| Writing - Division II Genocide, as defined by Merriman Webster’s dictionary, is the systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group. Over the course of history, different ethnic and religious groups have been subjected to the corruption and violence of genocide. The Cambodian genocide of the late 1970’s and the Holocaust share the common thread of an evil mastermind behind the destruction. The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic killing of six million Jews under the Nazi political party. Holocaust "means sacrifice by fire." ("The Holocaust") The Nazi political party, run by Adolf Hitler, came to power in 1933. They believed that the German, or Aryan, race was superior to all others. The Nazis made it their goal to virtually exterminate the Jewish population from Europe. During the Holocaust, the Jews were not the only minority group persecuted. Almost 200,000 mentally and physically disabled people were killed as a part of the Euthanasia program. ("The Holocaust") Also, millions of Soviet prisoners and other political and religious dissidents were murdered as well. The steps leading to genocide are like a fire that sparks and grows until it explodes. Prejudice and hatred is the spark that fuels discrimination. Discrimination sparks physical hatred, violence, and isolation. Isolation and physical violence explodes into mass destruction or genocide. Adolf Hitler created the "Final Solution" as a euphemistic and strategic plan for "purifying" the land of Jews. As state-wide support for the Nazis increased, the hatred for the Jews did too, and the spark was lit to start the fire of genocide. The first step in the Solution," beginning in 1933, was to isolate Jews and consequently make them want to leave the society. The Nazis produced anti-Jewish legislation and economic boycotts of Jewish businesses. Kristallnacht, or "night of the broken glass," was the night when Jewish homes, synagogues, and Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed. The second step was the creation of ghettos where Polish and western European Jews were deported and kept in unsanitary, overcrowded conditions with little food. ("The Holocaust") The third step was extermination. After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the SS officers started patrolling extermination camps and gas chambers to physically eliminate the "alien threat." ("The Holocaust") Thousands of Jews and other minority groups were killed in the various extermination camps such as Auschwitz, Dachau, and Buchenwald. ("The Holocaust") From prejudice and hate to race extermination, once the spark of genocide is lit, there is no putting out the fire .The spark of genocide also started in a country which is much different than Germany. This country, Cambodia, is a Southeast Asian country less than half the size of California. ("Cambodia: Before") When Cambodia won independence from France in 1953, Prince Norodom Sihanouk took charge of the government. ("The Genocide") Meanwhile Saloth Sar, known as Pol Pot, moved to Paris on a scholarship to study electronics. He became involved there in communism and Maoism and, losing his scholarship, returned to Cambodia. Back in Cambodia, he joined a small communist group. In 1970, a revolution was led by Lon Nol. Lon Nol tried to overthrow the government and was temporarily successful. The small communist group was gaining power and Pol Pot had to flee to the jungle to escape the wrath of the Prince. In the jungle, Pol Pot organized a resistance group which then joined the small communist group that he left. The combination of the resistance fighters and the communist group was called the Khmer Rouge, and they lit the fire to begin the genocide. After Pol Pot enlarged the group, they were able to take over the government in 1975 renaming Cambodia, the Republic of Democratic Kampuchea. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge thought that educated and "high achieving" members of society were a threat and should be killed. ("The Genocide") The Kampuchean communist group, the Khmer Rouge, began a cleansing of the country from 1975 to 1979. ("The Genocide") This state-sponsored multi-process cleansing was to enforce Pol Pot’s strong communist and traditional Maoist beliefs. He strove to create an equal, uneducated, farming society out of Cambodia. Pol Pot wanted to conduct his radical experiment to create an equal utopia for all people. Pol Pot began by declaring that the year was the year zero and that the "old society" was to be "purified." ("Cambodian Genocide") Ideas such as capitalism, education, western culture, city life, and religion were to be extinguished in an extreme form of peasant communism. The first step in this purification process was to expel anything foreign. The use of foreign language was prohibited. Newspapers and televisions were shut down and any mode of transportation was confiscated. Embassies, libraries, and schools were closed and eliminated. Money was forbidden and all businesses were shut down. Religion and health care were nonexistent; Cambodia was sealed off from the entire world. The next step in the "purification" process was to evacuate all inhabitants of cities at gunpoint and relocate them to the countryside. During this movement, almost 20,000 people died. ("Cambodian Genocide") Once in the countryside, everyone was forced into slave labor in the "killing fields." Work in the fields began at 4 a.m. and ended at 10 p.m. Khmer Rouge soldiers stood guard at all times with machine guns ready to shoot. They were only allowed one rest period a day and only got one small tin of rice over two days. The whole country was stricken with people dying of overwork and malnutrition. Ten to fifteen families lived together in small hut-like houses. Throughout all of Cambodia, purges were conducted to murder anyone who was educated; teachers, lawyers, doctors, and monks and ex-government officials were killed on brutal rampages. During the Cambodian genocide, 1.7 million people lost their lives, 25 percent of the population. ("The Cambodian Genocide Program") This genocide was lit by the flames of hate and was not suppressed until it had reached virtually everyone.The Cambodian genocide and the Holocaust are very similar in their origin. Both genocides began with unstable governments and prejudice against a certain group. That prejudice escalated into genocide. The regimes of both the Nazis and the Khmer Rouge had similarities and differences. The Nazi Regime was very organized and systematic. The Nazi patrol officers recorded everything that occurred during the Holocaust. The Khmer Rouge, however, was unorganized and hardly recorded anything that happened during their genocide. The only documentation that the Khmer Rouge officers took was a picture before the execution of an "educated" person. The Nazis were ruthless dictators of the people they controlled at extermination and concentration camps, killing them on the spot for infractions of any kind. The Khmer Rouge had the same ruthless attitude toward the people they were exterminating. Both regimes were very large and strong and had state sponsorship. The common thread between the two genocides was a powerful, idealistic dictator that ruled the regimes. Charisma, charm, poise, and persuasiveness are some of the characteristics needed to be a successful dictator of genocide. Pol Pot and Hilter both possessed and embodied those characteristics and built upon them to try to create their utopia of perfection. In order for genocide to be carried out, it needs to have a strong regime ruled by an iron-fisted dictator. Both Hilter and Pol Pot were very strong in governing and told their regimes exactly how they wanted things completed. Both men had an idea of how their society could be as long as certain groups were eliminated. They took their ideas much too far and created a virtual reign of terror. Both genocides were started by the "spark" of prejudice. Prejudice, however small it seems, grows into regimes and powerful feudal nations. The leaders of both of these nations had similar characteristics, which proved to be effective to carry out genocide. The Cambodian genocide of the late 1970’s and the Holocaust share the common thread of an evil mastermind behind the destruction. |