Comparison Of The Holocaust And The Congolese Genocide

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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 …show more content…

Both of these cases share similar characteristics, but because the genocides differed in motivations and certain key mechanisms, it can be concluded that each case holds its own uniqueness, therefore the differences outweigh the …show more content…

Firstly, they both fall under the correct definition of a genocide. Both occurred on a massive scale, destroying entire generations of people, leaving a horrible legacy. Racism was a common motivator in both cases. The Anti-Semitic views and policies of Nazi Germany are paralleled with the colonial views and policies of whites as the superior race. Mechanically, military forces were used as tools to enact the genocide (the S.S. of Nazi Germany and the Force Publique of the Congo Free State). There are many places where the two genocides are similar, however, there are major differences. The aim of the Holocaust was an “ethnic cleansing” of Jews and other undesirables, total extermination was the goal of the Hitler and the Nazi party. Genocide became an official state policy and was run in a very pragmatic manner under heavy state control. It was direct and focused extermination, exemplified by the concentration camps. This contrasts the lack of state control in the Congo Free State, which the Belgian government had little control over. The genocide in the Congo was a by-product of colonial rule, the people were victims of Imperial greed. This shows that the Congolese genocide was less direct in nature when compared to the

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