“Peter Benenson”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

He was born in London as Peter James Henry Solomon, to a large Jewish family,^[4] the only son of British-born Harold Solomon and Russian-born Flora Benenson; Peter Benenson adopted his mother's maiden name later in life. His army officer father died from a long-term injury when Benenson was aged nine, and he was tutored privately by W. H. Auden before going to Eton. At the age of sixteen, he helped to establish a relief fund with other schoolboys for children orphaned by the Spanish Civil War. He took his mother's maiden name of Benenson as a tribute to his grandfather, the Russian gold tycoon Grigori Benenson, following his grandfather's death.

He enrolled for study at Balliol College, Oxford but World War II interrupted his education. He served in the Intelligence Corps at the Ministry of Information where he met his first wife, Margaret Anderson.

Career

After demobilisation in 1946, Benenson began practising as a barrister before joining the Labour Party and standing unsuccessfully for election at Streatham in 1950 and for North Herts constituency till 1959. He was one of a group of British lawyers who, in 1957, founded JUSTICE, the UK-based human rights and law reform organisation. In 1958, he fell ill and moved to Italy to convalesce. In the same year, he converted to the Roman Catholic Church.

Activism

Benenson was shocked and angered by a newspaper report of two Portuguese students from Coimbra sentenced to seven years in prison for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom^[5] during the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, the Estado Novo. At this time, Portugal was ruled by the authoritarian Estado Novo regime, and anti-regime conspiracies were vigorously repressed by the Portuguese state police and deemed anti-Portuguese. He wrote to David Astor, editor of The Observer. On 28 May 1961, Benenson's article, entitled "The Forgotten Prisoners", was published. The letter asked readers to write letters showing support for the students. To co-ordinate such letter-writing campaigns, Amnesty International was founded in London in July 1961 at a meeting of Benenson and six other men, who included a Conservative, a Liberal and a Labour MP.^[6]^[7] The response was so overwhelming that within a year various groups of letter-writers had formed in more than a dozen countries.

Amnesty International

Initially appointed general secretary of AI, Benenson stood down in 1964 owing to ill health. By 1966, Amnesty International faced an internal crisis and Benenson alleged{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} that the organisation he founded was being infiltrated by British intelligence. The advisory position of president of the International Executive was then created for him. In 1966, he began to make allegations of improper conduct against other members of the executive.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} An inquiry was set up which reported at Elsinore in Denmark in 1967. The allegations were rejected and Benenson resigned from AI.

While never again active in the organisation, Benenson was later personally reconciled with other executives, including Seán MacBride.

Personal life

Marriage to his first wife Margaret Anderson ended in divorce in 1972. He married Susan Booth in 1973. They had two children and were married until his death in 2005.^[8]-2005; his death; 2 children)^[9]

Death

He died of pneumonia on 25 February 2005 at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, aged 83, having been a resident of the nearby village of Nuneham Courtenay where he lies buried.^[10]

References

1. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.benensonsociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=4|title=Peter Benenson|publisher=benensonsociety.org}}
2. ^{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9kMUvgWudvcC&pg=PA1961|title=Activists (20th century lives)|author=Philip Steele|year=2011|ISBN=978-1-44-883292-7}}
3. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.prideofbritain.com/contentpages/winners/2001/peter-benenson.aspx |archive-url=https://archive.is/20120907100302/http://www.prideofbritain.com/contentpages/winners/2001/peter-benenson.aspx |dead-url=yes |archive-date=2012-09-07 |title=Lifetime Achievement, Peter Benenson, Founder of Amnesty International |publisher=Pride of Britain Awards }}
4. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/benenson.html |title=Peter Benenson hero file |publisher=Moreorless : Heroes and killers of the 20th century |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060218073705/http://www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/benenson.html |archivedate=18 February 2006 }}
5. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-shipsey/the-toast-to-freedom-that_b_976849.html|title=The “Toast to Freedom” That Led to Amnesty International|publisher=Huffington Post}}
6. ^{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/29/amnesty-international-marks-50th-birthday|title=Amnesty International marks 50 years of fighting for free speech|newspaper=The Observer|date=29 May 2012|author=Tracy McVeigh}}
7. ^Childs, Peter; Storry, Mike, eds. (2002). "Amnesty International". Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture. London: Routledge. pp. 22–23.
8. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.benensonsociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=4|title=Peter Benenson|publisher=benensonsociety.org}}
9. ^{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9kMUvgWudvcC&pg=PA1961|title=Activists (20th century lives)|author=Philip Steele|year=2011|ISBN=978-1-44-883292-7}}
10. ^{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/28/international/europe/28benenson.html|title=Peter Benenson, Founder of Amnesty Group, Dies at 83|newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 February 2005|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.}}

Early life