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Eric Tolman

Professor Clint Johnson

English 1010

July 31 2017

Nazis: The Evil of Mankind?

During World War Two horrible crimes were committed by the Nazi regime. Throughout

the war the Nazis acted upon an idea to cleanse the world of Judaism. The Holocaust accounted

for the death of more than 6 million Jews, all within the span of 4 years. The Nazis herded the

Jewish people that lived in Europe into concentration camps, or as some people refer to them,

death camps. After shipping the Jewish people to the camps most of the people were killed in gas

chambers, this included women, children, and the elderly. The rest were made to starve, or work

to their deaths with the Nazis having no intention of letting any of them survive.

These crimes are what humanity will question. People feel as if violating human rights is

a serious crime, and for people to actively do such a thing they can be seen as evil. The term

genocide came to be from the event of the Holocaust, even though things similar to it have

happened before. It is a social norm that the Nazis and their Holocaust is the most extreme

example of war crimes. Although from it there can be a question. Are there extremist groups that

could be considered more evil than the Nazis?

The Armenian Genocide: The Nazis Justification

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It could be seen that during the First World War that the Armenian Genocide is what

influenced the Nazis. If it were not for the crimes committed by the Ottomans perhaps the evils

committed by the Nazis would have never come to be.

During World War One, the Ottomans had a genocide of their own. They targeted the

Armenian population, and planned the extermination of these people. The Ottomans massacred

Armenian men, and sent the rest of the survivors on death marches through the desert. Any

survivors were sent to concentration camps, similar to the Nazis and their Holocaust, simply to

die. Although the death count is less than that of the Holocaust, the number of 1.5 million still

holds its own value. It is unsure whether or not that count is even correct.

Less is known about the Armenian Genocide when compared to the Holocaust because

the Ottomans did all that they could to hide its existence. Many of the Ottomans deny that it

happened, and those that dont deny it believe that there was no wrong done. The act still,

remains shrouded in mystery - not least because modern-day Turkey refuses to acknowledge the

existence of its killing fields. (The Forgotten Holocaust) In 1920 the Ottoman ministers stated,

"These things were done to secure the future of our homeland, which we know is greater and

holier than even our own lives" they themselves praised and supported those who committed

these crimes. (The Forgotten Holocaust)

Although the overall death count is less than what happened during the Holocaust, with

the information known, the crimes were still just as violent, where some could believe that Hitler

got his ideas from the genocide. Hitler stated in 1939, Who, after all, speaks today of the

annihilation of the Armenians? as if he were justifying the actions of his genocide by pointing

out that people didnt seem to care about the episode of the Armenian Genocide (The Forgotten

Holocaust). It can be comparable to the Holocaust just in the incidents of the trains used to
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transport victims where The Turks crowded 90 starving and terrified Armenians into each

wagon, this was, the same number the Nazis averaged in their transports to the death camps of

Eastern Europe during the Jewish Holocaust. (The Forgotten Holocaust)

Instead of convincing their own people into committing these horrible crimes the

Ottomans released prisoners solely for killing Armenians. These killing squads of murderers

and thieves were to perpetrate the greatest crimes in the genocide. (The Forgotten Holocaust) A

Commander in the Turkish army even called them the "butchers of the human species" (The

Forgotten Holocaust)

A Jewish Lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, who was also a Holocaust survivor had studied the

Armenian Genocide prior to his quest to create the term genocide. He had believed that the event

was terrible enough that the Ottomans should be punished for their crimes. He believes this even

as a survivor of the Holocaust. After the First World War, the British also attempted to charge

the Ottomans with war crimes. They pushed for those responsible for the killing to be punished,

and in 1919 a war crimes tribunal was set up. (The Forgotten Holocaust)

The War in Darfur: A Modern Genocide

Some people could see the Sudanese Government as being worse than the Nazis simply

because there is a genocide that is happening first hand, but people are refusing to acknowledge

its existence. Even with the severity of the Holocaust, the Genocide in Darfur is a modern issue

that people seem to ignore. This event and all its atrocities are happening in a current time, but

the Sudanese government is hiding the issue. This event has been happening since 2003, it is

longer than both the Holocaust, and the Armenian genocide combined. There have been far less

killed in the event, a number of around 300 thousand, but the real issue is the displacement of
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around 3 million refugees. These numbers are not supported by the Sudanese government, who

claims the numbers to be nearly 30 times less.

The Amnesty International report documented the use of chemical weapons against

civilians in Darfur's Jebel Marra region from January 2016 through August 2016. The report

contains photos of scarred children and accounts of people gasping for breath from "poisoned

air. (Gellar) The atrocities of the Sudanese government using chemical weapons on their own

people should concern people more than someone targeting another group. They are also not

using the weapons on regular people but innocent civilians. Even with the help of the UN

(United Nations) people are still being attacked, and the UN is unable to stop attacks on women

and other individuals venturing outside the camps in search of food, water and firewood.

(Gellar)

The issues in Darfur go deeper than just chemical warfare on civilians. The issue has

been going on since 2004. Though the Sudanese government is trying to silence, and like the

Ottomans, refuse to acknowledge that this is an issue. The government removed 13

international humanitarian and human rights NGOs and national human rights organizations.

(Gellar) They are trying to remove any form of control from human rights organizations to

conceal their crimes easier. In this case the argument is that the Sudanese government is

supporting these crimes, and if the world allows it to go on longer the problem will grow.

Isis: The Gloating Terrorists

The modern terrorist group Isis can be seen as a direct equivalent to the Nazis. Although

they dont have the governmental power or the genocidal focus on certain groups, the glory they

show in their crimes can scare people. These groups tend to attack people where they feel they
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are safe, which in most first world countries could be a serious issue. They have done things

from mass killings, to shootings in public places. They even have released videos of them

beheading people to bring terror into the public.

Father Desbois, who is a holocaust investigator, and he searches for the graves of the lost

victims of the Holocaust. Desbois compares Isis to the Nazis by stating, theres a direct line

between what the Nazis did more than 70 years ago and what ISIS is doing today. (Holocaust

investigator) he believes that the Isis fighters feel justified in their killings. He also feels that

society is just a witness, as if they were watching the Jewish people during the Holocaust being

rounded up to be sent to their deaths. Everyone is just watching the problem, and there is nothing

they can do about it.

The Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott believes that the terrorist group Isis is worse

than the Nazis. He believes that because they boast about their actions that they feel no

remorse, or truly believe what they are doing is right (Sandhu). It can be scary to think that

people will commit terrible crimes, and glorify those actions. Where people like the Nazis, the

Ottomans, and the Sudanese tried to hide their crimes. Abbot stated, The Nazis did terrible evil

but they had sufficient sense of shame to try and hide it. These people boast about their evil, this

is the extraordinary thing. (Sandhu) Even worse is that these people can infiltrate peoples home

countries without anyone knowing.

The Nazi Holocaust: The Frequently Seen Evil

It is commonly believed that the Nazis are the ultimate evil. Hitler and his regime

committed atrocious crimes that popularized the term genocide. The extremity of their crimes is

easily seen as the worst example in history.

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Robert Goot, the President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, argues against

Tony Abbott. He agrees that the crimes of Isis are indeed horrific, but cannot be compared to

the systematic round-up of millions of people and their dispatch to purpose-built death camps for

mass murder. (Sandhu) The Germans focus on genocide is what most people would use to

outweigh any other group.

Jay Winter, a history professor, believes Every man, woman, and child murdered or

abused by the Nazis had rights-indivisible rights-that defined their humanity. The leadership of

the Nazi state violated these rights, and no claim of obedience to order or to "sovereignty" could

be a legitimate defense. (Winter) He argues that everyone has rights, but the Nazis did not

believe that they deserved these rights. The Nazis had laid waste to the Jewish life and they

waged a cultural and biological war against a specific group. (Winter) It was very apparent that

the Nazis did not care about human rights.

The events of the Nazis led to Raphael Lemkin fighting to popularize genocide. After

surviving the Holocaust Lemkin spent his time to make extermination of an entire people

illegal (Winter). He wanted to make it such an extreme crime to keep it from happening again.

Even though people see these crimes as horrific and distasteful, they still struggle to enforce or

acknowledge these crimes. The Polish government is attempting to punish Michael Karkoc, who

was a commander in the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion (USDL). (Wood) The Polish

government have asked a local court to issue an arrest warrant for an American suspected of

ordering the 1944 killing of 44 Polish villagers. (Wood) Even many years after the incident,

Poland still believes there should be proper punishment.

The Influential Issue

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Pre-meditation leads to a large factor in what exactly is evil. The idea that those who

showed shame tried to hide their actions, but then there are people who hid their actions just to

evade consequences. The events of the Armenian genocide influenced those of the Nazis.

Without this event it could be seen that perhaps the Nazis would have never had the ideas to

commit the crimes they did. The idea that history repeats itself is shocking, because in this case it

seems to be true. If it werent for the Armenian genocide it is possible the Holocaust have been

avoided.

As if it were a serial killer being copied, you must decide who is worse. The copycat who

uses someone elses idea in their own way, or the person who invented the idea. I believe that

those who lead by example are teaching evil to the world. People claim that humans are evil in

nature, but for someone to be able to add fuel to that fire is extremely dangerous. Those who lead

by example give outrageous and gruesome ideas to those full of hate.

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Works Cited

Gellar, Sheldon. "Genocide in Darfur, then and Now." Jerusalem Post (International), 14 May,

2017, pp. 14, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

"Holocaust investigator on parallel between Nazis and ISIS." CBS News. CBS Interactive, 14

Aug. 2016. Web. 31 July 2017.

Sandhu, Serina. "Australian PM Tony Abbott criticised for saying Isis are 'worse than the

Nazis'." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 03 Sept. 2015. Web. 18

July 2017.

"The Forgotten Holocaust: The Armenian massacre that inspired Hitler." Daily Mail Online.

Associated Newspapers, 11 Oct. 2007. Web. 18 July 2017.

Winter, Jay. "The Genesis of 'Genocide'." MHQ, Mar, 2017, pp. 17, SIRS Issues Researcher,

https://sks.sirs.com.

Wood, Charlie. "Should a 98-Year-Old Minnesota Man be Extradited for Nazi War Crimes?"

Christian Science Monitor, 14 Mar, 2017, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.