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East West Street
- Narrated by: Philippe Sands, David Rintoul
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
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East West Street
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Summary
WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NONFICTION.
"A monumental achievement: profoundly personal, told with love, anger and great precision." (John le Carré)
"A triumph of astonishing research...no novel could possibly match such an important work of truth." (Antony Beevor)
"Magnificent...I was moved to anger and to pity. In places I gasped, in places I wept. I wanted to reach the end. I couldn't wait to reach the end. And then when I got there I didn't want to be at the end." ( The Times)"Magnificent...I was moved to anger and to pity. In places I gasped, in places I wept. I wanted to reach the end. I couldn't wait to reach the end. And then when I got there I didn't want to be at the end." ( The Times)
When human rights lawyer Philippe Sands received an invitation to deliver a lecture in the Western Ukrainian city of Lviv, he began to uncover a series of extraordinary historical coincidences. It set him on a quest that would take him halfway around the world in an exploration of the origins of international law and the pursuit of his own secret family history, beginning and ending with the last day of the Nuremberg Trials.
In this part historical detective story, part family history, part legal thriller, Philippe Sands guides us between past and present as several interconnected stories unfold in parallel. The first is the hidden story of two Nuremberg prosecutors who discover, only at the end of the trials, that the man they are prosecuting may be responsible for the murders of their entire families in Nazi-occupied Poland, in and around Lviv. The two prosecutors, Hersch Lauterpacht and Rafael Lemkin, are remarkable men whose efforts led to the inclusion of the terms crimes against humanity and genocide in the judgment at Nuremberg. The defendant, Hans Frank, Hitler's personal lawyer and governor-general of Nazi-occupied Poland, turns out to be an equally compelling character.
The lives of these three men lead Sands to a more personal story as he traces the events that overwhelmed his mother's family in Lviv and Vienna during the Second World War. At the heart of this book is an equally personal quest to understand the roots of international law and the concepts that have dominated Sands' work as a lawyer. Eventually he finds unexpected answers to his questions about his family in this powerful meditation on the way memory, crime and guilt leave scars across generations and the haunting gaps left by the secrets of others.
2016, Baille Gifford Prize for Non-fiction, Winner
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
What listeners say about East West Street
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- Toast Cartoons
- 10-11-17
Fascinating
A thought provoking, inspiring and moving book. Like all the best books it inspires me to read up and research the background and history behind the themes and events.
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1 person found this helpful
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- becsicle
- 14-05-18
Brilliant
Great book, very informative and heartbreaking at the same time. If you like history and law you’ll love this book.
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- Seana
- 05-05-19
Eye opening and profound.
We listened to it on a car journey across England and we're all captivated by the personal stories with global impact.
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- Judy Corstjens
- 27-03-22
Suddenly madly topical
I first audited this book a couple of years ago, and went back to it now as it is largely set in Lviv and a nearby town, Zolochiv, and largely concerned with war crimes and human rights, with particular focus on WWII war crimes in what is now Ukraine.
Philippe Sands weaves together two complementary strands, the personal histories of his own family, including how his mother survived the genocide that engulfed much of the continental side of his family, and a historical account of the Nuremberg trial of Nazi leaders and the birth and survival of the human rights movement that was spawned at the same time. Sands narrates the family parts himself while the professional Rintoul takes over for the mainstream history. A good choice - terrific voice.
Sands has done an amazing job sleuthing details about his family history, getting to full identification and biographies from a few photos and scraps of paper. He does an equally excellent job explaining the challenges and dilemmas in creating a criminal code fit to apply to the worst crimes imaginable. Genocide seems so appealing (as it were) and yet in its very name may sow the seeds of what it is trying to avoid or punish.
I remember Robert Lacey describing a feeling that ‘the veil between the present and the past sometimes seems gossamer thin’ and that is the magic that Sands creates with this book. It doesn’t matter if I never get to visit Lvov (I hope I do) because it is always here in this book. Visit it now!
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- oxford yo
- 29-09-22
Clear and lucid
Brilliant book, poignant and intellectually lucid on the origins of crimes against humanity and genocide. Excellent « compte-rendu » of the Nüremberg trials. Above all deeply human.
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- Sue
- 31-12-17
Outstanding insight, meticulous and moving
Other than historians and international lawyers you will not have heard of the lawyer Hersch Lauterpacht yet he is a very important figure in Philippe Sands' magnificent book.
East West Street is different and distinct in many meaningful ways, telling the fascinating story of the beginning of international human rights, but rather do so as dry legal history it focuses on two of the most significant individuals.
The author weaves the stories of Lauterpacht and Raphael Lemkin into Sands' own personal family story, which all tie into the 'city of lions' (Lviv/Lwow/Lemberg) in the first few decades of the 20th century. Both men and Sand's own family lived here, a place where East and West meet, hence the book's title.
It culminates into their assistance with the Nuremburg trials of ten senior Nazi figures, with Lauterpacht preparing the first drafts of the opening and closing speeches of the chief prosecution. Crucially he crafted the wording of Article 6 of the Nuremberg Charter, enshrining crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression into international law. Lemkin, in the same vein, constructed the concept of genocide, even coining the term.
And Sands discusses his detective work to find answers to numerous questions about his family. In the end his journey reveals tragedy, but a tragedy lightened by knowing the truth.
This is an outstanding book by a barrister, filmmaker and writer. It reeks of intellectual strength, and truly superb.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Phil Eldridge
- 17-05-21
Amazing!
Everything about this is amazing. An incredible story, well told, with the little known history behind two well-known terms expertly described.
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- Anonymous User
- 28-04-21
Excellent
This was an incredible book. Extremely dynamic story and perfect if you are interested in history and international law.
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- Ann
- 04-07-22
Incredible book - engrossing and deeply moving
Excellent book, very thought provoking. Couldn't put it down, the Leon storyline was absolutely gripping.
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- Ade Owen
- 18-03-17
Outstanding
How Philippe Sands put this book together is beyond belief, the amount of research - historical documentation and family history - knits together like an, enormous, sometimes horrific and melancholic word quilt. Beautifully read tremendously moving it is a work of great importance.
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3 people found this helpful