Genocide History A brief overview of some of the Genocides and Crimes Against Humanity of the 20th Century

“More than 50 million people were systematically murdered in the past 100 years- the century of mass murder.” “In sheer numbers, these and other killings make the 20th century the bloodiest period in human history.” National Geo. 2006

Native American People Population declined 80-90% in the first 100 years After the arrival of the Europeans in 1492- Native populations began to drastically decrease. Some methods of genocide included Murder Infected smallpox blankets Scalping Proclamations Treaties Reservations The Indian Removal Acts Anglicization in English schools to remove heritage.

The Belgian Congo 21.5 million people died in Congo from 1880-1920 The population decreased due to murder, disease, starvation. Congo “Free State” was privately owned by King Leopold II and he started the mass murders and slave labor. In 1908 end of Leopold’s rule

Namibia 24,000–100,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama died “The Herero genocide was a crucial antecedent to Nazi mass murder. It created the German word Konzentrationslager [concentration camp] and the twentieth century’s first death camp. Like Nazi mass murder, the Namibian genocides were premised upon ideas like Lebensraum [living space], annihilation war [Vernichtungsdrieg] and German racial supremacy. . .” “Individual Nazis were also linked to colonial Namibia. Hermann Goering, who built the first Nazi concentration camps, was the son of the first governor of colonial Namibia. Eugen Fischer, who influenced Hitler and ran the institute that supported Joseph Mengele’s medical “research” at Auschwitz, conducted racial studies in the colony. And Ritter von Epp, godfather of the Nazi party and Nazi governor of Bavaria from 1933 – 1945, led German troops against the Herero during the genocide.” (A. Jones)

Namibia – Continued… 80,000 Herero 20,000 Nama 450,000 Orambo Region connected with the Cape Colony economically & politically Zeitgeist of the Time: Narcissism: in the form of white supremacy justified by Social Darwinism Greed: fulfilling the philosophy of lebensraum Fear: tribesmen are well organized & a constant threat Destruction of Tribes, implementation of Concentration Camps on Shark Island, and public hanging executions of the Herero people Shrunken heads and bodily “trophies” sent back to families in Europe.

Ukrainian Famine 1932-1933 7 million to 15 million people, mostly Ukrainians, died Holodomor – Collectivization Collectivization in the Soviet Union was enforced under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms The Soviet leadership was confident that the replacement of individual peasant farms by collective ones would immediately increase the food supply for urban population, the supply of raw materials for processing industry, and agricultural exports. Collectivization was thus regarded as the solution to the crisis of agricultural distribution (mainly in grain deliveries) that had developed since 1927. This problem became more acute as the Soviet Union pressed ahead with its ambitious industrialization program. In the early 1930s over 91% of agricultural land was "collectivized" as rural households entered collective farms with their land, livestock, and other assets. The sweeping collectivization often involved tremendous human and social costs. Famine was the act of Genocide committed by the Soviet Government In 1932 the Soviets increased grain production 44%, which resulted in Grain Shortage- the peasants could not feed themselves. The Soviet knew this, but would not let them eat (by law) until the quota was met. They could not travel for food. Stalin states that “"the great bulk (of the 10 million) were very unpopular and were wiped out by their labourers."

Over 20 million People were killed WORLD WAR II 1939-1945 Over 20 million People were killed World War II resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent men, women and children. While incidents such as the Holocaust and the Rape of Nanking are obvious examples, numerous other incidents demonstrate how conflict is often a “trigger” for these events to occur such as: Strategic bombing of civilian targets (all sides) Forced relocation of Races Displacement and refugees due to war.

Nanking Massacre, 1937-1938 Over 300,000 killed In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. The six weeks of carnage would become known as the Rape of Nanking and represented the single worst atrocity during the World War II era in either the European or Pacific theaters of war. Two Japanese officers, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda competing to see who could kill (with a sword) one hundred people first. The bold headline reads, "'Incredible Record' (in the Contest to) Cut Down 100 People—Mukai 106 – 105 Noda—Both 2nd Lieutenants Go Into Extra Innings"

Communist China, 1945-1976 Approx. 30 million killed In 1966, China’s Communist leader Mao Zedong launched what became known as the Cultural Revolution in order to reassert his authority over the Chinese government. Believing that current Communist leaders were taking the party, and China itself, in the wrong direction, Mao called on the nation’s youth to purge the “impure” elements of Chinese society and revive the revolutionary spirit that had led to victory in the civil war 20 decades earlier and the formation of the People’s Republic of China. The Cultural Revolution continued in various phases until Mao’s death in 1976, and its tormented and violent legacy would resonate in Chinese politics and society for decades to come. Mao Zedong and his communist government killed 30 million Chinese people during his reign in 1945-1976. Most of these were citizens who opposed the gov’t or thought differently Some were ethnic groups

Nigerian Civil War - Biafra 500,000 - 2,000,000+ civilian casualties (mostly from starvation) Also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War July 6, 1967 – January 15, 1970 Political conflict Nigerian Victory Approximately 100,000 military casualties British political ideology carved up Nigeria into three regions: North, East, West The divide increased the already dominate economic, political, and social competition among Nigeria’s ethnic groups The government cut off food supply to Biafra

Genocides from 1951-Present Cambodia Guatemala Saddam Hussein & Iraq Balkans (Bosnia) Rwanda Darfur/Sudan Syria

Cambodia 1975-1979 The Khmer Rouge killed 1.7 million The communist party Khmer Rouge and leader Pol Pot ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979. They were responsible for forced labor, starvation, and execution. This was one of the most lethal regimes of the 20th century. This communist party killed “suspect ethnic groups” - Chinese, Vietnamese, Buddhist monks, and refugees.

Guatemala, 1980s The Mayan Genocide - 200,000 killed It was believed that the Mayan communities were allies of the communist guerrillas who opposed the Government. This led to increasing and worsening human rights violations perpetrated against them It led to extermination en masse of defenseless Mayan communities, including children, women and the elderly. Often whole villages were rounded up and killed often in brutal ways by special “Civil Patrol” units.

Iraq, 1988 50-100,000 People killed The Anfal Campaign against the Kurds was a systematic and deliberate murder of at least 50,000 and possibly as many as 100,000 Kurds. It was the culmination of a long term strategy to solve what the government saw as its “Kurdish problem”. Halabja (March ’88) was one chapter of this campaign in which chemical weapons were used against this Kurdish Village.

Balkans, 1991-2000 Over 50,000 People killed. After the WWI, Bosnia was united with other Slav territories to form Yugoslavia, essentially ruled and run by Serbs. Yugoslavia disintegrated in June 1991 Throughout the region conflict between the three main ethnic groups - the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Christian Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Darfur, Sudan 2003- Present 300,000 People killed? Exact numbers are difficult, estimates include: About 300,000 people have been killed or died of starvation Over 2 million people have been displaced. Janjaweed – Nomadic, “Black” Arab militia supported by Government have attempted to remove the black, non-Arab farmers and take land in the Darfur region. There is risk of famine and a threat to international security of other countries. "This is more than just a conflict. It is an organised attempt [by Khartoum – the Government] to do away with a group of people. The only difference between Rwanda [in 1994] and Darfur now is the numbers of dead, murdered, tortured and raped involved“. - Mukesh Kapila ( UN coordinator)

Current Research Scientists continue to discover mass graves and are exhuming the remains. They try to determine the cause of death in the skeletons and then match up the bones/identity info. to determine who the victims were. Hundreds of Iraquis have been exhumed-but there are still thousands more to be found. Humans allow Genocide to continue and the “civilized” first world countries continue to look the other way…and the tragedies continue. “Will humans ever overcome the ethnic hatreds and other factors that contribute to genocide?