over

two years old! The parents believed that the most

important thing their child had to learn was English.

Both parents and the grandparents had been born

in Argentina, but since the ather was in charge o

an English company, it was necessary or his child

to learn English.

We earned just enough to survive. Once I lost a

button o my dress. Since I could not get an iden-

tical button, I had to buy six new buttons, and that

was a real nancial problem. Moreover, our health

insurance was inadequate, which became a problem

or me when I came down with polio. I now oten

hear that people who emigrate to other countries

oten come down with polio. This seems to be a

disease with deeper roots, not just an inection that

you accidentally catch.

It was oten very dicult or us to get used to the

Argentinean way o lie. For me it was shocking to

see how servile employees who were in my situationbehaved towards their masters. They did not even

dare to think on their own. This made me realize

that even then, colonialism had never really ended

and that there existed many people who never ex-

perienced the eeling o being a ree human being.

In Germany, no one had even the aintest idea about

how big the gap was between the poor and the rich

in Argentina.

In the course o time we succeeded, step-by-step, to

leave these rst jobs behind us. I was lucky to nd a


10/15

That was a politically terrible time in Argentina,

the anti-Semitism o nationalist groups was then

enormous. One very aggressive group was named

Tacuara. Their leader, Padre Filipo, a catholic priest,

was living right in our district. Right in ront o ourSynagogue he opened a bar. There were a lot o

street ghts, demonstrations, anti-Semitic grati and

smashed windows in Belgrano, our district, where

many German and Jewish migrants were living,

and even at our day nursery. My children were also

very conscious o it. These movements made them

realize that there was no sae place to live as a Jew.

All o our children were thereore organized in Jewish

groups that ormed a counter movement. There

they were politicized and our eldest daughter and

eldest son later migrated to Israel. I was thinking o

emigrating mysel the moment my eldest daughter

Miriam moved to Israel. But then my husband said

exactly what my ather had said in 1938. He could

not ace starting rom scratch again. We lived mo-

destly in Argentina, but we were OK.

The emigration o my daughter was the nal push or

me to go to the German embassy and get a German

passport again, to reacquire German citizenship.

Why?

When my rst daughter let, I wanted a German

passport and citizenship again. By the way, later on

I came to know that many emigrated Jews had done

the same at the beginning o the sixties.

We needed time beore we had condence in a new

Germany. O course, we ollowed very closely how

the ederal republic was developing. To many others

and mysel, the act that Germany and Israel star-ted to have diplomatic relations helped a lot. When

David Ben Gurion, the prime minister back then,

was asked why Israel started to have relations with

a German country, he explained that Israel could

never have accepted reparation payments rom a

country i it had not made Shalom (peace) with it.

It made ethical sense to me, so I also made peace

with the German country.

I believe many others elt the same way. It was also

clear to me that the German culture was something

I couldnt get rid o, despite my sympathy or the

Brazil. Once she wrote a letter to me in which she

explained a ew things to me. During the war, we

learned more and more about what was happening in

Germany. It caused daily ear and depression. Ater

the disappearance o my daughter, all o that cameto lie again: the eelings o despair, insecurity, the

faring hope and then the disappointment.

In the evenings, ater the daily work, the moment

where you laid down and wanted to relax, everything

ell down on you.

I wasnt into politics back then, but I met a lot o

emigrants at concerts, and we all had a really strong

instinct to live. I only realized that later on. Just a ew

o us got depressed. Most o those that had come

rom Germany with me got married ater two years

and had given birth to at least two children. I married

in 1942 and bore our children, the last one, Rubn,

was born on November 18, 1964.

After the birth of your children did you continue to

work?

Between the births o my children, I worked 14 ye-

ars in total with the day nursery o the Jewish relie

organization. For the last seven years I was in charge

o the nursery. Aterwards I taught at the Pestalozzi-

school [an antiascist school ounded in Argentina

in 1934 ater the Gleichschaltung alignment o

the German schools. It was mainly attended by the

children o Jews and letists who had escaped or

Germany and Austria], when my boy was two years

old. In the rst grade I gave German courses or

children rom non-German speaking amilies. From

1970 to 1990 I worked as a secretary in the Jewish

community and was very amiliar with those withJewish and German connections.

When the war was over, there was the possibility for

emigrants to leave Argentina again. Obviously few

wanted to go back to Germany, but many of the Je-

wish emigrants that had escaped to South America

went later to Israel or the USA. Did you consider a

second emigration?

Naturally, Israel had always been quite attractive.

The great emigration wave rom here to Israel took

place at the end o the ties until the mid-sixties.


11/15

sense and reasoning i not in the 4000-year long

Jewish history, which is so rich in precedence cases

and to which the bible and religion belong as well.

That was the common problem o our youth group.

At those studies, under the guidance o students,everyone needed to draw their own conclusions,

which could naturally change over the years. The

only binding thing was the monotheistic belie in

a single God as the creator, as the embodiment o

love, truth, righteousness and justice. The highest

good is lie, ones own and those o the closest to

you. For me Judaism is an ethical-humanitarian

duty not to lose belie in the absolute values and to

respect every human being and his views. Everything

else is just daily rules that make harmonious living

together possible. O course, the rules have to be

adapted to new times and dierent situations. For

that, you can express your own opinions, but the

moral basis is categorical.

How has the last Military dictatorship changed your

life?

On August 21, 1976 Nora disappeared. With all

that I had been through with the disappearance o

my daughter, the period under the last dictatorship

changed my lie the most. I would never have thought

I would give an interview to a newspaper, or to speak

in ront o an audience bigger than my school class

o 20 or 30 children. I would never have dreamt o

it. Soon ater the disappearance o my daughter,

I joined a group o relatives o the desaparecidos

with German origin, where I still work today. We still

stick together, especially those who have been there

rom the beginning. Obviously some o them are no

longer alive. Now I see it as one o my duties to get

the two younger generations to work. There are onlyve or six let. But now the siblings and children o

the disappeared have continued the work. Some are

there already, along with two survivors o the secret

detention camps who werent murdered.

Did your commitment in the human rights movement

help you cope with the pain that was caused by the

disappearance of your daughter?

I believe help is not quite the right word or it. But

in every part o your lie you should raise the questi-

on: what can, may or have I got to do? What are my

Argentinean way o lie and culture. I you were able

to admit to yoursel and prove that you liked German

culture, reattaining German citizenship was relatively

easy. Moreover, i you still had your old emigration

passport, the German administration moved alongquickly and a new, ederal German passport was

soon issued to you..

Was the naturalization valid only for you or for your

children as well?

I didnt want to do it or my children. The oldest was

already in Israel and our eldest son was preparing

to go. He died there in a car accident in 1981. My

youngest son does have a German passport, but

when he applied or it, things were already more

complicated because the naturalization period had

expired. My husband didnt take German citizenship

again. But the two o us ollowed developments in

Germany intently. We read the Frankurter Schule

and elt very strongly about the movement o 68.

Did your younger daughter Nora want to go to Israel

as well?

My youngest daughter would under no circumstances

want to be anything else than an Argentinean. For

that reason she disappeared under the Junta. At day

nursery, children had already learned to appreciate

lie and to sympathize over the problems o other

human beings. This was especially prominent at that

nursery, where many o the children came rom lower

social classes. Most o all, Nora developed a strong

eeling or social issues. She transormed what she

experienced there into ironic wordplays. Her uncle

called her the queen o clouds. Her interest lay in the

exact sciences. She studied very thoroughly. Whilestudying, she partly moved out, partly came home

again and lived here with her boyriend or a while.

What role did Jewish belief play in your life?

I would be reserved to say I am religious. Imagine

the inner situation o teenagers between 13 and 17

years o age: suddenly, we as Jews were grabbed

into an atrocious, incomprehensible destiny. How

could we live on without nding some sense in this

catastrophe and not eeling like helpless victims o

a superior power? And where should you look or


12/15

o NATO and the European Court o Human Rights,

the conerence will be a unique platorm to debate

critical questions on the eve o NATOs 60th Anni-

versary Summit to take place in Strasbourg two days

later and our months ater the 60th Anniversary othe Universal Declaration or Human Rights.

The Conerence will last or one day conerence, with

three panels and a keynote address. It will take place

in the amous 18th century Salle Mozart, 1 rue du

Miroir, in the heart o the city o Strasbourg (http://

sallemozart.ree.r/) rom 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM.

This conerence is ree and open to the public.

For more inormation please contact: Claire Tixeire,

E-mail: [email protected], Tel: +1 212-614-

6420.To register online go to www.ccrjustice.org/60-

60conerence.

PROGRAM

8:30 9:00: Registration and Breakast Reresh-

ments

9:00 9:15:Welcome and Introductory Note

By Dan Van Raemdonck, Vice President o the

International Federation or Human Rights (FIDH)

9:15 11:05 PANEL # 1: NATOs Changing Roles

in the Post-9/11 World

Moderator: Alain Joxe, Study Director at lEcole des

Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and Director

o CIRPES, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches

sur la Paix et dEtudes Stratgiques, Paris

NATO Invoking Article 5 on September 12, 2001

By Edgar Buckley, Former NATO Assistant Secre-

tary General or Deense Planning and Operations

(1999 to 2003)

NATO in Aghanistan - Problems o Command

and Control

By Otfried Nassauer, Founding Director o the Berlin

Inormation-Center or Transatlantic Security (BITS)

A Web o Secrets? NATO and the Diusion o

Secrecy Rules

duties now? To me, since the disappearance o my

daughter, the answer to those questions was simply

the work in our group. And i ater all those years

and experiences - painul experiences - something

stays that makes sense, then or me it is the dutynot to remain silent but to insist on truth and justice.

I know that I cant bring her back to lie. But then I

say to mysel, I can and I must put things right, to

help the lives o others! And this is only possible by

upholding the memories o those that are not alive

anymore and the experiences they went through.

The published interview is a combination o two

conversations that Wolgang Kaleck and Gert Eisen-

brger had with Ellen Marx.

Wolgang Kaleck pleaded the case o disappeared

Nora Marx in German courts.

Gert Eisenbrger is the responsible editor o the

Inormationsstelle Lateinamerika (ila) in Bonn.

Original Interview in German. English Translation by:

Christian Walburg and Lukas Theune.

Conerence Announcements

Conference of the CCR, FIDH and ECCHR: 60/60

Years - NATO and Human Rights: Two Anniversari-

es, Two Celebrations? The Role of NATO Post-9/11

The conerence on April 1, 2009 is jointly organized

by the Center or Constitutional Rights (CCR), based

in New York, the International Federation or Human

Rights (FIDH) based in Paris, and the European Cen-

ter or Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR),based in Berlin.

The purpose o the Conerence is to discuss the

nature and signicance o NATOs commitment to

international human rights and the rule o law. In

particular, speakers will address NATOs changing

role post-9/11 in the global context o the ght against

terrorism, and, inter alia, examine NATOs role in

the rendition o terrorist suspects to secret prisons

and torture sites. With experienced and prestigious

speakers ranging rom academics, lawyers, and

victims o human rights violations, to representatives


13/15

Accountability of National Contingents and NATO

to International Mechanisms

By Francoise Hampson, Former expert on the U.N.

Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection

o Human Rights, Barrister and Proessor o Law atthe University o Essex, UK

Arbitrary Detention and Detainee Abuse in A-

ghanistan

By Pardiss Kebriaei, Attorney with the Guantanamo

Global Justice Initiative at the Center or Constitutional

Rights (CCR), New York

An Overview of NATOs Guidelines and Response

to Victims Rights Speaker soon to be conrmed, go

to www.ccrjustice.org/60-60conerence or updates

End o Conerence

By Alasdair Roberts, Jerome L. RappaportProessor

o Law and Public Policy at Suolk University Law

School, USA

NATO Post 9/11: The View rom MoscowBy Dr. Dimitri Danilov, Head o Department o

European Security, Institute o Europe, Russian

Academy o Science, Moscow

11:05 11:25 Break (with rereshments)

11:30 13:20: PANEL # 2: The Place o Human

Rights and the Role o NATO in the Context o the

War on Terror

Moderator: Michael Ratner, President o the Centeror Constitutional Rights (CCR), New York

Use o a NATO Framework or Renditions and

Secret Detentions Operations in the War on Terror

By Gavin Simpson, Human rights lawyer and inves-

tigator with One World Research, New York

The International Legal Obligations o States in

Respect o Secret Detention Facilities and Inter-

State Transport o Prisoners

By Giorgio Malinverni, Judge at the European Court

o Human Rights, ormer member o the Venice

Commission

Voices rom the Ground: NATOs Role in Agha-

nistan

By Dr. Sima Samar, Chairwoman o the Aghanistan

Independent Human Rights Commission, ormer

Minister o Womens Aairs or the Interim Adminis-

tration o Aghanistan And by Yama Torabi, Repre-

sentative o OPEN ASIA /Armanshahr, Aghanistan

13:20 14:35: Lunch Break

14:40 15:10:Discussion (including Q&A) with

Maher Arar, Syrian-born Canadian citizen rendered

and tortured as part o the U.S. extraordinary rendi-

tion program (Live via video conerence)

15:15 15:35: Break (with rereshment)

15:40 17:40: PANEL # 3: 60 Years Later: Ac-

countability and the Signicance o NATOs Com-

mitment to Human Rights

Moderator: Wolgang Kaleck, Secretary General o

the European Center or Constitutional and Human

Rights (ECCHR), Berlin

Accountability or Human Rights Violations ina Time o Confict: A European State Perspective

By Phil Shiner, Attorney, Supervisor o Public Interest

Lawyers (PIL), UK


14/15

Impunity or Torture: The long-desired end or continuity?How does the Obama administrationdeal with the crimes o the Bush era?

The conerence on April 3, 2009 is jointly orga-

nized by the European Center or Constitutional and

Human Rights (ECCHR), the Republican Lawyers

Association (RAV) and the working Group o Critical

Lawyers (AKJ-Berlin) and will begin at 6:00 PM at

Humboldt University o Berlin (Unter den Linden 6,

10099 Berlin, Main Building , 2. foor, Room 3075).

Soon ater his election, the new U.S. president Barack

Obama made several decisions indicating discon-

tinuity with the policies o his predecessor George

W. Bush and honoring his pre-election promises.

Among these decisions was the suspension o trials

against terror suspects, the closing o the detention

camp Guantanamo within one year and the closing

o many secret prisons known as black-sites.

Nevertheless, several questions remain unanswe-

red. The ate o approximately 200 detainees still

imprisoned in Guantanamo, as well as the scope

o their right to demand a review o their detenti-

on through civil courts, remains unclear. Likewise,

there have been no clarications concerning the

situation o detainees held captive in other detention

acilities. Moreover, it is still undecided whether the

Obama administration will try to investigate into the

war crimes committed by the Bush administration

through Truth Commissions and congressional

hearings or whether the Bush administration will be

held criminally responsible or their crimes.

The speakers will discuss current legal and politicaldevelopments in the U.S. and Europe:

Michael Ratner, Attorney and President o the Center

or Constitutional Rights (CCR), New York, Member

o the Executive Board o the European Center or

Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Berlin

Pardiss Kebriaei, Attorney, Global Justice Initiative

o the CCR, New York

Andrea Wrdinger, Attorney, President o the Repu-

blican Lawyers Association (RAV), Berlin

Wolfgang Kaleck, Attorney, Secretary-General o

the ECCHR, Berlin

Moderation: Carsten Gericke, Attorney, Executive

Director o the RAV

There will be time or urther, inormal discussions

ollowing the main event. No ee or admission to

the discussion.

Lectures at US Law Schools

In the month o February 2009, Secretary General

Wolgang Kaleck was invited to make two guest

presentations at law schools in the U.S. On February

6-7, 2009, Kaleck participated in the University o

Michigan Law Schools 2009 Symposium: Territory

without Boundaries. This two-day event brought

together distinguished academics and guest spea-

kers rom across the U.S. and Europe to discuss

many key issues in international law today. Some o

the topics discussed included: Colonizing Natural

Resources, Urban Territory in a Global World, and

Immigration. Kaleck oered his expertise on the

topic o Universal Jurisdiction.

Following his visit to Michigan on February 10, Wol-

gang Kaleck also held a lecture at the University o

Notre Dame Law School entitled, The Case or War

Crimes: Prosecution o Donald Rumseld et al. Thepresentation covered the cases the ECCHR led

beore German and French Courts against ormer

Secretary o Deense Donald Rumseld and other

Bush administration ocials or their roles in the

torture o prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo

Bay.


15/15

Publisher: European Center or Constitutional and Human Rights

Address: Greiswalder Strae 4 | D - 10405 Berlin

Tel: +49 (0)30 400 485 90 | Fax: +49 (0)30 400 485 92

E-Mail: [email protected] | Web: http://www.ecchr.eu

Editor: Kamil Majchrzak

Layout: W3BUERO BERLIN | http://www.w3BUERO.de

The ECCHR Newsletter appears several times a year in German and English.

The Newsletter is distributed electronically.

The ECCHR is registered as an association under German association law by the Berlin-Charlottenburg

Regional Court and has received a tax-privileged purpose o only directly non-prot character.

DONATIONS

The Human Rights work o the ECCHR needs your support. Please help us in the legal ght against gravehuman rights violations. The ECCHR is a member in the Human Rights Forum [Forum Menschenrechte]

and the Coalitionagainst Impunity [Koalition gegen Strafosigkeit].

Donations are tax deductible.

Donation Account: 74 877 48 000

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Bank Code: 100 900 00

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ECCHR Newsletter 05 2009 ENG

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