The Polish author Raphael Lemkin was the first to coin the phrase ‘genocide’. Lemkin was working as the Polish advisor to the United States War Ministry at the time. He took the word from the Greek phrase for race “genos” and the Latin suffix “cide” which means to kill. Lemkin gave the word the following definition:

Genocide- the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group through the existence of a coordinated plan, aimed at total extermination, to be put into effect against individuals chosen as victims purely, simply and exclusively because they are members of the target group (Destexhe, 3).

Of course he was referring to the atrocities that he was witnessing first hand committed against the Jews by the Germans during the Second World War. A new word had to be created to describe a crime like none other. Genocide was unique because of the motivation behind it (Destexhe, 2). Over 3 million Jewish people were killed by Hitler’s Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1945. Jews were the specific targets of Hitler’s malice. His goal was to rid the world of the Je

The international press took three weeks to recognize that genocide was taking place in Rwanda. Most referred to the situation as a ‘tribal conflict’. As a result of the tragedy in Somalia two years prior, the United States and the UN limited their involvement to ‘humanitarian assistance’. France intervened with what it called ‘Operation Turquoise’ but it was too little too late. The entire crisis could have been resolved before the mass genocide took place if the US and the UN would have acted on the warning signs that had been taking place for decades. One must ask him self, if the same conflict had been occurring in a predominately white country, would further action have been taken? It's a sad state of affairs that this question even needs to be discussed.

massacred as the Young Turks sought to transform the Ottoman Empire and create a fully Turkish, fully Moslem country. The next genocide was the most well known, that of Hitler and the Jews. The final genocide of the 20th century is one that is perhaps even lesser known than the massacre in Turkey. Its roots lay in the colonial occupation of Africa by such countries as England, France, and specifically Germany and Belgium. The genocide in Rwanda has been an ongoing critical situation since the early 1950’s. The unfortunate thing about this genocide is that it was ignored at the height of its mass murder spree by the UN and the United States and possibly could have been prevented if either or both of these entities would have intervened.

The first “real” genocide of the 20th century occurred in 1915 in Turkey. The victims were the Armenians and the aggressors were the Young Turks or the Ittihad. Close to one million Armenians were

The massacres continued right through the 1960’s and into the early 1970’s as the Tutsis became more and more restricted by Hutu quotas. The Tutsi Tribesmen were limited to a certain number of jobs and places in Hutu schools and universities. A period of peace settled over Rwanda from 1973 until 1990. However, racial tensions were mounting as memories of those who were slain lingered in much of the

Some topics in this essay:
Tutsis Roadblocks, Republic CDR, Crime Genocide, War Ministry, Armed Forces, United UN, PARMEHUTU Tutsis, Rights Commission, Nazi Germany, RPF RPF, belgian government, 20th century, genocide 20th century, genocides 20th century, mass murder, tutsis killed, government officials, people mention, world war, people killed, rwandan armed forces, troops stationed rwanda, genocides 20th, mass genocide,