Guillaume Mouralis is a senior researcher (“Directeur de recherche”) in History and Sociology at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, France). He is a member of the “Institut des sciences sociales du politique” (Nanterre) and is associated with the Centre Marc Bloch (Berlin). His research interests include the recent history of Germany, the history and sociology of law, postwar justice, purges and mass crime trials.
He is currently researching the ways in which artists and activists have, since the beginning of the twentieth century, mobilised criminal law and invested in the very forms of the international trial. In this context, he is preparing a book on the Russell Tribunal created in 1967 to investigate and try American war crimes in Vietnam. He is also co-editing, with A. Kretschmann and U. Zeigermann, the book Laypeople in Law. A Sociolegal Perspective, to be published by Routledge in 2023.
In connection with his current research, he is exploring the relationship between theatre, law and social sciences. He has collaborated, with the author and director F. Barriera, on two projects linking research and theatre, Utopia 89 and Justice 67. While the first play was about the peaceful East German revolution, the second play focuses on the 1967 Russell Tribunal. With Barriera, he co-wrote the text of this second play, drawing inspiration from the tradition of the documentary theatre. This text was awarded the national grant for dramatic writing by Artcena in 2022.
His two most recent publications are Le moment Nuremberg. Le procès international, les lawyers et la question raciale (Presses de Sciences Po, 2019) and Die Straße ist die Tribüne des Volkes. Ansichten zum 4. November 1989 in Ost-Berlin (Links Verlag, 2021, coedited with C. Moine and L. de Verdalle).
His other publications include Une épuration allemande. La RDA en procès, 1949–2004 (Paris: Fayard, 2008); Dealing with Wars and Dictatorships. Legal Concepts and Categories in Action (Springer/Asser Press, 2014, coedited with L. Israël); and ‘The Nuremberg Trials: New Perspectives on the Professions’, special issue of Comparativ (26(4), 2017 coedited with M.-B. Vincent).
To learn more about the work of Guillaume Mouralis, see:
His personal website hosted by the CNRS
His page on the website of ISP, Nanterre
His page on the website of Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin