The Root of The Holocaust & Darfur 

Upon different generations we have seen numerous genocides occur in all areas around the world. One of the most famous genocides was the Holocaust. Though the Holocaust was made aware to the public and caught the eye of people all over the globe, it still fell through the cracks for many years just like a lot of other genocides. Most of the time, genocides are started in silence because the people who are being targeted are kept quiet such as the one taking place in Africa today, the Genocide of Darfur. The root causes of a genocide are financial crises, racism, and forced removal. These three main causes tie together and create mass chaos formulating a genocide. Many other factors can affect and create a genocide, but it takes more than just three causes to create a genocide because of how complex they are.

The Genocide in Darfur has been going on since 2003 and is ongoing today. The average amount of casualties in this genocide is estimated between three hundred thousand and four hundred thousand (Totten, p.513). The Holocaust began around the 1930s and continued on till 1945. The Holocaust is the most memorable genocide in history due to the amount of people that were killed and how the Nazis came to power. Both Germany and Sudan have fallen into control of a dictatorship. No single act could have led to the creation of the genocide (Totten, P.517).

A country going below national poverty line is considered to be a major cause in genocide. Before World War II, Germany’s new leader, Adolf Hitler, took charge and forced his beliefs on the citizens. Adolf Hitler did this easily by manipulating the position Germany was in after World War I, where they got their butts handed to them in that war. Everyone was poor and the people were left with nothing. Since Germany was hit hard after the war, the whole country was in a financial crisis. As inflation grew after the war, the German currency was worthless. Citizens began to just give away all their belongings just to get food (United States Holocaust).

The Nazis created many sources of propaganda. One commercial was publicizing to join forces with Nazis because you will have food, you will have a job and you will be happy. They effectively used propaganda to gain the support of millions of Germans in a democracy. Later in a dictatorship they were able to create persecution, war and the genocide (United States Holocaust). The Nazis were great at creating propaganda and used the most current technology to spread the messages. For example, documents found by the National Holocaust Museum, there were films created during that era portrayed Jews as “subhuman” creatures infiltrating the Aryan society. One movie that was created was called the Eternal Jew which portrayed them as cultural parasites that all they cared about was sex and money (United States Holocaust).

Similarly the genocide in Darfur was created between the GoS troops and the Janjaweed. Janjaweed is the Arab military and the GoS troops consisted of Sudanese military. The country is listed as one out of the twenty five poorest countries in the world. Over ninety percent of Sudan’s citizens live below the poverty line (Totten, p. 513). You would not see a Genocide occur under a democracy unless it was put into a national financial crisis. Darfur is an underdeveloped country thus leading to a dictatorship.

The victims are unclear in this genocide but it is known the Sudan government is to blame. They were able to separate their citizens by Arabs and African American descent (Totten, p.515). These two groups have been constantly at war because the government needed a group to blame for the failure that was created by them. Arab supremacism is how Arabs think of themselves and their way of life is superior to others ( Totten, p.518).

All of the causes of genocide fall like a snowball effect. Racism was huge during the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler manipulated the people who joined forces with him to believe that anyone not of the Arian race was the enemy. Hitler mainly targeted Jews. He accused them of burning the government building down while it was his army that had done that. The Jews were blamed for Germany’s recession. During the Holocaust, Jews were not the only ones who were targeted. He also criminalized anyone who was homosexual (Persecution of Homosexuals).

During the Holocaust, concentration camps were created all over Germany and many other territories such as Poland. Adolf Hitler created it so he can control the people of Germany. Divided and conquered Germany. The conditions were horrible and not even clean enough for someone who should be imprisoned. The purpose of these camps were to make sure no one was to detain anyone who was a security threat (Concentration-camps). To eliminate and target groups by murder. The Nazis also were very fond of forced labor. Many of the people that were put in forced labor camps never returned because they would just die (Concentration-camps).

The Sudan government wanted to do an ethnic cleansing that did not involve African descent. They actually think anyone of African descent as slaves rather than Sudanese (Totten, p. 518). A lot of issues have affected this country such as extreme drought and desertification which resulted in famine. Through the serious hardships this country endured, it led into something so horrific. The Sudan government needs something or someone to blame for the reasoning of failure. So this country decided to single out African descent (Totten, p 518). The citizens of this country do not believe one is different than the other.

A citizen of Sudan wrote in their blog, that the most troubling sight was even more so was the undercurrent of racism that I couldn’t help but feel. Israeli flags being flown. A young boy, sitting on his father’s shoulders, carrying a sign that read ‘Arabs in Khartoum, just because we don’t believe in Mohammad doesn’t mean you can kill us!’ So much racism embedded in our community, so much propaganda and misinformation. Standing there in Washington after hours and hours of work I felt so torn – as an individual I feel so powerless to affect change, and so I do the only thing I can do and shout. But when I shout among thousands I can’t help but wonder if it is the voices decrying genocide the world hears, or the voices of racism and fear (Eichle, p,721).

If you were African American you were a target because you are not a true Sudanese. This passage shows the hardships that Darfur is going through. The people are in crisis and are basically stuck between African rebels and the government. The most horrific part of a genocide is the raping of women and children. It was reported back in 2004 that another young woman who was raped by militiamen was told, “Dog, you have sex with me… the Government gave me permission to rape you. This is not your land anymore abid, go.” The Arab society in Sudan has zero respect for the Africans they once co-existed with. The Janjaweed, which is linked with the Sudan government was given orders to attack and seize the African’s land (Totten, P.517).

To conclude, one of the most famous genocides was the Holocaust. Though the Holocaust was made aware to the public and caught the eye of people all over the globe; it still fell through the cracks for many years just like a lot of other genocides. Most of the time genocides are started in silence because the people who are being targeted are kept quiet such as the one taking place in Africa today, the Genocide of Darfur. The root causes of Genocide are racism, forced removal and financial crises in both countries. These three main causes tie together and create mass chaos formulating a genocide. Many other factors can affect and create a Genocide but it takes more than just three causes to create a Genocide because of how complex they are.

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