Defining the Horrific Readings on Genocide and Holocaust in the 20th Century

by Hewitt, William, Ph.D.

• ISBN13: 9780131100848
• ISBN10: 013110084X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-07
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

With a wide-ranging scope, this anthology is a brief, chronological introduction to the geographic, ideological, cultural breadth, and frequency of genocide in the twentieth century. It contains provocative questions and several case studies.

Author Biography

William Hewitt, professor of history at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, received his Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming in 1984. Professor Hewitt helped conceive and institutionalize West Chester University's new graduate Holocaust/Genocide Studies program. He has taught courses on genocide for several years. His research specialties include genocide, Native American history, the American West, race, and sexuality. He has published numerous journal articles, written four documentary videos under the direction of Gary Nash, and most recently a historical novel for young adults.

Table of Contents

PREFACE
Horrific Crimes	ix
INTRODUCTION Defining the Horrific	1	(37)
Genocide
Diane E. Orentlicher,	2	(4)
Contested Meanings and Conflicting Imperatives: A Conceptual Analysis of Genocide
Scott Straus,	6	(18)
When and Why to Use the Term Democide for "Genocide"
R.J. Rummel,	24	(5)
Defining Genocide: Defining History?
Deborah Harris,	29	(9)
CHAPTER 1 Close to Home: Native American Genocide	38	(25)
The Pequot War Reconsidered
Steven T. Katz,	39	(8)
"Nits Make Lice" The Extermination of North American Indians, 1607-1996
Ward Churchill (Keetoowah Cherokee),	47	(16)
CHAPTER 2 What Is Yours Is Mine: Colonialism	63	(32)
The Dust Rose Like Smoke: The Subjugation of the Zulu and the Sioux
James O. Gump,	65	(13)
King Leopold's "Heart of Darkness"
Adam Hochschild,	78	(3)
The Tribe Germany Wants to Forget
Regina Jere-Malanda,	81	(6)
A History of Horror: A Review of Le Siècle des Camps
Joel Kotek and Pierre Rigoulot,	87	(8)
CHAPTER 3 The Almost Forgotten Genocide: Armenia	95	(33)
The Armenian Genocide: Context and Legacy
Rouben Adalian,	96	(8)
The Armenian Genocide and Patterns of Denial
Richard G. Hovannisian,	104	(15)
The Armenian Genocide
Robert E. Melson,	119	(9)
CHAPTER 4 Death by Hunger: Ukraine	128	(14)
The Great Famine-Genocide in Soviet Ukraine (Holodomor): The Ninth Circle by Olexa Woropay: Editor's Introduction
James E. Mace,	129	(5)
A Tale of Truth and Two Journalists: Malcolm Muggeridge and Walter Duranty
Ian Hunter,	134	(2)
The Last Stand of The Ukrainian Famine-Genocide Deniers
Roman Serbyn,	136	(6)
CHAPTER 5 The Holocaust	142	(33)
The Holocaust: An Historical Overview
Franklin Bialystock,	143	(8)
There Are No Wise Men in Chelm: A Journey of Conscience to Poland, Spring 2002
Dr. Saul S. Friedman,	151	(9)
O Baro Porrajmos-The Romani Holocaust
Ian Hancock,	160	(6)
Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History
Erna Paris,	166	(9)
CHAPTER 6 Myths and History: Manchuria	175	(11)
The "Rape of Nanking"
Freelance writer,	176	(4)
Japanese Scientists Conducted Biological Research Experiments on Human Subjects in the Isolated Region of Manchuria
Andrew J. Swanger,	180	(6)
CHAPTER 7 There Are Bombs, and There Are Bombs: Hiroshima	186	(24)
Hiroshima and Royan
Howard Zinn,	187	(13)
Missing the Target
Tony Capaccio, Uday Mohan,	200	(10)
CHAPTER 8 Death by Hunger Reprise: China	210	(9)
The Greatest Famine in History (1959-1961)
Jean-Louis Margolin,	211	(8)
CHAPTER 9 Rwanda, Sudan, Angola Case Studies: Post-Colonial Africa	219	(20)
Rwanda-The Genocide
Mark Huband,	220	(3)
Sudan-Civil War and Genocide
Francis M. Deng,	223	(9)
Angola Preliminary Report, Determination: Not Genocidal in Nature
Genocide Prevention Center,	232	(7)
CHAPTER 10 With Friends Like These... Case Studies: Argentina and Guatemala	239	(20)
Argentina: The Military Juntas and Human Rights, Report of the Trial of the Former Junta Members 1985
Amnesty International,	241	(6)
Reagan & Guatemala's Death Files
Robert Parry,	247	(8)
Guatemalan Army Waged "Genocide," New Report Finds
Mireya Navarro,	255	(4)
CHAPTER 11 Cambodian "Autogenocide"	259	(10)
Cambodia
Sydney Schanberg,	260	(5)
Pol Pot
David Chandler,	265	(4)
CHAPTER 12 Case Studies: Indonesia, East Timor, and Bangladesh	269	(27)
Genocide in Indonesia, 1965-1966
Robert Gribb,	270	(16)
Case Study: Genocide in Bangladesh, 1971
Adam Jones,	286	(5)
Good and Bad Genocide: Double Standards in Coverage of Suharto and Pol Pot
Edward S. Herman,	291	(5)
CHAPTER 13 Ethnic Cleansing: Bosnia	296	(23)
Bosnia
Florence Hartmann,	297	(4)
Middle Managers of Genocide
Ed Vulliamy,	301	(5)
Bosnia: First Genocide Verdict May Bolster Other Cases
Kathleen Knox,	306	(2)
The Rational Destruction of Yugoslavia
Michael Parenti,	308	(11)
CHAPTER 14 A Tough Neighborhood: The Middle East
Iraq	319	(20)
Case Study: The Anfal Campaign (Iraqi Kurdistan), 1988
Adam Jones,	320	(8)
Anfal: The Kurdish Genocide in Iraq, Iraq and the Kurds: A Bibliographic Essay
Khaled Salih,	328	(10)
Sanctions Against Iraq Are Genocide
George Bisharat,	338	(1)
Israelis and Palestinians	339	(14)
Palestinians Under Siege
Edward Said,	340	(10)
No Tolerance for Genocide
Caroline B. Glick,	350	(3)
CHAPTER 15 Bastard Child of the Cold War: North Korea	353	(19)
The Politics of Famine in North Korea
Andrew Natsios,	354	(13)
Control of the Population
Pierre Rigoulot,	367	(2)
The Koreas: Is North Korea Stalinist?
Aidan Foster-Carter,	369	(3)
CHAPTER 16 Epilogue: Commission by Omission	372
Never Again: The World's Most Unfulfilled Promise
Samantha Power,	373	(5)
Murder Most Foul: For Genocide to Retain Its Unique Legal Standing, We Must Use the Label with Care
Bruce Fein,	378	(4)
Universal Social Theory and the Denial of Genocide: Norman Itzkowitz Revisited
Hank Theriault,	382

Excerpts

Horrific Crimes Genocide is the most horrific crime inflicted on one group of people by another. Destroying or conspiring to destroy a classification of people because of their national, ethnic, or religious identity constitutes the crime of genocide. Yet since the Polish legal scholar Raphael Lemkin coined the word to describe Nazi Germany''s attempted annihilation of the Jewish people and the Romani, the definition and application of the word proved problematic. Part of the problem lies in the broadness of Lemkin''s definition, and the consequent all-too-frequent application of the term. The Introduction to this study provides more than one definition of the term, and parses their meanings. The first chapter looks at America''s history with Native Americans and debates the use of terms such as Holocaustand genocidein characterizing that history. Chapter Two looks at early twentieth century imperialism and the attempt to eliminate the Hereros and other African peoples. The Armenian genocide, presented in Chapter Three, arguably often called the first genocide of the twentieth century, also remained for various reasons relatively obscure until recently. The Ukrainian man-made famine ranks as genocide counted in the millions. Possibly the most familiar genocidal event of the twentieth century is the Holocaust, discussed in Chapter Five. In 1997, Iris Chang focused attention on the Japanese during the 1930s in her book, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II,the subject of Chapter Six. In the next chapter, the editor offers a controversial and provocative examination of the American conduct of World War II. Social scientists chronicle at least sixteen genocides perpetrated or attempted by nations after Raphael Lemkin coined the term at the end of World War II. In an eerie parallel to the Soviet Ukrainian famine, the Chinese communists under Mao Tse-tung engineered a famine that claimed thirty million people. Chapter Nine selectively looks at Rwanda, Sudan, and Angola, but one could also include Biafra, Chad, Ethiopia, and many others. Similarly in Latin America, Argentina and Guatemala could be augmented by Paraguay, Brazil, and others. Some analysts of genocide put Cambodia in a special category all its own, since the slaughter killed a larger proportion of the population--approximately one half--than any other mass murder. Chapter Twelve, Indonesia and Bangladesh, and the following chapter on Bosnia, offer additional case studies of counties ripped apart by genocide. The chapter on the Middle East will undoubtedly anger some readers. America''s bifurcated relations with the parties involved, added to the high voltage of religion and politics, produces intensely emotional reactions to allegations and perpetration of genocide. Less controversial, but also politically charged by George W. Bush''s characterization of an "Axis of Evil," including Iran and Iraq, is North Korea, another example of man-made famine claiming millions of victims. The Conclusion asks the reader to reconsider the application of the term genocide, and consider ways to study and prevent it. One thing that is clear after surveying these events is that most Americans only vaguely, if at all, understand the horrific carnage that characterized the history of the twentieth century. An American sense of mission, superiority, and moral certitude, what Robert N. Bellah termed collectively as Habits of the Heart, grounded in the past and ourselves, resists change. A few critics-including Ward Churchill and Edward Said, among others-offer alternative viewpoints. Like a visiting team trying to shout instructions in a stadium filled with fans for the other team, their voices are not heard. Limited by space, this book is an attempt to shout signals to Americans, over the din in the arena; to see the twentieth-century world differently. At the same time, there is a limit to the human appetite for human misery--deportation, torture, and murder. Reading a conventional history of the twentieth century, at the same time, will help the reader keep a perspective for these accounts of horror. The disquieting realization is that the horrific intrudes into the other narrative all too frequently, or the author obfuscates or minimizes these events, for one motive or another. The concept for this book arose from a need for a comprehensive, chronological arrangement of provocative materials for discussion and writing prompts in teaching a course on genocide. My students'' interests and discussions steered me to consider a wide range of twentieth-century events in an inquisitive atmosphere of open inquiry. I would like to express my thanks to the following people for their help in preparing this volume: Roger W. Arthur; Jonathan Cohen; Kimberly Fleischer; Mark T. Flores; C. Patrick Mundy; Asaf Romirowsky; Meri Sellers; Steven J. Silva; Wesley Spahr; Kathleen Stank; Jennifer Stewart; and Lotta Stone. Many of these students are pursuing graduate degrees related to Holocaust/genocide studies. Rodney Vosburgh collaborated on the early research phase of collecting material. The chairperson of my department, Richard Webster, encouraged me at various stages in the preparation of the manuscript, and the assistant chair of the department, Thomas Heston, "kept out of the way," as he put it. My thanks to the reviewers of this book for their helpful comments: Charles Cross, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania; William Cooney, Briarcliff College; and Severin Hochberg, United States Holocaust Museum. I would also like to thank the staff at Prentice Hall for their patient assistance, and especially Editor Charles Cavaliere for keeping me on track and giving me valuable assistance. I dedicate this volume to my friend and mentor, Roger L. Williams, who will be appalled at the arguments in some of these readings.