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Unit 2—Handout 2
Genocide
Slaughter. Bloodbaths. All-out or partial destruction.
Mass executions. Exterminations. Mass political killings. Purges. Pogroms.
These are some of the terms and phrases that are used to describe acts of genocide.
The term genocide was coined in 1944 by a lawyer named Raphael Lemkin. Geno means “a tribe or race” of
people. Cide means “to cut or kill.” Genocide has come to mean the deliberate destruction or murder of a particular
group of people. Genocide is usually committed because one group (often government offi cials) distrusts or
despises a particular group because of its race, religion, ethnic background, political beliefs, or nationality.
In this context, the word destruction can mean a number of different things. It could mean the murder, in
part or whole, of a particular group of people. Sometimes the killings number in the hundreds, thousands, or
even millions. For instance, the Nazis slaughtered over six million Jewish people (as well as fi ve million others)
during the years 1936―1945.
Destruction could also mean deliberate actions, aside from outright murder, that bring about the end of
a particular group. For example, it could mean the planned starvation of a group of people. This actually
happened between 1932 and 1933 when the Soviet Union carried out a policy that led to the starvation of up
to ten million Ukrainian people.
Or the term destruction could also mean the establishment of laws that try to prevent births within a group.
Such an action could result in the eventual extinction or end of the entire group.
Genocide is vastly different from homicide. Homo is the biological name for “human.” Cide, of course,
means to “kill.” Homicide, then, refers to the murder of one person or ten. But it does not refer to the
destruction of the lives of hundreds, let alone thousands or millions, as genocide does.
Numerous experts point out that many, if not most, homicides are not planned. They often just happen
on the spur of the moment. For instance, a person may get so furious during an argument that he or she ends
up killing someone. Or, a person who is robbing a store may get into a gunfi ght and kill someone. Genocide,
on the other hand, is usually carried out according to a specifi c plan.
War also should not be confused with acts of genocide, even though genocide can and sometimes does
take place during wartime. War is usually defi ned as “an armed struggle between opposing forces in order to
accomplish a particular goal.”
Genocide, however, is the planned murder of a group of people because they are “different” in some
way or hated for some reason.
Also, in a war both sides usually do everything they can to win. Each side uses all of its soldiers and as
many of its weapons as it needs to. But during acts of genocide it is a vastly different situation. Sometimes
the victims try to fi ght off their murderers and sometimes they do not. But even when the victims attempt
to fi ght back, it is often a lost cause. Why? Because quite often the murderers so far outnumber the victims
that the victims do not have a chance. This is particularly true when an entire nation attempts to destroy one
segment of its population. Also, often times the murderers have most, if not all, of the weapons. Finally, since
the victims are often unaware of the other group’s plan to destroy them, the victims are easily led to their own
slaughter.
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