Unit 7: Genocide

Learning Questions:  

What is genocide? the murder of a whole group of people, especially a whole nation, race, or religious group（尤指對整個民族、種族或宗教團體的）大屠殺，種族滅絶

victims of genocide 種族大屠殺的受害者

Why should we study genocide? Who was responsible? Are you responsible if you do not try to stop things like this? Why do people treat other human beings in ways like these?" Why after the Holocaust “never again” have genocides continued to happen?

There are seven readings some of which are divided by English proficiency. I tried to go in chronological order. (ppt, handouts)

 (Quiz 1) Introduction and Armenia Vocabulary

Reading (A): Turkey upset by US ‘genocide’ vote

Introduction to The Jewish Holocuast

Vocabulary

A. The Political Spectrum and Fascist ideology法西斯主義

1. Nazism納粹主義 and the 3rd Reich
2. Biological Racism: The Aryan雅利安人種 Superiority and the "unwanted"
3. Jewish Ghettos聚集區
4. Concentration and Extermination Camps滅絕營
5. Human Experimentation 納粹人體實驗

Reading 2: Auschwitz (A class/ B Class)

Reading 3: Remembrance Day

January 27 is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is the day on which the world remembers one of the greatest tragedies in human history, the Nazi Holocaust in Germany during World War II. The United Nations created this day in a special Resolution in 2005. Members of the UN General Assembly wanted a day in memory of the 6 million European Jews who perished in the Nazi concentration camps. The day is also to make future generations aware of the horrors of what happened in the camps in the hope that this will prevent future acts of genocide. January 27 is the date in 1945 when the Russian Army liberated the largest such camp, Auschwitz.

The United Nations holds a week of events that ends on January 27. These include exhibitions on the Holocaust in its New York headquarters, the launch of special websites, concerts and videoed messages from world leaders and Holocaust survivors. In 2008, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon gave the following speech: “We must go beyond remembrance, and make sure that new generations know this history. We must apply the lessons of the Holocaust to today’s world. And we must do our utmost so that all peoples must enjoy the protections and rights for which the United Nations stands.” Special events also take place at Holocaust museums in the USA and Israel.

Reading 4: Cambodia Killing Fields (A Class/ B Class)

Reading 5: Balkan Wars: Radovan Karadzic captured in Serbia

Serbian security forces have captured Radovan Karadzic, the international fugitive who had been on the run for almost 13 years. Karadzic was on Interpol’s most wanted list for masterminding ethnic cleansing during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. He is accused of organizing the genocide in the town of Srebrenica when 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were massacred by Serbian troops. A representative from Serbian President Boris Tadic said: "Karadzic was brought to the investigative judge of the War Crimes Court in Belgrade, in accordance with the law on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia." Thousands of Bosnian Muslims celebrated in the streets on Monday night at the news of Karadzic’s arrest.

The United States and the European Union congratulated Serbia’s government on the capture of Karadzic. The association representing the mothers of those killed in Srebrenica also added their praise and thanks. One mother said: "I hope that people who had to keep quiet because of Karadzic will start revealing the locations of mass graves and let us find the truth about our loved ones". UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also welcomed the news, saying it was "a historic moment for the victims" of the atrocities. He said justice would not be fully done until Karadzic’s sidekick Ratko Mladic had also been caught. "While this is an important milestone, the work of the International Tribunal will not be complete until all fugitives have been arrested and tried," he said.

Reading 6: Rwanda

Students from the Lorene Rogers Middle School have been campaigning on Twitter since April 6th for people to remember the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Their “teensMAD4Rwanda” project aimed to generate a million Twitter messages (tweets) in 100 days - ‘MAD’ means ‘making a difference’. They won advertising space in the 'USA Today' newspaper for their efforts. Teacher Tara Gipson said their hope was “to stop the violence from occurring again through understanding and education”

The class had dinner with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and met many survivors of the Rwandan genocide. Up to a million people lost their lives in the horror. This was about 20 per cent of the population. The killing happened because of tensions between two ethnic groups in Rwanda – the Hutus and Tutsis. The Hutus believed the Tutsis wanted to enslave them so they called for the killing of all Tutsis. The world looked on at the bloodbath for three months and did nothing. The Texas students’ million tweets represent the million deaths.

Reading 7: The Exodus of the Rohingya 羅興亞人的流亡