MASS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND GENOCIDES:

A list of atrocities from 1450 CE
until the end of World War II

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Overview:

The descriptions below, of mass crimes against humanity, are sorted by the starting date of the atrocity. 

The numbers of victims are not particularly accurate; often records are very incomplete.

For about 300 years, during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, the Roman Catholic and Protestant faith groups were directly or indirectly responsible for the arrest, torture and execution of persons believed to worship Satan or express heretical religious ideas. Most of the death sentences were passed by civil courts, not by the churches. However, the Christian churches were indirectly involved:

Belief in Witches gradually dissipated during the Age of Enlightenment, as people began to question the reality of many long-held religious beliefs. Estimates on the number of victims range from 3,000 (from a Roman Catholic source) to 9,000,000 (from various Neopagan sources). 

"For his second voyage to the Americas, Columbus took the title Admiral of the Ocean Sea and proceeded to unleash a reign of terror unlike anything seen before or since. When he was finished, eight million Arawaks -- virtually the entire native population of Hispaniola -- had been exterminated by torture, murder, forced labor, starvation, disease and despair." ₁ Later European Christian invaders systematically murdered additional tens of millions of Aboriginal people, from the Canadian Arctic to South America. The exact number is unknown. Natives were murdered by warfare, forced death marches, forced relocation to barren lands, intentional and accidental spread of disease, poisoning, the promotion of suicide through the destruction of their cultural and religious heritage, etc. Even today, Canadian Natives have the highest suicide of any population group in the world. 

The genocide against American Aboriginals is one of the most massive, and longest lasting genocidal program in human history. More details

The European invasion of Australia started in 1788. The population of Aboriginals in the country was approximately 750,000. By 1911, the number had been reduced to 31,000. Most were decimated by diseases introduced by the invaders, against which the Aboriginals had no defense. Some 20,000 were murdered. In those days, "The Sydney Herald claimed that blacks had 'bestowed no labour upon the land-their ownership, their right, was nothing more than that of the Emu or the Kangaroo.' Courts rejected Aboriginal evidence, because non-Christians could not swear oaths, and white killers used 'the defense that Aboriginal morality did not exist'. The extermination of Aboriginals in Tasmania was particularly brutal; many white settlers would shoot them on sight. In 1830, the remaining 300 Aboriginals were ethnically cleansed from Tasmania. They were captured and transferred to Flinders Island. They signed a treaty which guaranteed their later return. It was never honored. By 1843, only 50 remained alive.

The atrocities continued into the 20th century. Between 1910 and 1970, "between one in three and one in ten indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families." They were placed with white families in order to absorb "these people into the general population." Aboriginals were finally granted citizenship in 1967. They still await an apology from the Government of Australia.

The Congress of Berlin gave King Leopold II administrative powers over the Congo Free State. According to the Siracd.com web site:

Leopold was interested in the Congo's natural resources. He used the native population as forced labor to acquire those resources. The human toll under Leopold's administration was staggering. People who resisted were beaten, tortured, mutilated or killed. Writer Algis Valiunas described the situation as "wickedness triumphant." ₂₆

Author Conan Doyle was inspired to write The Crime of the Congo -- a book which he finished in eight days. It is "filled with graphic descriptions of violence and illustrated with photos of mutilated people, dealt with the atrocities committed in the Belgian Congo on behalf of King Leopold II." Doyle later campaigned for and end to the atrocities in the Congo. The situation gradually improved. ₂₆

More details about this genocide

Germany ruled Namibia from 1880 to 1915. In 1904, Herero warriors were angered at the German settlers who had enslaved their people, lynched their men, and stolen their land, cattle and women. On JAN-12, they massacred about 200 German civilians. Although the uprising ended on 1904-AUG-11, the German army continued to exterminate the Hereros until 1907, resulting in the deaths of perhaps 65,000 persons. As is usual in these mass slaughters, the number of victims is unknown. The Herero population alive at the time range from 50,000 to 120,000. About 15, 000 survived.

On 2004-JAN-12, the 100th anniversary of the Hereros uprising, Wolfgang Massing, Germany's ambassador to Namibia, expressed his regrets. He said that while history could not be undone, "we can give back to the victims and their descendants the dignity and honor of which they were robbed...I also wish to express how deeply we regret this unfortunate past."

Later in 2004, German Development Aid Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul finally gave the Hereros what they have been asking repeatedly: her country's apology. She said: ""We Germans accept our historical and moral responsibility and the guilt incurred by Germans at that time....The atrocities committed at that time would have been termed genocide." She promised continuing economic assistance, but ruled out financial compensation for the descendents of the victims.

Namibia-travel.net describes Herero present-day spirituality: "The ancestral cult still plays an important role in the lives of many Herero people. In the evenings, they often sit in front of the 'Okuruo'; the holy fire, which may never be allowed to burn out. The chief establishes contact with the ancestors and in a loud self-talk, asks for advice and help or confesses mistakes and sins."  _18,19,20

"The Armenian Genocide occurred in a systematic fashion, which proves that it was directed by the Turkish government." This was the Ittihat ve Terakki government –- also known as the Young Turks -- of the Ottoman Empire. "First the Armenians in the army were disarmed, placed into labor battalions, and then killed. Then the Armenian political and intellectual leaders were rounded up on [1915-]April 24 and killed. Finally, the remaining Armenians were rounded up, told they would be relocated, and then marched off to concentration camps in the desert between Jerablus and Deir ez-Zor where they would starve and thirst to death in the burning sun...The authorities in Trebizond, on the Black Sea coast, did vary this routine: they loaded Armenians on barges and sank them far out at sea." ₃ Mustafa Kemel, the founder of modern Turkey in 1923 , who later took the name of Atatürk, spoke openly about the genocide, calling it an "abomination of the past." However, the history books of current and past governments of Turkey have either denied that the genocide actually happened, or suggested that typhoid, the Russians and the Germans were responsible for massive loss of life. The use of the term "genocide" is  "categorically unacceptable," according to Yüksel Söylemez, the chairman of a group of former Turkish ambassadors. Turkish president Ahmet Necdet Sezer said the accusations of genocide are baseless and that they "upset and hurt the feelings of the Turkish nation."

On 2001-JAN-18, France passed a law branding as genocide the mass murder of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Another resolution will be voted upon in 2005-JUN in the German Bundestag.

The 90th anniversary of the genocide was observed on 2005-APR-24. All survivors of the genocide will probably have died by the time of the next decennial remembrance.

Some have suggested that Turkish government's unwillingness to admit to the past atrocity by its predecessor may threaten its prospects for its future membership in the European Union. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said: "I believe that when the time comes, Turkey should come to terms with its past, be reconciled with its own history and recognize this tragedy. This is an issue that we will raise during the negotiation process. We will have about 10 years to do so and the Turks will have about 10 years to ponder their answer." There appears to be some progress on the matter. In early 2005-MAR, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition leader Deniz Baykal agreed to address the past. The Prime Minister noted that the state archives in Ankara and Istanbul are open to everyone. He said that an independent entity -- like UNESCO -- might participate in an historical fact-finding mission.

Although the main victims of this genocide were Armenian Christians, the approximately five million Greek Christians living in Turkey at the start of World War I were also targeted for programs of deportation, forced marches leading to extermination, and ethnic cleansing. These victims have been almost entirely forgotten. They include Greek Orthodox victims living along the Anatolian coast in 1914, at Adrianople, Constatinople and Smyra during 1916, in Ordou in 1918, etc. By 1923, Greece had received about a million refugees - mostly elderly and children Christians. Able-bodied adults did not make it. _21,22,23,25

There was tremendous loss of life during the Communist era, 1917 to 1987. The death toll peaked during the Stalin era, 1928 to 1953, when the Communist government systematically exterminated millions of its citizens. A minority died from being worked to death in the camps of the gulag. The government  employed additional methods such as: terrorizing the public by random executions, purges, show trials, and artificially induced famines. An additional 21 million died during the civil war and during World War II. _4,24

This is a relatively little known massacre -- perhaps because memories of it were overlaid a few years later by stories of World War II atrocities. There were many incidents of mass crimes against humanity during the 1930's perpetrated by the Japanese army. Of these, perhaps the most serious was the "Nanking Massacre." On 1937-DEC-9, the Japanese invading army launched a massive attack on the city of Nanking -- then the capital of China. Three days later, the Chinese defense forces retreated across the Yangtze River. Then began "an orgy of looting and mass execution." 300,000 to 340,000 civilians died; 20,000 to 80,000 women were raped. "The war left a legacy of distrust, which even today, tarnishes relations between Japan and the other countries of East Asia." The Japanese government has maintained that the death toll is greatly exaggerated; some politicians have even claimed that it never happened. Fortunately, many army personnel took snapshots of their victims during the atrocity. _5,6

This has been called the Shoah in Hebrew, the Holocaust in English, and the Devouring among the Roma. Some 11 million people were first declared sub-human and then murdered. Some were killed when the towns and cities in which they lived were captured by German troops. Others were rounded up, and transported to extermination camps, mainly in Poland where the gas ovens waited.

Adding the loss of life due to World War II to the above deliberate, methodical exterminations gives a total death toll of about 34 million which can be attributed to Hitler.

These atrocities were perpetrated by the Ustaša regime, the Independent State of Croatia, which was established in power by the Nazi government of Germany during World War II.  They fiercely hated Serbs, Jews, Communists and all other non-Catholics. Their goals were to convert Croatia into a pure Croatian and Roman Catholic independent state. On 1941-JUL-22, Dr. Mile Budak, the Ustaša Minister of Education and Cults, said: "The movement of the Ustashi is based on religion. For minorities-Serbs, Jews and Gypsies, we have three million bullets. We shall kill one part of the Serbs. We shall transport another, and the rest of them will be forced to embrace the Roman Catholic religion. Thus, our new Croatia will get rid of all Serbs in our midst in order to become one hundred percent Catholic within ten years." ₁₃

During 1941 to 1943, the regime slaughtered at least 250,000 Serb residents of Croatia and Bosnia, and more than 20,000 Jews. Most were systematically exterminated at the Jasenovac concentration camp, and similar facilities. "Ustaša units, often encouraged by Catholic clergy, carried out a program of compulsory conversion of Orthodox Serbs to Catholicism; resistance often resulted in murder. Some Serbs, particularly members of the elite, were not even offered the option of conversion to avoid being killed." ₁₄ "Conditions in the Jasenovac camps were horrendous. Prisoners received minimal food. Shelter and sanitary facilities were totally inadequate. Worse still, the Ustasa guards cruelly tortured, terrorized, and murdered prisoners at will." ₁₅ After mid-1942, a further 7,000 Jews were dispatched to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland for slaughter. "The Ustasa government was dissolved in May 1945. After the war, most of the Ustasa leaders escaped to South America or Spain." ₁₆

"Since the end of World War II, political and ideological conflicts in the area have made the documentation and verification of victim statistics extremely difficult. To cover the trail of terror and murder, authorities of the Independent State of Croatia burned official records from the Jasenovac camps first in early 1943 and again upon evacuation in 1945." ₁₇

On 1945-MAY-12, 600 inmates attempted to break out of the camp; only 70 succeeded. Former inmates meet on the site of the concentration camp annually on the anniversary of the event. In 2003, for the first time, a Croatian head of state joined in the remembrance. President Stipe Mesic expressed his "deepest regret for the innocent victims of those who tarnished Croatia's name." ₁₇

Recent information:

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. "#671 - Columbus Day, 1999," at: http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/bulletin.cfm?Issue_ID=1591 
2. "Genocide history brief," at:  http://www.maxpages.com/genocide/Genocide_History 
3. "The Armenian Genocide," at: http://www.hr-action.org/armenia/
4. "20th Century Democide," at: http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/rummel/20th.htm 
5. "Nanking, 1937," at: http://www.princeton.edu/~nanking/html/main.html
6. "Nanjing Massacre: 300,000 Chinese people killed; 20,000 women raped," at: http://www.cnd.org/njmassacre/index.html Includes descriptions of biological warfare, treatment of POWs, and other atrocities.
7. Y.F. Edeiken, "Non-Jewish survivors and victims," The Holocaust History Project, at: http://www.holocaust-history.org/questions/ 
8. Richard C. Lucas, "Forgotten Holocaust: How could 5,000,000 be killed and forgotten?," at: http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/ 
9. "Excerpts from Vera Laska," at: http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/laska.html 
10. Eugen Kogon, "The Theory and Practice of Hell," Ferrar, Straus, New York, (1950), Page 38. 
11. Frank Rector, "The Nazi Extermination of Homosexuals," Stein and Day, New York, (1981), Page 116.
12. "Jehovah's Witnesses and Nazi Germany Index," at: http://jehovah.to/general/nazi/
13. "The embodied devils: Who was who in NDH?," Balkan Repository Project, at: http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/"
14. Jasenovac," Jewish Virtual Library, at: http://www.us-israel.org/
15. "Jasenovac," Holocaust Learning Center, at: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/
16. "Croatian President Mesic Apologizes for Croatian Crimes Against the Jews during the Holocaust," Yad Vashem, at: http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/about_yad/
17. Peter Popham, "Croatians gather to mourn victims of 1945 atrocities," Independent.co.uk, 2003-MAY-12, at: http://news.independent.co.uk/
18. "Regret for slaughter of Hereros," Daily Dispatch, 2004-JAN-12, at: http://www.dispatch.co.za/
19. "Namibia: Germany apologizes for colonial genocide," The Toronto Star, 2005-AUG-15, Page A8.
20. "Okakarara Namibia," Namibia-travel.net, at: http://www.namibia-travel.net/
21. Sofia Kontogeorge Kostos, "Before the Silence," at: http://www.umd.umich.edu/
22. "Memories from Smyrni - 1900 - 1922,"  at: http://smyrnialbum.s5.com/
23. Roberto Lopes, "The Hellenic Genocide," at: http://www.hellenicgenocide.org/
24. "Question: Who was the Bloodiest Tyrant of the 20th Century? Answer: We don't know," Twentieth Century Atlast, at: http://users.erols.com/
25. Bernhard Zand, "Armenian Genocide Plagues Ankara 90 Years On," Der Spiegel, 2005-APR-25. at: http://service.spiegel.de/
26. "Conan Doyle and the Belgian Congo," at: http://www.siracd.com/
27. "King Léopold II of Belgium," MoreOrLess, at: http://www.moreorless.au.com/

Copyright © 2001 to 2006 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-JAN-1
Latest update: 2006-FEB-26
Author: B.A. Robinson