IWM In Conversation With: Jon Silverman and Robert Sherwood

This is your chance to hear Jon Silverman and Robert Sherwood discuss their new book, Safe Haven, within IWM London’s exclusive Roof Terrace. You will have the chance to join the conversation with Robert and John as they explain how many of the perpetrators of one of the greatest atrocities ever committed were allowed to escape justice. The evening will conclude with a book signing and after-hours viewing of IWM’s Holocaust Galleries. 

About the book
The controversial 1991 War Crimes Act gave new powers to courts to try non-British citizens resident in the UK for war crimes committed during WWII. But in spite of the extensive expense and legal work that followed, it led to just one conviction: that in 1999 of Anthony Sawoniuk. 

Safe Haven considers why and how convictions failed to follow investigations. Within the broader context of war crimes investigations in the USA, Germany, and Australia, the authors reassess the legal and investigative processes and decisions that stymied inquiries, from the War Crimes Act itself to the restrictive criteria applied to it. 

The authors argue that these led to many Nazi collaborators escaping justice in criminal court. They situate this history within the legacy of the Holocaust: how do the belated attempts to address a failure of justice sit with an ever-growing awareness of the Holocaust, represented by memorialization and education? In so doing, Safe Haven provokes a timely reconsideration of the relationship between law, history, and truth.