The Century of Genocide

Joshua Tamburro

Professor Trimble

Western Civ II

Exam III

Genocide

        Genocide...only one word, but it speaks volumes that not even the imagination of a legion of

authors could conjure up. It is a word that, unfortunately, our world has become quite accustomed to,

particularly during the twentieth century, hence Eric Weitz as well as other authors and historians,

labeling it as “The Century of Genocide”. There is an unspeakable infamy attached to the word itself,

how can anyone who was born of a mother's loving warmth commit such attrocities to other human

beings? It is a question I have wondered ever since I first learned of genocides, still do, and always

will. What could possibly have happened to the world's people that would bring them to achieve such

carnage? Well that is exactly what this paper is about and I hope to possibly give and receive insight as

this paper commences.

        In order to attempt to process exactly what has played a role to genocides in the past, let us have

a look at Ervin Staub, a professor of Psychology(Emeritus), who focuses on genocidal studies. He has a  

thesis that are known as “Common Casual Factors”: these include times of hardship and strife, social

dislocation and/or disorientation, concentration of political power, an authoritarian way of living, and

by way of scapegoats; stating a minority is not worthy of the majority. Now, although not all of these

apply to every genocide documented in history, there is at least one major thing out of this list that can

best describe the events leading up to these evildoings of man. Looking at the examples we have from

the last century, it is safe to say that there are multiple ways as to how a genocide can occur and is not

restrained to the limits of humanity...in fact, in many cases, genocides have proven how despicable

mankind can be when left to its own devices. Having said this, let us now apply this concept to

arguably the most infamous and notorious genocide of the twentieth century: The Holocaust.

        In order to try to gain an understanding of the events that occurred during the Holocaust, it is

crucial to look to the past to put some light on the subject, so let us do so using Staub's thesis. The first

one: was Germany going through times of hardship? Absolutely! Thanks to the implementations of the

Treaty of Versailles, Germany was hurting really bad! In fact, thanks to outside research, allow me to

put some things into perspective: In 1918(The year the war had just ended, in November), the cost for a

loaf of bread was exactly one mark...by November of 1923 the cost for a single loaf of bread

was...200,000,000,000 marks! This occurrence is known as hyperinflation and it was all too real in

Germany at the time. Now look at the second one: did Germany go throguh any periods of social

disorientation or dislocation? YES. Why, there were multiple ways to explain as to how Germany was

caught in a string of disillusion leading up to and, of course, during the Holocaust. A prime example in

what was soon to come is known as the “Beer Hall Putsch” in 1923, which was Hitler's first attempt to

seize control of Germany(as a result he was arrested, during his sentence he wrote Mein Kampf).  

Another portion of this could be the endless propaganda and deceit spread by the Nazis prior to and

during the war on certain groups and individuals, such as Jews, Gypsies and Communists.

        Thus far the ratio is two-for-two for Staub's thesis on genocide and the Holocaust, will this

streak of accuracy continue? Let us find out by moving onto the third of the five: Did Germany

experience a concentration in political political power? Indeed they did. Once the Nazis took charge in

1933, that was it, they did the best they could to have no political foes and no one in the way of their

agenda. Hitler surrounded himself with people whom shared his ideals, so it seemed inevitable that