Tutti Religion

The Catholic church played a tremendous role in the classification between the Tutsi and Hutu. The Hutu and Tutsi were very similar people. They spoke the same language, had the same religion, and also practiced similar cultures. This made the distinction of the two groups very challenging (Straus 20). The Catholic Church may have played a role in the splitting of the Hutu and Tutsi. Religion played a huge role in the way people thought and acted (Straus 20). The Germans used physicality to scrutinize the Rwandans to determine which class they belonged with (Center for Human Rights). The Hutu and Tutsi have always been segregated in some way or another. Originally, the Tutsi belonged in the higher class. The Hutu were in the lower

At the start of organization, there was only a small circle of military and political leaders in favor of the executions. However, at their dispense they had command of the three most elite military groups (Cohen). Soldiers from within the Rwandan army began creating “death squads” and “death lists” within secret organizations designed to exterminate the Tutsi (Straus 26). There were training camps outside of Kigali to train new soldiers. “Inside of these camps, individuals were taught to kill, with an emphasis on killing at speed, and cutting the achilles heel in order to prevent people from escaping” (Cohen 32). The Rwandan government increased their army from 3,000 to 40,000 in the years of 1990 to 1992. Because of the civil war in 1990 officials didn’t take the time to examine important records. If they would have, officials may have expected a genocide was being planned (Cohen 31). As the Hutu took over the reins of power in the Rwandan government, the ability to oppress and torture innocent civilians due to their deemed status or classification saw little resistance as the only alternative was