Jump to content

Genocide justification: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Line 1: Line 1:
{{redirect|Justifying Genocide|the book| Justifying Genocide: Germany and the Armenians from Bismarck to Hitler}}
{{redirect|Justifying Genocide|the book| Justifying Genocide: Germany and the Armenians from Bismarck to Hitler}}
'''Genocide justification''', as opposed to [[genocide denial]], does not deny the events which constitute a genocide, but instead argues that the genocide was morally excusable or necessary. Several [[laws against genocide denial]] also forbid the justification of genocide.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Adam |title=Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-25981-6 |pages=28–30 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HXXJ4I4XuV8C&pg=PA28 |language=en|chapter=Is genocide ever justified?}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Elósegui |first1=María |title=Racial Justice, Policies and Courts' Legal Reasoning in Europe |date=2017 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-53580-7 |pages=49–90 |language=en |chapter=Denial or Justification of Genocide as a Criminal Offence in European Law}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bytwerk |first1=Randall L. |title=The Argument for Genocide in Nazi Propaganda |journal=Quarterly Journal of Speech |date=February 2005 |volume=91 |issue=1 |pages=37–62 |doi=10.1080/00335630500157516}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ihrig |first1=Stefan |title=Justifying Genocide: Germany and the Armenians from Bismark to Hitler |date=2016 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-91517-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=Bettina |editor1-last=Hinton |editor1-first=Alexander Laban |title=Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide |date=2002 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-23029-3 |language=en |chapter=Justifying Genocide: Archaeology and the Construction of Difference}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Weikart |first1=Richard |title=Hitler’s Ethic: The Nazi Pursuit of Evolutionary Progress |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |isbn=978-0-230-62398-9 |pages=179–195 |language=en |chapter=Justifying Murder and Genocide}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Krivushin |first1=Ivan |title=History as a Justification for Genocide: the Interpretation of Rwanda's Past by Théoneste Bagosora |journal=ISTORIYA |date=2018 |volume=9 |issue=5 |doi=10.18254/S0002306-5-1}}</ref> Justification and rationalization are common in deniers of the [[Armenian genocide]].<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Richard G. Hovannisian |last1=Hovannisian |first1=Richard G. |title=Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide |date=1998 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-2777-7 |page=211 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kiBHkRtRmIIC&dq=armenian+massacres+was+justified&q=justified#v=snippet&q=justified&f=false |language=en |chapter=Denial of the Armenian Genocide in Comparison with Holocaust Denial}}</ref>
'''Genocide justification''', as opposed to [[genocide denial]], does not deny the events which constitute a genocide, but instead argues that the genocide was morally excusable or necessary.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Adam |title=Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-25981-6 |pages=28–30 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HXXJ4I4XuV8C&pg=PA28 |language=en|chapter=Is genocide ever justified?}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ihrig |first1=Stefan |title=Justifying Genocide: Germany and the Armenians from Bismark to Hitler |date=2016 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-91517-6 |language=en}}</ref>

==Legality==
Several [[laws against genocide denial]] also forbid the justification of genocide.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Elósegui |first1=María |title=Racial Justice, Policies and Courts' Legal Reasoning in Europe |date=2017 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-53580-7 |pages=49–90 |language=en |chapter=Denial or Justification of Genocide as a Criminal Offence in European Law}}</ref>

Justification of genocide during ongoing killings may constitute [[incitement to genocide]], which is criminalized under [[international criminal law]].<ref name=Gordon>{{cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Gregory S. |title=Atrocity Speech Law: Foundation, Fragmentation, Fruition |date=2017 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-061270-2 |language=en|p=289}}</ref><ref name=Benesch>{{cite journal |last1=Benesch |first1=Susan|authorlink=Susan Benesch |title=Vile Crime or Inalienable Right: Defining Incitement to Genocide |journal=[[Virginia Journal of International Law]] |date=2008 |volume=48 |issue=3 |ssrn=1121926|language=en|p=506}}</ref>

==During genocide==
According to [[W. Michael Reisman]], "in many of the most hideous international crimes, many of the individuals who are directly responsible operate within a cultural universe that inverts our morality and elevates their actions to the highest form of group, tribe, or national defense".<ref name=Gordon/><ref name=Benesch/> [[Bettina Arnold]] observed, "It is one of the terrible ironies of the systematic extermination of one people by another that its justification is considered necessary."{{sfn|Arnold|2002|p=95}} [[Robert Zajonc]] wrote, "I was not able to find ''any'' accounts of massacres not viewed by their perpetrators as right and necessary."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zajonc |first1=R. B. |title=Understanding Genocide: The Social Psychology of the Holocaust |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-984795-2 |chapter=The Zoomorphism of Human Collective Violence||page=234 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxVnDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA234&dq=Th%C3%A9oneste+Bagosora+justification&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjwssjP4_bqAhV4IzQIHdV-BicQ6AEwAXoECAkQAg#v=onepage&q=Th%C3%A9oneste%20Bagosora%20justification&f=false}}</ref>

The Nazis preferred to justify the killing of Jews rather than deny it entirely.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bytwerk |first1=Randall L. |title=The Argument for Genocide in Nazi Propaganda |journal=Quarterly Journal of Speech |date=February 2005 |volume=91 |issue=1 |pages=37–62 |doi=10.1080/00335630500157516}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Weikart |first1=Richard |title=Hitler’s Ethic: The Nazi Pursuit of Evolutionary Progress |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |isbn=978-0-230-62398-9 |pages=179–195 |language=en |chapter=Justifying Murder and Genocide}}</ref> An example of Nazi justification is the 1943 [[Posen speeches]], in which SS chief [[Heinrich Himmler]] argued that the systematic mass murder of Jews was necessary and justified, although an unpleasant task for individual SS men.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cesarani |first1=David |last2=Kavanaugh |first2=Sarah |title=Holocaust: Hitler, Nazism and the "racial state" |date=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-27510-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Midlarsky |first1=Manus I. |title=The Killing Trap: Genocide in the Twentieth Century |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-81545-1 |page=170 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qi98Go30BSIC&pg=PA170&dq=Posen+speeches+justify&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfoqjV1fbqAhW3JzQIHcf2BUYQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=Posen%20speeches%20justify&f=false |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Totten |first1=Samuel |last2=Feinberg |first2=Stephen |title=Essentials of Holocaust Education: Fundamental Issues and Approaches |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-64808-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X6zDCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA120&dq=Posen+speeches+moral+murder&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj9icyV2vbqAhWTIDQIHTipCfUQ6AEwAHoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=Posen%20speeches%20moral%20murder&f=false |language=en|p=120}}</ref>
==After genocide==
Justification and rationalization are common in deniers of the [[Armenian genocide]].<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Richard G. Hovannisian |last1=Hovannisian |first1=Richard G. |title=Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide |date=1998 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-2777-7 |page=211 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kiBHkRtRmIIC&dq=armenian+massacres+was+justified&q=justified#v=snippet&q=justified&f=false |language=en |chapter=Denial of the Armenian Genocide in Comparison with Holocaust Denial}}</ref>

Since the end of World War II, cases of justifying the [[Holocaust]] have also been observed in Iran, the Arab world, and Eastern Europe, in which the alleged behavior of Jews is claimed to cause antisemitism and justify the killing of Jews.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gerstenfeld |first1=Manfred |title=Justifying the Holocaust and Promoting a Second One |journal=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs |date=September 22, 2009 |url=https://jcpa.org/article/justifying-the-holocaust-and-promoting-a-second-one/ |accessdate=31 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Litvak |first1=Meir |last2=Webman |first2=Esther |title=From Empathy to Denial: Arab Responses to the Holocaust |date=2011 |publisher=Hurst |isbn=978-1-84904-155-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lobont |first1=Florin |title=The Historiography of the Holocaust |date=2004 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-0-230-52450-7|url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-48866-0_9 |pages=440–468 |chapter=Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in Post-Communist Eastern Europe}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Litvak |first1=Meir |last2=Webman |first2=Esther |title=The Representation of the Holocaust in the Arab World |journal=Journal of Israeli History |date=January 2004 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=100–115 |doi=10.1080/1353104042000241947}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Litvak |first1=Meir |title=Antisemitism Before and Since the Holocaust: Altered Contexts and Recent Perspectives |date=2017 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-48866-0 |pages=205–229 |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-48866-0_9 |language=en |chapter=Iranian Antisemitism and the Holocaust}}</ref> Some Moldovan historians have claimed that [[the Holocaust in Romania]] was justified by the lack of loyalty shown by Jews to the interwar Romanian state.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tartakovsky |first1=Dmitry |title=Conflicting Holocaust narratives in Moldovan nationalist historical discourse |journal=East European Jewish Affairs |date=August 2008 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=211–229 |doi=10.1080/13501670802184090}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Solonari |first1=Vladimir |title=From Silence to Justification?: Moldovan Historians on the Holocaust of Bessarabian and Transnistrian Jews |journal=Nationalities Papers |date=20 November 2018 |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=435–457 |doi=10.1080/0090599022000011705}}</ref>

The [[Rwandan genocide]] was justified by its perpetrators as a legitimate response to the military campaign of the [[Rwandan Patriotic Front]]. During his criminal defense, convicted génocidaire [[Théoneste Bagosora]] attempted to <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Krivushin |first1=Ivan |title=History as a Justification for Genocide: the Interpretation of Rwanda's Past by Théoneste Bagosora |journal=ISTORIYA |date=2018 |volume=9 |issue=5 |doi=10.18254/S0002306-5-1}}</ref>

==Sources==
*{{cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=Bettina |editor1-last=Hinton |editor1-first=Alexander Laban |title=Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide |date=2002 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-23029-3 |language=en |chapter=Justifying Genocide: Archaeology and the Construction of Difference}}


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 06:03, 31 July 2020

"Justifying Genocide" redirects here. For the book, see Justifying Genocide: Germany and the Armenians from Bismarck to Hitler.

Genocide justification, as opposed to genocide denial, does not deny the events which constitute a genocide, but instead argues that the genocide was morally excusable or necessary.[1][2]

Legality

Several laws against genocide denial also forbid the justification of genocide.[3]

Justification of genocide during ongoing killings may constitute incitement to genocide, which is criminalized under international criminal law.[4][5]

During genocide

According to W. Michael Reisman, "in many of the most hideous international crimes, many of the individuals who are directly responsible operate within a cultural universe that inverts our morality and elevates their actions to the highest form of group, tribe, or national defense".[4][5] Bettina Arnold observed, "It is one of the terrible ironies of the systematic extermination of one people by another that its justification is considered necessary."[6] Robert Zajonc wrote, "I was not able to find any accounts of massacres not viewed by their perpetrators as right and necessary."[7]

The Nazis preferred to justify the killing of Jews rather than deny it entirely.[8][9] An example of Nazi justification is the 1943 Posen speeches, in which SS chief Heinrich Himmler argued that the systematic mass murder of Jews was necessary and justified, although an unpleasant task for individual SS men.[10][11][12]

After genocide

Justification and rationalization are common in deniers of the Armenian genocide.[13]

Since the end of World War II, cases of justifying the Holocaust have also been observed in Iran, the Arab world, and Eastern Europe, in which the alleged behavior of Jews is claimed to cause antisemitism and justify the killing of Jews.[14][15][16][17][18] Some Moldovan historians have claimed that the Holocaust in Romania was justified by the lack of loyalty shown by Jews to the interwar Romanian state.[19][20]

The Rwandan genocide was justified by its perpetrators as a legitimate response to the military campaign of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. During his criminal defense, convicted génocidaire Théoneste Bagosora attempted to [21]

Sources

  • Arnold, Bettina (2002). "Justifying Genocide: Archaeology and the Construction of Difference". In Hinton, Alexander Laban (ed.). Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23029-3.

References

  1. ^ Jones, Adam (2006). "Is genocide ever justified?". Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. Routledge. pp. 28–30. ISBN 978-1-134-25981-6.
  2. ^ Ihrig, Stefan (2016). Justifying Genocide: Germany and the Armenians from Bismark to Hitler. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-91517-6.
  3. ^ Elósegui, María (2017). "Denial or Justification of Genocide as a Criminal Offence in European Law". Racial Justice, Policies and Courts' Legal Reasoning in Europe. Springer International Publishing. pp. 49–90. ISBN 978-3-319-53580-7.
  4. ^ a b Gordon, Gregory S. (2017). Atrocity Speech Law: Foundation, Fragmentation, Fruition. Oxford University Press. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-19-061270-2.
  5. ^ a b Benesch, Susan (2008). "Vile Crime or Inalienable Right: Defining Incitement to Genocide". Virginia Journal of International Law. 48 (3): 506. SSRN 1121926.
  6. ^ Arnold 2002, p. 95.
  7. ^ Zajonc, R. B. "The Zoomorphism of Human Collective Violence". Understanding Genocide: The Social Psychology of the Holocaust. Oxford University Press. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-19-984795-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  8. ^ Bytwerk, Randall L. (February 2005). "The Argument for Genocide in Nazi Propaganda". Quarterly Journal of Speech. 91 (1): 37–62. doi:10.1080/00335630500157516.
  9. ^ Weikart, Richard (2009). "Justifying Murder and Genocide". Hitler’s Ethic: The Nazi Pursuit of Evolutionary Progress. Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 179–195. ISBN 978-0-230-62398-9.
  10. ^ Cesarani, David; Kavanaugh, Sarah (2004). Holocaust: Hitler, Nazism and the "racial state". Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-27510-1.
  11. ^ Midlarsky, Manus I. (2005). The Killing Trap: Genocide in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-521-81545-1.
  12. ^ Totten, Samuel; Feinberg, Stephen (2016). Essentials of Holocaust Education: Fundamental Issues and Approaches. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-317-64808-6.
  13. ^ Hovannisian, Richard G. (1998). "Denial of the Armenian Genocide in Comparison with Holocaust Denial". Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide. Wayne State University Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-8143-2777-7.
  14. ^ Gerstenfeld, Manfred (September 22, 2009). "Justifying the Holocaust and Promoting a Second One". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  15. ^ Litvak, Meir; Webman, Esther (2011). From Empathy to Denial: Arab Responses to the Holocaust. Hurst. ISBN 978-1-84904-155-3.
  16. ^ Lobont, Florin (2004). "Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in Post-Communist Eastern Europe". The Historiography of the Holocaust. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 440–468. ISBN 978-0-230-52450-7.
  17. ^ Litvak, Meir; Webman, Esther (January 2004). "The Representation of the Holocaust in the Arab World". Journal of Israeli History. 23 (1): 100–115. doi:10.1080/1353104042000241947.
  18. ^ Litvak, Meir (2017). "Iranian Antisemitism and the Holocaust". Antisemitism Before and Since the Holocaust: Altered Contexts and Recent Perspectives. Springer International Publishing. pp. 205–229. ISBN 978-3-319-48866-0.
  19. ^ Tartakovsky, Dmitry (August 2008). "Conflicting Holocaust narratives in Moldovan nationalist historical discourse". East European Jewish Affairs. 38 (2): 211–229. doi:10.1080/13501670802184090.
  20. ^ Solonari, Vladimir (20 November 2018). "From Silence to Justification?: Moldovan Historians on the Holocaust of Bessarabian and Transnistrian Jews". Nationalities Papers. 30 (3): 435–457. doi:10.1080/0090599022000011705.
  21. ^ Krivushin, Ivan (2018). "History as a Justification for Genocide: the Interpretation of Rwanda's Past by Théoneste Bagosora". ISTORIYA. 9 (5). doi:10.18254/S0002306-5-1.
Stub icon

This massacre-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Genocide_justification&oldid=970422006"