Professor Philippe Sands, world renowned expert, lawyer and author, recently joined us for a special conversation in Nuremberg at the historic Courtroom 600 of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice on 6 May 2025. In conversation with Deputy Director Dr Viviane Dittrich, Professor Sands discussed the possibilities and limits of international law and the complex relationship between atrocity and justice and between accountability and impunity for international crimes. In particular, he highlighted fascinating connections between individual personal stories and international justice with a view to landmark developments in international criminal law.
The conversation explored the interplay of law and politics, connections between law and literature, the significance of public understanding of law and memory politics today. Professor Sands elaborated on the significance of the „Pinochet moment“ in international criminal justice, universal jurisdiction to the present day and the question of individual criminal responsibility and immunity of Heads of States. A focus of the conversation was on the case against former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet, the role of former Nazi SS officer Walter Rauff who evaded justice in Chile, and the lasting significance of the Nuremberg trial and the Nuremberg Principles. According to Professor Sands, „the application and enforcement of the Nuremberg Principles will be a long game, one in which law and politics intersect“.
The event featured the prologue from Professor Sands’ latest book, 38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England, and a Nazi in Patagonia and a discussion of its main characters, key themes and the resonance with contemporary political and legal developments. Blending personal memoir, historical detective work and gripping courtroom drama, the book uncovers a hidden history of mass murder that linked the horrors of the 1940s to our present time. When Pinochet was arrested in London in 1998, Professor Sands had been approached to advise the former Head of State on his claim to immunity. Instead, he chose to represent Human Rights Watch against Pinochet.
Professor Alexander Korb, Director of the Memorium Nuremberg Trials, and Dr Dittrich gave opening remarks.
Philippe Sands KC is Professor of Public Understanding of Law at University College London, and Samuel and Judith Pisar Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is also barrister at 11 King’s Bench Walk Chambers. He appears as Counsel before international courts and tribunals and sits as an international arbitrator. His latest books are East West Street: On the Origins of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016) (awarded the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize, the 2017 British Book Awards Non-Fiction Book of the Year, and the 2018 Prix Montaigne) and The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2020), also available as a BBC podcast. He was President of English PEN and a member of the Board of the Hay Festival of Arts and Literature. Professor Sands delivered the inaugural Nuremberg Academy Lecture in 2020 and was in charge of the special performance of “A Song of Good and Evil” in 2015. (vd/em)
