Biography
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(b. 1947) is a retired senior lawyer with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, see Alfred de Zayas Private Site in Geneva, former Secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee and former Chief of Petitions, visiting professor of international law at DePaul University College of Law, Chicago, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva, the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations, the American College Switzerland, Leysin, Academie internationale de Droit Constitutionnel, Tunis, Universität Trier, and the Universitad de Alcala de Henares (Madrid), Spain. Consultant in public international law, humanitarian law, human rights law, world war II history (Discovery channel). Areas of expertise: United Nations, Guantanamo, Armenian genocide, Cyprus, Potsdam Conference, Nuremberg Trials.

US-citizen of Spanish-French descent, de Zayas grew up in Chicago. J.D. (Harvard Law School) Dr.phil. in modern history (University of Göttingen). A member of the New York and Florida Bar, he practiced corporate law in New York and family law in Florida, before leaving for Europe in 1974. He was Fulbright Graduate Fellow at the University of Tübingen, senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht in Heidelberg. Member, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerrecht. Member of the Beirat of the Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen in Berlin. Since 1991 President of the United Nations Society of Writers in Geneva and editor-in-chief of the literary journal "Ex Tempore". Since 2002 Secretary-General of PEN International, Centre Suisse Romande. Recipient of the "Humanitas Ring" (1998) and of the Walter Eckart Prize for History (2001). Catholic, married, domiciled in Geneva, Switzerland.

www.alfreddezayas.com

rofessor Charles M. Barber, issued in a revised and enlarged paperback edition under the title "A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950", St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994,revised edition to be released January 2006 by Palgrave/Macmillan, New York. "The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau, 1939-1945", with the collaboration of Dr. Walter Rabus. Preface by Professor Howard Levie, Picton Press, Rockport, Maine, 4th revised edition 2000, originally published by the University of Nebraska Press. "Die Wehrmacht-Untersuchungsstelle für Verletzungen des Völkerrechts" Universitas Verlag, München, 7th revised edition 2001, prior editions with Ullstein Verlag, Berlin. "Heimatrecht ist Menschenrecht", Universitas Verlag, Munich 2001. "International Human Rights Monitoring Mechanisms", co-editor and co-author with Gudmundur Alfredsson and Bertram Ramcharan , Kluwer, The Hague, 2001. "Human Rights in the Administration of Criminal Justice" in collaboration with Professor Cherif Bassiouni, Transnational Press, New York, 1994.

• 18 entries in the Encyclopaedia of Public International Law, edited by Rudolf Bernhardt, Elsevier, Amsterdam, Vol. 1-5, 1992-2003, including "United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights", "Combatants", "Spanish Civil War", "Population Expulsion", "Repatriation", "Open Towns", "Curzon Line", "United States Dependent Territories", "European Recovery Program", etc.
• four entries in the Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, edited by Professor Dinah Shelton, Macmillan, 2004, "Aggression", "Ismail Enver", "Nelson Mandela", and "Raoul Wallenberg".

"The Status of Guantanamo Bay and the Status of the Detainees" in U.B.C. Law Review, Volume 37, Number 2, July 2004, pp. 277-341. "Human Rights and Indefinite Detention" in International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 87 pp. 15-38 (2005). "Petitioning the United Nations", American Society of International Law, Proceedings of the 95th Annual Meeting, April 4-7 2001, Washington D.C., pp. 82-87. "The Twentieth Century's First Genocide: International Law, Impunity, the Right to Reparations, and the Ethnic Cleansing against the Armenians" in Steven Vardy and Hunt Tooley (eds.), Ethnic Cleansing in 20th Century Europe, Columbia University Press, 2003, pp. 157-180, 255-267, 787-804.

• Foreword to James Bacque, "Crimes and Mercies", Little Brown and Company, London 1997.
• Foreword to Erich Helfert's "Valley of the Shadow", Creative Arts Book Company, Berkeley 1997.
• Foreword to Brigitte U. Neary and Holle Schneider-Ricks, "Voices of Loss and Courage", Picton Press, Rockport Maine, 2002.
• Foreword to Eva Krutein "Eva's War" Amador Publishers, Amador Publishers, 1990, trade paperback, 253 pages, ISBN 0938513087. Story of a German refugee from Danzig at the end of World War II.
• Foreword to "Genocide of the Ethnic Germans in Yugoslavia 1944-1948", Munich 2003.

Has published poetry in English, French, Spanish, German and Russian. His German poem "Beglückt" was translated into Chinese and published in a literary journal in Shanghai, 2003. See http://www.alfreddezayas.com/Poems/Chinespoem.jpg

• http://www.3sat.de/3sat.php?http://www.3sat.de/neunzehn/gast/43622/ Professional biography (in German)
• http://www.alfreddezayas.com Alfred de Zayas -- His website containing many of his articles, including the Douglas McK Brown lecture at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, on the issue of the Guantanamo Naval Base, 37 U.B.C. Law Review, 277-341 (2004) as well as more than 100 translations of Rainer Maria Rilke into English, French and Spanish.

http://www.genevadiplomacy.com/?menu_id=6&page_id=15&full=1&faculty_id=24

http://www.armeniaforeignministry.com/conference/speakers.html

de:Alfred de Zayas

My family has been expelled from to-day Byelarus. I haven't authorized Mr de Zayas to be my advocate and I have never read any his pro-Polish text. Xx236 13:58, 27 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The term "advocate of the right to a homeland" does not require nor presume the personal authorisation by every expellee. Mr de Zaya also makes reference to the expelled Poles in his books. The right to a homeland applies to Poles of modern day Belarus and Ukraine as much as it does to Germans of modern day Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia. (pejo)

User:Athena's daughter added Template:POV check to the article without starting a discussion on the talk page, so I am starting one. Her edit summary rationale was "this is a wierd article that portrays a sort of neo-Nazi as a human rights activist". Aside from the rather unwieldy "Selected works" section, I do not see how the article is in a poor state. Does Athena's daughter consider him a "neo-Nazi" because de Zayas has expressed sympathy with one of James Bacque's writings? Olessi 20:07, 28 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• De Zayas is an avid skier, cyclist and scuba-diver - who cares.
• de Zayas isn't a neo-Nazi, but he used to be attacked by German left, because of his work for the Bundeswehr.

Xx236 07:40, 29 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

His hobbies can be removed easily- be bold, after all. Criticism of de Zayas from reputable sources can be added, of course. This search.com link, an apparent mirror, has "Some views by Alfred-Maurice de Zayas are controversial, eg. his support of James Bacque's book. His work for the Bundeswehr has been criticised by German left." If the information on that page was taken directly from the WP article at some point, I have not found which version it was taken from or why it was removed. Valid criticism from reputable sources can be added, of course, keeping WP:BLP in mind. Olessi 15:43, 29 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It was my edit, removed by some anonymous de Zays' fan 81.62.101.49, who didn't care to explain his POV edits.

• http://www.uni-muenster.de/PeaCon/wuf/wf-98/9820504f.htm - de Zays called a Geschichtsrevisionist
• http://www.nadir.org/nadir/periodika/jungle_world/51/06a.htm

de Zayas is a complicated author and his interests span a rather large spectrum, as can be confirmed by anyone who ventures into his website. In some areas, like his peace activism and human rights work, he is close to "left wingers" like Noam Chomsky. He has made himself a name by advocating the rights of the "unsung victims" -- the Armenians, the Greeks of Pontos, the Assyrians of Anatolia, the Ukrainians during the Soviet occupation, the Greek Cypriots, the indigeous of North and South America, the aborigenes of Australia, the victims of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, the victims of indefinite detention in Guantanamo, the victims of rendition and torture, etc. He has also written two important works on the expulsion of the Germans from East Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia etc. after world war II, books that were positively reviewed in the American Journal of International Law, American Historical Review, Cambridge Law Journal, Historische Zeitschrift, Archiv des Voelkerrechts, etc. While acknowledging the crimes of the Nazis, he treats the German expellees like other victims of human rights violations. Political correctness in the United States, Great Britain and Germany avoided the subject matter for decades, and only now is the subject being "discovered" by Norman Naimark in the US, Guenther Grass and Wolfgang Benz in Germany. Unlike other authors, de Zayas does not try to explain away or justify the expulsion of 15 million human beings in terms of "collective guilt", but insists that guilt and innocence are individual, not collective phenomena, and that all victims of injustice are entitled to our compassion. This does not make a "revisionist" out of de Zayas.

His Guestbook contains pro-Nazi texts. Shame, shame. Xx236 09:46, 30 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Says who? Should he erase all the spam that lands on his guestbook?

Wikipedia contributors should go easy with libelous labels such as "neo-Nazi" or "revisionist". I, Johannes van Aggelen, wrote reviews of three books by de Zayas for the Netherlands International Law Review -- all three positive. To even suggest that de Zayas is a "neo Nazi" is so ridiculous that it almost takes your breath away. His numerous human rights and scholarly publications on everything from minority rights to ethnic cleansing, to peacekeeping -- clearly place him left of centre. I am, of course, not blind to the deplorable tendency in some circles in Germany to defame anyone who does not bow to political correctness and who dares to identify crimes committed by the Allies in world war II, and who calls them by name. de Zayas condemns the bombardment of Dresden by the Allies in 1945 as much as he condemns the bombardment of Rotterdam by the Germans in 1940. I would suggest that critics take the time to read de Zayas and not just "about de Zayas". JvA.

I'm also a complicated person, my family was expelled and murdered both by Germans and Soviets. Unfortunately the number of our tragedies wasn't high enough to become interesting for de Zayas. De Zayas published his first book in 1977, Katyn crime was acknowldged as a Soviet crime in 1990, so he had at least 13 years to write at least one sentence about Polish victims. Do you know such sentence? Has de Zayas ever condemned:

• destruction of the city of Wieluń, during which probably more people were killed than during the bombardment of Rotterdam?
• destruction of other Polish cities eg. of Sulejów and Frampol?
• destruction of the city of Warsaw after the 1944 uprising?
• expulsion of Poles by Soviets 1937-1938?
• expulsion of Poles by Soviets 1940-1941?
• expulsion of Poles by Soviets 1945?

Support for Bacque makes de Zayas less reliable.

Google gives mostly BdV and neo-Nazi links for "de Zayas".

De Zayas is responsible for his guestbook. If he doesn't have any time nor money to control it, he should remove it.

You oppose my alleged accusation. I have written: de Zayas isn't a neo-Nazi, but he used to be attacked by German left, because of his work for the Bundeswehr, so your answer is unfair.

It's strange that the article doesn't contain any critics. Either de Zayas is a saint or he/his friends cenzor his opponents.

West Germany had influential organizations of the expelled since at least 1950. The documentation quoted by de Zayas was colleected at least since 1957.

My POV is that de Zayas is one of many who support the rich and influential ones against the victims of WWII, who didn't have influential friends till 1989. Allow me to have my POV.Xx236 14:38, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This kind of criticism is ridiculous and defamatory. De Zayas is a brave human rights activist for all victims, including German victims. He is a distinguished lawyer and historian and author of books that have been brilliantly reviewed in the American, British, French and German media. Sympathy for German victims does not make Zayas a "neo-Nazi". It confirms him as an advocate of human rights.

I have asked a number of question regarding hundreds of thousands of Polish victims. I don't find my questions ridiculous. Xx236 15:15, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

De Zayas does write about the Soviet crime of Katyn in chapter 3 of "Nemesis at Potsdam" and devotes the entirely of Chapter 21 of "The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau" to Katyn. He was interviewed live on CNN on Katyn in 1990.

The expulsion of Poles by Soviets is also briefly dealt with in "Nemesis at Potsdam" and in his many articles on population transfer and ethnic cleansing.

It is advisable to read de Zayas before one criticizes him.

You seem to be reacting to the "subject matter" that de Zayas writes about, but cannot mention a concrete point of disagreement.

Does De Zayas write about ethnic expulsion plans made by German Empire in First World War against Jews and Poles ? Also does he write about first modern expulsion of people, which took place in Germany in 1885 and was aimed against Poles and Jews under orders of Bismarck ? How much does he write about the effect Pangermanism had on plans to exterminate and expell Polish people from German held terriotries both in WW1 and WW2 ? Does he mention the influence Selbstshutz played in final decision to remove German minority and how German discrimination of Poles and colonisation of Polish territories that took place in Imperial Germany. Is he interested only in European people, or did he write about the genocide of Herero people as well ? --KrzysztofM 20:02, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=93911145977033 On the one hand, the chapter by de Zayas makes wild accusations --KrzysztofM 20:09, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

http://www.uni-kassel.de/~schneid/geschpol3.html Seidler ist Professor an der Bundeswehr Hochschule in München und gilt - neben Alfred de Zayas - als einer der renommierten Apologeten der Wehrmach

Wild accusations, apologetic towards Wehrmacht. --KrzysztofM 20:13, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Defended David Irving: http://www.politikforen.de/archive/index.php/t-33743.html Der Völkerrechtler Prof. Alfred de Zayas, ehemaliger Sekretär des UNO-Menschenrechtsausschusses, schreibt dazu in einem Leserbrief (Auszug): "Ich teile die Meinung von Andreas Wild, daß der PEN-Club seine Hilfsmaßnahmen überdenken muß, denn zu oft schützen wir nur die politisch-korrekten Opfer und vergessen die inkorrekten wie David Irving. Unsere Arbeit hat wenig Glaubwürdigkeit, wenn wir schweigen, als Historiker wie David Irving inhaftiert wurde. [..] Das einschlägige österreichische Strafgesetzbuch (wie übrigens das deutsche auch) ist menschenrechtsfeindlich und inkompatibel mit Art. 19 des UN-Paktes über bürgerliche und politische Rechte. Aber nicht einmal der UN-Menschenrechtsausschuß wagt es, diese Feststellung zu treffen. Auch der MRA muß seine oft feige, politisch-korrekte Haltung überdenken." --KrzysztofM 20:16, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have known Alfred de Zayas for ten years, before that I knew him through his books. I have never heard a word that was anything other than supportive of the civil and human rights and the human dignity of ALL groups. His belief in the universal application of human and civil rights has caused (for example) the Turkish right wing to hate him (because of his stand on Cyprus and the Armenian Genocide), probably some other fanatic nationalist groups as well.

He is a man of high moral values and his lifetime work for the good of the oppressed should be praised and held up as something that should be copied by more men of letters. His courage is unique, his energy astounding. All the best, K C Schemm, Jr

It is absolutely not true that de Zayas defends David Irving. De Zayas takes a position of principle which applies across the board to all persons who have different views from ours.. He defends the principle of article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right "to seek and impart information". De Zayas is against the misuse of criminal law for purposes of censorship and intimidation.. In America the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed in article 1 of the Bill of Rights. This is a precious right for every democracy. Surely it is not the function of lawyers to legislate on history. Nor is it the function of judges to punish individuals for "crimes of thought" or for the expression of dissident ideas. The whole purpose of the right to freedom of expression is to protect the right of those with whom one does NOT agree. Such laws criminalizing open discussion of historical events are simply totalitarian, and Professor de Zayas, the long-time secretary of the United Nations Human Rights Committee rightly criticises the totalitarian trends in our "politically correct" societies.

The author Kryzstof cites some abstruse sources to defame de Zayas. Why does he not cite the brilliant reviews of his books in the American Jourtnal of International Law, Cambridge Law Journal, Netherlands International Law Review, etc. ? Has Kryzstof read any of de Zayas' books? Or articles in the American Journal of International Law, Harvard International Law Journal, Criminal Law Forum, Archiv des Völkerrechts, etc. ? By the way, de Zayas was absolutely correct and has been proven right in his pointed criticism of Goldhagen's racist theses, which by now have been discarded by all serious historians and sociologists. Best wishes, Dr. Thomas Gertner, attorney-at law, Bad Ems (Germany)

Another self proclaimed specialist on Wiki ? Nothing new, there are millions of attorneys in the world. Why didn't "Why does he not cite the brilliant reviews" Because we seek neutrality and criticism has also be mentioned. I could also point out how revisionists sites have brilliant reviews of him, this should bee mentioned as well. As to "racism of Goldhagen" and Irvings "crimes of thought"(Holocuast Denial)-no comment needed. Interesting that nobody answered my questions: Does De Zayas write about ethnic expulsion plans made by German Empire in First World War against Jews and Poles ? Also does he write about first modern expulsion of people, which took place in Germany in 1885 and was aimed against Poles and Jews under orders of Bismarck ? How much does he write about the effect Pangermanism had on plans to exterminate and expell Polish people from German held terriotries both in WW1 and WW2 ? Does he mention the influence Selbstshutz played in final decision to remove German minority and how German discrimination of Poles and colonisation of Polish territories that took place in Imperial Germany. Is he interested only in European people, or did he write about the genocide of Herero people as well ? --KrzysztofM 07:54, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Dear Krzysztof, now, now, de Zayas cannot write about all victims of human rights violations in the world. He has written about Guantanamo, about the indigenous of North and South America, about the Armenians. Have you read his more than 25 encyclopaedia articles in the Encyclopaedia of Public International Law, Encyclopaedia of Genocide, Concise Encyclopaedia of the United Nations, Ostfriesisches Lexikon, Lexikon der deutschen Einheit etc. -- including entries on Nelson Mandela and Raoul Wallenberg? Are you aware that US Ambassador Robert Murphy, a participant at the Potsdam Conference and political advisor of Eisenhower wrote the preface of "Nemesis at Potsdam", that Professor Howard Levie, one of the foremost experts in the law on prisoners of war wrote the preface of "The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau", that Professor Charlie Barber, a left-wing Democrat and candidate to the US Congress wrote the preface to "A Terrible Revenge"? It is evident you do not like some of de Zayas' topics. Why don't you just forget his books on Germany and concentrate on his human rights publications on minorities, on Cyprus, on the Istanbul Pogrom of 1955 ? You will find his legal opinion on the Armenian genocide on the website of the Armenian foreign ministry, and his legal opinion on the "Annan Plan" for Cyprus in the Cyprus Yearbook on International Relations. He has also appeared before the European Parliament on the Cyprus issue, together with famous professors like the Canadian Peter Burns, the Swiss Andreas Auer or the Brit Malcolm Shaw. He has been on panels of the American Society of International Law in Washington, together with Professor Anne Bayefsky, and on panels of the Netherlands Society of International Law in The Hague, together with the first High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr. Ayala Lasso. Or you may forget politics and read his translations of Rainer Maria Rilke into English ("Larenopfer" bilingual commented edition, Red Hen Press, Los Angeles, reviewed by Professor August Stahl, President of the Rainer Maria Rilke Society in Sierre, Switzerland), or you may read his translations of Eichendorff and Hermann Hesse. You may finds these more to your liking.

I still didn't get an answer. It is interesting that De Zayas concentrates on "misfortune" of Germans but forgets why the misfortune happened. --KrzysztofM 15:50, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Krzyzstof, From what you have written above, it appears to me that you are a Polish fanatic, interested only in the suffering of the Polish people. Compare de Zayas: an American of Spanish-French ancestry who writes the truth about all the ethnicides he has studied. He is neither a German nor an Armenian, but sets the record right as to what was done to those peoples. He is not an American Indian, but he is passionate in his telling of the wrongs done to them. De Zayas can't write the history of the world. Not writting about Polish suffering may upset you, but I can assure you that de Zayas is not blind to the suffering of the Polish people. You refer to the "misfortune" (in quotes, as if this word is not true) that occured to the Germans of Eastern Europe and then state that de Zayas "forgets why the misfortune happened." Are you familiar with his book, "The Terrible Revenge?" What does his choice of the word "revenge" in the title tell you?

My advice is to write Prof de Zayas a nice letter, and ask him if he can research the wrongs done to Poles as well, he is a good enough person that perhaps he will try to do so. Calling him names for failing to do research into historical documents in a language he does not speak does not seem very productive to me. I view your comments against Prof de Zayas to date as slander by a fanatic. I hope if you keep them up that he will take legal action against you. KCS

The wrongs that have been done on Poles are historically recognised around the world. Neither Germany nor any other country has laws in place that state otherwise. Germany has dealt with her past like no other country in Europe since WW II. Germany paid and is still paying millions in damages to victims of the War, including Polish slave labourers and victims of the Holocaust. It is one of the driving forces of the reconciliation process in Europe. Germany remains the EUs largest net contributor despite the fact that its per capita GDP is only slightly above avarage and substantially lower than that of net receivers like Ireland or the UK. Poland's growing wealth is mainly built on German money. Germany provides examplary minority protection to her Slavic (Sorbs) minority with bilingual signage in the entire historical area of settlement of the Sorb minority. Bilingual signage in Poland (opole/Oppeln) has not even been put up yet in areas where Germans still constitute 20% of the population. If German minority protection standards were applied in Poland, most of Silesia, Pomerania and Masuria were officially bilingual. (pejo)

Irving has sued Deborah Lipstadt. It means that Irving cares for freedom of speach for Irving, but not for his opponents.

Irving's methods are the same as used by Soviet genocide deniers. Xx236 08:46, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

My mother used to tell me as a little boy that it is wrong to lie. If you lie on earth or try to hide the truth it is only a matter of time before the truth of any actual occurrence will come to light. It might take 10 years or it might take 100 years, but as sure as night is day the truth shall prevail. Before God you can never hide the truth. It is wrong to throw slander at people of good character who only seek to bring the truth to light about any injustices of history. I admire Mr de Zayas who is a man of integrity and I am extremely grateful for his contribution to the truthful history of Europe as a whole. Sean.

In his writings about history of Europe as a whole does De Zayas write about ethnic expulsion plans made by German Empire in First World War against Jews and Poles ? Also does he write about first modern expulsion of people, which took place in Germany in 1885 and was aimed against Poles and Jews under orders of Bismarck ? How much does he write about the effect Pangermanism had on plans to exterminate and expell Polish people from German held terriotries both in WW1 and WW2 ? Does he mention the influence Selbstshutz played in final decision to remove German minority and how German discrimination of Poles and colonisation of Polish territories that took place in Imperial Germany. Is he interested only in European people, or did he write about the genocide of Herero people as well ? I am really interested about that. --KrzysztofM 15:50, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Are employed by UN ? Is it special position or is he just one amongst many. --KrzysztofM 16:36, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]