The document summarizes the eight stages of genocide as outlined by Gregory Stanton: classification, symbolization, dehumanization, organization, polarization, preparation, extermination, and denial. It provides examples of each stage from the Rwandan genocide of 1994, in which over 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus were murdered in a government-led campaign of violence. Key events included the introduction of ethnic identity cards by Belgian colonizers, hate propaganda on Radio Mille Collines, and the training and arming of Hutu militias who carried out widespread killings and rapes over 100 days.

1. The Rwandan
Genocide
and the
Eight Stages
of Genocide

2. The Eight Stages of Genocide
• Gregory H. Stanton, policy wonk
• Professor in Genocide Studies and Prevention, George
Mason University
– 1981 - Cambodian Genocide Project, founder
– State Department, 1992–1999 - drafted the UN Security Council
resolutions to create International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
– 1999 -Genocide Watch and International Campaign to End
Genocide, founder
– 2007-2009 - President of the International Association of
Genocide Scholars

6. Pre-colonial Rwanda:
• Tutsis – cattle herders
• Hutus - farmers
• Twa – hunters
• Had common language and culture, same king
(traditionally Tutsi), intermarried and fought together to
stop Arab slavers

7. 1300s Tutsi arrival
1600s Tutsis conquer Hutus
1800s Tutsi king created unified state with centralized
military
1885 After Berlin Conference, Rwanda  German colony
1919 Rwanda  Belgium post-WWI

8. 1926 Belgians introduce IDs with ethnic label –
Tutsi (14%), Hutus (85%)
Belgians use Tutsi to rule; promote racism by
saying Tutsi are more similar to Europeans
1957 PAREMEHUTU (Party for the Emancipation of the
Hutus) calls for Hutu independence from the
Belgians and Tutsis

9. Stage 1: Classification
• “Us versus them” – divides society and creates a
power struggle
• Distinguish by nationality, ethnicity, race, or religion.

10. Classification (Rwanda)
Belgian colonialists believed Tutsis were a naturally superior nobility, descended
from the Israelite tribe of Ham. The Rwandan royalty was Tutsi.
Belgians distinguished between Hutus and Tutsis by nose size, height & eye
type. Another indicator to distinguish Hutu farmers from Tutsi pastoralists was
the number of cattle owned.

11. Stage 2: Symbolization
• By names: “Jew”, “German”, “Hutu”, “Tutsi”
• Languages
• Uniforms/dress: Nazi Swastika armbands
• Symbols: yellow star for Jews , blue checked scarf
for Vietnamese in eastern Cambodia

12. Stage 2: Symbolization (Rwanda)
• “Ethnicity” was first noted on cards by Belgian Colonial Authorities in 1933.
• Tutsis were given access to limited education programs and Catholic
priesthood. Hutus were given less assistance by colonial authorities.
• At independence, these preferences were reversed. Hutus were favored.
• These ID cards were later used to distinguish Tutsis from Hutus in the 1994
massacres of Tutsis and moderate Hutus that resulted in 800,000+ deaths.

13. Symbolization (Nazi Germany)
Jewish Passport: “Reisepäss”
Required to be carried by all Jews by 1938. Preceded the yellow star.

14. Symbolization (Nazi Germany)
Nazis required the yellow Star of David emblem to be worn
by nearly all Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe by 1941.

15. Symbolization (Nazi Germany)
• Homosexuals = pink triangles
• Identified homosexuals to SS guards in the camps
• Caused discrimination by fellow inmates who shunned
homosexuals

16. Symbolization (Cambodia)
• People in the Eastern
Zone, near Vietnam,
were accused of having
“Khmer bodies, but
Vietnamese heads”
marked with a blue and
white checked scarf
(Kroma)

17. 1959 Tutsi king dies, Hutus rebel  20,000 Tutsi killed, 150,000 flee
to Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi
1961 PAREMEHUTU wins election  abolishes Tutsi monarchy 
republic under President Gregoire Kayibanda
1962 Belgium withdraws, Rwanda gains independence

18. 1962 Kayibanda nominates only
Hutus to government  Tutsis
suffer discrimination and more
escape
1967 100,000 Tutsis killed, bodies
dumped in rivers. 50% of Tutsi
in exile  Rwandan Patriotic
Front (RPF). More refugees
through 1970s-80s.
1990 RPF led by Paul Kagame invades
Rwanda from Uganda. The
international community
sympathizes with RPF.
1993 RPF signs peace with President
Habyarimana (Hutu)

19. December 1993:
United Nations Assistance
Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR):
2500 UN Peacekeepers to
monitor peace
Led by Canadian Lt. Gen Roméo
Dallaire

20. Jan-April 1994: Hutu radio
station Radio Télévision Libre
de Mille Collines broadcasts
anti-Tutsi hate propaganda
Kangura Newspaper, Rwanda:
“The Solution for Tutsi Cockroaches”

21. Stage 3: Dehumanization
• Denies the humanity of another
group and makes victim group
seem subhuman
• Desensitizes human revulsion
against murder
.

22. Dehumanization
Caption: Does the same soul dwell in these bodies?
From a Nazi SS Propaganda Pamphlet:

23. Dehumanization
• Victim group described as animals, vermin, and diseases.
– Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines: “Kill the
cockroaches”, “If this disease is not treated immediately, it
will destroy all the Hutu.”
• Murder = “ethnic cleansing” or “purification”

24. Jan-April 1994: Hutu radio station Radio Télévision Libre de Mille
Collines broadcasts anti-Tutsi hate propaganda
Hutu government trains and arms Interahamwe (Hutu youth) militia

25. Stage 4: Organization
• State organizes, arms and finances groups that conduct the
genocidal massacres
• Plans made by elites for a “final solution”

26. Organization (Rwanda)
• “Hutu Power” elites armed
Interahamwe with 500,000
machetes and trained them
to “protect their villages” by
exterminating every Tutsi.

27. Stage 5: Polarization
• Hate groups broadcast and print polarizing propaganda.
• Laws forbid intermarriage or social interaction.
• Political moderates are silenced, threatened and intimidated, and killed.

28. Stage 5: Polarization
• Attacks are staged
and blamed on
targeted groups.
• Cultural centers of
victim groups are
attacked.

29. January 1994:
Dallaire warns UN of Hutu weapon stockpiles and death lists of Tutsi
and moderate Hutu targets
UN denies request to seize weapons; told as peacekeeper he cannot
take military action

30. Stage 6: Preparation
• Victim groups forced to
wear identifying
symbols.
• Death lists made.
• Victims separated
into ghettos or
concentration camps
• Deportation to
famine stricken
regions

31. Stage 6: Preparation
• Weapons stock-piled.
• Extermination
camps built.

32. April 6, 1994:
Habyarimana’s plane shot down over Rwandan capital, most likely by
Hutu extremists who fear losing power.
April 7, 1994:
Genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus begins

33. Stage 7: Extermination (Genocide)
• Extermination
begins and legally
becomes
"genocide.”
Einsatzgrupen: Nazi Killing Squads

34. Extermination (Genocide)
Government organized extermination
of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994

35. Extermination (Genocide)
• Although most
genocide is
sponsored and
financed by the
state, the armed
forces often work
with local militias.
Rwandan militia killing squads
Nazi killing squad working with
local militia

47. The Rwandan Genocide, 1994:
• 100 days
• 1,000,000 people slaughtered
• 6 murder victims every 60 seconds of every hour of every day for
more than 3 months.
• 535,000 women raped by HIV+ men
• 4 women were violently sexually assaulted every minute of every
hour of every day for 100 days
The Aftermath, 2011:
• 67% of rape victims in 1994 are dying of AIDS in 2011
• 60,000 widows caring for more than 200,000 orphans
• 18: median age of Rwanda today

48. Stage 8: Denial
Denial extends the crime of genocide to future
generations of the victims. It is a continuation
of the intent to destroy the group.
• Deny killings took place.
• Question and minimize statistics.
• Block access to archives and witnesses.
• Intimidate or kill eye-witnesses.
• Destroy evidence.

49. Denial: Blame the Victims.
• Claim victims were disloyal insurgents
• Claim killings were in self-defense.

50. Denial: Deny for current interests.
• Avoid upsetting “the peace process.” “Look
to the future, not to the past.”

51. Memorial to 800,000 Rwandans murdered,
April – July, 1994