The Century of Genocide
The Century of Genocide
Joshua TamburroProfessor TrimbleWestern Civ IIExam IIIGenocide Genocideonly one word, but it speaks volumes that not even the imagination of a legion ofauthors could conjure up. It is a word that, unfortunately, our world has become quite accustomed to,particularly during the twentieth century, hence Eric Weitz as well as other authors and historians,labeling it as “The Century of Genocide”. There is an unspeakable infamy attached to the word itself,how can anyone who was born of a mothers loving warmth commit such attrocities to other humanbeings? It is a question I have wondered ever since I first learned of genocides, still do, and alwayswill. What could possibly have happened to the worlds people that would bring them to achieve suchcarnage? Well that is exactly what this paper is about and I hope to possibly give and receive insight asthis paper commences. In order to attempt to process exactly what has played a role to genocides in the past, let us havea look at Ervin Staub, a professor of Psychology(Emeritus), who focuses on genocidal studies. He has a thesis that are known as “Common Casual Factors”: these include times of hardship and strife, socialdislocation and/or disorientation, concentration of political power, an authoritarian way of living, andby way of scapegoats; stating a minority is not worthy of the majority. Now, although not all of theseapply to every genocide documented in history, there is at least one major thing out of this list that canbest describe the events leading up to these evildoings of man. Looking at the examples we have fromthe last century, it is safe to say that there are multiple ways as to how a genocide can occur and is notrestrained to the limits of humanity…in fact, in many cases, genocides have proven how despicablemankind can be when left to its own devices. Having said this, let us now apply this concept toarguably the most infamous and notorious genocide of the twentieth century: The Holocaust. In order to try to gain an understanding of the events that occurred during the Holocaust, it iscrucial to look to the past to put some light on the subject, so let us do so using Staubs thesis. The first
one: was Germany going through times of hardship? Absolutely! Thanks to the implementations of theTreaty of Versailles, Germany was hurting really bad! In fact, thanks to outside research, allow me toput some things into perspective: In 1918(The year the war had just ended, in November), the cost for aloaf of bread was exactly one mark…by November of 1923 the cost for a single loaf of breadwas…200,000,000,000 marks! This occurrence is known as hyperinflation and it was all too real inGermany at the time. Now look at the second one: did Germany go throguh any periods of socialdisorientation or dislocation? YES. Why, there were multiple ways to explain as to how Germany wascaught in a string of disillusion leading up to and, of course, during the Holocaust. A prime example inwhat was soon to come is known as the “Beer Hall Putsch” in 1923, which was Hitlers first attempt toseize control of Germany(as a result he was arrested, during his sentence he wrote Mein Kampf). Another portion of this could be the endless propaganda and deceit spread by the Nazis prior to andduring the war on certain groups and individuals, such as Jews, Gypsies and Communists. Thus far the ratio is two-for-two for Staubs thesis on genocide and the Holocaust, will thisstreak of accuracy continue? Let us find out by moving onto the third of the five: Did Germanyexperience a concentration in political political power? Indeed they did. Once the Nazis took charge in1933, that was it, they did the best they could to have no political foes and no one in the way of theiragenda. Hitler surrounded himself with people whom shared his ideals, so it seemed inevitable that