By Harut Sassounian
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit organization, was renamed in 2023 to support those who are at risk of becoming victims of genocide and other mass atrocities.
The Institute was named after Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), a Polish-Jewish lawyer and Holocaust survivor who, in 1944, coined the term genocide to describe what until then had been referred as Armenian massacres. In 1948, after tireless efforts, he succeeded in having the United Nations adopt the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, making genocide an international crime.
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The Institute, an all-volunteer organization with no paid staff, aims to honor Lemkin’s work by trying to protect threatened communities around the world, including the Armenians of Artsakh. On September 5, 2023, the Lemkin Institute issued a 127-page report, indicating an increased risk of mass atrocities, particularly genocide, against Artsakh Armenians.
In 2025, Joseph Lemkin, a lawyer who is a relative of Raphael Lemkin, objected to the use of the Lemkin name by the Lemkin Institute because of its designation of Israel’s killings of Palestinians in Gaza as genocide. Joseph Lemkin is a Zionist and supporter of Israel whose father was Raphael Lemkin’s first cousin, according to The Times of Israel.
Joseph Lemkin was quoted as saying: “They distort his [Raphael’s] legacy and appropriate his name to advance a definition of genocide which is inconsistent with what we believe was his life’s work,” said Joseph Lemkin, 57. “To me, it tarnishes his memory by attaching to his name allegations that trivialize the whole concept of genocide.” Joseph Lemkin threatened to sue the Lemkin Institute over the naming dispute.
In April 2026, Joseph Lemkin and the European Jewish Association (EJA) submitted a legal memorandum to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations, objecting to the Institute’s use of Lemkin’s name. “As an institution, they can publish whatever they want. But they cannot pretend to carry Raphael Lemkin’s name and at the same time misrepresent his heritage, which was completely against these beliefs,” said Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the EJA’s chairman and founder. “What they did is completely illegal, and so we started a campaign with the authorities in Pennsylvania to shut them down or at least change their name.”
EJA’s attorneys have sent letters to various Pennsylvania officials asking them to investigate the Lemkin Institute’s tax-exempt status as a Section 501(c)3 charity. The group has also enlisted the help of Amichai Chikli, Israel’s hardline minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, who wrote to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro urging him to make this investigation a priority. One of the law firms representing Joseph Lemkin accused the Lemkin Institute of defending Hamas, backing Hezbollah, and targeting the United States — allegations that the Institute says are false and defamatory.
Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, the Lemkin Institute’s director, explained in an email: “There are several members of the Lemkin family who support our work and who understand how we use Raphael Lemkin’s studies and analyses in our own prevention mechanisms.”
The Lemkin Institute issued the following statement on Oct. 14, 2025: “We have Lemkin family members on our side who reached out to us after October 7, 2023 [the Hamas attack]. Peter Lemkin, in whose childhood home Raphael Lemkin was a frequent visitor, has been particularly supportive, offering encouragement, sharing insights into Lemkin’s work, and informing us of his family’s close collaboration in the effort to get the Genocide Convention ratified by states…. It is only our work on Israel that has brought about a coordinated smear campaign in the United States with dangerous, precedent-setting implications.” Peter Lemkin, who lives in the Czech Republic, has joined the Lemkin Institute’s board.
The core of the dispute over the Lemkin Institute’s use of Raphael Lemkin’s name is in reality a political, rather than a legal issue.
Raphael Lemkin’s relatives have no control over the use of his name, unless, they have specifically inherited the legal rights to the use of his name. There are no known documents indicating that Raphael Lemkin bequeathed such rights to any of his relatives. None of his relatives have inherited his estate since Raphael had died in abject poverty.
Even if there were evidence of such an inheritance, there is a 30-year limit for the name’s commercial use under Pennsylvania law. Raphael died in 1959. Thus, according to Pennsylvania law, such a right would have expired in 1989. Furthermore, that statute covers those who have died in the state of Pennsylvania. Raphael died in New York City.
Regarding the political dispute involving some of Lemkin’s relatives who are staunch supporters of Israel, there are other relatives who have no objection to the Institute’s criticism of Israel’s actions toward the Palestinians in Gaza. Indeed, one of Raphael’s relatives decided to join the Institute’s board.
Therefore, Raphael’s relatives who object to the Institute’s name have neither the legal nor political authority to reject its use. There is a high probability that should this issue end up in court, the Lemkin Institute is expected to prevail.