The genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina marked the first genocide in Europe since the Holocaust during the Second World War. Bosnia-Herzegovina was originally from the former Yugoslav republic. It became an independent state in 1992. After the death of communist ruler Josip Broz Tito the country fell under oppression. Religion played a significant part in the animosity of religious hatred between religions. Bosnian citizens were identified as either Orthodox Serb, Catholic Croatians, or Bosnian Muslims. The citizens of Bosnia all spoke the same language, had more or less the same Slavonic tongue, but their written language and cultures reflected their religious affiliations. Those who did not follow any religious preference during the war were affiliated with their religious backgrounds. Age old ethnic-religious conflicts resurfaced after the separation of Yugoslavia. The separation created an ethnic-religious battle predominantly between the Christian Orthodox Serbs and the Bosnian Muslims. Acts of violence require legitimation, and religion and religious leaders can provide such legitimation (Hasenclever and Rittberger 642). Mythologies were used to religiously motivated and justify violence and to ensure loyalty of Serbian troops and civilians. Associating religion as ones race would turn religious nationalism into the most violent form of racialist ideology. The use of religion helped persuade genocidaires to torture, rape, and murder the Muslim population. The Serbian mission was to exterminate the Muslim population and to gain complete control of Bosnia. The manipulation of religious representatives, symbols, rituals, and testaments played a significant role in the ethnic-religious genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which claimed t... ... middle of paper ... ...-44. Print Schäfer, Heinrich. "The Janus Face of Religion: On the Religious Factor in "New Wars"" Numen 51.4 (2004): 407-31. Print. Sells, Michael Anthony. The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia. Berkeley, CA: University of California, 1998. Print. Sells, Micheal. "Crosses of Blood: Sacred Space, Religion, and Violence in Bosnia-Hercegovina." Oxford Journals: Sociology and Religion 64.3 (2003): 309-31. Print. Totten, Samuel, and Paul R. Bartrop. The Genocide Studies Reader. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print. Velikonja, Mitja. "In Hoc Signo Vinces: Religious Symbolism in the Balkan Wars 1991-1995." Springer 17.1 (2003): 25-40. Print. Winton, M. A. "Violentization Theory and Genocide." Homicide Studies 15.4 (2011): 363-81. Print. "War Crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina." A Helsinki Watch Report: A Division of Human Rights Watch (1992): 1-357. Print.
Stanton, Gregory H. "Genocides and Conflicts." World Without Genocide. World Without Genocide, 7 May 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
Genocide, the systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group. From 1992-1995 that was happening in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, conflict between the three main ethnic groups, the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia.
The. Gunter, Michael M. Armenian History and the Question of Genocide. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print. The.
Hoare, Marko A. "Bosnia-Herzegovina and International Justice: Past Failures and Future Solutions." East European Politics and Societies 24.191 (2010). SAGE Journals Online. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
History aims to examine the actions and legacy of mankind. The past is filled with the achievements that humans have reached, however, history also shows us the evil that man is capable of. No atrocity against mankind is more heinous than the act of genocide. Genocide is the aim to destroy all (or part of) of a racial, religious, ethnic, or national group of people. This paper will examine two famous cases of genocide in history: The holocaust of Jews and other groups in Nazi Germany, and the destruction of the Congolese people under Belgian colonialism. The Holocaust remains as one of the main legacies of Hitler and the Nazi party, who claimed an estimated 11 million victims, 6 million of which were Jews. Comparatively, the Congolese Genocide
As stated by Drakulic, “The task of propaganda is to shape this difference so that it creates a feeling that there is a threat from the other side and strengthens the urge for homogenization.” (Drakulic Pg. 192) which displays the primary reason that the propaganda was created and used. The extreme media manipulation also held the capability of convincing these everyday citizens that the Bosnians were a callous group that deserved the treatment given to them. As a result, the transformation from ordinary men into war criminals was both relatively quick and almost unnoticeable. This perpetuates the idea that these men came from an extreme cultural environment that cultivated the unjust feeling towards the various populations of the Yugoslav state. With time this eventually allowed for the development of the desensitized state of mind, which was necessary for a majority of the individuals to commit the war crimes of which they are
Then in 1992, Bosnia declared its independence from Yugoslavia. Soon after, the Bosnian Serbians wanted to take power in Bosnia in April 1992, and wanted to kill the Muslim population of Bosnia. The Bosnian genocide was a war that started in 1992 and ended in 1995. The purpose of learning about genocide is that we can be aware of what a genocide is, considering that there are many different definitions of genocide.
Springer, Jane. Genocide: A Groundwork Guide. Toronto, Ontario: Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press, 2006. (Accessed March 7, 2014).
The last two decades of the twentieth century gave rise to turbulent times for constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, eventually leading them to split apart. There were a number of damaging aspects of past history and of the political and economic circumstances that contributed to the breakup and eventually caused the situation to snowball into a deadly series of inter-ethnic conflicts. Yugoslavia was reunified at the end of the war when the communist forces of Josip Broz Tito liberated the country. Under Tito, Yugoslavia adopted a relatively liberal form of government in comparison to other East European communist states at the time and experienced a period of relative economic and political stability until Tito’s death in 1980. In addition to internal power struggles following the loss of their longtime leader, Yugoslavia faced an unprecedented economic crisis in the 1980’s. As other communist states began to fall in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, some former Communist leaders abandoned communism and founded or supported ethno-national parties, blaming the economic suffering on the flaws of communism and other ethnic groups. The ethnic violence that followed would not have been possible without the willingness of politicians from every side to promote ethno-nationalist symbols and myths through media blitzes, which were especially effective due to low levels of education in the former Yugoslavia. Shadows of the events of World War II gave these politicians, especially the Serbs, an opportunity to encourage the discussion and exaggeration of past atrocities later in the century. The ethnic violence in the former Yugoslavia can be traced back to a series of linked damaging factors such as the de...
Gagnon, V. P. (2004). The myth of ethnic war: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
SAINATI, TATIANA E. "Toward A Comparative Approach To The Crime Of Genocide." Duke Law Journal 62.1 (2012): 161-202. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Nov. 2013
The Web. The Web. 27 Jan. 2014. Vollhardt, J. R. and Bilewicz, M. (2013), After the Genocide: Psychological Perspectives on Victim, Bystander, and Perpetrator Groups. Journal of Social Issues, 69: 1–15.
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
What led up to the massacre, what would make someone want to kill many of the innocent Europeans men and boys? The purpose of the genocide was supposed to be a racial cleansing, a man by the name of general Miadic told his soldiers, “Our plans cannot be realized without committing genocide.” Before the genocide happened On January 7th Bosnian Muslim forces attacked a Serb-controlled village and killed people from the village. During the month of April the Naser Oric was withdrawn from the enclave by the Muslim leaders, leaving the Muslims demoralized and unequipped. Then in May 350 Dutch Peacekeepers were held hostage by the Serbs, in the capital city of Sarajevo, in response to the NATO air strikes, which stunned the UN. Finally General Janvier, who was the United Nations Commander in Bosnia, confronted the New York United Nations headquarters, urging the Security Council to protect the Safe Area by giving them a massive troop increase, or take the peacekeepers away, so they are able to conduct air strikes, Janvier was told to carry on. These events led up to what has been the second largest massacre in European history.
Print. The. Hymowitz, Sarah, and Amelia Parker. " Lessons - The Genocide Teaching Project - Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law." American University, Washington College of Law. American UniversityWashington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, 2011.