preview

Why Is The Killing Of A Million A Lesser Crime?

Best Essays

Genocide Essay “Why is the killing of a million a lesser crime than the killing of an individual?” -Raphael Lemkin referring to genocides. Genocides are organized exterminations committed with intent to destroy a whole group based on religion, ethnicity, and race. The Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, Darfur, and the Rwanda genocide were all terrible events in history, but why did they occur? The form of genocide had existed since the perception of superiority and inferiority was known. As a superior group gains more and more power, they make an image of their perfect society in their head and strive towards it. They would decimate those who opposed them and anyone they saw as inferior, which is an example of how a genocide can start. Hitler was the leader of the Nazis, and he pursued his plans to annihilate the entire “inferior” race of Jews, which he thought was a burden to his empire. In the Armenian genocide, the Young Turks attempted to terminate the Armenians, which they also thought were inferior and untrustworthy. Although the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide are both genocides in which a specific group of people were being targeted, they differ in terms of leaders and their purpose for starting the genocide, the races that were targeted and how they were killed, and the impact it has on people today. (history.com) Both the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust were disastrous genocides, but they could not happen without its leaders. The leader of the

Get Access