Introduction
Numerous historians have indicated that the Holocaust is without parallel in history as a crime against humanity. Based partly on the history over the last 2,500 years of anti-Semitism, and partly on reference sources researched in the process of preparing this essay, the writer agrees with the view taken by historians and others that the Holocaust was indeed unique when compared with other incidences of genocide or mass killing of a population.
What Made the Holocaust Unique
Major reasons for singling out the Holocaust as a unique crime in human history are:
- As indicated in the reading “A Brief History of the Jewish People” – earlier anti-Semitic persecution (e.g. in medieval times) was based on religious grounds, whereas the primary motive attributed to Hitler in the case of the Holocaust was racial;
- Williams (1993) stated that the Holocaust was a deliberate campaign organized by a so-called “legitimate” regime to seek out and exterminate what Williams referred to as “an entire nation” (the Jewish people in Europe).
- Other recorded cases of genocide, e.g. in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, and others were not organised in such an efficient, calculated manner and by what might be expected to be an otherwise “civilized” government of a modern western country.
In her article Williams quoted the historian Jacob Talman, who had cited the difference between the Holocaust and all other instances of genocide in recorded history. Included in Talman’s definition of that difference was the following:
The Holocaust visited on the Jews is different from all other earlier massacres in its conscious and explicit planning, in its systematic execution, in the absence of any emotional element in the remorselessly applied decision to exterminate everyone, but everyone; in the exclusion of any possibility that someone, when his turn came to be liquidated, might escape his fate by surrendering, by joining the victors and collaborating with them, by converting to the victors faith, or by selling himself into slavery in order to save his life.
Manisha (2012) set out to clarify the difference between Genocide and Holocaust in an article entitled “Difference Between Genocide and Holocaust.” He noted that “both terms are used to describe massive killings done with the intention of destroying an entire race of people.” Manisha’s article continued by relating that the term Holocaust originated from Greek, first adopted to describe the mass murders of Jewish people in medieval times, and then used “synonymously with genocide” but becoming a proper noun as a result of what Manisha described as “Hitler’s unprecedented extermination of Jews.” In that specific context – according to Manisha – the word describes “the mechanized killing of 6 million European Jews as well as 10 million other ‘undesirable’ peoples including Poles, the Roma, and homosexuals.” Manisha commented that a further feature of the Holocaust that distinguished it from other genocides was its “efficiency” citing the fact that the Nazis directed engineers to determine ways to maximise the rate at which Jews could be exterminated and disposed of.
Other Examples of Genocide
Danelek (2012) listed the 10 most important instances of genocide in history, whilst cautioning that some “genocides” may not have been quite how popular opinion views them. For example, in the alleged genocide of the native Americans at the hands of the white settlers, in actuality a great many fatalities were the result of the unintentional introduction of smallpox into a population that had no intrinsic resistance to the disease. However, his article included genocides going back as far as biblical times, indicating that “the desire of one group to exterminate another for any number of reasons has been around as long as civilization itself.”
Danelek noted that the difference between genocide in ancient times and today, is that the human race now has the means to perpetrate genocide “on a truly massive scale.” His article included reference to other genocides such as those in Rwanda and Cambodia, but singled out the Holocaust for special mention, noting that by the end of World War II Hitler’s “final solution” had resulted in the deaths of about 11 million, including six million Jews, “either through mass extermination, deportation, or starvation and overwork in his prison camps.” Danelek also noted that not only had Germany had no previous history of such large scale cruelty (compared with Russia and China for example), but had earlier – prior to Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 – been considered as an educated and cultured society.
Conclusions
Information obtained from the referenced sources indicates that the Holocaust stands out from other recorded instances of genocide as being unique, primarily because it was instigated and implemented by what might have otherwise been regarded as the legitimate government of a modern, civilized society having a previous culture that had never demonstrated any such mass cruelty towards its citizens. In addition, as noted by Manisha, the way that Hitler had employed engineers, to design ever more efficient ways of killing people in order to accelerate the extermination process by speeding up the throughput was unprecedented.
Works Cited:
A Brief History of the Jewish People. (n.d.). Reading; Commentary #6.
Danelek, J. (2012). Top 10 Most Horrific Genocides In History. Web. 29 January 2013.
Manisha. (2012). Difference Between Genocide and Holocaust. Web. 28 January 2013.
Williams, Sandra, S. (1993). The Impact of the Holocaust on Survivors and Their Children. University of Central Florida. Web. 28 January 2013.
