Introduction
The Armenian genocide is the mass killing of minority of the Armenian population. The Armenian genocide occurred when the World War one was taking place and continued after the war was over. The government headed by Ottoman systematically exterminated minority of Armenian population from their rightful land. This genocide started by mass killing of strong male population. These men were forced hard to work while women and children were deported to Syrian Desert. The elderly were not left behind in the deportation to Syrian Desert. Some of the religious groups were also targeted (Dadrian, 2010).
Anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust
Anti-Semitism is the discrimination and hostility on Jews on the basis of being a religious group and race. Anti-Semitism continued to develop in different times, which eventually led to a holocaust. Anti-Semitism started by Banning of Judaism in Rome based on ethnicity and religion. In prehistoric times the Jews had established themselves; they were, unique and distant because they believed in one God (Dadrian, 2010).The belief in one God is referred to as monotheism. The Jews refused to worship other gods and maintained their religion. People began to blame them for all the hardships they were enduring. These hardships were real, and some were imagined.
Jerusalem was the Jewish homeland, when it was conquered by the Romans before the birth of Christ; they first persecuted the Christians with believing that their religion was the wrong one and misleading. The Romans, however, permitted Jews to worship freely. It did not last, and they were ordered to start worshipping the Roman gods. The Jews did not agree to this and they resisted. Jews began to divide among themselves, some were willing to adapt to worshiping Roman gods while others were not willing to worship (Dadrian, 2010).
Christianity was established after the death of Christ and Judaism (Jewish religion) was renounced. The Jews were expelled by Romans from Palestine. In the fourth century, the Roman Empire was declared by Constantine the great to be Christianity state. Anti-Semitism posed a threat to the existence of the Jews.
In the fourth century, doctrine ideas were developed by European Christian leaders who blamed the Jews for the death of Christ. The doctrines ideas blamed the Jews for the temple destruction by Romans. The doctrines continued to say that, as punishment for the death of Christ, the Jews became scattered (Gross, 2012). The Jews were said, to be punished because they had refused to abandon Judaism and acknowledge Christianity. These doctrines became firm because of the successive Muslim religion that had spread. The doctrines also became firm because the millennium fervor came to an end among other reasons. Anti-Semitism was solidified by the creation of myth that led to concrete hatred of the Jews. The Jews were denied rights of citizenship and even protection. One of the myth states that the Jews when conducting rituals used blood from Christian children.
In the sixth century Jews were banned from being seen in public places. Jews were also banned for being witnesses in lawsuits that Christian was involved. The Jew is not allowed to use Hebrew when reading the bible. Jews were prohibited from marrying Christians, and Christians prohibited from marrying Jews. Jews were not allowed to hold public offices (Gross, 2012). Jews were also, not supposed to have Christian servants and were also not supposed to be seen on streets at time of the Holy Week. Jews were ordered to live in ghettos and were not allowed to go to universities for study.
Jews were not permitted to do so many things that that became peddlers and craftsmen. They began to engage in lending money. They managed to become tax collectors and even owned and managed large estates. Jews managed to collect even tax, and the peasant class saw the Jews as oppressors (Gross, 2012). The crusaders were Christian soldiers from Europe who went to remove Muslims from the place where Christ was born. These saw Jews being massacred, communities were required to be baptized or be killed. As a result, Jews fled, and where they moved to in Eastern Europe often faced violence (Gross, 2012).
In Europe after the bubonic plague took so many lives the Jews were blamed. The bubonic plague was referred to as Black Death. Jews were held responsible for poisoning wells. Thousands of Jews were massacred after being blamed for the bubonic plague (Green, 2010). Their killings were justified by being said to be the will of the lord. When nationalism came to be, Jews became referred to, as aliens in Europe.
The Nazis had made it clear about Anti –Semitism, in 1919, Hitler referred to Jews as a race that was evil and it main goal was to dominate the world. Anti-Semitism started about being a religious anti-Semitism but was later accelerated by politics. Jews were characterized as a race and as a religious group. By 1933, Europe had about over 8million Jews who had inhabited Nazi Germany territory. By 1945 two out 3 Jews in Europe were killed. Disabled persons, homosexuals, Jehovah witness followers, the elderly among other minorities were killed and this was the holocaust (Gross, 2012).
Comparison and contrast of what happened to the Jews in Europe to genocide or ethnic cleansing in the 20th century
What happened to the Jews in the 14th century is similar to what happened to the Rwandan genocide in Africa in 1990s.The Hutu; an ethnic group massacred hundreds of thousands of the Tutsis a minority ethnic group. Just like the Jews who being the minority even after being oppressed managed to rise above their difficult circumstances. The Tutsi of Rwanda was also very intelligent even though they were the minority. When Rwanda gained independence, the Belgians switched status on the Hutus and Tutsis. The change in status saw the Tutsi leaders being replaced by the Hutus thus, angered the Tutsis. The Hutus had become jealous because they fore-saw them as being a threat. Tutsis were referred to as being the elite (Dadrian, 2010).
The massacres of the Jews and the Tutsis were politically instigated. The Jews are blamed for the killing of the Christ while the Tutsis was being blamed for deaths of Hutu leaders. Politics fuelled the killings of their leaders. In the Armenian genocide and Rwandan genocide, we have seen the children and their mothers being killed. Women raped and orphans being on the rise. Women and children are seen to be weak. Also, they harmed the women in both genocides to reduce the population of the Jews and the Tutsis. The Armenian genocide killed the strongest men and their women to reduce the procreation (Dadrian, 2010).
During the Armenian genocide and the Rwandan genocide, there was no haven for anybody. People found in their places of worship, hospitals or in schools were killed. Their bodies were then left to rot and eaten by rats. During the Armenian genocide, the Jews were being expelled from every place they settled as refugees. Similarly the Tutsis were being expelled from Rwanda to Uganda because it was said they were originally from Ethiopia (Dadrian, 2010). In the events that led to the Rwandan genocide, the Hutus were discouraged not to marry the Tutsis, and whoever married a Tutsi was declared to be a traitor. Jews were also not allowed to marry Christians as whoever married a Christian would be met by death (Dadrian, 2010).
Some of the contrast about the genocides is that the Jews were being persecuted because of their religion. However in the 20th century majority of genocides that have taken place are due to ethnic relations fighting for resources. Some community thinks is superior to the other. The Rwandan genocide was accelerated by media coverage through the television, radio and newspapers. The Armenian genocide was accelerated by religious set doctrines which helped to spread the hate and also the lack of Jews to denounce Judaism (Green, 2010).
The Armenian genocide had been taking place for a long time because there were no leaders to intervene against the killings. In the 20th century massacres happened in the matter of three months and fully stopped due to the intervention of neighboring countries and international countries. In the Rwandan genocide perpetrators of the violence have been brought to justice by the international courts. In comparison, the Armenian genocide happened and no justice was carried out to guarantee Jews their safety (Green, 2010).Unlike the Jews who were met with hostility as refugees, the Tutsis were welcomed in their neighboring countries and slowly relocated back to their country to have reforms that govern the people accordingly.
Role of international community in curbing genocide
In the Rwandan genocide, international community failed to intervene early enough because of political issues that had arisen in Somalia while trying to stop the ethnic cleansing. The war in Somalia worsened; this made them hesitate to recommend sending troops to stop the war in Rwanda. The troops arrived later after the killings had been done. Belgium played a huge part in creating of the animosity that led to the genocide. Belgium aware of the animosity had warned United Nations about the possibility of a massacre taking place. The United Nations did not act and hence the genocide took place (Gross, 2012).
China and France were blamed for having played part in arming the government. They were accused of having fueled the massacre. France helped in the creating of the peace process in Rwanda. The US has played a key role in preventing conflicts in the international community. It does this through its policies on the economy, security and development. It has initiatives that are directed towards prevention of conflicts. The UK has also played a big part in helping to prevent conflict. The international community through the United Nations sends troops to countries that are hit by conflicts thus preventing genocides and stopping wars (Patterson, 2009). However, justice for these genocides takes time because witnesses are not willing to testify against their leaders. Their lives become in danger once they agree to testify. Also, some of the witnesses are bribed to give false information. Such challenges drag cases for years and sometimes these perpetrators are let free for lack of sufficient evidence (Rosenfeld, 2011).
Policy makers in affected countries have been influenced by the international community’s to make sure that they respond to genocide happenings. The issue of justice needs to be addressed because the accused persons are in custody while leaders involved in genocides are in international custody but not tried for their crimes. Justice is when suffering of the affected persons is put to an end, by helping them cope with the aftermath of losing loved ones and being traumatized.
Justice and reconciliation commissions have been created and help the communities heal and coexist peacefully. Leaders need to be held responsible for their actions. Victims should always be remembered when justice is being sought. Human right has been of great help in seeking justice and punishing genocides. They look at the welfare of the victims and demanded compensation to help them get good living standards. Human rights have also helped in gathering of information that can put the rogue leaders in jail. The judges need to be trained, and the whole community briefed about how the justice system should work (Gross, 2012).
Briefing and training pose lots of logistical problems, and that is how justice has become denied to victims of genocide. Violence has become an everyday part of our lives and communities need to be reconciled. The international community has prevented much genocide with so many countries being at war fighting for resources and religion. The religious conflicts are on the rise especially between Muslims and Christians.
References
Dadrian, V. (2010).The history of the Armenian genocide. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
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Green, G. (2010). The Holocaust. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from
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