Genocide help

[demusetta]

No, I'm not planning one.

I want to do a lesson on 20th century genocides.  I'd like to focus on no more than 6.  When you think of the most important (or most emblematic) which ones come to mind?

Comments

[tfbretz]

The Holocaust, Rwanda, Cambodia, and Bosnia come immediately to mind as true Genocides. Beyond that, Stalin's purges, though not specifically genocidal, fall into the same sort of mass killings one thinks of when one hears the word genocide.

[demusetta]

It's the Stalinist purges that I wasn't sure about including, since they aren't, as you point out, technically genocidal. Maybe I can use them to spark a debate on what counts as genocide...hmm. Thanks for the suggestions.

[hsapiens]

from http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/index.html:

- Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths
- Rwanda: 1994 - 800,000 Deaths
- Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1975-1979 - 2,000,000 Deaths
- Nazi Holocaust: 1938-1945 - 6,000,000 Deaths
- Rape of Nanking: 1937-1938 - 300,000 Deaths
- Stalin's Forced Famine: 1932-1933 - 7,000,000 Deaths
- Armenians in Turkey: 1915-1918 - 1,500,000 Deaths

The only time I ever heard of the Armenians in Turkey was the flap when the Congress wanted to refer to the "event" as genocide.

[demusetta]

This was the first site I hit, and it is what sparked the post. I'm not sure that the Chinese and Russian ones that I'm concerned about including, since the motivations neither (I think--could be wrong!) were specifically genocidal. Maybe I need to rename the lesson "Mass Killings in the 20th Century" instead... It's a great site, though--the readings are relatively short and focused and therefore very usable in my classroom.

Thanks for the input!

[hsapiens]

I was wondering about that when I was reading the site: what technically counts as a genocide. I tend to think of it as a crime of intent but if it requires one group targeting a different ethnic group, would Pol Pot qualify? His targets were his own people, after all, although it sure seems as if he was well on his way of exterminating his own people.

The Japanese actions during the Rape of Nanking were particularly heinous. I had previously read about their medical experiments on the Chinese people that rivaled Mengele for sadistic honors but we never learned about Nanking in school. (Then again, we didn't really cover much about WWII in general.)

Explains more clearly to me the continuing Chinese hostility towards Japan.

[b3zsgirl]

I got nothing that has not already been said. Though Stalin might be an interesting throw in to discuss the differences.

[tubin]

K recommends this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Problem-Hell-America-Age-Genocide/dp/0060541644

The "well-known" genocides are ones that have received press. There are other examples that have quietly ticked along for generations without massive outcry - like Tibet, where the cultural and biological ethnicity have been slowly eliminated by massive and forceful infusion of outside people.

[demusetta]

Please thank K for the recommendation--Tibet is a great example of a different method of genocide. I've one-clicked the book from Amazon--yay used books! I'll be interested to see how balanced the writing is. Maybe this one will be a good source to use to point out how we have to be careful with sources about highly emotional topics and look for bias, or maybe there's something I can get from the Chinese point of view to balance it...

It's challenging to provide enough depth and breadth when I have only 90 minutes to give to the topic!