Comparative Genocide Midterm 10/8

Raphael Lemkin 1900-1959

lawyer of jewish faith

fled Poland after Nazi invasion in 1939.

compared the events to what was happening in Turkey

Axis Rule in Occupied Europe

1944, “Genos” (race, tribe). “Cide” (killing)

Raphael Lemkin definition

Ultimate aim of perpetrators was annihilation of a group of members of a group

Phases of Genocide

1. Destruction of the national pattern of the oppressed group (destroy habits; cultural ways of life; also biological destruction)

2. Imposition the oppressed group, building on the ruins (colonizing the oppressed groups’ space and belongings)

Eight Aspects of Genocide

political, social, cultural, economic, biological, physical, religious, and moral genocide

Political Genocide

destroying local institutions of self-government

Social Genocide

changing laws, weakening spiritual resources, destroying social networks and intelligentsia

Cultural Genocide

forbidding the use of local language; destroying schools; destroying monuments or museum archives

Economic Genocide

destroying ways of making a living

Biological Genocide

prevention and limiting reproduction within groups

Physical Genocide

food and rations reduced according to nationality or group; limiting medicine; mass killings

Religious Genocide

persecution of clergy in a group

Moral Genocide

destroying a people’s sense of self

UNGC Defintion

Acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group such as (a) killing members (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Articles

Articles II and III address intention and action, NEED BOTH to constitute genocide

Protected Groups

racial, national, ethnic, and religious

only how the perpetrator defines the group matters

Actus Reus

guilty act

Mens Rea

guilty mind

Growth of European Colonialism and Imperialism

• Up to the 15th century, Europe was insignificant compared to the rest of the world

  • Black Death, Renaissance, and religion changed Europe

• Religious fervor and a desire for wealth fueled interest in exploration to the Americas

• European colonialism began with intent to civilize through religion

  • Many of the first settlers were missionaries

Colonialism, Imperialism, & Exploitation

• Later, motivations focused on exploiting the natural resources

  • Europeans wanted to inhabit, control, and exploit foreign land and peoples

    • They imposed imperial control to exploit remote lands

• The connection between imperialism and exploitation is violence

  • King Leopold II & the Congo

    • Belgian king was interested in colonizing, just like other European powers

      • Took control of the Congo in 1870 (until 1908)

    • Wanted rubber from rubber trees

      • Established quotes with harsh consequences for failing to meet quota

    • Mass exploitation led to roughly 10 million Congolese deaths

German Military Rule: Southwest Africa, 1884-1915

• Before German colonization, Southwest Africa (modern day Namibia) was inhabited by the Herero and Nama people

  • Territory is dry and arid

  • Tribes were semi-nomadic cattle herders

• German claimed area in 1884

  • Known as the Wilhelmenian period (Kaiser Wilhelm II)

• Germans seized all grazing land for colonists

  • Also began to seize cattle from Herero and Nama

  • Process lasted for 20 years

• Indigenous gradually became dependent on settlers

  • Settlers loaned money to Herero at high interest rates

  • Began to revolt against more land seizures

  • In 1904, the Herero killed about 150 German settlers

• Indigenous became a “problem” 

• Order for Extermination: In response, in 1904 German General Lothar von Trotha ordered settlers to quash the indigenous 

  • Issued order for extermination of ALL Herero people

    • Justified order as a military necessity to secure area

    • They were a problem

      • Solution: remove permanently

    • Order is evidence of intent 

      • Von Trotha later honored by Wilhelm II for efforts

  • Set up concentration camps

    • Escapees had to flee or be killed

    • Many escapees fled to desert and died of starvation and dehydration

    • German military killed large percentage of both peoples

• What Explains these Extremes??

  • Culture of the German military

    • They upheld values and norms that made this behavior acceptable

    • In times of war, absolute destruction was necessary

  • Idea that the military could create perfect order and fix problems

    • Nama and Herero were defined as the problem

      • “Final solution” was irreversible destruction of the people 

• German Racial Superiority

  • Growing belief in racial superiority

  • Germans had legitimacy from their own people through racial thinking

    • Could more easily justify extermination of other inferior peoples (although not all people thought this way)

  • This way of thinking becomes important in the progression of thought to action

Logic of “Final Solution”

1. Group defined as a “problem”; a threat

2. Group is dehumanized

3. Military authorities justify need to “solve the problem”, or remove the population

Colonialism

Policy or practice of acquiring full political and economic control over a country or territory

• Economic, political, and territorial component 

• Also involved people and military colonizing from home/mother country

Imperialism

The process in which one state with superior strength and technology imposes its will over another people and territory 

• Began in the 15th century with Spain