Introduction
The turn of the 19th century brought with itself two world wars various brutalities connected with them.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the similarities and differences between the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide and to explore why these two events are not treated as the same if both involved the large scale massacre of a minority. First, a brief definition of the term genocide will be presented, which will then be followed by a comparative analysis. This comparative analysis would Towards the end, the question of whether it was the Armenian genocide which inspired Hitler to conduct the Holocaust will be argued out.
The word genocide is literally a combination of the ancient Greek word genos meaning race or tribe and the Latin word cide which means killing. (Polish-born U.S. jurist Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) in his work "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe" [p.19] As postulated by the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, "a genocide is any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group (15)."
Two such events are the German Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. The German Holocaust was the destruction of European Jews during World War II, as part of a program initiated by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. The Armenian Holocaust, on t...
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...ence. Only the Armenians and the Arabs of the Middle East remained stuck in the recessive and practically bankrupt empire, now under the autocratic rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid.
The marginalization of the Jews was not a phenomenon as recent as that of the 19th century; its roots could be traced back to the Middle Ages. As per the Christian beliefs, the Jews were to be held responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Every individual Jew was considered liable for this crime and sin. This consequently subjected them to intense animosity and disdain on the part of the Christians. The Jews were punished heavily; they were discriminated, were made to live in ghettos and made to bear certain marks and dress in a manner such that they could easily be distinguished from the rest of the Christian population. (http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007689
Lawyer: the word genocide, is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group.
Genocide: The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular group or nationality. When people think of this forbidding word, their mind immediately flashes to images of concentration camps and Adolf Hitler’s army raising their arms, saluting to swastikas used during the Holocaust in WWII. But what people don’t realize is that genocide is not such a rarity. Thousands, even millions of civilians die each time genocide strikes. Genocides have been committed since the beginning of humanity, but three massacres since Hitler’s reign left the world shocked again at its own cruelty.
Much like the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide involved the use of concentration camps and violations against natural and human rights. Through the methods of destroying the Armenians, many of them were burnt, drowned in the Black Sea, or poisoned. Despite these horrific events, the Armenian Genocide remained as an undiscussed topic worldwide because once a genocide became evident, other nations were expected to step up and help. In a matter of a few years, the Armenian population had decreased by nearly half of their population due to the uncivil acts of displacement, murders, famine, and more. The Armenian Genocide took place because the Turks felt the Armenians were jeopardising their power because their religion conflicted with the nations bordering them, the Armenians were demanding an abundance o...
Greene, Frederick Davis. The Armenian Crisis and the Rule of the Turk. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1895. Print.
The word genocide was derived from the Greek root genos (people) and the Latin root cide (killing), and did not exist in the English language until 1944, which was the end of World War II (Power). According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.” Such violence occurred during the Holocaust and during the separation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The problems of ethnic cleansing and repression have become so prevalent in the last century that they have contributed to two world wars, over fourteen million deaths, and a new word. United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said, “Far from being consigned to history, genocide and its ilk remain a serious threat. Not just vigilance but a willingness to act are as important today as ever.”
The word genocide brings up images of the second world war and the Holocaust. While the actions taken against the Jews and minority groups deserve remembrance, this is not the first genocide the world has experienced. During the first world war, Armenians found themselves in a similar position of the future Jews in Nazi Germany. What is left of the Ottoman Empire begins to align with a Turkish nationalism that leads to creating a country for Turks. This brings out the changes that ultimately lead to the Armenian genocide. While this topic has been an area of conflict, the Armenian genocide is a major turning point for the Turkish people. While the name suggests only Armenians were affected, groups like the Assyrians and Greeks were also targeted for their Christian beliefs.
By definition, genocide is the mass extermination of a whole group of people, or an attempt to destroy an entire group of people, either in whole or in part. Whether it’s based on race, ethnicity, culture, or religion, the systematic destruction of a certain group of people constitutes as genocide. Forced transfer of the children of a group to another in an attempt to destroy a certain group also counts as genocide. Genocide covers a broad spectrum of points, and it’s surprising that so many of these points actually occur in our civilized society, but it does occur.
The Nazi slaughter of European Jews during World War II, commonly referred to as the Holocaust, occupies a special place in our history. The genocide of innocent people by one of the world's most advanced nations is opposite of what we think about the human race, the human reason, and progress. It raises doubts about our ability to live together on the same planet with people of other cultures and persuasions.
The crime of genocide is one of the most devastating human tragedies throughout the history. And the word genocide refers to an organised destruction to a specific group of people who belongs to the same culture, ethnic, racial, religious, or national group often in a war situation. Similar to mass killing, where anyone who is related to the particular group regardless their age, gender and ethnic background becomes the killing targets, genocide involves in more depth towards destroying people’s identity and it usually consists a fine thorough plan prearranged in order to demolish the unwanted group due to political reasons mostly. While the term genocide had only been created recently in 1943 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish legal scholar, from the ancient Greek word “genos” meaning race and the Latin word “cide” meaning killing , there are many examples of genocide like events that occurred before the twentieth century. And this new term brings up the question as whether genocide is a contemporary description defined through current perspectives towards the crime act or is it just a part of the inevitable human evolutionary progress caused by modernity.
The twentieth century is considered as an epoch of moral atrocity as the sheer enormity of mass violence and genocidal acts targeting defenceless men, women and children have developed into central themes that define this period of history. The following essay will highlight the brutality of the twentieth century and investigate the inevitable connection between modernity and society’s capability of committing genocidal acts. The Holocaust serves as a historical benchmark for modern genocides as it expresses the negative consequences ultimately associated with modernity and the development of the modern nation-state. The essay will also focus on the catalytic qualities associated with World War one and investigate
The Armenian genocide was the first genocide of Modern World History, but it was not the first time the world saw an ethnic and religious group angry with and persecuting another. The Armenian genocide is special because it was the first time the world saw mass slaughter being planned and executed by government officials. This deliberate slaughter of Armenians has been the focus of many because of its unique persecution of a single ethnic group and the fact that the Turkish government still denies its existence. Although the Armenian genocide took place in the Middle East, it has impacted the entire world. The Armenian genocide happened during World War I. Most known genocides have happened during times of war, because most of the world or the population of the country is so focused on the war, so they do not notice the mass killings going on in their country or in other countries.
The three men, Jamal, Enver and Talyat pasha were in control of this party. They had an integrated and an ongoing vision toward the expansion of the country. The party wants to expand their territory all the way to Asia. Unfortunately, this move was against the Armenians both in the Ottoman Empire and in the Russian Empire. As the WWI started, the Young Turkish government was an ally of Germany, which meant a war with Russia. The front line of the war was in Armenia. During the war, eastern Armenia was under Russian control and western Armenia was under the Turkish control. There were some rebellious Armenians in the Turkish army who fought against the Ottomans. Fearing the Armenians might go against the Ottomans Empire they launched a massive campaign against the Armenians (Akkoc,
The Armenian Genocide was an unbelievable catastrophe that can be related to the Holocaust, which was also very violent. Genocides usually occur with stages of hate that elevate each step, and discrimination is an imperative point in the start of genocide. The two genocides both started with the discrimination of another ethnic group of people. For instance, the Armenian Genocide started with the Turk’s long-lasting hatred towards the Armenian people. Similarly, in the Holocaust, Hitler’s hatred for Jews fueled the beginning of the massacre in Germany. In Armenia, the Turkish government soon took over the Ottoman Empire’s weak government and immediately discriminated the Armenians, starving them and blami...
On April 24, 1915 the Armenian genocide began. 1 million and 5 hundred-thousand people got killed because of Turkish government. Many of them got raped, enslaved and murdered. For instance, they drowned people in rivers, burned them alive, executed and etc. They also kidnapped children and sent to Turkish families. In many places, Turkish people rapped and used Armenian women as a slave. “The Armenians marched by Turkish soldiers” picture in “artvoice.com” website shows the Armenians nearby prison in Mezierh by armed Turkish soldiers. Also only 25% Armenians deported to the deserts of Syria and Iraq. After the war between Armenian and Turks, only 380’000 Armenian remained in the Ottoman Empire. In June 1915, 25 percent of the Armenian population was deported t...
In 1914 through 1918, the Armenians were trapped in a box where they were tossed and thrown around in until they broke apart. The Turks while they were still labeled as the Ottoman Empire was in a war with Russia was afraid that one of their occupied lands, Armenia, would turn to Russia since they both were Christians. This forced the Turkish to decide it was time to completely get rid of the Armenians. Even without any complete evidence that the Armenians would betray the the Turks, Armenians were still blamed and killed. Even today, Turkey still denies they committed genocide. The massacre that took place in the Ottoman Empire between 1914-1918 should be considered genocide because it went through all eight stages of genocide