Compare And Contrast Sierra Leone And The Holocaust

When someone hears the word genocide, they usually think of the holocaust, where millions of Jews were tortured, experimented on, and executed simply because of their religious beliefs. However, there is more than one example of that word, eight genocides have occurred alone in the 20th century. (An estimated 170 million men, women and children have lost their lives to mass killings) Among those killed, Sierra Leone contributed over 50,000 of them. The terror, pain, and displacement caused by Sierra Leone and the Holocaust are unforgivable and unforgettable. Although Sierra Leone and the Holocaust are both genocides, the targets, goals, and leaders were polar opposites.

The first contention is the victims targeted. As many people know, the

Holocaust mainly targeted a specific religious group, Jews. There were many others targeted, the disabled and homosexual included, but Jews counted for more than half of the casualties. The Holocaust was a very organized genocide, specific camps and prison designed and built for killing. As well as their organization, Nazis were very efficient. Special gas chambers were set up that could kill many at a time for little cost. “Introduction to the Holocaust”, an article published by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, explains, “Between 1941 and 1944, Nazi German authorities deported millions of Jews from Germany, from occupied territories, and from the countries of many of its Axis allies to ghettos and to killing centers, often called extermination camps, where there they were murdered in specially developed gassing facilities” (n.pag.).

Most Jews were killed with gassing chambers, the others died by starvation, dehydration, hypothermia, disease, cruelty of officers, etc. Although mainly Jews were killed, there was also many others that were deemed unworthy to have a place in the new Reich. The deportation of the Jews and other “unworthy” subjects was by train, often 100 or more were jam packed into one car. Unlike the Holocaust, the Sierra Leone genocide targeted the civilians. The civilians of Sierra Leone were subject to terrible acts of mutilation, some having limbs cut off, others raped, and they were even used as human shields. Entire families were gunned down in the street, children and adults had their limbs hacked off with machetes, and young ladies were taken into rebel bases and sexually abused. “Sierra Leone”, an article by Encyclopedia Britannica explains, “There were

disturbing reports of atrocities committed against the civilian population not only by rebel forces but also by some government troops” (n.pg.). It is difficult to know for sure what level of the Revolutionary United Front(RUF) command ordered these inhuman acts of terrorism, but reports describe that many of the attacks seemed to be well organized, and some were clearly planned. Victims and witnesses describe widespread participation in the abuses, with very few accounts of individual combatants or commanders trying to halt them. As the rebels withdrew, they set neighborhoods on fire, leaving up to eighty percent of some areas in ashes and an estimated 51,000 civilians homeless. The two genocides had different targets, but both were innocent men, women, and children.
The second contention is the goal of the genocide.

First, the main goal of the Holocaust was to rid the world of all the “inferior” races, and make it more productive with the superior races. He did specifically target the Jews, but that is because Hitler blamed them for the loss of WWI and some personal grudges he held against them. As mentioned in the paragraph above, they were very efficient in killing mass groups of people, and the Nazis killed without mercy. The Nazi extermination camps were dotted all throughout Germany and Poland. “The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking”, published by The New York Times, reports “You literally could not go anywhere in Germany without running into forced labor camps, P.O.W camps, or concentration camps. They were everywhere.” (n.pg.). Researchers cataloged around 42,500 ghettos and camps throughout Europe, spanning from France to Russia between 1933 and 1945. In contrast, the main goal of the Sierra Leone genocide was to force the government into submission. The entire start of the genocide was from the civil war, after an initial attempt to overthrow the Sierra Leone government. The first year of the civil war, the RUF took over vast amounts of land, including the Sierra Leone diamond mines, which they used to fund the organization. In 1996 the rebels were pushed back to the Liberian border, but they did not give up. It was around this time that the genocide began, the rebels attacked the city of Freetown, maliciously killing

civilians. “The Causes of the Sierra Leone Civil War” an article published by E-International Relations Students, states, “The atrocities committed during the war were also portrayed as evidence of a mysterious and mindless rebel movement without legitimate political grievances. These one-sided or abstract approaches provide a limited picture of what really happened.” (n.pg.). Sierra Leone was in a state of chaos for the next few years, as rebels continuously amputated limbs and raped innocent women and children. The RUF managed to severely weaken the government, but it hung on, and is still currently recovering. Although the goals of both genocides quite different, the end result was very similar.
The third and final contention is the leaders of the two genocides. As it is well known, the leader behind the Holocaust was Adolf Hitler, the commander of the Nazis. He was ruthless, heartless, and killed without considerable reason. He accused the Jews for losing WWI, and killed them with no mercy. Hitler was born with close to nothing, and had to claw and connive his way to power. Once chancellor, he used propaganda to encourage the general population of Germany to join his side. Most major powers dismissed the propaganda as a different way at governing. “The End of the Holocaust”, published by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, states, “For evil to flourish, it requires only good men to do nothing.” (n.pg.).The ironic thing about Hitler’s hatred for Jews is that his great grandmother was a Jewish maid. However, the Sierra Leone genocide was led by Foday Sankoh, the founder of the RUF. He was a greedy man, promising to share the vast wealth of Sierra Leone’s diamonds, but never committing to it .He was as cruel and heartless as he was greedy. Foday was responsible for thousands of murders and molestations throughout the civil war. “Ending Ethnic Conflict and Creating Positive Peace in Rwanda and Sierra Leone”, an article written by Katherine J. Wolfenden, states, “Aggression among animals is often cited to show that war is “natural”, but human beings have a unique capacity for rational and intelligent thought as well as the ability to suppress and overcome our primitive instincts” (n.pg.). For most people, there is a voice in your head that tells you when something you are doing is wrong. Foday did not have this voice, and it led to the death of so many innocent people. He did not care if people suffered, if anything, he relished the thought. In both genocides the leaders were corrupt, evil human beings that wanted nothing more than to watch the world burn.
Although Sierra Leone and the Holocaust are both genocides, the targets, goals, and leaders were polar opposites. The Holocaust targeted Jews, tried to end the “inferior” races, and was led by Adolf Hitler. The Sierra Leone genocide targeted civilians, attempted to overthrow the government, and was led by Foday Sankoh. Everyone can agree that genocide is a terrible thing, and that is why students learn about it every year in school. To stop and think of the helplessness and suffrage the victims of these genocides endured, tears may come to the eye. Human nature is so cruel and sickening, just the thought of someone having the capability of doing something so inhumane could make anyone’s face turn a sickly shad of white. These two genocides may be completely different, but they will always have one thing in common, the most important thing, the fact that they caused the death of mass amounts of people. Students learn about genocides so the future generations will prevent it from happening again.