Welcome

War, Law and Crime. Legal Histories of the Second World War and its Aftermath, a two-day workshop organised by Lily Chang and Franziska Exeler, brought together historians who are interested in new approaches to legal histories of war. By focusing on the Second World War and its aftermath, the workshop examined the intersection of law and war, as well as its postwar consequences. This included explorations into the history of international law, war crimes prosecution and treason trials, but also questions of retribution and reconciliation, political uses of law, and the manifold and conflicting understandings of ‘justice’ in the aftermath of war and occupation.