Ethnic Cleansing Holocaust

Improved Essays
Based on my studies of genocides and the Holocaust, I have come to the conclusion that genocide’s do not always require a powerful leader in order for such tragic horrors to take place. On the contrary, it takes a merciless and inhuman organization of individuals led by a commander in order for such catastrophe to occur. Even as an adult who had no involvement in the Holocaust, the validity behind the extermination of Jews can still resonate tremendous sorrow and guilt for what occurred. I believe that children should be mature of age in order distinguish that where ever there is good, there can also be evil. Without this awareness of good and evil, students can face a problematic time sympathizing and understanding why such horrific events …show more content…
Ethnic cleansing can take action through deportation, sterilization, and ultimately mass murders. The Holocaust performed by German Nazi’s, is considered to be one of the largest genocides to take place in the world. Due to the six million people murdered under the ruling of a government leader, Adolf Hitler, the Holocaust is considered both genocide and a democide. The Holocaust falls into par with scientist R. J. Rummel’s concept of democide. Scientist R. J. Rummel graphically constructed the word genocide to fall into three different categories. These categories consist of legal meaning, common meaning, and generalized meaning. Each meaning stands its own purpose of describing the bounteous ways the government can undergo the act of genocide. Rummel describes a democide as another version of genocide, one that is conducted under the order of the government and solely the government (Rummel, …show more content…
As a result, victims of the Nazi army were forced from their homes and sentenced to live in ghettos and/or were rapidly transported by train to concentration camps. A well-known concentration camp by the name of Auschwitz became the extermination center to over one million Jewish citizens. Victims experienced a magnitude of horrors inside the walls of Auschwitz. Every single day, Jewish prisoners faced a grisly life, having to endure living in feces and excrement’s, while also waiting in fear of when they would be a part of the next round of execution (Lewinska, 1993). Execution took place through gas chambers, gallows, mass shooting, starvation and even experimental tests were performed. As stated by the Holocaust Museum (Museum, Racism: An Overview, 2016), there were leaders of the church that protested the mistreatment of Jews and tried to help potential Jewish prisoners seek refuge from the Nazi’s. With the help of the church, a resolution was passed that denounced the Nazi army for their invasive maltreatment towards Jews. However, not all bystanders were so eager to help Jewish refugees. Around the time of the Holocaust, in 1933, the United States set strict limitations to the number of immigrants that were allowed into the country. The new immigration restraints in the U.S. would have allowed less than 0.6% of the number of Holocaust victims to enter the country with a visa. Later on in 1938, thirty-two nations appeared at a conference to discuss the concerns of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Cambodian Genocide and Holocaust: Comparison and Contrast The intentional killing of a large group of people, typically due to ethnicity, race or religion is known as genocide. In the Holocaust and Cambodian Genocide, many innocent people were murdered in hopes of a “perfect population”. The Holocaust began in 1933 in Germany when Adolf Hitler rose to power. Hitler and members of the National Socialist German Workers Party committed the massacre of genocide.…

    • 1363 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Holocaust, which was the systematic persecution and murder of over six million Jews during World War II, is often cited as one of the worst atrocities committed in the history of human civilization. People speak of it in hushed, mournful voices as they wonder at how the German Nazis could be so malevolent as to annihilate a whole generation of Jews. Hundreds of eminent scholars have eloquently explained the horrific nature of the Holocaust and its effects on the modern world (Gerstenfeld). Yet, it can be said that emphasis should be placed on understanding why Adolf Hitler decided to exterminate so many Jews. Only by looking through the perspective of the Nazis can one begin to understand that the Nazi Party and its leader, Hitler, brutally…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Perhaps the most dreadful event in recent history is the tragedy that befell the world during the Holocaust. Throughout a twelve year period, the Nazis were able to wreak havoc and torture innocent people purely because of their “inferiority”. The Nazi ideology was rooted in the idea that the German race was superior to all, and this state of mind was behind all of the atrocities that took place in Germany and surrounding areas. While the majority of the worst travesties took place during the final years of the holocaust, there was a significant build-up to those events, which took place throughout the years from 1933 to 1938. During these years, the Nazis began to show their true intention to the world, and began their systematic persecution…

    • 1436 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the occupying armies of the United States, Great Britain, and France administered these camps. (The Aftermath of the Holocaust.) By having these countries support them, it made it easier to recover their place in society. The Jews had more insurance of protection, by having more countries on their side. In December 1945, the Jewish population no longer had to illegally immigrate to the U.S, as President Harry Truman issued directive that loosened restriction on immigration that was formed by the Nazi regime.…

    • 1357 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Most people know very little about the most infamous case of genocide in the world, the Holocaust. Altogether, the Holocaust was the mass murder of over six million Jews and other persecuted groups under the German Nazi direction in the 1940’s. Jews were led into camps where they died in horrific, inhuman ways. Between the number of people killed, methodology of the killing, and the premeditated destruction that was allowed by the entire world, the Holocaust is one of the most important genocides in the history of the globe. After World War I, the Germans were made to pay heavily for the war.…

    • 1641 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What is a genocide- "a deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. " What is a holocaust- "a destruction or slaughter on a mass scale." Within this paper I will be comparing how these two horrific events are alike and different. The Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust were similar to each other with the same leadership that was hungry for power and control, both aggressors wanted full authority of their countries and one pure race, and the vicious treatment and manner of extermination towards the innocent people was the same. First of all, the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust were similar to each other with the same leadership that was hungry for power and control.…

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Genocide In Human History

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Genocide in Human History Compared to Unwound Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. Genocide has been a prominent part of human history and changed the course of the world multiple times, creating wars and tearing down governments that had been corrupt. Usually occurring in places where people need a sense of leadership or change, the first recorded genocide was the annihilation of the inhabitants of an island called Melos which was attacked by the Athenian army in 416 BCE. Moreover, in the 20th century alone there were seventeen different genocides that were conducted by various groups and power players. ADD MORE ABOUT THE FIRST GENOCIDE…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    ocation and time The Holocaust took place in 21 countries of Europe. The countries were occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II and the Nazis started occupying its’ border countries such as Poland and Denmark before spreading throughout Europe. It started when Hitler became chancellor of Germany, on January 30, 1933, to May 8, 1945, when it officially ended. The genocide and mass killing began a few years after Hitler became the chancellor of Germany, in 1941, where the Jewish were systematically killed after they invaded the Soviet Union.…

    • 1456 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The destructive effects of genocide impact the lives of its victims and survivors further than others often understand. During the Holocaust, the entire memory of the Jewish people’s cultural and religious values were intended to perish along with the collapse of their population. Today, we remember the lives of the Jewish people to honor their continued presence among us and to ensure that their culture overcomes the multi-generational desecration that the Holocaust caused. According to Dr. Michael Reid Trice, the Assistant Dean for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue in the school of Theology and Ministry here at Seattle University, acts of genocide remain a threat to the existence of various ethnic and religious groups in today’s society.…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Events that Prove the Validity of the Holocaust Throughout the 1940s, Nazi Germany was capturing the Jewish population from all over Eastern Europe. Concentration camps were a major cause of death during the Holocaust. This topic is important for the general public to be educated about because it will help promote worldwide education. Without the world knowing the consequences of dehumanization and genocide, history will only repeat itself.…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Theories Of Genocide

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “Yet, as should become obvious, genocidal events have been common enough to suggest that they cannot be explained as some kind of deviant behavior. On the contrary, given the right circumstances, normal human beings are all too ready to kill by category.” (Chirot-McCauley, pg 17, 2006) Genocide is a rare occurrence and its still baffling because societies have implemented strategies to limit intergroup violence. There is no simple solution for mass murder, but progress will not be made until changes are made with education, laws and international guidelines.…

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Before World War Two and the Holocaust, the world had no official term for the practices of ethnic cleansing or genocide. Before World War Two and the Holocaust, the world had no international court system, capable of holding people accountable for crimes against humanity. Before World War Two and the Holocaust, the world community was more or less in a state of anarchy as defined by Thomas Hobbes, as no major power claimed the world that Britain left for it. While the Second World War and the Holocaust occurred mainly as a result of the Treaty of Versailles and the rise of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist Party, there is adequate proof that partially holds the German citizens, the bystanders of the Holocaust, responsible for the ethnic…

    • 1791 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to Webster’s Dictionary, genocide is [the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group] (Merriam-Webster, 2016). Genocide often brings up thoughts of the Holocaust, the mass killing of millions of Jews during the reign of Adolf Hitler. [The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire"] (Holocaust Encyclopedia , 2016).…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Many people around the world are well aware of the cruel treatment, mass murdering, and inhumane acts forced upon Jews during World War 2, known as the Holocaust. The word Holocaust, actually meaning “sacrifice by fire” in Greek, represents the systemic and hateful planned actions performed onto Jews. “in 1933, the Jewish population of Europe stood at over 9 million,” says author of “Introduction to the Holocaust” on www.ushmm.org, German Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, would soon play a role in drastically changing that population. As World War 2 began, Adolf Hitler’s main goal was to make Germany a world power.…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise” (“Adolf Hitler Quote”). This renowned Adolf Hitler quote can be used to depict one of Hitler 's many tactics he used during his dictatorship. Forcing his way to power in 1933 (Britannica School), he became one of the most loathed dictator and person throughout history. A dictator is one who rules a country or group of people and has obtained power forcefully. Hitler can evidently be described as a dictator taking in perspective his responsibility of the mass murder of 11 million innocent people and limitations to many ethnic groups in Germany.…

    • 2156 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays