FREDONIA, N.Y. -- SUNY Fredonia has issued a "call for papers" for a three-day conference at Chautauqua Institution in September to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials and the legacy of Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson of Jamestown, N.Y., the chief prosecutor at the trials.
 
The conference, "Sixty Years after the Nuremberg Trials: Crimes against Humanity and Peace," will examine the legacy of Justice Jackson, just and unjust wars, and the prosecution of crimes against humanity. Following his internationally acclaimed work before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, Justice Jackson viewed his crowning achievement to be the role he played in establishing new standards of international law.
 
Academics interested in presenting papers should send a 300 word abstract by May 31 to: Richard Jankowski, Chair, Department of Political Science, State University of New York at Fredonia, Fredonia, NY 14063 or electronically to Jackson.symposium@fredonia.edu.
 
SUNY Fredonia is sponsoring the conference together with the Robert H. Jackson Center of Jamestown, N.Y., and Chautauqua Institution of Chautauqua, N.Y.
 
Political Science Professor Richard Jankowski, the coordinator of the conference, said, "It is argued that the Nuremberg Trials introduced the idea that citizens may, by following the law of their nation, violate international law. Previously, the standard operative assumption was that sovereigns had total control over their indigenous peoples. In the sixty years since Nuremberg, there have been significant developments in international law regarding these types of crimes."
 
Bringing together individuals with practical experience as well as legal and ethical theorists, empirical scholars and foreign policy makers, the conference will feature a roster of speakers that so far includes Richard Sonnenfeldt, the Chief Interrogator at the Nuremberg trials; Robert Donihi, one of the last surviving prosecutors of the Tokyo trials who then went on to Nuremberg; Michael P. Scharf of Case Western Reserve University, a current instructor for the judges at the Saddam Hussein trial in Iraq; and Dr. John Q. Barrett, Robert H. Jackson scholar and Professor of Law at St. John’s University.
 
A special presentation will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 28 and featuring Abby Mann, the award winning author and screenwriter who wrote the screenplay for Judgement at Nuremberg, directed by Stanley Kramer.
 
The conference website is http://www.fredonia.edu/org/jacksonsymposium/.