1. Genocide in the 20 th Century
Presentation by
Cynthia Capers, Associate
Director of Education
(713) 942-8000, ext. 105
ccapers@hmh.org

2. The Holocaust
 Translating the term
 1933 – 1939
 1939 – 1942
 1942 – 1945
 Post 1945

3. The importance of a word . . .
 Armenia (WWI)
 Raphael Lemkin
 ‘After all, who now speaks
of the Armenians?’
 “We are in the midst of a
crime without a name.”
 Geno + Cide

4. UN Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide
 In the present Convention, genocide means any of the
following acts committed with intent to destroy,
in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group as such:
a. Killing members of the group;
b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the
group;
c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole
or in part;
d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the
group;
e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

5. 8 Stages of Genocide
1. Classification 5. Polarization
a. Us vs. Them a. Take out the middle
2. Symbolization 6. Preparation
a. Make distinctive a. Lists, transports
3. Dehumanization 7. Extermination
a. “Justification” a. Murder of
4. Organization “nonhumans”
a. Collectivization 8. Denial
a. Numbers, reasons
(war)

6. “A Problem from Hell”
 Senator William
Proxmire – 3,211
floor speeches
 1988
 2004 – then
Secretary of State
Colin Powell

7. Sudan
 Civil War (N/S)
 Religion as an issue
 US: “across the aisle” work
 Comprehensive Peace
Agreement (2010 Elections)
 The Lost Boys
 Darfur (W)

8. Darfur, Sudan
 Farmers and nomadic
herders
 Ethnic identities that
could be exploited
 Religion is not an issue

9. Darfur, cont’d
 IDP camps versus refugee camps
 American and World response
 Permanent anti-genocide constituency?
 Films / photo essays / editorials
 The ICC
 US appoints a special envoy (Scott Gration,
2009)

10. UN Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide
 In the present Convention, genocide means any of the
following acts committed with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious
group as such:
a. Killing members of the group;
b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the
group;
c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole
or in part;
d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the
group;
e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another
group.

11. 8 Stages of Genocide
1. Classification 5. Polarization
a. Us vs. Them a. Take out the middle
2. Symbolization 6. Preparation
a. Make distinctive a. Lists, transports
3. Dehumanization 7. Extermination
a. “Justification” a. Murder of
4. Organization “nonhumans”
a. Collectivization 8. Denial
a. Numbers, reasons
(war)

12. What can you do?
 Write members of Congress and the
administration
 Blue Print from the Genocide Prevention Task
Force
 President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton,
Special Envoy Scott Gration, U.S. Senators
 2010 Elections
 Legislation about conflict minerals in Congo
 Keep the issues in the forefront – write
letters to newspapers, hold information
sessions

13. A note about resources
 HMH web site –
resources
 PDF one-pagers on
each genocide
 Guidelines for
teaching about
genocide
 HMH Genocide
Curriculum Trunk
 Class sets of books
 Videos
 How to order