Genocides of the 20th Century

Congo Genocide

May 20, 1880

King Leopold II of Belgium established a colony in the Congo region of Africa. King Leopold had interests in their ivory and later rubber. Congolese were victims of rape, mutilation, slave labour and torture. Lasted till about 1910.

Armenian Genocide

Apr 24, 1915

One of the first modern genocides, it was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population under sultan Abdul Hamid II. The Ottoman military uprooted Armenians from their homes, they were marched to death, starved, murdered, gassed, raped which resulted in approximatley 1.5 million Armenian lives. The genocide has continued to be denied by the Turks.

Ukranian Famine (Holodomor)

Oct 21, 1932

Stalin was determined to crush Ukrainian nationalism, and as a 'solution' increased grain production quotas to a unrealistic numbers which caused between 2.5-10 million Ukrainian lives. There was mass malnutrition and millions of deaths from starvation. Stalin made sure food was not given to civilians unless quotas were met, which were basically impossible.

Rape of Nanking

Dec 13, 1937

After the Japanese capture of the city Nanking, a six week period of mass massacres and war rape occured. The Imperial Japanese Army slaughtered and raped the Chinese population, there were between 200-300 000 casualties. A third of the city was torched, women of all ages were raped and mutilated, there were decapitations, pregnant women being stabbed by bayonetes as well as their fetus'. Japanese soldiers had absolutley no mercy.

Holocaust

Apr 30, 1938

Led by Adolf Hitler, the Holocaust was the systematic state-sponsored persecution of 6 million Jews. Homosexuals, handicapped people, and polotical/religious oppnents and other minorities were also slaughtered adding about 5 million more deaths. Jews were segregated, isolated and deported to concentration camps. They were shot, executed, marched to death, burned, gassed, slaved and starved. Hitler believed the Germans were superior because of their Aryan race, a case of ethnic cleansing.

Genocide term Coined

Nov 15, 1943

Raphael Lemkin, a polish Lawyer of Jewish descent coined the word "Genocide" in 1943 from the root words GENOS (Greek for race, family or tribe) and -CIDE (Latin for killing).

Cambodian Genocide

Dec 25, 1975

The Khmer Rouge, a communist party led by Pol Pot, murdererd approximately 1.7 million innocent Cambodians. Their goal was to ethnically cleanse Cambodia and to relocate people to communal farms so that everyone was a farmer or peasant. Vietnamese, Chinese nationals, Muslims and Buddhist Monks were targeted and tiehr starved or executed.

Iraq Genocide (Operation Anfal)

Jun 14, 1987

Operation Anfal or the an-Anfal Campaign was a campaign against the Kurdish people in Iraqi Kurdistan led by the regime of Saddam Hussein. They were targeted because of their support for Iran in the Iran-Iraq war and because of their want for independence. The campaign (led by Saddams cousin) included the use of ground offensives, deportations, chemical warfare and aerial bombing of villages; which led to about 50-100 000 Kurdish deaths.

Bosnian Genocide

Oct 16, 1992

After Bosnian Muslims declared independence, the Srebrenican government attacked them and began an ethnic cleanising campaign. It was led by Momicilo Krajisnik, which left 200 000 Bosnian Muslims dead and about 2 million either displaced or fleeing. Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica systematically persecuted and eliminated Bosnian Muslims until NATO forces tried to suppress the genocide.

Rwandan Genocide

Apr 6, 1994

After just a mere 100 days, the mass murder of 800 000 people occured in Rwanda after the assassination of former Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana in April. Hutus conducted mass killings of neighbouring Tutsis and pro-peace Hutus. Hutu extremists walked through the streets, into houses and stores mercilessly slaughtering Tutsis with machetes.

Genocide in Sudan/Darfur

Feb 9, 2003

The Janjaweed, a government-supported militia composed of Arab tribesman have attacked villages, raped, starved, displaced and murdered thousands of innocent Black Sudanese civilians. 400 000 have been killed and almost 2.9 million have been displaced and are in refugee camps along the border in Chad. So far the UN has had no resolution to help save the lives of thousands of innocent Sudanese people.