Dehumanization and Extermination
Two of the most well-known genocides the world has witnessed are the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. Due to their popularity and extremities, many books and movies have been written and made, for the purpose to never forget them. Two examples of these are the book Night, a personal portrayal of the Holocaust by survivor, Elie Wiesel, and the movie Hotel Rwanda, a story of the Rwandan genocide through the eyes of a hotel manager. While one took place primarily in Europe and the other in Africa, they both displayed the same hatred and evil of dehumanization and extermination.
In Night the Germans treat the Jews like dogs. Somehow the Germans are brain washed into thinking that the Jewish people are a subhuman who can only destroy civilizations and therefore must be wiped out. The same applies to Hotel Rwanda. What started with the desire for power, soon led to a dark hatred from the Hutus towards the Tutsis. Neither genocide really has a strong foundation on explaining wiping out the categorized people. They are truly convinced that the Jews or Tutsis are evil and for the sake of the world must be gone. The extermination was horrific.
Both Night and Hotel Rwanda are hard to read and watch. The ways in which the Germans and Hutus freely killed people with the same bodily structure as themselves is incomprehensible. Elie Wiesel describes how the Jews are beaten to death, starved, burned, hung, gassed, and just about everything else one can allow their mind to imagine. In Hotel Rwanda, there wasn’t quite as many killing tactics, for the Hutus didn’t have the money and power the Germans did. Therefor because of the financial benefit and convenience, their common weapon/tool of execution was a machete. Either way, both of these actions were inhumane and for a clear minded human, will always be impossible to comprehend.
In Night the Germans treat the Jews like dogs. Somehow the Germans are brain washed into thinking that the Jewish people are a subhuman who can only destroy civilizations and therefore must be wiped out. The same applies to Hotel Rwanda. What started with the desire for power, soon led to a dark hatred from the Hutus towards the Tutsis. Neither genocide really has a strong foundation on explaining wiping out the categorized people. They are truly convinced that the Jews or Tutsis are evil and for the sake of the world must be gone. The extermination was horrific.
Both Night and Hotel Rwanda are hard to read and watch. The ways in which the Germans and Hutus freely killed people with the same bodily structure as themselves is incomprehensible. Elie Wiesel describes how the Jews are beaten to death, starved, burned, hung, gassed, and just about everything else one can allow their mind to imagine. In Hotel Rwanda, there wasn’t quite as many killing tactics, for the Hutus didn’t have the money and power the Germans did. Therefor because of the financial benefit and convenience, their common weapon/tool of execution was a machete. Either way, both of these actions were inhumane and for a clear minded human, will always be impossible to comprehend.
Compare and Contrast
The Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and the Bosnians genocide, are three of many genocides that the world has witnessed. Although they occurred in different countries and for different primary reasons, they all really represent the same thing. One group has strong hatred toward another group and plans to destroy that group. In the Holocaust it is the Germans who want to end the Jews. In the Rwandan genocide it is the Hutus who plan to kill off all of the Tutsis. And in the Bosnian genocide, it is the Serbians who primarily want to wipe out the Muslims. Of the three, the Bosnian genocide was the least destructive. While it was still catastrophic and enormous amounts of people were killed in unethical ways, many of the women and children’s lives were, however, spared by being deported. Although there have been many genocides following the Holocaust, none have come close to its deaths. About six million Jews died in the Holocaust, (Holocaust Encyclopedia). By the conclusion of the Rwandan genocide at least 500,000 Ethnic Tutsis were murdered, (Bosnian Genocide). The Bosnian genocide resulted in some 100,000 deaths (80 percent Bosniak/Muslims), (History).