“All it takes for the triumph of evil is for good men to stand by and

do nothing.”-Edmund Burke

Respond to this quotation. What does it mean? Do you agree?

What is genocide?

• The systematic killing of a racial or cultural group

• Can you think of any examples of genocide that took place in the 20th century?

The Holocaust

• The most famous example of genocide took place during WWII

• Hitler ordered the rounding up and systematic execution of over 6 million Jews (2/3 of the Jewish population in Europe at the time) as well as other “undesirables” such as gypsies

• http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_nm.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005143&MediaId=3372• http://resources.ushmm.org/film/display/main.php?search=simple&dquery=callno%284676%29&c

ache_file=uia_CsauMx&total_recs=1&page_len=25&page=1&rec=1&file_num=5046

Did you know that some genocides took place before the

Holocaust?

Armenia (1914-1919)

Armenian Refugees in Relief Committee Tents - Aintab http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/facts/genocide.html

http://www.armeniangenocidemuseum.org/

The Soviet Union (1932-33)

http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_ukraine.html http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3782479548759037983#

After the Holocaust laws were made to try to prevent genocide

from happening again…Unfortunately, they did not work…

• The United Nations adopted the Genocide Convention (1948) which requires governments to “prevent and punish the crime of genocide.”

• Criminal trials were established to prosecute individuals for “crimes against humanity.”

• The United Nations created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signifying that governments do not have unregulated authority over individuals within their borders.

• Doctors are now required to have “voluntary consent of the human subject” in order to perform medical studies.

• Refugees were granted protection and assistance by the United Nations Refugee Convention. Governments promised not to return refugees to places where their lives were threatened due to their religion, race, nationality, or political beliefs.

• Calls for a Jewish State increased and were eventually answered with the creation of Israel in 1948.

Cambodia (1974-1979)

http://www.hmh.org/ed_Genocide_Cambodia.shtml

VIDEO: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/cambodia220vid.html

Bosnia (1992-1996)

http://www.hmh.org/ed_genocide_bosnia.shtml

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/25/sbm.perpetrators/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Rwanda (1994)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/video/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/dec/18/rwanda-genocide

http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

“Injustice anywhere

is a threat to justice everywhere . . . Whatever affects one directly,

affects all indirectly.”

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Sources

http://www.yale.edu/cgp/images/massgrav.gif

http://josemorineaux.afrikblog.com/images/Rwanda_Genocide_Memorial_1_1_.jpg

http://josemorineaux.afrikblog.com/images/Rwanda_Genocide_Memorial_1_1_.jpg

http://koz.vianet.ca/massa.jpg

http://atlanticreview.org/uploads/Brian-Steidle-Janjaweed.jpg