Racial Cleansing, Mass Murder or Preservation
The
issues between the Armenians and the Greeks, Nazis and the Jews and the Soviet deportation
are all perfect examples of racism, racial cleansing and genocide. The removal
of Armenians and Greeks from Turkey occurred because of the want for one
homogenous society similar to the Germans and Nazis. The want for a homogenous
society is something that we in America do not have and more than likely will
never have. This may be slightly off topic, but the fact that these countries wanted
solely one group of individuals in a country baffles me. The fact that people went
to the lengths of committing mass murders, killing thousands of women and
children all to “preserve” a society they felt threatened is outrageous.
During
the Nazi attack on the Jews in 1941 people were actually contained and gassed
in vans and died of carbon monoxide inhalation. Concentration camps were then
created and things only got worse from there. The Germans also sought for one
homogenous society. A pure race with nothing, but “their kind” and viewed the
Jews, or any other ethnicity for that matter, as a problem that needed to be
taken care of for the sake of their own living. They wanted the “physical destruction”
of the Jews and according to the Nazi ideology “the mere existence of the Jews
posed a threat of serious contagion to all European nations.”
These
situations, in my opinion, are similar to the treatment of African Americans in
the United States in the past. Not to the lengths of complete genocide, but as
far as racism. African Americans suffered through slavery, discrimination,
brutal physical attacks and much more which can, in a way, be compared to what
the Jews, Greeks, Armenians and plenty more races endured. The fact that an
entire race of people was almost made extinct by the thought process and
beliefs of one individual is mind boggling. I personally have never been made
much aware of what went on in other countries as far as this sort of treatment.
My knowledge has mainly been on the subject of African Americans and their
treatment. I never realized that there
were other races of people that were experiencing the same thing, if not worse.
There is no way that people should be treated in such an inhumane manner as if
they were of little or no worth. This is not the first time that a group of
people have set out to do something “for the greater good of their people” and
surely was not the last.
The Soviet deportation
actions were sort of similar to Hitler’s behavior amongst the Jews. When the
Soviets would see conflict or differences of any kind it would be seen as
resistance to their ruling and they feared rebellion. These were the primary reasons
for the deportation of non-Russian people. Separatism and possible
collaboration with others was a potential problem so they handled it in their
own way and the possibility of an attack was used to
justify their actions.
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