Holodomor: The Eight Stages Of Genocide

Alongside the 20th century, another devastating genocide that occurred was the Holodomor in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933. Holodomor translates to “death by hunger.” Stalin instituted collectivization and raised Ukraine’s grain production quotas to an impossible 44%. He authoritatively mandated that no grain was to be given to the Ukrainians until the regimes quota was met, hence, this led to the starvation of the entire population in Ukraine .

Genocides are classified by an eight stage process that explains the causes and identifying factors of a genocide. Both the Holocaust and Holodomor are prime examples of genocides, and although the eight stages of genocide are shown through both, they were implemented differently in some aspects. The Holodomor, a genocide in the 1930’s targeting Ukrainians, was similar to the Holocaust through the stages of classification, organization, polarization, and denial, but different in the ways of preparation, extermination, dehumanization, and symbolism.

According to Gregory H. Stanton, President of Genocide Watch there is 8 stages of Genocide and in his opinion Genocide is a progress that is developing in the eight stages and which is predictable and not inexorable. At each stage there are possibilities to stop or at least influence Genocide and Oskar Schindler’s deeds are one example of moral courage and active resistance to the worst Genocide in the history of humankind during the Second World War. The following text will deal with evidences of Stanton’s eight stages of Genocide in Steven Spielberg’s film “Schindler’s List” and Schindler’s attempts to stop Genocide in the different stages.

Government has an enormous amount of power in society that they can influence their citizens to do many harmful and positive things. Most people in the society are given some freedoms with a return of peace and respect to the government. Providing this information, after a long time of planning and practicing, the government can win their citizens over and have them do harmful things that the citizens think are right. The 8 Stages of Genocide, (Source B) are the stages that separate a group of people from society and then viewed lower than everyone else in the society. In The Dairy of Anne Frank, (Source A) the Gestapo's, or the German police, which are part of the government treated the Jewish people very roughly and took them to camps to

Genocide is the deliberate and organized annihilation of a racial, ethnic, religious, or national group of people. The term “genocide” was not used until after 1944, when it was created by a Polish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin, who combined “geno”, meaning race or tribe, with “cide”, which means killing. The Holodomor refers to the famine of the Ukranian people from 1932 to 1933 under the rule of a Josef Stalin. Under his leadership, the Soviet Union persecuted the Ukrainian people by denying them their basic needs. An estimated 7,000,000 people died in this genocide, which is also known as Holodomor, meaning “death by hunger.”

Genocides occur across our globe from the past, but also are not uncommon in the present. Holodomor was a horrible genocide in the Soviet Union from 1932-1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. This cruelty of a slow death by starving was a purposeful act by Joseph Stalin and the leaders at that time. To cease further genocides in our world today, it is imperative to know how this corruption and disaster starts, so it can be prevented in the future. By understanding the Soviet leader’s motives and the lives affected by this famine, this will lead to further comprehension about power and communism. Power corrupts those who are given the authority, infringes upon their morals, and can make them commit horrible atrocities.

Genocide develops in eight stages that are predictable, but yet preventable. It is a complex process that usually occurs in chronological order (Rummel). The crime involves any acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, such as killing members of the group, causing bodily harm to members, trying to prevent births within the group, and/or forcibly transferring children to another group (Rummel). Additionally, there are two research purposes of genocide. The first includes the definition as the intention to murder people because of their group membership, and the second includes any intentional government murder of unarmed and helpless people for whatever reason, which is another word for democide (Rummel). “As a crime, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UHCG), defined genocide as the intention to destroy any type of group for any reason as such” (Rummel). In short, many different interpretations for the word genocide, but every explanation ends the same

20th century was a very turbulent time. During that time, a lot of famous genocides happened. It is very important and educational for us to learn some of these genocides and take this history as a mirror. In this article I will compare and contract Nazi Holocaust with Stalin’s Forced Famine from several aspects.

The Holocaust was a mass murder of millions of individuals’ primary to and during World War II. “Only 54 percent of the people surveyed by the Anti- Defamation League (ADL) in a massive, global poll has ever heard of the Holocaust” (Wiener-Bronner). The Holocaust was from 1933-1945 and was run by German leader named Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a man who wanted to create his own race of people. Therefore to create this race, he wiped out anyone who did not have the specific descriptions that he wanted. For people to fit into his race, they had to have blue eyes and blond hair. This excluded the Jews and from then on Hitler slowly dehumanized them. In the concentration camp the first thing they had to pass was the selection test. The selection test was what the SS man (German soldiers) used to determine who was fit for work. Usually children, mothers, and elders were the first to die because they were not mentally fit for the work they were going to be given. People who passed the selection process either died of starvation, disease, fatigue, or assassination. It took twelve years before anyone intervened and by then it was too late for millions of people. Even though over twelve million people died during the Holocaust, genocides have still happened in Rwanda, Darfur and Cambodia.

In Rwanda during 1994 Genocide happened between the Hutus and Tutsis. Hutus and Tutsis had disagreements on who will have power which effected the whole population of Rwanda. This leads to the question why there is Genocide in Rwanda? Genocide happened by two clans who caused mass causalities. Others did little to help which caused Genocide to happen in Rwanda.

Genocide is one of the most tragic events that can happen around the world. Identifying the stages is the most crucial part of stopping these horrible acts. The Bosnian Genocide and the Holocaust could have been prevented or stopped if the 8 stages were properly identified .

The crime of genocide is one of the most devastating human tragedies throughout the history. And the word genocide refers to an organised destruction to a specific group of people who belongs to the same culture, ethnic, racial, religious, or national group often in a war situation. Similar to mass killing, where anyone who is related to the particular group regardless their age, gender and ethnic background becomes the killing targets, genocide involves in more depth towards destroying people’s identity and it usually consists a fine thorough plan prearranged in order to demolish the unwanted group due to political reasons mostly. While the term genocide had only been created recently in 1943 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish legal

Genocide, a dire event, has been recurring time and time again throughout history. In the past, there was the Holocaust, where Hitler exterminated over six million Jews based on his anti-semitic views. Elie Wiesel, a Jewish author, has become a very influential man in educating the world of the true events of the Holocaust due to his involvement in the disaster. Presently, a genocide is occurring in the Darfur region of southern Sudan, in which according to Cheryl Goldmark, “a systematic slaughter of non-Arab residents at the the hands of Arab militiamen called Janjaweed” has been taking place since 2003. (1) Not only is genocide a tragic historical event, it also continuously occurs today.

Our system of excessive communication seems as though it should be an incredible asset in hindering genocides from occurring, yet they are still present and little seems to be said. Activists working to inform people about the issues occurring across the world are now able to make movies and websites that let others be informed, but you would be hard pressed to find an informative activist group with as many viewers as something such as facebook. When you do find places designed to inform you of present world issues such as genocide, they are often politically charged. A website such as “endgenocide.org” is a basic place to start when trying to learn about genocides occurring across the world now and in recent years. It has to be recognized, however, that the website is also incredibly politically charged because not only is it presenting you with the issues at hand, but it immediately follows it up with phrases such as “without immediate action by the United States” (endgenocide 2014) and other politically charged statements.

Stage 1, Classification, is when a group a people categorical separate themselves because “they” are different to “us”. Stage 2, Symbolization, which is when we give names to the ones we classify. A prime example like this is are the Jews or Gypsies. Stage 3, Discrimination is when the dominant group starts to use law, customs, and political to restrain the rights of the other group. Stage 4, Dehumanization which is when the dominant group treats the other group like they're not humans and more like vermin. Stage 5, Organization is when they start planning out their mass killing and start discussing what their next move is going to be. Stage 6, Polarization is when they start to use media and other propaganda to show how bad or inferior “they” are to “us”. Stage 7, Preparation national or perpetrator groups plan what the Nazis call it the “ Final Solution “. This is when they gather their military force and prepare to eradicate the inferior groups. Stage 8, Persecution this is when the dominant group starts to draw death lists on who to kill. Stage 9, Extermination this is when the mass genocide’s come and many people start dying. Stage 10, Denial this happens after genocide, the dominant group that caused all of the killing they deny all committed crimes and often blamed whatever happens