The Holocaust And The Rwanda Genocide

Genocides happen when ethnic divisions become apparent. Many times, these ethnic divisions were due to colonization from people of different race. These cases are especially true in Africa when Europeans colonized their territory, with clear racial divisions between them (Gavin). These genocides go on because of nations acting on ignorance and refusing to help out the nations in turmoil, allowing the genocides to continue, without wasting their own resources. These nations purposefully ignoring the slaughter of people cause the nations to also be guilty of the genocide underway (“The Heart”). The genocide occurred in Rwanda in Central Africa during 1994. The decades of Tutsi oppression of Hutus and the assassination of President Habyarimana in 1994 led to the genocide in Rwanda.

The Holocaust which was one of many of the controversial events that have happened in the history of our world demonstrated a significant amount of cruelty and dehumanization. Because of such a controversial event, many have suffered through physical and unfortunately psychological upheaval and distress. With previous knowledge and novels’ read on the Holocaust, it came to be known that the event was triggered through obedience and conformity due to the not specifically the Germans’ beliefs of anti-Semitic and propaganda, but more of leader Adolf Hitler. The time of the Holocaust was used to dehumanize which enhanced the understanding of mental health and human psychology. During the Holocaust, many psychological principles affected individuals forever. The principles include groupthink and of course knowing the outcome of the event. Such principles sooner explain the reality of life because it stresses how individuals react due to their past experiences like the Holocaust and most importantly how traumatic events build them as who they are today.  Innocent Jews went through starvation, terrible working conditions, and the elimination of race through torture such as gas chambers. Furthermore, the history of this controversial event is now being used to be alert of the health and wellness of those who have gone through such events that sooner change their behavior and mentality for the better or even worse.

A genocide is a horrible kind of war. It is a mass killing and torturing of innocent people who do not deserve any of it. There are many stages of genocides, which may or may not go in the same order. The Holocaust, being the largest genocide and a horrible point in history, is similar and different to the Bosnian/Croatian genocide. Although many aspects lead up to these genocides and other similar wars, there are possible measures that could have been taken to prevent all of this. No human should have to endure the pain of a genocide, especially as horrible as the Holocaust, or Croatian/Bosnian war. The Holocaust and the Bosnian genocide both consisted of many stages that led to a variety of horrible events, both similar and different, which could have been prevented if certain actions were taken into consideration.

“How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think” (Hitler, Mein Kampf). As time passed, there has been many times in history where a genocide has occurred. A genocide is a one-sided massacre from one party toward an ethnic or different group of people. As genocides occurred, questions such as “Why do people kill?” and “How can people allow these atrocities to occur?” are asked. There have been many theories made up as people researched the reason behind genocides. Throughout different centuries in history, genocides such as the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and the Asian genocide, have occurred because of the negative psychological effects on the people caused by propaganda, corrupted leaders, and differences in ethnic groups.

Sorscher and Cohen (1997) define a Holocaust survivor as a Jew born in Europe who experienced the Holocaust either in hiding, in under-ground resistance, as a refugee, or in concentration or forced labor camps. Survivors of Nazi Persecution, also known as SNPs, are well described under the broad heading of the Concentration Camp Syndrome, or CCS (Sigal, Silver, Rakoff & Ellin, 1973). After the war, survivors experienced an overwhelming amount of traumatic episodes, with some of the symptoms increasing, as they grew older. Survivors exhibited chronic depression with obsessional thoughts of past events, anxiety,

People that survived the Holocaust were optimistic and/or hid but today most are guilty. They have guilt in them because they survived while others were dying amongst them.Surviving World War II meant freedom but many did not get to that point, unfortunately. They were brutally murdered or died either from working too much , starvation, and/ or diseases that spread like wildfire. Unbelievably, smells from the gas chambers, where victims were poisoned with gasses, are still present at concentration camps locations . Many survivors have never been able to get over this horrific event that took place because of the terrifying memories from the camps. Memories of how ruthlessly people were being killed, disgusting food, and the hard work, haunt

From 1933 to 1945, millions of lives were thrown into chaos because of the Holocaust. Families were ripped apart and values were washed away as citizens were forcefully placed in concentration camps to either be immediately killed or to work until they died. Every person within the camps faced unthinkable trauma. Once everyone was released, the prisoners began to search for lost loved ones and a sense of normality. However, the anguish did not end with the end of the Holocaust. Following the Holocaust, first generation survivors developed abnormal values, societal dependence, and a need to avoid the topic of the Holocaust as an effect of their trauma; these side effects were then passed down to future generations

Throughout history, there are different examples of how races were being oppressed, while the higher power does not intervene, and would almost act as a bystander, except that they have the power to stop it, and the point is that the higher power, should be the one to advocate on behalf of the oppressed. Some examples would be the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide, in which the higher power, or the government, would not interfere with the injustices really when they should have since a whole race could have been killed off. I do however, understand that some believe that the bystander, or the others that are standing by as this happens, should be the ones to stop it. Although this may be true, the others, for example civilians who are standing by, do not have as much power as let us say, governments who have the resources and the power to make a change to other countries in need.

The Holocaust was a traumatic event that changed everyone that survived. The psychological effects that survivors

Many European Jews could make it and remain alive, but in reality, most of them are not really still alive from their inside. It is true that their bodies have healed; however, their minds are still psychologically sick. It is hard for many people to see their beloved ones dying because of the hanger or even the harsh treatment. Imagine how hard was for Vladek and Anja to see their little son Richu dying, and they could not do anything to him. Many survivors had this sense of regret about why they were the ones who get to survive while others died. They could see the images of dead people who were lying above each other. Aaron Hass from California State University, Dominguez Hills, California talks about a woman called Rose who was in her 19th year of age during the Holocaust. In his interview with Rose F., he explains how the Holocaust has shaped her life and personality. For example, Rose states that “I felt guilty for many years that maybe I should have run back and tried to get her [he sister] with me or stay with her. Maybe I didn’t do enough to stay together. Maybe I was too selfish about saving myself” (Hass 163). This shows how Rose could not and still can not get over the loss of her sister, and she keeps blaming herself for her sister’s death. The Holocaust and its brutality are hard to be forgotten by Jewish

Witnessing an attempt of genocide can change a person, mentally and physically. In the book Night, you will see through the eyes of a Holocaust survivor. The Holocaust impacted Elie’s decisions and also his point of views. Elie goes through starvation, emotions and death. He witnesses murder in ways unimaginable. He see’s SS soldiers kill people for looking at them. He see’s Kappos killing their own race. Seeing murder can bring out emotions you never knew you had. These emotions can change a person. Going through these changes can affect a person's mental state.

The Nazis killed over six million Jews and millions of other Polish and Soviet civilians in the Holocaust. They also killed gypsies, physically and mentally disabled people and homosexuals. The number of survivors today are quickly dwindling down. Clinical psychologist Natan Kellermann defines a Holocaust survivor as any Jew who lived under Nazi occupation and was threatened by the “final solution” (Kellermann 199). This definition can be applied to not only Jews, but to anyone in general whose life was threatened by the Nazis. When these survivors were liberated, they believed the suffering was over, but for many, this wasn’t the case. The trauma of the horrors they faced is still evident in their life. By analyzing the effects of post traumatic stress disorder after the Holocaust, readers can see that the aftermath of the Holocaust is still prevalent in the survivor’s everyday life; This is important to show that while the trauma may not be overcome, the survivor can be more at peace with the events.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word “genocide” as “the killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group” (Merriam). But aren’t genocides much more then that? Over the past hundred years, there have been several attempted genocides around the world. Two of the most well-known genocides are the Holocaust (the Nazi’s attempt to destroy the Jewish people) and the Bosnian genocide (the Serbians attempt to destroy the Bosnian population). This paper analyzes a political cartoon relating to genocides, describes the events that led to the Holocaust and the Bosnian genocide, describes several similarities and differences between them and explains why genocides continue regardless of the saying, “Never Again”.

“The fact is they know I went through hell.” -Professor Bacharach, Holocaust Survivor. Ever since many centuries ago, Jewish people were treated unfairly and unjustly according to their religion and characteristics. The Holocaust was a fearful and painful genocide because of anti-semitism throughout European countries. Up to six million Jews died in the harrowing genocide, along with the death of many other religious and ethnical groups ("Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution"). As much as a fraction of the number of Jews survived. With much grief and sorrow during the Holocaust, the survivors had to suffer the emotional and physical trauma after the event. Survivors had to face the reality of rebuilding their lives after the

Propaganda was an elaborate and essential tool used extensively by Hitler and the Nazi's as well as the Hutu's during their terrorizing reign of Germany and throughout Europe and the Hutu's horrific acts of genocide that happened because of a culmination of deep ethnic tensions brewing over a century and intense political corruption. Not only was it used to promote and endorse the party and its leader's extreme racist values but also to mask the horrifying truths of what was to become known as the Holocaust and the Rwanda Genocides.