Kish Mahoney Holocaust Literature
Genocide - The Definition
Genocide is defined by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as, “violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy in whole or in part the existence of, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and/or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group”.
When comparing the genocide of the Holocaust to other genocides you will find that all of the above crimes were committed against the Jewish population where as other genocides such as the genocide that was inflicted upon the Native American Indians included one or more of the above crimes. The genocide of the Holocaust was performed in such a large territory in Europe, and the horrific truths of the Holocaust were ignored for several years during and after WWII. The Rowandan Genocide was similar to the genocide of the Holocaust in the sense that according to The Wikipedia, “the international community has developed a mechanism for prosecuting the perpetrators of genocide but has not developed the will or the mechanisms for intervening in a genocide as it happens”.
When comparing the genocide of the Holocaust to other genocides you will find that all of the above crimes were committed against the Jewish population where as other genocides such as the genocide that was inflicted upon the Native American Indians included one or more of the above crimes. The genocide of the Holocaust was performed in such a large territory in Europe, and the horrific truths of the Holocaust were ignored for several years during and after WWII. The Rowandan Genocide was similar to the genocide of the Holocaust in the sense that according to The Wikipedia, “the international community has developed a mechanism for prosecuting the perpetrators of genocide but has not developed the will or the mechanisms for intervening in a genocide as it happens”.
Native American Genocide in the United States
The North American Indian population reduced from an estimated 12 million in 1500 to barely 237,000 in 1900, according to Ward Churchill of the University of Colorado in 2004. This loss of the Native American lives has been a controversial issue for hundreds of years and has been the topic of a genocidal debate. The debate over whether or not the decline in the Indian population is due to genocide or disease has been the fore-running question (Lewy 1).
In the article Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide, written by Guenter Lewy , he quotes a Hawaiian historian as stating, “ by the end of the 19th century, native Americans had undergone the worst human holocaust the world has ever witnessed, roaring across two continents non-stop for four centuries and consuming the lives of countless tens of millions of people” (1). Also quoted in his article was the following statement by Lenore A. Stiffarm and Phil Lane, Jr., “there can be no more monumental example of sustained genocide-certainly none involving a ‘race’ of people as broad and complex as this-anywhere in the annals of human history” (Lewy 1).
In American history Christopher Columbus is marveled as the man who sailed the Ocean Blue and found America. In 1492 life as the Native Americans knew was forever changed as their native land was invaded. This date marked the beginning of the long road of persecution, slavery, and genocide for the indigenous people known as Native Americans. The 1999 Encyclopedia of Genocide states, “genocide is the only appropriate way to describe how white settlers treated the Indians” (Lewy 2). The fact that American Indians suffered horribly has never been disputed but the question of whether their suffering amounted to a holocaust or to genocide has been debated.
The debate stems from the fact that a large majority of the Native Americans died from epidemics commonly known by scholars as, “the virgin-soil epidemic” (Lewy 2). The highly contagious diseases, which the Native Americans had no immunity, were brought to America by the whites. These invisible killers which the white man brought in their blood and breath resulted in 75-90% of all Indian deaths (Lewy 3). Though the Indians were far from friendly and many were considered savages in their time, it was the white man that intentionally stole the Indians land sending them to missions or reservations and intentionally giving them government issued blankets exposed to influenza, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, typhus, bubonic plague, cholera, and scarlet fever in hopes to exterminate the Indian population. Lewy reports that Sir Jeffrey Amherst, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, wrote, “You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians with small pox by means of blankets, as well as to try every other method, that can serve to extirpate this execrable race” (4). Lewy reports, “on June 20, 1837 the U.S. Army began to dispense trade blankets and handkerchiefs inflicted with smallpox from one of the Forts quarantined hospitals to the Indians” (4). In this way the diseases were spread in hopes to have one desired effect, the intent to destroy the existence of the Native Americans in whole or part. This was practiced from California to the Mississippi. Though it was not the original intention of the white man to eradicate the Native American population when settling in America, it was also not the intent of the entire German population to kill all of the Jews but the holocaust still happened at the hands of the Nazi. This does not change the fact that there were areas and times in history that the population of the Native Americans was intentionally reduced and an attempt was made by some to destroy their existence. The Indians throughout history were robbed of their land, their women and children were raped and murdered, they were sent to reservations where severe hardship was inflicted upon them such as lack of food and water, no quarter, slavery, rape, and murder. History tells the story of the struggle that Americas original settlers had to endure from the landing of Christopher Columbus in 1492 to the French and Indian War (AKA- Seven Years War 1754-1761), to the Trail of Tears in 1838 and all of the struggles in between which aided in the ultimate destruction of most of the Indian population.
Genocide is defined as an intent to destroy in whole or in part the existence of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and/or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The population of the Native Americans fits the above definition and in my mind was definitely a form of genocide. Just as I have German blood flowing through my veins I did not partake in the heinous crimes inflicted upon the Jewish population, my ancestors that farmed this American land had no hand in the killing of Indians, but the above crimes occurred and cannot be denied. What one person considers cruel another may find funny, what someone considers a crime another may consider survival, what I considers murder you may consider self defense, but no matter how you look at it someone gets hurt. Just as the Native Americans struggled to survive we struggle to understand, was it genocide? I think so!!!
References:
Lewy, Guenter. "Were American Indians the Victim of Genocide?." Commentary, 11/22/2004. Web. 10 Apr 2010. <http://hnn.us/articles/7302.html>.
"Genocide in history - Population history of American indigenous peoples." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. <http:://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history>.
Trabich, Leah. "Native American Genocide Still Haunts United States." 1997: 1-3. Web. 13 Apr 2010. <http://iearn.org/hgp/acti/aeti-1997/native-americans.html>.
"What is Genocide?." Holocaust Encyclopedia. 2010. Web. <http://ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?Moduleld=10007043>.
In the article Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide, written by Guenter Lewy , he quotes a Hawaiian historian as stating, “ by the end of the 19th century, native Americans had undergone the worst human holocaust the world has ever witnessed, roaring across two continents non-stop for four centuries and consuming the lives of countless tens of millions of people” (1). Also quoted in his article was the following statement by Lenore A. Stiffarm and Phil Lane, Jr., “there can be no more monumental example of sustained genocide-certainly none involving a ‘race’ of people as broad and complex as this-anywhere in the annals of human history” (Lewy 1).
In American history Christopher Columbus is marveled as the man who sailed the Ocean Blue and found America. In 1492 life as the Native Americans knew was forever changed as their native land was invaded. This date marked the beginning of the long road of persecution, slavery, and genocide for the indigenous people known as Native Americans. The 1999 Encyclopedia of Genocide states, “genocide is the only appropriate way to describe how white settlers treated the Indians” (Lewy 2). The fact that American Indians suffered horribly has never been disputed but the question of whether their suffering amounted to a holocaust or to genocide has been debated.
The debate stems from the fact that a large majority of the Native Americans died from epidemics commonly known by scholars as, “the virgin-soil epidemic” (Lewy 2). The highly contagious diseases, which the Native Americans had no immunity, were brought to America by the whites. These invisible killers which the white man brought in their blood and breath resulted in 75-90% of all Indian deaths (Lewy 3). Though the Indians were far from friendly and many were considered savages in their time, it was the white man that intentionally stole the Indians land sending them to missions or reservations and intentionally giving them government issued blankets exposed to influenza, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, typhus, bubonic plague, cholera, and scarlet fever in hopes to exterminate the Indian population. Lewy reports that Sir Jeffrey Amherst, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, wrote, “You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians with small pox by means of blankets, as well as to try every other method, that can serve to extirpate this execrable race” (4). Lewy reports, “on June 20, 1837 the U.S. Army began to dispense trade blankets and handkerchiefs inflicted with smallpox from one of the Forts quarantined hospitals to the Indians” (4). In this way the diseases were spread in hopes to have one desired effect, the intent to destroy the existence of the Native Americans in whole or part. This was practiced from California to the Mississippi. Though it was not the original intention of the white man to eradicate the Native American population when settling in America, it was also not the intent of the entire German population to kill all of the Jews but the holocaust still happened at the hands of the Nazi. This does not change the fact that there were areas and times in history that the population of the Native Americans was intentionally reduced and an attempt was made by some to destroy their existence. The Indians throughout history were robbed of their land, their women and children were raped and murdered, they were sent to reservations where severe hardship was inflicted upon them such as lack of food and water, no quarter, slavery, rape, and murder. History tells the story of the struggle that Americas original settlers had to endure from the landing of Christopher Columbus in 1492 to the French and Indian War (AKA- Seven Years War 1754-1761), to the Trail of Tears in 1838 and all of the struggles in between which aided in the ultimate destruction of most of the Indian population.
Genocide is defined as an intent to destroy in whole or in part the existence of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and/or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The population of the Native Americans fits the above definition and in my mind was definitely a form of genocide. Just as I have German blood flowing through my veins I did not partake in the heinous crimes inflicted upon the Jewish population, my ancestors that farmed this American land had no hand in the killing of Indians, but the above crimes occurred and cannot be denied. What one person considers cruel another may find funny, what someone considers a crime another may consider survival, what I considers murder you may consider self defense, but no matter how you look at it someone gets hurt. Just as the Native Americans struggled to survive we struggle to understand, was it genocide? I think so!!!
References:
Lewy, Guenter. "Were American Indians the Victim of Genocide?." Commentary, 11/22/2004. Web. 10 Apr 2010. <http://hnn.us/articles/7302.html>.
"Genocide in history - Population history of American indigenous peoples." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. <http:://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history>.
Trabich, Leah. "Native American Genocide Still Haunts United States." 1997: 1-3. Web. 13 Apr 2010. <http://iearn.org/hgp/acti/aeti-1997/native-americans.html>.
"What is Genocide?." Holocaust Encyclopedia. 2010. Web. <http://ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?Moduleld=10007043>.
