Genocide And Conflict

What do the Holocaust, the Nigerian Civil War, the killings in Rwanda during the 1990s, the killings in Bosnia in 1991, and the Holodomor all have in common? They are all examples of genocide. Genocide is the deliberate destruction of a political, religious, racial or ethnic group. Raphael Lemkin, a survivor of the Holocaust, created the term to describe the horrific events of the Holocaust. Although the term “genocide” is a newer term, there are records of mass slaughters that date back to ancient times. During the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler attempted to kill off the entire Jewish population. After not getting any help, Raphael Lemkin took his situation to the United Nations’ court. They debated the case for a long time, and eventually

In Rwanda during 1994 Genocide happened between the Hutus and Tutsis. Hutus and Tutsis had disagreements on who will have power which effected the whole population of Rwanda. This leads to the question why there is Genocide in Rwanda? Genocide happened by two clans who caused mass causalities. Others did little to help which caused Genocide to happen in Rwanda.

In the past 150 years, tens of millions of men, women and children have lost their lives to ethnic cleansing or genocide. Although the definition is often scrutinized, according to Merriam Webster, "Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group". The most notable event associated with the term is the Holocaust. Stated by Judah Gribets, Edward Greenstein and Regina Stein, "nearly six million Jews fell victim to genocide during the years of the Holocaust". Of This number, one million were children who were unable to take care of themselves. People's hopes and dreams for the future were stripped from them, and many families were ripped apart. Many of these people were tortured or raped

One very profound characteristic of the events that occur within genocide is how one group becomes the dominating leader over the group whom they are targeting. Most of the time, the group that is targeted is the group that inhabits the lowest people within that countries’ society. This explicit event occurs in both with the Aborigines in Australia and the Herero/Nama in South-West Africa. Both places endured a genocide that targeted the group of people within each society that the world believed would not survive unless someone intervened on the Aborigines and Herero/Nama 's’ behalf. However as time would tell, those whom believed they were improving these societies…eventually saw that they instead ruined the lives of those whom lived during these events.

Genocide is one of the most tragic events that can happen around the world. Identifying the stages is the most crucial part of stopping these horrible acts. The Bosnian Genocide and the Holocaust could have been prevented or stopped if the 8 stages were properly identified .

After Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, he gave an acceptance speech reflecting upon the true meaning of his novel and reflecting upon the crimes in our history. He revealed how “silence encourages the tormentor” while “indifference [is] the most insidious danger of all.” I find a lot of truth in these words and I agree with his assertion. Individuals tend to get overwhelmed by desperation, a sense of helplessness and fear in the face of acts, such as oppression and genocide. During these times, it is the responsibility of the world community to step in. This is proved to be true by the novel Night, the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and by the article called “A Secret Life.”

It is made known that before 1944, the term “genocide” did not exist. A Polish-Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin wanted to describe the acts of the Nazi policies, in regards to the mass murders of the European Jews. Using the Greek word “geno-“, meaning race or tribe, as well as the Latin word “-cide” for killing, he formed the word “genocide” (History.com Staff). According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the term holocaust means, “Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately

Steven Pinker implied that, “As long as your ideology identifies the main source of the world's ills as a definable group, it opens the world up to the mass murder of people” (1). Steven Pinker revealed an interesting side to the controversial topic of mass murders and the causes of them. He revealed that as long as people in this world believe that they are better than other due to their race, religion, and everything else that defines a group of people as different from another group of people. People are and have been wrongfully treated differently due to the incompetence of some to realize that everyone is equal. They often believe that they were superior to others because of their physical attributes and beliefs that they had. The Holocaust is a major example of the ignorance of some in history. This ignorance often resulted in the murders and mistreatment of many. Elie Wiesel was one of the six million plus people who were wrongfully mistreated during the Holocaust. Many believe that this sort of event could not occur in the current time period because people have become more civilized and tolerable to the differences of others, but sadly the world is not ready to contain a social utopia. The mass murder, and violence that is occurring in Darfur is one of the many things that shows that the world is far from achieving this social utopia. Throughout history, many occurrences of genocide have occurred due to the diversity of people and even though society has evolved

The most deadly example of genocide, a type of ethnic conflict, in human history was the Holocaust, which took place in Nazi Germany and surrounding nations from 1941 to 1945 (O’Shaughnessy 2009) . The Holocaust was ordered by Hitler to exterminate the Jewish people living in and around Germany, leading to the death of at least 6 million Jews as well as many other undesirables and potential political rivals (Kallis 2005). Hitler wished to target the Jews because he saw them as an easy scapegoat for why the German economy was failing and because he believed in a conspiracy theory concerning the rise of communism led by the Jews that threatened to overpower Europe and destroy Germany (Herf 2006). In order for Hitler 's plans to succeed, he had to manipulate the German people to a point where they would at least turn a blind eye to the disappearances of Jews even if they did not outright support the genocide. Hitler achieved this goal by crafting a narrative in which the Jews were the behind the scenes causing the war and the economic sufferings of Germany, which he then spread through his massive propaganda machine of Nazi Party owned newspapers and printing presses (O’Shaughnessy 2009).

Genocide, one of mankind’s most terrible invention, officially became a crime in 1948. Millions of individuals around the world have unfortunately had to endure this monster since then. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel insists that “human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere,”. Being a Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel understands how important it is for individuals around the world to recognize when human suffering, or a genocide is happening, so the world can stop it immediately. However, many groups of individuals are still not protected from the horrors of genocide, and are not able to receive the help that the UN could provide if they were included. Therefore, the United Nations should amend its definition of genocide to include an individual’s sexual orientation, sex, and age.

"The History Place - Genocide in the 20th Century: The Nazi Holocaust 1938-45." The History Place - Genocide in the 20th Century: The Nazi Holocaust 1938-45. The History Place, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.

The state usually organizes, arms and financially supports the groups that conduct the genocidal massacres. Such plans are made by elites for a “final solution” of genocidal killings.

The number of Native Americans throughout American from the time of the Europeans arriving to now has dramatically dropped. As churchill argues in, A Little Matter of Genocide, it was not just a coincidence so many of these indigenous people died, it was genocide. Genocide is the deliberate killing attempt to wipe out a religion, race, or culture of people. However, it was not all Europeans who participated in this effort to kill off the natives.

Genocide is one of the worst crimes against humanity and it still continues today. The definition of the word genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Compared with war crimes and crimes against humanity, genocide is generally regarded as the most offensive crime. Unlike war, where the attack is general and the object is often the control of a geographical or political region. Genocide attacks go after an individual’s identity and the object is control, or complete elimination, of a group of people. The history of genocide in the 20th century includes the 1915 genocide of Armenians by

Genocide, a dire event, has been recurring time and time again throughout history. In the past, there was the Holocaust, where Hitler exterminated over six million Jews based on his anti-semitic views. Elie Wiesel, a Jewish author, has become a very influential man in educating the world of the true events of the Holocaust due to his involvement in the disaster. Presently, a genocide is occurring in the Darfur region of southern Sudan, in which according to Cheryl Goldmark, “a systematic slaughter of non-Arab residents at the the hands of Arab militiamen called Janjaweed” has been taking place since 2003. (1) Not only is genocide a tragic historical event, it also continuously occurs today.