Dictionary of Genocide - D Ank Unlimited

DESECRATION OF THE HOST
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personified in Des Pres and Bettelheim, dominated the discussion, but the debate
breathed new life into questions about survivorship. Indeed, Des Pres was thus responsible
for stimulating a major transformation in the nature of scholarship in this area, and,
since the appearance of The Survivor, an entire literature addressing issues of survival in
extremity—in which both Bettelheim and Des Pres are acknowledged—has emerged.
Des Pres died suddenly in November 1987.
Desecration of the Host. In the Christian Mass (also referred to as the Eucharist, or
Holy Communion), the central act of remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice is the partaking
of bread and wine that has been blessed, in accordance with the divine instruction issued
in Matthew 26:26–28 (“do this in remembrance of me”). In Roman Catholic tradition,
this consecration changes the bread and wine literally into the flesh and blood of Jesus
Christ, through a process called transubstantiation. The consecrated bread (usually in the
form of wafers) is commonly known as the Host (from the Old French oiste, derived from
Latin hostia, a sacrificial victim). Since medieval times a false charge was often heard in
Christian Europe that Jews broke into churches, stole pieces of the Host, and “tortured”
the bread by sticking pins in it or stabbing it with knives. In this way, the Jews continued
to kill Jesus, as Christian scripture had recorded in the story of the crucifixion (see, for
example, Matthew 27:25), through the desecration of communion bread which became
the living flesh of Christ. It was sometimes alleged that such bread began miraculously to
“bleed” with the blood of Jesus, when stabbed by the Jews. When allegations like this were
spread, violent attacks on Jewish communities would frequently take place. Often, allegations
of Host desecration took place around Easter time, accompanied by blood libel
accusations.
Desensitization. The psychosocial process whereby individuals are introduced gradually
to the performance or acceptance of behaviors they would otherwise reject or be
unaccustomed to performing. A process of desensitization can be initiated by a state
authority or an individual authority figure, and involves a series of actions aimed at behavior
modification. This can take place through assisting a person to confront an issue in
which he or she will not usually be engaged, by exposing him or her to the least threatening
elements of the issue, and building steadily toward more challenging elements—by
which time the original behavior of the subject toward the issue in question will have
become transformed sufficiently to ensure the subject’s acceptance or compliance. Under
normal circumstances, modifications to behavior brought about through the desensitization
process require some measure of volunteerism on the part of the subject. In areas of
genocide and other extreme behaviors, however, desensitization must take place in order
for communities to become willing (or at least, acquiescent) participants in the destructive
tasks demanded by their government. In a similar vein, desensitization rituals and activities
are usually undertaken in the area of military training, particularly during the early
transition period whereby a civilian is transformed into a soldier. In the vast majority of
cases of genocide, state-driven desensitization programs take place well before the killing
itself begins, so that the perpetrator population, incrementally, will be prepared to commit
or permit later destruction of targeted victims.
Desk Killing. Term sometimes given to the process whereby bureaucrats administer
policies of genocide that have been devised by politicians or military leaders. The most
infamous desk killer was the Nazi civil servant Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962), who was
given responsibility by his superior Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942) for devising the