Professor Frakt's overview: Another fabulous day in Durham at Duke TIP. Today we continued our exploration of the fascinating world of the law of armed conflict and delved into WWII and the International Criminal Tribunal of Nuremberg. We capped off the day with the classic film, Judgment at Nuremberg. A great film, but 3:07 running time!
Guest blog post from Christian Jaffe: (see last photo below on right)
Day two dawned just as brightly on the TIP students as day one and we made our way down to breakfast as a group (literally). As previous attempts to evade some of the more….onerous regulations came to naught, we are now required to walk supervised groups to meals. Additionally we have been upgraded from the buddy system to the so called buddy “squared” system. However, the sacrifice was not great and we departed breakfast after what was surely another wonderful meal to our morning lesson. In it, we were enlightened on more of the myriad intricacies of international law such as the definition of legal vs. illegal combatants, protected zones, the legality of espionage, the battle of Solferino, and, most interestingly, whether Taliban soldiers wear uniforms or not. Other subjects covered included ruses of war; legal deception techniques employed in warfare, as opposed to perfidy, illegal acts such as, to use a less subtle example, hiding a very conspicuous tank in an ICRC tent, as well as covering unlawful weapons. At the end of our insightful course we headed to the rolling lawns just outside our residence hall to finish our eminently manageable reading on the Nuremberg Trials which we would be discussing after lunch.
Students burrow into the fascinating reading assigned by Professor Frakt
The result:
I know. I still haven't learned how to rotate a picture. Maybe I should just keep the camera horizontal?
Students conduct experiment to determine which is more comfortable - grass or concrete.
At around 12:30 we headed to lunch and then promptly returned to the residence hall for the lesson. Although our booties were altogether more comfortable ensconced on the plush sofas of the common room, the presentation on the Legacy of Nuremberg Trials was a more sobering experience. In it we learned how the trials of German War Crimes during World War II influenced and shaped modern international law. At the conclusion of the Nuremberg lesson several of us headed to the computer lab to work on the reading assignment and to catch up on other online matters. A little before 5:00 we headed back to the residence hall and another group took off too the recreational center. As can be imagined, the trip proved very exhausting and the combined strain of looking at all the other intimidating people and trying to find the cleverly hidden Natatorium resulted in most of us returning leaving a few minutes after. However, there was no time to rest, as an intense game of Taboo ensued where a French Chick (Joan of Arc apparently) was burned and Bubba Gump Shrimp was called for before we headed off to dinner. Apart from a brief puzzling over the whereabouts of the up 'til then ever present “doorman,” dinner went as well as any meal. Heartily filled with Duke University food, we returned to our common room to watch the film Judgment at Nuremberg, which was apparently nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won……”lots and lots of awards.” After being treated to the “announcer voice” skills of instructor David Frakt, we soon discovered, whilst the pretzels were passed among all (we were sorrowfully informed of what I am sure will be a temporary Booty shortage) that the award for mastery of the “moving car shoot” probably evaded Judgment at Nuremberg, which was a powerful and illuminating film nevertheless. As with many epics, it proved to be long so some of our number chose to turn in and finish the grand tale following day. Before the group split Kate arrived ostensibly to finish collecting some much needed contact information and other related matters, while she was in fact attempting in her own poorly concealed words to “steal our souls.” Somehow though, we managed to keep our souls intact and went our separate ways, filled with newfound knowledge and anxious anticipation for adventures (and daily Dutch words - another great innovation by Jessica D) still to come.
Eric and Emily practice the buddy system.
These kids are great at multi-tasking. Photos by Defrag