HOLOCAUST

Man’s Inhumanity to Man

holocaust – complete destruction by fire, especially of animals or human beings; great or wholesale destruction

The Holocaust – the mass destruction or extermination of European Jews by the Nazis during World War II

Columbus Arrives in the New World

10 million Native Americans lived in the United States. Today, the population has fallen to approximately 2.4 million.

The decrease is partly attributed to actions by the U.S. government.

Most notorious acts are the Trail of Tears, the Sand Creek Massacre, and the Yuki massacre of northern California.

Trail of Tears

President Andrew Jackson’s Indian removal policy of 1838 and 1839 forced the Cherokee Nation to give up land east of the Mississippi River and migrate to Oklahoma.

Involved in the removal were the Choctaw, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Creek nations.

Of the 15,000 Cherokees who were forced to march to Oklahoma, 4,000 died.

Sand Creek Massacre1864

Cheyenne and Arapaho nations refused to leave hunting grounds in Colorado and move to reservations.

Colonel John Chivington launched a campaign of violence against the Cheyenne and their allies.

Although Black Kettle (Cheyenne chief) had surrendered, U.S. troops (many drunk) attacked a settlement November 29th.

“They were scalped, their brains knocked out; the men used their knives, ripped open women, clubbed little children , knocked them in the head with their rifle butts, beat their brains out, mutilated their bodies in every sense of the word.” Interpreter from the village

Col. Chivington was later denounced in a Congressional investigation and forced to resign.

Yuki and the Nome Cult Death March of 1856

In 1848 gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California.

The Act for the Government and Protection of the Indians of 1850 allowed any white settler to force any Indian found without work to work for him. Many Native Americans were captured into slavery.

Reservations, such Nome Cult Farm or Round Valley, were established without any recognition of Native lands.

Native Americans were hired out to settlers as pack animals. In 1857, 300 died from exposure and exertion, carrying 50 lb. naked with only skins around their shoulders in the extreme cold.

The Eel River Rangers (1851-1860) carried out many massacres of Yuki and other northern California tribes. Those surviving the attacks were marched to Nome Cult.

Armenian Genocide - 1915

April 1915 in Turkey, tens of thousands of Armenian men were rounded up and shot. Hundreds of thousands of women, old men, and children were deported . Armenians appealed to Germany for protection on April 15. Eventually more than a million Armenians died. Another 200,000 Christian Armenians were forcibly “converted” to Islam by the Turkish Ottoman government.

“I am ashamed of my nation.” Turkish Minister of Interior 1915

The Final Solution The Holocaust, WWII

By 1945, the Nazis had murdered two of every three European Jews, over 6 million people

Other victims of racism include 200,000 Roma

Through the Euthanasia Program, 200,000 mentally or physically disabled patients, mostly German, were killed

Other groups targeted for extermination were some Slavic groups, Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals

“I stand in a cage before a hungry and angry tiger.” Moses Merin

JapaneseAmerican Interment Camps

February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Oder 9066 authorizing the forced removal of all ethnic Japanese living on the Pacific Coast.

Ordered to leave with only what they could carry, Japanese Americans were sent by train or bus to 10 internment camps enclosed with barbed wire in remote areas of the U.S.

In January 1945, the internees were released with $25.00 and a one-way ticket anywhere in the country. “We had nowhere to go.” Businesses, farms, and homes had been confiscated.

No American of Japanese ancestry was ever convicted of sabotage during WWII.

Cambodia 1975

The Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot began a ruthless mission to create a “worker” state in Cambodia.

Able bodied, ill, young, old—everyone was forced to labor camps. Children were separated from parents.

Factories, schools and universities, and hospitals were closed.

Religion was banned. Buddhist monks were killed as were members of racial minorities

“To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss.” K. Rouge

Half the Muslim population and 8,000 Christians were murdered.

Civilian deaths eventually have been estimated to be well over 2 million.

Guatemala 1982

The Guatemalan government and its “killing machine” began a campaign of oppression against the Mayan Indians (accused of being Communists).

The “Civil Patrols” of forcibly conscripted local men attacked 626 villages. Men, women, and children were murdered, and their villages burned

These human rights violations were ignored by the world, including the United States.

“ . . .has outraged the moral conscience of the civilized world.”

From 1999 United Nations sponsored report

Rwanda 1994

One million people died as the world watched.

Civilian death squads (Interahamwe) carried out this genocide literally by hand. Most of the deaths were results of clubs and machetes.

The government backed the Hutu hatred against the Tutsi.

The victims were murdered by people they knew—neighbors, former friends, relatives, and coworkers.

“ . . . genocide . . .I’ve no hesitancy in saying that.” US Sec. of State

Bosnia 1995

July 1995 Serb troops began shelling Srebrenica after killing Muslim villagers in the countryside.

Dutch UN soldiers could do little to help the Muslim inhabitants of Srebrenica.

6,000 refugees sought asylum in Dutch compound; 20,000 waited outside. Many women and children were evacuated.

Eventually 7,500 men and boys (13yrs. And older)were killed. They were buried in mass graves

“Please do something. In the name of God, do something.”

Radio message from Sarajevo

Sudan 2004 . . .

Sudan’s government, dominated by the National Islamic Front, is destroying the African tribal peoples of the region.

The Janjaweed or “Warriors on Horseback” carry out missions of killings, village burnings, rapes, and massive destruction of food.

Tribes primarily affected are the Fur, Massaleit, and Zaghawa.

The UN estimates over 1 million displaced; 50,000 or more are dead

“The scale of violence is indescribable.” Dr. Coralie Lechelle

Doctors Without Borders

Never Again Always and Forever

First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist; then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist; then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist; then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.” Martin Niemoeller , Christian

“Silence helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” Elie Wiesel

Works Cited

Barnhart, Clarence L. and Robert K. Barnhart, eds. The World Book Dictionary. World Book, Inc.: Chicago, 1990.

Ewers, Justin. “Journey Into a Dark Past.” U.S. News and World Report. May 19, 2008, pp32-35.

http://www.enotes.com/genocide-encyclopedia/native-americans/print

http://www.genocide1915.info/history/ http://gonshaw.net/Holocaust.htm http://inthesetimes.com/main/print/729/

http://www.lastoftheindependents.com/sandcreek.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html

http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_bosnia1.html

http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_cambodia1.html

http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_guatemala1.html

http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_rwanda1.html

http://www.rwor.org/a/v19/910-19/917/mdvaly.htm

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&Moduleld=10005143&pring=y