The term genocide brings awful things to mind. For most, it probably directs their attention towards the Holocaust; this was definitely a gruesome and obvious example of genocide, but there are many others with great similarities that are not very well known. One of these is the decimation of the Native American population by the European settlers and the atrocious things that were done to them such as the trail of tears following the Indian Removal Act of 1830 during the settling of North America. The Holocaust might be the most well known but there have been many other incidents in history just as abhorrent. The Holocaust and Native American Genocide are different in weapons used and the motives for killing but similar in intent, effects and selection of the persecuted. The weapons used by the Nazis and European Settlers were very different. The Nazis directly stated the outcome they thought necessary, which was what they called the “final solution” (“Holocaust”). This was the termination of all of the races they believed inferior to themselves. This “final solution” was administered through concentration camps, extermination camps and “Einsatzgruppen” which were military units sent to mass exterminate groups of people persecuted under the Nazi Regime (“Holocaust”). The soldiers of these camps and extermination groups used firearms and other weaponry to do their jobs, while European settlers were usually more indirect in the way they killed Native Americans. The largest contribution to the deaths of the natives is known as a “virgin soil epidemic”, where a disease spreads especially quickly the first time it is introduced to an area (Lewy). One of the diseases that claimed the most lives was small pox, which was distri... ... middle of paper ... ...locaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. . "Victims of the Nazi Era: Nazi Racial Ideology." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 05 May 2014. Lewy, Guenter. "Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?" History News Network. History News Network, Sept. 2004. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. . Stanton, Gregory H. "Genocides and Conflicts." World Without Genocide. World Without Genocide, 7 May 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. . "Settlement." Settlement. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2014.
There are many similarities between the German Holocaust and the genocide of the Native Americans but there is many differences. In 1838 Andrew Jackson proposed the indian removal act to remove the Native Americans and put them into reservations. In 1933 Adolf Hitler called for all jews to be put in “ghettos” or slums. The jews were then put into concentration camps and many died before even getting there. During the “Trail Of Tears” over four thousand Cherokee Indians died while going to the reservations. During the German Holocaust over six million Jewish people were killed at the concentration camps. According to the www.USHMM.org “ The Germans and their collaborators killed nearly two out of every three European Jews as part of the
"Jewish Resistance". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 19 May 2014.
Genocide refers to the killing of large groups of people, especially among ethnic groups. Throughout the book, Stannard refers to genocide as a holocaust because throughout the history of the United States many ethnic groups were being killed and mistreated. A holocaust is described as a destruction caused by fire and nuclear war. In this case, the American holocaust occurred when Christopher Columbus and many Europeans began to kill Indians because their objective was to take the power of gold. According to Howard Zinn, author of the book “A people’s History of the United States” many Arawak men, children, and women were put on ships and were forced into labor. The Arawak began to form an army and defeat the Spaniards. In his book, Zinn describes the poor treatment that the Arawak were facing. Zinn states that “When it became clear that there was no gold left, the Indians were taken as slave labor” (Zinn Chapter 1). The Europeans, Spanish, French, British, and Americans each committed genocide by killing and mistreating the Indians who formed part of the land. Stannard describes what each group treated this minority group and why it was considered genocide. In his book, Stannard quotes Bartolome de las Casas who talks about the treatment. De las Casas says
ade Manifest: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Virginia University, 10 Mar. 1997. Web. 5 Apr. 2011.
Starting from the beginning, natural resource consumption has been a process in environmental injustice. The Indian Removal Act passed in 1830 forced Americans Indians from the east to western reservations in a form of ethnic cleansing (Schaefer 146). Donald A. Grinde and Bruce E. Johansen, the authors of Ecocide of Native Americans: Environmental Destruction of Indian Lands and Peoples, make note of a specific quote that non-American Indian settlers phrased during the process, which is “kill the Indian, but save the man” (10). In the book they also point out an interesting fact about how the settlers spoke of the “final solution” well before the Nazis used the phrase. Anyhow, after reforming and internally colonizing Native Americans, the non-American Indian settlers pushed them even further into their corner. A specific occurrence would be the incident at the Great Sioux Reservation. Non-Indians were supposed to keep away from their land and not allowed to hunt. However, in 1874 non-Indians flooded the territory in search of...
Westward Expansion and the Holocaust bring about many examples of cruelty and pain. The list of these is endless and so we must focus on only a few. The Nazis began deporting Jews under the orders of Adolf Hitler. This is much like the Native Americans. The orders were given to the Cherokee to flee their land to a new reservation by General Winfield Scott. These two genocides are alike in their methods of deportation, the rebellious actions of their oppressed and the prison-like waiting areas before deportation. They are different in the groups targeted, their leaders, and their views on inter-racial and cultural beliefs.
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The prevailing opinion is that European explorers came to the America’s to peacefully colonize and gradually begin mutually beneficial relationships with the native people. However, Howard Zinn proves that the majority of explorers could not coexist with the native tribes, as the conquerors slowly stole their land, and did not return the initial hospitality most of the natives had showed to them. Therefore, the European colonizers blatantly ignored the rights of the Native Americans and acted with violence towards them. In order to conquer the natives, the colonizers “set fire to the wigwams of the village” and “ [destroyed] their crops” (Zinn).
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. The Web. The Web.
The Holocaust and the Bosnian genocide had many similarities and differences in their course of events. Unfortunately, genocides like the Jewish Holocaust and the Bosnian genocide still continue to happen today. Jews were constantly persecuted before the Holocaust because they were deemed racially inferior. During the 1930’s, the Nazis sent thousands of Jews to concentration camps. Hitler wanted to wipe out all the European Jews in a plan called The “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem” (World History).
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