Introduction
Throughout the whole history of the world, there have been countless wars, military conflicts, and revolutions resulting in millions of deaths. Nevertheless, there is one particular type of slaughter that cannot be justified in terms of ethics and morality – genocide. This term generally refers to the mass murder of a group of people that are united by a certain set of characteristics. The unique traits might concern religion, race, ethnicity, or national identity.
In general, the primary objective of genocide is to annihilate the named groups of individuals completely or partly. The current paper aims to compare some of the most notable genocides in history, the Holocaust, and the Bosnian mass murder in terms of their aims, death tolls, tactics, and methods.
Background of the Bosnian Genocide
Before comparing the two genocides, it is essential to provide background information on each of them to establish the foundation for discussion. In general, the Bosnian genocide refers to military conflicts that happened in the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995. Nevertheless, according to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), only the Srebrenica massacre is considered to be an act of genocide (Hoare, 2021).
Therefore, the notion of genocide in the Bosnian War remains somewhat controversial, and the opinions of experts differ vastly (Hoare, 2021). There might be several reasons for that, including the desire to avoid responsibility for the countless killings in the war; nevertheless, it is an objective reality that the Srebrenica massacre overshadows the rest of the crimes.
The Srebrenica massacre refers to a genocide of Bosnian Muslim adult men and adolescents that took place in Srebrenica in 1995. Initially, the conflict could have emerged due to the hatred between the Bosnian Orthodox Serbs and Bosnian Muslims in the Srebrenica region (Hoare, 2021). Nevertheless, similar massacres happened during the Bosnian War indicating the focused intention of ethnic cleansing with no possible justification (Hoare, 2021).
The responsible party for the mass murder is the Army of Republica Srpska (VRS), and it was discharged in 2006 with the official recognition of the Bosnian genocide (Hoare, 2021). As a result, more than 100 000 people were murdered during the Bosnian War, and approximately 8000 Bosnian Muslims were annihilated during the Srebrenica killings (ICTY, n.d.). Overall, the Bosnian killings, including the Srebrenica massacre, are terrible crimes against humanity that have had long-term consequences on the development of Bosnia, Serbia, and the surrounding countries.
Background of the Holocaust
The second point of discussion in this paper is the Holocaust, the most notable and notorious genocide in human history. In contemporary education, students from various parts of the world study the chronicle of the Second World War and particularly the Holocaust to commemorate the victims and avoid similar situations in the future. The Holocaust is a systematic mass murder of the European Jews that occurred during World War II and resulted in the death of approximately 6 000 000 people (Brooks, 2019).
The massacre was ideologically motivated and directed at a particular ethnic group turning the killings into genocide. Even before the Second World War, Germany has initiated anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic laws that denied them the right of having citizenship or have particular occupations (Brooks, 2019).
In the period from 1935 to 1938, additional legislative regulations were admitted to further depreciate the freedom of the Jews (Brooks, 2019). Therefore, the German government has attempted to strip human rights away from the Jewish population and deteriorate their image before the actual occurrence of the Holocaust.
With the commencement of the Second World War, the living conditions of the Jewish population have correspondingly worsened. For instance, Polish Jews were humiliated and frequently murdered even without a dedicated campaign with the purpose of annihilation (Brooks, 2019). In general, it implies that ethnic prejudice was highly prevailing during that period. The Holocaust commenced in 1941 when the German government deployed several specialized units for the ethnic cleansing that aimed to destroy “Jews, Gypsies, and the disabled” (Brooks, 2019).
Nevertheless, the leaders of the Nazi regime were not satisfied with the process and demanded a more effective method of killing which resulted in a number of human experiments (Brooks, 2019). Shortly after, the German government introduced extermination camps with gas vans and chambers that were specifically designed for mass murder (Brooks, 2019). The implementation of such methods allowed the Nazis to murder more than 3 000 000 innocent Jews in one year (Brooks, 2019). Overall, the Holocaust was one of the most terrific war crimes in whole human history.
Comparison Between the Genocides
After confirming the background information of the two aforementioned genocides, it is possible to compare them in terms of objectives and methodology.
Despite both war crimes being generally considered genocides since they are directed at particular ethnic or national groups, there is a number of differences between them. Therefore, it is essential to compare the Holocaust and the Bosnian genocide to provide additional insights on the subject.
Similarities
The first similarity between the war crimes lies within the definition of ‘genocide’ and concerns the target group of the annihilation. While the intended groups are different, both genocides were operated under the agenda of ethnic cleansing, the presumption that one ethnicity is better than others. Although, this aspect frequently aligns with the definition of ‘genocide’, it is not a necessary constituent since genocides might also be executed due to national and racial prejudices.
The conflicts are also comparable since the ruling government intentionally molded the hatred towards the ethnic group. Concerning the Holocaust, the German government deliberately proposed various laws restricting the rights of the Jews and utilized the means of propaganda to gain support from the citizens.
Regarding the Bosnian genocide, the tension between the Serbs and the Bosniaks existed for some time before the conflict; nevertheless, the government made no attempts to relieve the dispute (Hoare, 2021). Therefore, the ruling parties intentionally utilized the propaganda means to develop hatred toward certain ethnic groups resulting in genocides.
The Holocaust and the Bosnian genocide are also relatable in the matter of war tactics and the particular cruelty of the execution. During both genocides, innocent people were tortured, stripped of human rights, and put into slavery. The German troops used to make the Jews dig their own graves and killed the members of the family one by one making mothers watch their own children getting tortured (Brooks, 2019). The situation in Srebrenica was similar and countless innocent people were tortured and humiliated.
Furthermore, both genocides are relatable in terms of sexual abuse. The Holocaust is frequently characterized by the abundance of homosexual rape to assert the submissive and the slavery role onto the victims (Glowacka, 2020). At the same time, the Bosnian genocide is notorious for the immense amount of mass rapes and sexual assaults on Bosnian women (Brashear, 2018). Overall, the Holocaust and the Bosnian massacre are relatable in terms of unnecessary cruelty toward the targeted ethnic group.
Differences
The first primary difference between the genocides is the scale of killings. As mentioned before, the total death toll for the Holocaust is equivalent to approximately 6 000 000 victims, while the Srebrenica massacre resulted in around 8000 deaths. It implies that, despite similar purposes and cruelty of the action, the eventual outcomes are on different levels.
Naturally, such contrast is due to the initial objectives of the genocides; the Holocaust was meant to eradicate all the Jews from Europe which comprised approximately 10 000 000 people (Brooks, 2019). On the other hand, the ethnic groups in Bosnia constitute only a sparse part of the whole population. Ultimately, the scale of killings during the Holocaust vastly exceeds the number of murders in Bosnia due to the aforementioned reasons.
Another notable difference concerns the systematic nature of the genocide. During the Srebrenica genocide, the Serbian army executed the Bosnian groups in the course of several weeks in a disorganized manner (Hoare, 2021). On the other hand, the Holocaust is notorious for its systematic and structured nature of mass killings. The Nazis implemented concentration and extermination camps with specific schedules concerning the execution time (Brooks, 2019).
Furthermore, they developed unique methods of annihilation, such as gas vans and chambers, and practiced human experiments (Brooks, 2019). The systematic approach to genocide allowed the Nazi administration to reach unheard levels of brutality, while some of the extermination camps had killed around 800 000 people (Brooks, 2019). Therefore, unlike the Bosnian massacres, the Holocaust killings were systematic, supported by the government, and deliberately planned.
It is also essential to notice that while the primary objective of the Holocaust was to eradicate the Jews from Europe, the Nazi administration did not stop at one ethnic group. Additionally, throughout the period 1935-to 1945, the Nazi regime has killed more than 250 000 Romani and 6000 homosexuals (Brooks, 2019). Furthermore, according to the Nazi doctrine, Slavic people were also considered ‘racial inferiors’ resulting in immense casualties of Russian and Polish people (Brooks, 2019).
It represents how Germany has substituted a number of terminologies to further develop hatred toward certain ethnic groups among its citizens. Lastly, the Nazi administration initiated the hunt for various ideological enemies that included religious and political activists fighting against the authoritative regime (Brooks, 2019). Overall, while the German government commenced the genocide on the principle of ethnicity, countless people were also murdered on the basis of racial and religious identity, and sexual orientation.
Conclusion
Summing up, the current paper has provided the background information on the Holocaust and the Srebrenica massacre and compared the two genocides in terms of their objectives and methods. The two war crimes are quite relatable in their purposes and the unnecessary brutality of the process; nevertheless, there are some notable differences as well. The primary contrast is the scale of the genocide with the Holocaust reaching more than 6 000 000 deaths of the Jewish population.
At the same time, the Srebrenica conflict is localized and took away the lives of approximately 8000 people. The genocides also differ in terms of the nature of killings; the Holocaust is a highly systematic operation supported by the government, while the Bosnian conflicts are dispersed. Nevertheless, both genocides have left an indelible scar in world history and shaped the image of the respective countries for an extended period of time.
References
Brashear, M. (2018). “Don’t worry. These girls have been raped once.” Analyzing sexual violence in the Bosnian genocide and the response of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Voces Novae, 9(5), 1-69.
Brooks, C. (2019). Western civilization: A concise history (vol. 3). Web.
Glowacka, D. (2020). Sexual violence against men and boys during the holocaust: A genealogy of (not-so-silent) silence. German History. Web.
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. (n.d.). The Conflicts. Web.
Hoare, M. A. (2021). The Bosnian genocide and the Srebrenica massacre. Bosnia in Studies: Sarajevo, 5(1), 38-50, Web.