Lavira Johnson
Soci 361
3/4/14
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Ethnic
Cleansing is, “The creation of an ethnically homogenous geographic area through
the elimination of unwanted ethnic groups by deportation, forcible
displacement, or genocide. The practice of removing or killing people who belong to an
ethnic group that is different from the ruling group in a country or region. The expulsion, imprisonment, or killing of an
ethnic minority by a dominant majority in order to achieve ethnic homogeneity”.
Throughout history there have been several examples of ethnic cleansing. Events
like the holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, the war in Bosnia and several others.
In 1992 at some point during the war in Bosnia the reality of ethnic cleansing
became a harsh reality, although it had been happening for years prior. The book “Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in
Twentieth-Century Europe” by Norman M. Naimark is an powerful piece of
literature that explains and compares multiple genocide events.
The first chapter of
the book discusses the Armenian and Greek of Anatolia and how the collapse of
the Ottoman Empire provided the setting for a hundred years of genocide and
ethnic cleansing in southeastern Europe and Anatolia after the Balkan wars. The
Balkan wars were the cause of enormous population transfers and ethnic
separatism. This undisclosed organization deported over 100,000 Greeks and were
ordered to disarm the entire Armenian populace. “Armenians
were beaten, arrested, or tortured if they did not give up weapons”. This was clearly a demonstration of superiority,
power and control. Von Trotha, a German military commander “… makes relevant
point in the case of the Armenians that massacres often entail the
dehumanization of victims rather than the other way around, as is usually
propounded in theories of genocide”. (Naimark, 2001, pp.23&27). If not
slaughtered like sheep as it was vividly illustrated in the text, the victims
of these genocides were often found dead as a result of famine, illness or a combination of both which left them
too weak to survive any longer.
Chapter
two discussed the very well known and devastating event of the Holocaust. “The
Holocaust has become the dominant historical metaphor of our time”. (Naimark, 2001, pp.58). the
Nazi attack on the Jews was mentioned to be the first serious test of the
German army in battle, and Hitler wanted to ensure that they were clear on his
decision to make this war like no other. “Our war aim”, he stated, “is not to
attain a particular line [in the east], but the physical destruction of the
enemy”. “Then according to some accounts, he added: “Who, after all, speaks
today about the annihilation of the Armenians?” (Naimark, 2001, pp.57). Hitler assumed that the only way to
regain power for the Germans would be get rid of or exterminate all of the Jewish
population. He did everything he could to make sure that the Jews were uncomfortable
and that would ultimately compel them to leave Europe and Germany. As a result of
that Jews were hypersegregated in concentration camps, put into gas chambers or
were brutally beat and killed.
Chapter three discussed the Soviet deportation of the
Chechens-Ingush and the Crimean Tatars. Stalin and the Soviet Union forced the
people of their country to Pakistan and other eastern countries. Naimark
mentions in the reading how Stalin recognized the the power of nationalism to
destroy the new Soviet multinational state. Therefore a hierarchy of autonomy
for ethnic groups was created and the people were forced to take on new customs.
Like the other genocides spoken of, those who didn’t leave or obey the rules of
the land were shot and killed although Stalin’s rules were to force people to
leave his ruling region, not to kill them, but if it was necessary, they would
suffer the worse consequence.
http://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocide.html
http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/holocaust.htm
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