The History Place - Genocide in the 20th Century

Adolf Hitler to his Army commanders, August 22, 1939:
"Thus for the time being I have sent to the East only my 'Death's Head Units' with the orders to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish race or language. Only in such a way will we win the vital space that we need. Who still talks nowadays about the Armenians?"

The term 'Genocide' was coined by Polish writer and attorney, Raphael Lemkin, in 1941 by combining the Greek word 'genos' (race) with the Latin word 'cide' (killing). Genocide as defined by the United Nations in 1948 means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including: (a) killing members of the group (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Recent to Past Occurrences

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

Author/Bibliography

U.N. Genocide Convention

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