Amos N. Guiora is the author of the new book The Crime of Complicity: The Bystander in the Holocaust. His other books include Cybersecurity and Global Perspectives on Counterterrorism. He is Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah.
Q: You write that this book ended up going in different
directions than you initially expected. What were you thinking you would
write, and why did that change?
A: When I began the project, I began it as a traditional law
book, and in the first and second drafts, I found it to be boring for the
writer. How do I make it more interesting?
I was preparing for a marathon with my running partner. You
have hours to kill. The more stories I shared with her, the more I realized
there was a story to tell here, and simultaneously to this, my father, a
healthy 86-year-old, fell. I realized he was cognitively impaired, and that I
knew very little about the Holocaust and my parents’ experiences.
I put it all together and I thought, why not write something
that’s law-based but tells a story about my parents as a way to honor my
parents and use their experiences as a way to address a very important legal
question. It came out to be personal, historical, legal, but not [only] legal.
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify
for you?
A: I thought long and hard about the title. There’s great
significance to titles. I came to the conclusion that the bystander commits a
crime, and the crime he commits is complicity. Why not address it head-on, and
point the finger at the bystander. There’s a [recent] story in Detroit about a
child drowning [that exemplifies this].
Q: You propose criminalizing bystander complicity. How
exactly would that work?
A: Take the case in Detroit. Those standing there with a
cell phone in their hand are in a position to dial 911, alert law enforcement.
Failing to do that is a criminal act. I went back and forth on the extent of
liability. I decided the most appropriate punishment was a financial penalty…
Q: How do you apply the lessons from the Holocaust to
today’s world?
A: …I’ve been an autodidact on the Holocaust. [The top
Nazis] don’t really interest me. The lesson learned is that if not for the
bystanders, I don’t think the evil that was perpetrated would have been
perpetrated. The Eichmanns of the world benefited from the complicity of
bystanders. That for me is the lesson.
I think it absolutely applies to society today…the failure to
act on behalf of a vulnerable victim significantly endangers the vulnerable
victim. That to me, for me, is the primary lesson to be learned.
As my father was dying, I said, I’ve got to finish this
before he dies. I’m in a race against time. Unfortunately, I didn’t succeed; he
died before I finished. But out of nowhere, all the wires for three days, two
years ago, recrossed, and I was able to interview him about this stuff. It was
out of nowhere.
He did not allow me to videotape him; he was conscious of
how he looked and would not allow me to tape him. I feverishly took notes as he
spoke for three days. He disagrees with my theory. When he was on the death
march, the villagers didn’t owe any duty to save him. My mother also disagrees.
Q: So that was the only time he talked about it?
A: Except when I was 12 years old. We were canoeing…he told
me his story and her story and took me home…
You write a book like this, you uncover family stories, how
he escaped and how he was saved. It’s a lovely story but it’s not true. He told
me he was liberated by Tito’s [forces] and a Russian jeep showed up to save
him. That’s not true. He hiked through the mountains, with no coat. He never
shared that with me.
I know because I met with a Hungarian historian who asked
how my dad got through to Sofia. I said a Russian jeep. He said that’s not
true, he walked in horrible conditions. I said my perception of my father was that he couldn’t make
his way from the living room to the front door without my mother. It turns out not to be the case.
I was a rude 15-year-old, and I said [to him], You never
play golf. He said, I survived the Holocaust, don’t you think that’s enough?
The book is an attempt to honor my dad through the lens of the bystander.
There’s a lot of personal [information] in it.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I just had [another] book out [recently] on
cybersecurity, and one on Earl Warren. This one took four years to write,
longer than the previous ones…there was so much family history in it.
It begins with the drowning of my cousin. It has never been
discussed. It’s an unimaginable family tragedy. The first picture in the
book—my mother took that picture the day before he drowned. The question of the
bystander for me is not an abstract academic question, it’s deeply rooted in
me. A child drowning is so awful.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like people to know about
the book?
A: Whether people agree or disagree with my conclusion, I
leave to the reader. What’s important is that the issue be discussed. I try to
make it accessible through the personal stories of my parents.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Amos Guiora will be speaking at the 92nd Street Y in New York on May 22.
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