Peter James Henry Solomon Benenson ( born Peter James Henry Solomon Benenson ; July 31, 1921 , London - February 25, 2005 ) - English lawyer , founder of the international human rights organization Amnesty International .
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Biography
The early years
Peter Benenson was born in 1921 in London . His maternal grandfather, Gregory Benenson, was a banker of Jewish descent who emigrated from Russia after the revolution [3] . The father passed away when the boy was only nine years old, and the mother could not pay enough attention to young Peter, since she was rarely at home due to high employment [4] . The loneliness that Peter often experienced as a child exacerbated his sense of compassion for human grief.
At the age of 15, while studying at Eton School, he wrote a complaint to the pharmacist about poor quality of food. The school principal informed the mother of her son’s revolutionary inclinations [5] . At the age of 16, during the Spanish Civil War , Benenson called on his schoolmates to help the Republicans fight General Franco [4] , and also supported the Spanish Relief Committee, which dealt with the fate of Spanish children left orphaned during the Civil War [ 5] . In 1939, through the families of his friends, he helped two German Jewish teenagers escape from Nazi Germany [4] .
After graduating from Eaton, Peter Benenson entered Oxford , where he began studying history. With the outbreak of World War II, he interrupted his studies and was mobilized into the army, but because of his emigrant past, he did not enter the fleet and worked in the press service of the Ministry of Information [4] .
Post-war activities
After the war, waiting for demobilization, Benenson studied law. In 1946, having successfully passed the exams, he became a practicing lawyer [6] . He also joined the Labor Party and became an active member of the Labor Lawyers Society [4] .
In the 1950s , on the instructions of the trade unions, he acted as an observer at political processes in fascist Spain , Cyprus , Hungary and South Africa . After that, he founded Justice , a British citizen-based human rights organization. [5]
Amnesty International
In November 1960, Benenson read a short article in a newspaper about two Portuguese students who raised a toast for freedom in a café in Lisbon , for which they were sentenced to seven years in prison. Benenson decided to protest the dictatorial regime of Salazar established in Portugal and in May 1961 in the Observer newspaper he published the article “The Forgotten Prisoners” [6] . This publication marked the beginning of a one-year campaign in defense of the “prisoners of conscience” and served as the impetus for the creation of an international human rights organization. Thousands of people from all over the world offered him practical help [5] . So in July 1961, the organization was founded Amnesty International ( Eng. Amnesty International ).
In the first years of the movement’s existence, Peter Benenson mainly financed it, participated in investigations and was involved in all aspects of the organization’s affairs [5] . Soon, the organization received consultant status with the UN , as well as with the Council of Europe and UNESCO . In 1966, the movement faced an internal crisis and began to receive charges of espionage and illegal receipt of money from the government. Benenson decided to resign and for many years was engaged in religion and journalism. However, he returned to the organization in the early 1980s [6] . Prior to this, in 1977 Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize [7] .
Peter Benenson died on February 25, 2005 of pneumonia at the 84th year of life [5] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 129884502 // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012—2016.
- ↑ 1 2 BNF identifier : Open Data Platform 2011.
- ↑ Sergey Korotaevsky. In memory of Peter Benenson, founder of Amnesty International . Date of treatment February 20, 2009. Archived March 26, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Maxim Vasilenko. Peter Benenson The man who remembered . Date of treatment February 20, 2009. Archived March 26, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 ANNA VOLKOVA . Founder of Amnesty International , Kommersant (February 28, 2005). Date of treatment February 20, 2009.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Peter Benenson hero file . Date of treatment February 20, 2009. Archived March 26, 2012.
- ↑ The Nobel Peace Prize 1977 . Date of treatment February 20, 2009. Archived March 26, 2012.
Links
- Amnesty International Official Site (eng.) (Ar.) (Fr.) (Spanish)