{"id":2950,"date":"2019-11-01T01:12:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T01:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2950"},"modified":"2026-03-12T06:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T06:39:27","slug":"genocide-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/genocide-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Genocide: A Detailed Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Genocide is an important topic of world history and of particular significance in the 20th and 21st centuries.\u00a0 The topic of genocide<\/a> is also closely linked with the concepts of \u2018crimes against humanity<\/a>\u2019 and \u2018war crimes<\/a>\u2019 since these also generally occur alongside genocidal events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term \u2018genocide\u2019 is defined as a mass killing of a certain group of people based on their religion, ethnicity or cultural background.\u00a0 There have been many significant genocides in history, such as: Armenian Genocide<\/a>, Holodomor<\/a>, Nanking Massacre<\/a>, Holocaust<\/a>, Cambodian Genocide<\/a>, Bosnian Genocide<\/a> and the Rwanda Genocide<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0Raphael Lemkin first used the term \u2018genocide\u2019 in 1944, in his book \u2018Axis Rule in Occupied Europe<\/em>\u2019.\u00a0 As a term, it combines the words \u2018genos\u2019 and \u2018cide\u2019.\u00a0 \u2018Genos\u2019 is Greek and means \u2018race\u2019 or \u2018people\u2019 while \u2018cide\u2019 means the \u2018act of killing\u2019.\u00a0 As such, the term refers to the mass killing of a particular group of people.\u00a0 For example, the United Nations<\/a> defines a genocide as \u201cacts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group\u201d.\u00a0 The United Nations outlined this definition in its 1948 Genocide Convention.\u00a0 The creation of the United Nations is important to the history of genocides, as it was essentially created to help prevent or stop mass killings, which had been more common in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

GENOCIDE – CLASSIFICATION<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As stated above, there have been many significant genocides in history.\u00a0 However, the Holocaust<\/a> is likely the most significant genocide of the 20th century and eventually led to the recognition of genocide as a distinct topic of study.\u00a0 For instance, the major events of the Holocaust occurred throughout the 1930s and 1940s during the reign of the Nazi Party<\/a> in Germany.\u00a0 The Nazi Party, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler<\/a>, systematically killed 11 million people in the Holocaust including as many as 6 million Jewish people.\u00a0 The Holocaust ended in 1945 with the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II<\/a> by the Allied countries.\u00a0 As a result of the events of the Holocaust and World War II, countries of the world united to establish the United Nations<\/a> in 1945.\u00a0 For example, the United Nations was created with the goal of preventing wars and genocide.\u00a0 The United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948, which was first discussed above, was important because it was the first time that genocide was defined as a criminal act.\u00a0 This is important because it caused the world to consider perpetrators of the genocide as criminals who should be held accountable for their actions.\u00a0 The first instance of this was the Nuremberg Trials<\/a> following the events of the Holocaust and World War II.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nuremberg
Jewish people during the events of the Holocaust. (Colorized by historycrunch.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

GENOCIDE – AN INTERNATIONAL CRIME<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During World War II, the Allied powers met several times to discuss post-war Europe and how to bring the Nazis to justice.\u00a0 For example, three significant conferences were held including: the Tehran Conference in 1943 and the Yalta Conference<\/a> and Potsdam Conference<\/a> in 1945. In general, the leaders initially disagreed on how to carry out justice.\u00a0 Winston Churchill of Britain and Joseph Stalin<\/a> of the Soviet Union favored summary executions, meaning the officials would be killed without a trial.\u00a0 Whereas, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt<\/a>, and later Harry S. Truman<\/a>, were in favor of a formal trial to ensure the collection and presentation of evidence in order to prove guilt.\u00a0 Eventually, the other leaders agreed with the American approach and the nations set out to establish the system of trials.\u00a0 The trials were established in the German city of Nuremberg after the conclusion of World War II.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nuremberg Trials began on November 19th, 1945 with indictments against twenty four captured Nazis and different Nazi organizations, including: Nazi leadership, the SS<\/a>, the Gestapo<\/a>, and the SA.\u00a0 The first charge was that the Nazis participated in a conspiracy to wage war and end the peace following World War I<\/a>.\u00a0 The second charge was that the German leadership planned and carried our wars of aggression.\u00a0 The third charge was for war crimes<\/a> and the fourth charge was for carrying out crimes against humanity<\/a>.\u00a0 Of the twenty four Nazis tried at the Nuremberg Trials only five were found not guilty.\u00a0 The other nineteen were convicted and either sentenced to prison terms, including life in prison, or given a death sentence.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nuremberg
A view of the defendants during the Nuremberg Trials.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Nuremberg Trials were a significant because they were the first such \u2018international\u2019 trial and established a model for future trials.\u00a0 As well, the Nuremberg Trials helped establish a renewed interest in human rights issues<\/a>.\u00a0 For instance, the United Nations was established with the goal of preventing similar future conflicts.\u00a0 Furthermore, the United Nations created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights<\/a> in 1948 with the goal of restoring faith in basic human rights<\/a> and to avoid future related war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocides.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated above, the Nuremberg Trials inspired other trials related to more modern genocide, such as: Cambodian Genocide, Bosnian Genocide (Former Yugoslavia), and Rwandan Genocide.\u00a0 For example, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the United Nations in May of 1993 in order to prosecute the perpetrators of the genocide.\u00a0 The ICTY was located in The Hague, Netherlands and was tasked with judging the following during the Bosnian War: customs of war, genocide, crimes against humanity.\u00a0 The maximum sentence it could impose was life imprisonment.\u00a0 In total, the ICTY oversaw the trials of 111 people and dissolved as an organization in December of 2017.\u00a0 Also, In November of 1994, the United Nations created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).\u00a0 It was established as a means of holding the perpetrators of the Rwandan Genocide accountable for their actions during the massacre.\u00a0 The court was located in Tanzania and oversaw trials centered around genocide and crimes against humanity. \u00a0In all it oversaw 50 trials which led to the convictions of 29 people deemed responsible for the genocide.\u00a0 The ICTR was dissolved in 2015 having completed its mandate.\u00a0 Furthermore, in 2001, the Cambodian government established the Khmer Rouge Tribunals for the purpose of trying leaders of the Khmer Rouge<\/a> during the Cambodian Genocide.\u00a0 It was a national court established by the Cambodian government but supported by the United Nations with some international lawyers and judges.\u00a0 The full name for the tribunals was \u2018Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia\u2019 or ECCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"United
Flag of the United Nations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

GENOCIDE – STAGES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In general, genocides unfold as a series of identifiable stages.  Dr. Gregory Stanton (President of Genocide Watch) has identified ten stages of genocide, which include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Classification \u2013 The dividing of people into different groups promoting the idea of \u2018us\u2019 vs. \u2018them\u2019.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Symbolization \u2013 Using symbols or terms to identify certain groups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Discrimination \u2013 Laws that decimate socially, economically and politically against certain groups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Dehumanization \u2013 Comparing certain groups with animals or insects.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Organization \u2013 Systematic organization against particular groups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Polarization \u2013 The idea of dividing people in society to highlight differences.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Preparation \u2013 Usually secret planning to prepare the events of the genocide.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Persecution \u2013 The separation of particular groups from society, which may include killings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Extermination \u2013 The systematic killing of people.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Denial \u2013 Perpetrators deny that a genocide exists and minimize their role in the events.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Dr. Stanton created the list to help with the identification of genocides as they unfold.  However, he also noted that the ten stages do not necessarily always occur as stated above and some of the stages may occur together in singular events. Visit the website for Genocide Watch to read more in-depth information about the stages of genocide as identified by Dr. Gregory Stanton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Cambodian
    Skulls of victims from the Cambodian Genocide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Genocide is the intentional and systematic destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, often through mass killings, forced displacement, and other acts of violence. This article details the history and significance of genocide, especially in relation to the 20th century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,45,47],"tags":[61,15,101,56,22],"class_list":["post-2950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genocide","category-holocaust","category-nazi-germany","tag-genocide","tag-history","tag-holocaust","tag-nazi-germany","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2950"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6417,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2950\/revisions\/6417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}