Genocide Information and Resources

In 1944 Raphael Lemikin wanted to describe the Nazi plan of systemic destruction of the Western Jews. He combined the Greek word for race geno and the Latin word for killing cide and formed genocide. Genocide is an international crime with the intent to destroy in whole or part a national, religious, or ethnic group.

Genocide through out history put the death over 300 million human lives. These deaths have been usually at the hand of the people’s government or rulers. Lenin, Stalin forced famine from 1932-1938 killed at least 62 million people. The Armenian genocide of 1915-1918 took the life of around 1.5 million human beings. In 1938-1945 the Holocaust took the estimated life of 6 million Jews, 5 million non-Jews, 6 million Poles, 500,000 gypsies, and 15,000 homosexuals. The mass killing in Rwanda’s genocide death toll is estimated at 1,000,000. Presently the Sudan genocide as taken approximately 2,000,0000 lives since 1983.

Genocide has eight stages. It begins with a classification division of “us and them” either by race, religion or nationality. Secondly, the classifications are given symbols, such as names, clothing, or colors. Third, the group that has been classifies is then denied humanity and compare to animals or diseases. The classified group is organized by location. Polarization then takes place by hate groups broadcasting polarizing propaganda. The victims are then categorized and separated because of their identity; this is referred to as preparation. Preparation leads to the seventh stage, extermination, the killing of humans that the killers believe is less than human. The killings lead to genocide. The final stage is denial, by hiding evidence, intimidating witness and denial of any crime. The following resources are a look at history and laws that seek to prevent genocide.

International Law and Human Rights

On-line Libraries

On-line Journals

Genocide Research Centers

Other Sites