Genocides of the 20th Century

There were a number of genocides in the 20th century including :

The Genocide of the Armenians by the Turks in 1904.

First off, it was the first genocide of the 20th century First off, it was the first genocide of the 20th century. It was the first systematic, widespread attempt at the execution of an entire race through "modern" means. It was a precursor and blueprint for similar genocidal ideologies in the future, such as the Jewish Holocaust. What makes the Armenian Genocide unique among 20th century genocides above all else is that it has to this day gone, for the most part, ignored and unrecognized.

Atrocities were carried out by the Ottoman Turks against the Armenian nation. Turkey still denies that the genocide ever occurred.

The Jewish Holocaust

When Hitler’s Nazi party took control of Germany in the 1930’s, he blamed the Jewish people of Germany’s loss in World War I. His government practiced a policy of Anti-Semitism.

Jews were not allowed to hold certain jobs, were forbidden from marrying non-Jews, were not allowed to drink from the same water fountains as other Germans. Jews were segregated from schools, from any government positions, and their businesses were closed or destroyed. This picture shows German Nazi members outside a Jewish store prohibiting others from entering.

Germany eventually rounded up all Jews and placed them in walled areas called Ghettos. They had to wear a Jewish star (Star of David) on their clothing to identify them from other groups.

In 1942, as the German war machine spread through Europe, the massive amount of Jewish prisoners forced the Germans to introduce a policy known as the “Final Solution” – the death of all Jews.

Numerous “Death Camps” were set up in eastern Europe in Poland to deal with the Jewish murders. Jews were shot…

Hung …

Gassed, … they were told they were going to showers to minimize resistance.

Nazi doctors performed medical experiments on Jewish people as well.

Over 6 million Jews were murdered by the Germans during World War II

Cambodia 1970’s The Khmer Rouge Regime

From April 1970 to January 1979 the communist Khmer Rouge guerrillas, and then dictators of Cambodia when they won their guerrilla war, murdered about 2,000,000 Cambodians and 35,000 Vietnamese

On April 17, 1975, Phnom Penh fell under the control of the Khmer Rouge, the communist guerilla group led by Pol Pot.

They forced all city residents into the countryside and to labor camps They forced all city residents into the countryside and to labor camps. During the three years, eight months, and 20 days of Pol Pot’s rule, Cambodia faced its darkest days, an estimated 2 million Cambodians or 30% of the country’s population died by starvation, torture or execution.

Almost every Cambodian family has lost at least one relative during this most gruesome holocaust.

On January 7, 1979, the Vietnamese invaded and freed the Cambodian people from Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror

The Rwanda Genocide (1994)

Origin Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in Central Africa, with just 7 million people, and is comprised of two main ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi. Although the Hutus account for 90 percent of the population, in the past, the Tutsi minority was considered the best of Rwanda and dominated Hutu peasants for decades, especially while Rwanda was under Belgian colonial rule.

Following independence from Belgium in 1962, the Hutu majority seized power and reversed the roles, putting the Tutsis through systematic discrimination and acts of violence. As a result, over 200,000 Tutsis fled to nearby countries and formed a rebel guerrilla army, the Rwandan Patriotic Front.

In 1990, this rebel army invaded Rwanda and forced Hutu President Juvenal Habyalimana into signing a contract that stated that the Hutus and Tutsis would share power and therefore live in peace.

What happened? A United Nations peacekeeping force of 2,500 multinational soldiers was then dispatched to Rwanda to ease the tension of a war. Peace was threatened by Hutu extremists who were violently opposed to sharing any power with the Tutsis. Among these extremists were those who desired nothing less than the actual extermination of the Tutsis.

Immediately after their deaths, Rwanda plunged into political violence as Hutu extremists began targeting opposition figures that were on their death-lists, including Hutu politicians and Tutsi leaders.

The killings then spread throughout the countryside as Hutu militia, armed with machetes, clubs, guns and grenades, began killing Tutsi civilians. Everyone in Rwanda carried identification cards specifying their ethnic background, a practice left over from colonial days. These 'tribal cards' now meant the difference between life and death.

The small U.N. peacekeeping force was overwhelmed and just as terrified as Tutsi families and politicians sought protection. Within the peacekeepers were ten soldiers from Belgium who were captured by the Hutus, tortured and murdered. As a result, the United States, France, Belgium, and Italy all began evacuating their own personnel from Rwanda.

No effort was made to evacuate Tutsi civilians or Hutu politicians No effort was made to evacuate Tutsi civilians or Hutu politicians. Instead, they were left behind entirely at the killing spree of the Hutu. Both the U.N. and the U.S. refrained from labeling the killings as genocide, which would have made some kind of emergency intervention.

On April 21, the Red Cross estimated that hundreds of thousands of Tutsi had already been murdered since April 6. The Hutu, now without opposition from the UN or any country, began genocidal mania, clubbing and hacking to death defenseless Tutsi families with machetes everywhere they were found. The Rwandan state radio, controlled by Hutu extremists, further encouraged the killings by broadcasting non-stop hate propaganda and even pinpointed the locations of Tutsis in hiding.

Many Tutsis took refuge in churches and mission compounds. These became sites of massacre and murder. Hospitals became targets as wounded survivors were sought out then killed.

Some militiamen forced Hutus to kill their Tutsi neighbors or face a death sentence for themselves and their entire families. Sometimes they also forced Tutsis to kill members of their own families. By mid May, an estimated 500,000 Tutsis had been murdered.

How did it end? Sadly, the killings only ended after armed Tutsi rebels, invading from neighboring countries, managed to defeat the Hutus and stop the genocide in July 1994. By then, over one-tenth of the population, an estimated 800,000 people, had been killed.

Aftermath There have been numerous political changes in Rwanda over the past decade. Many Rwandans still live in poverty, but there have been great changes in attempt to improve the quality of living. The Tutsi and Hutu are going beyond their differences and are reuniting and working together to rebuild their country.

The government is working together with foreign aid and the UN to rebuild Rwanda, but when something this tragic happens it takes a while for things to get back as close to normal as possible.