Genocide Dbq Analysis

With the millions of murders that occurred during the time of the Holocaust, there would have to be a name for this heinous crime. The Nazis were always remembered for the killing of over six million European Jews, but at the time, there was no name for this wicked act. After the war, many of these Nazi war criminals were convicted of an act called genocide, a word that did not exist before 1944. Genocide is the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. Genocide occurs because of many factors that trigger this cruelty. Although there are many reasons that can be considered to result in genocide, the three main reasons that result to this mass slaughter, are caused by the authority that leads

them, the ethnic tension between groups, and the propaganda that is fed to them.
One of the main reasons that provoke genocide, root to the authority that encourages these acts.

After concluding that many World War II criminals blamed their actions on obedience, a scientist named Stanley Milgram performed an experiment. The experiment was to test a regular man’s willingness to follow orders, even if it meant to possibly kill someone. With a little encouragement from the authoritative position, “The study revealed that two-thirds of the time, the participant was willing to deliver potentially life-threatening shocks… simply because they were receiving orders from an authority figure” (Doc A). This shows how the majority of people will do anything, under two conditions, if they have an overlooking figure encouraging them what to do, and as long as they are not the ones taking the blame for their actions. It is quite interesting that a little persistent nudge can go a long way, especially if the subjects are not being held accounted for their actions. Additionally, Nazi soldiers were notorious for their cruelty, and their reasoning for that: they were just following orders. The Wehrmacht Oath of Loyalty forces soldiers to state that they, “shall render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler” and every soldier should, “give [their] life for this oath” (Doc D). The Nazi soldiers lived by this oath, and if anyone of them were to disobey Hitler or any order under authoritative command, they would be severely punished. Making this oath forces soldiers to

do whatever their superiors say, whether they liked it or not. Through this oath, Nazi soldiers wouldn’t dare to argue against Hitler’s plans, only to follow them.
Another main reason that genocide occurs is because of the ethnic tension that is already established between two different groups of people. Once General Omar Bashir took over Sudan in 1989, many resistances began to rise up against the government military. This drove, “The National Islamic Front government to inflame regional tensions… conflicts increased between African farmers and many nomadic Arab tribes” (Doc G). This shows the ethnic tensions involved because the government and the resistance were two different groups of people with different ideals. This can cause genocide because there was already a hateful passion established to each of them, and killing each other would be the best solution. Why should they risk their lives when they have the opportunity to end the lives of their threat? Furthermore, after Germany’s loss in World War I, Adolf Hitler was appointed the chancellor of Germany. He blamed all the world’s problems on the Jews and explained how they needed to be exterminated in his speech about International Jewry. During his speech, the crowd loved what he had to say, and they too believed that Jews were a menace to society. Hitler was able to persuade them that killing them would do the world a favor, which established an ethnic tension (Doc I). This shows how genocide is also a result of rivalries between different groups of people. With a heated passion, like most Germans and Nazis had, they would not think twice about exterminating the Jews, who were the root of all evil, according to them. This can cause genocide because, to them, they are exterminating the parasite of the Earth, which should be an action praised by all.
The amount of propaganda that is spread throughout different places and believed by many is also a factor in why genocide occurs.

When Hitler was in reign, he set up a “Hitler Youth” program. This taught the children of Germany to “become aggressive and merciless, and to not trust anyone but Hitler.” Also, “ it was drilled to them their whole life to obey Hitler, that Jews were horrible… and that it was their responsibility to become a Nazi” (Doc E). This is the greatest example of how propaganda manipulates people to think a certain way about someone or something. Hitler used his power to manipulate the youth to do his bidding and started with the youngest of the group, so they can grow up and do anything for him. This creates a mindset in their premature mind that Hitler is the boss and nobody will stand in his way. The Rwandan genocide also proved how propaganda can encourage people to do things that would seem evil in anyone else's eyes. When Rwanda was falling apart, “the government was propagandizing that the Tutsis were the root of all these problems… this created a ‘kill or be killed’ mentality in which… people were driven to killing… through extreme fear” (Doc B). This shows how propaganda inspires people to do hostile things. It was very easy for the government to influence the people through fear because of the country's collapse, so this inspired people to get rid of the threat. Once again, this shows how people would rather kill the enemy than risk their

people’s lives and their survival as a tribe.
Thus, genocide is caused by many different incidents that result in this mass killing of people. The main reasons to why this atrocity happens in our world are because of: authority figures that lead and encourage these killers, the ethnic tension between folk, and the propaganda that is fed to everyone to make them believe that slaughtering them is the right thing to do. The authority involved in these genocides inspire these events to occur by convincing the killers that they are not the ones taking fault for their actions. One way that the authority can manipulate these people are by taking advantage of the ethnic tension that is between the groups of people. That ethnic tension is usually the result of propaganda that is fed to at least one side, and with enough propaganda, it is very easy to cause a mass hysteria and make them believe a certain way. It is important for the reader to learn why this heinous act occurs, so they can spread their knowledge and be able to identify when and where a leader is trying to hypnotize the people into slaughtering thousands of people; they can then put an end to something before it ever takes place. People today, should learn the history of these events and make sure nothing like these many genocides, that happened, will never happen again in the future.