Davide Rodogno
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151335
- eISBN:
- 9781400840014
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151335.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This book looks at the rise of humanitarian intervention in the nineteenth century, from the fall of Napoleon to World War I. Examining the concept from a historical perspective, the book explores ...
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This book looks at the rise of humanitarian intervention in the nineteenth century, from the fall of Napoleon to World War I. Examining the concept from a historical perspective, the book explores the understudied cases of European interventions and noninterventions in the Ottoman Empire and brings a new view to this international practice for the contemporary era. While it is commonly believed that humanitarian interventions are a fairly recent development, the book demonstrates that almost two centuries ago an international community, under the aegis of certain European powers, claimed a moral and political right to intervene in other states' affairs to save strangers from massacre, atrocity, or extermination. On some occasions, these powers acted to protect fellow Christians when allegedly “uncivilized” states, like the Ottoman Empire, violated a “right to life.” Exploring the political, legal, and moral status, as well as European perceptions, of the Ottoman Empire, the book investigates the reasons that were put forward to exclude the Ottomans from the so-called Family of Nations. It considers the claims and mixed motives of intervening states for aiding humanity, the relationship between public outcry and state action or inaction, and the bias and selectiveness of governments and campaigners. An original account of humanitarian interventions some two centuries ago, the book investigates the varied consequences of European involvement in the Ottoman Empire and the lessons that can be learned for similar actions today.Less
This book looks at the rise of humanitarian intervention in the nineteenth century, from the fall of Napoleon to World War I. Examining the concept from a historical perspective, the book explores the understudied cases of European interventions and noninterventions in the Ottoman Empire and brings a new view to this international practice for the contemporary era. While it is commonly believed that humanitarian interventions are a fairly recent development, the book demonstrates that almost two centuries ago an international community, under the aegis of certain European powers, claimed a moral and political right to intervene in other states' affairs to save strangers from massacre, atrocity, or extermination. On some occasions, these powers acted to protect fellow Christians when allegedly “uncivilized” states, like the Ottoman Empire, violated a “right to life.” Exploring the political, legal, and moral status, as well as European perceptions, of the Ottoman Empire, the book investigates the reasons that were put forward to exclude the Ottomans from the so-called Family of Nations. It considers the claims and mixed motives of intervening states for aiding humanity, the relationship between public outcry and state action or inaction, and the bias and selectiveness of governments and campaigners. An original account of humanitarian interventions some two centuries ago, the book investigates the varied consequences of European involvement in the Ottoman Empire and the lessons that can be learned for similar actions today.
Michael K. Phillips, Edward E. Bangs, L. David Mech, Brian T. Kelly, and Buddy B. Fazio
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198515562
- eISBN:
- 9780191705632
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198515562.003.0019
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
About 150 years ago, the grey wolf (Canis lupus) was distributed throughout the contiguous United States, except for in southeastern US from central Texas to the Atlantic coast, where the red wolf ...
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About 150 years ago, the grey wolf (Canis lupus) was distributed throughout the contiguous United States, except for in southeastern US from central Texas to the Atlantic coast, where the red wolf (Canis rufus) occurred. Conflict with agricultural interests resulted in government-supported eradication campaigns beginning in colonial Massachusetts in 1630. Over the next 300 years, the campaigns were extended throughout the US resulting in the near extermination of both species. In recent decades, efforts to recover the red and grey wolf were carried out. This chapter summarizes extermination and recovery efforts for both species in the contiguous US.Less
About 150 years ago, the grey wolf (Canis lupus) was distributed throughout the contiguous United States, except for in southeastern US from central Texas to the Atlantic coast, where the red wolf (Canis rufus) occurred. Conflict with agricultural interests resulted in government-supported eradication campaigns beginning in colonial Massachusetts in 1630. Over the next 300 years, the campaigns were extended throughout the US resulting in the near extermination of both species. In recent decades, efforts to recover the red and grey wolf were carried out. This chapter summarizes extermination and recovery efforts for both species in the contiguous US.
Karel C. Berkhoff
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719097560
- eISBN:
- 9781526104441
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097560.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
The chapter will show how both the Soviet authorities and the leaders of independent Ukraine attempted to block real investigation and commemoration at the hamlet of Bykivnia, where the NKVD buried ...
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The chapter will show how both the Soviet authorities and the leaders of independent Ukraine attempted to block real investigation and commemoration at the hamlet of Bykivnia, where the NKVD buried murdered bodies from 1939-1941. The chapter will look into how their attempts failed due to pressure from within—grave robbers and activists—and, especially, without—Germany and Poland. Following this account, details about the little-known Nazi and Soviet exhumations at the site will be examined.Less
The chapter will show how both the Soviet authorities and the leaders of independent Ukraine attempted to block real investigation and commemoration at the hamlet of Bykivnia, where the NKVD buried murdered bodies from 1939-1941. The chapter will look into how their attempts failed due to pressure from within—grave robbers and activists—and, especially, without—Germany and Poland. Following this account, details about the little-known Nazi and Soviet exhumations at the site will be examined.
Paul Friedland
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199592692
- eISBN:
- 9780191741852
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592692.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, European Early Modern History
By the Revolution, public opinion universally accepted the idea that the death penalty should be used rarely, that it should involve as little pain as possible, and that the bulk of crimes should be ...
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By the Revolution, public opinion universally accepted the idea that the death penalty should be used rarely, that it should involve as little pain as possible, and that the bulk of crimes should be punished by incarceration or forced labor. There remained some disagreement, however, as to whether the death penalty should be applied for all egregious crimes, or whether it should be used only as a last resort, when the state itself was in danger. Abandoning the old regime's spectacle of pain, representatives of the National Assembly like Guillotin insisted on humane and painless punishments. The legislative reforms which they enacted would put in place a new kind of death penalty, one which, although it was meant to be vaguely deterrent and therefore necessarily public, was first and foremost predicated on the extermination, or excision, of offending individuals from the social body, as discretely and unspectacularly as possible.Less
By the Revolution, public opinion universally accepted the idea that the death penalty should be used rarely, that it should involve as little pain as possible, and that the bulk of crimes should be punished by incarceration or forced labor. There remained some disagreement, however, as to whether the death penalty should be applied for all egregious crimes, or whether it should be used only as a last resort, when the state itself was in danger. Abandoning the old regime's spectacle of pain, representatives of the National Assembly like Guillotin insisted on humane and painless punishments. The legislative reforms which they enacted would put in place a new kind of death penalty, one which, although it was meant to be vaguely deterrent and therefore necessarily public, was first and foremost predicated on the extermination, or excision, of offending individuals from the social body, as discretely and unspectacularly as possible.
Gideon Greif
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300106510
- eISBN:
- 9780300131987
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300106510.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The Sonderkommando of Auschwitz-Birkenau consisted primarily of Jewish prisoners forced by the Germans to facilitate the mass extermination. Though never involved in the killing itself, they were ...
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The Sonderkommando of Auschwitz-Birkenau consisted primarily of Jewish prisoners forced by the Germans to facilitate the mass extermination. Though never involved in the killing itself, they were compelled to be “members of staff” of the Nazi death-factory. This book, translated into English from its original Hebrew, consists of interviews with the very few surviving men who witnessed at first hand the unparalleled horror of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Some of these men had never spoken of their experiences before. Over a period of years, the author interviewed intensively all Sonderkommando survivors living in Israel. They describe not only the details of the German-Nazi killing program but also the moral and human challenges they faced. The book provides direct testimony about the “Final Solution of the Jewish Problem,” but it is also a unique document on the boundless cruelty and deceit practiced by the Germans. It documents the helplessness and powerlessness of the 1.5 million people, 90 percent of them Jews, who were brutally murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.Less
The Sonderkommando of Auschwitz-Birkenau consisted primarily of Jewish prisoners forced by the Germans to facilitate the mass extermination. Though never involved in the killing itself, they were compelled to be “members of staff” of the Nazi death-factory. This book, translated into English from its original Hebrew, consists of interviews with the very few surviving men who witnessed at first hand the unparalleled horror of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Some of these men had never spoken of their experiences before. Over a period of years, the author interviewed intensively all Sonderkommando survivors living in Israel. They describe not only the details of the German-Nazi killing program but also the moral and human challenges they faced. The book provides direct testimony about the “Final Solution of the Jewish Problem,” but it is also a unique document on the boundless cruelty and deceit practiced by the Germans. It documents the helplessness and powerlessness of the 1.5 million people, 90 percent of them Jews, who were brutally murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Geoffrey Campbell Cocks
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199695676
- eISBN:
- 9780191738616
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695676.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Nazi war was a means to Nazi racial extermination. Most Germans were indifferent or hostile to Jews due to traditional attitudes reinforced by Nazi propaganda. Germans also had modern concerns about ...
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Nazi war was a means to Nazi racial extermination. Most Germans were indifferent or hostile to Jews due to traditional attitudes reinforced by Nazi propaganda. Germans also had modern concerns about their own health and illness that were now aggravated by the demands and dangers of a nation at war. This preoccupation with the self and its body was also intensified by the monolithic Nazi fantasy of ‘the Jew’ as an internal morbid enemy of the people's ‘body’ rather than just an external mortal one. Nazi ‘euthanasia’ of mental patients was undertaken under the cover of war, but the German public was well aware of it. This too further reminded the populace of escalating wartime threats to individual well-being and thus pre-empted active concern for the fate of those officially designated as ‘others’. Jews in the ghettos and camps suffered catastrophic incidence of sickness in advance of extermination. Even some Nazi murderers experienced physical and mental stress and breakdown from their ‘work’. And German fear of disease—especially typhus—was occasionally exploited by Europeans, even Jews, subject to Nazi persecution.Less
Nazi war was a means to Nazi racial extermination. Most Germans were indifferent or hostile to Jews due to traditional attitudes reinforced by Nazi propaganda. Germans also had modern concerns about their own health and illness that were now aggravated by the demands and dangers of a nation at war. This preoccupation with the self and its body was also intensified by the monolithic Nazi fantasy of ‘the Jew’ as an internal morbid enemy of the people's ‘body’ rather than just an external mortal one. Nazi ‘euthanasia’ of mental patients was undertaken under the cover of war, but the German public was well aware of it. This too further reminded the populace of escalating wartime threats to individual well-being and thus pre-empted active concern for the fate of those officially designated as ‘others’. Jews in the ghettos and camps suffered catastrophic incidence of sickness in advance of extermination. Even some Nazi murderers experienced physical and mental stress and breakdown from their ‘work’. And German fear of disease—especially typhus—was occasionally exploited by Europeans, even Jews, subject to Nazi persecution.
Davide Rodogno
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151335
- eISBN:
- 9781400840014
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151335.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This book examines the European roots of humanitarian intervention as a concept and international practice during the nineteenth century, with particular emphasis on the politics and policies of ...
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This book examines the European roots of humanitarian intervention as a concept and international practice during the nineteenth century, with particular emphasis on the politics and policies of Great Britain and France. It challenges two assumptions: first, that humanitarian intervention is a phenomenon of international relations that appeared after the end of the Cold War and second, that it emerged abruptly during the nineteenth century. Focusing on the Ottoman Empire, the book investigates when, where, who, how, and for what reasons a humanitarian intervention was undertaken from 1815 to 1914. It argues that the primary motivation of humanitarian intervention is to end massacre, atrocity, and extermination or to prevent the repetition of such events, to protect civilian populations mistreated and unprotected by the target-state government, agents, or authorities. This introduction discusses the concept of rights, including natural rights, before the nineteenth century and provides an overview of the questions, assumptions, and issues raised in the book.Less
This book examines the European roots of humanitarian intervention as a concept and international practice during the nineteenth century, with particular emphasis on the politics and policies of Great Britain and France. It challenges two assumptions: first, that humanitarian intervention is a phenomenon of international relations that appeared after the end of the Cold War and second, that it emerged abruptly during the nineteenth century. Focusing on the Ottoman Empire, the book investigates when, where, who, how, and for what reasons a humanitarian intervention was undertaken from 1815 to 1914. It argues that the primary motivation of humanitarian intervention is to end massacre, atrocity, and extermination or to prevent the repetition of such events, to protect civilian populations mistreated and unprotected by the target-state government, agents, or authorities. This introduction discusses the concept of rights, including natural rights, before the nineteenth century and provides an overview of the questions, assumptions, and issues raised in the book.
Davide Rodogno
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151335
- eISBN:
- 9781400840014
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151335.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter examines the international context of humanitarian interventions during the nineteenth century in order to understand why humanitarian intervention emerged as an international practice ...
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This chapter examines the international context of humanitarian interventions during the nineteenth century in order to understand why humanitarian intervention emerged as an international practice in the Ottoman Empire. It also sets the geopolitical context of humanitarian intervention, when Ottoman Christians were victims of massacre, atrocities, and extermination. The chapter begins with a discussion of the concept and practice of intervention in nineteenth-century international relations, explaining the term “intervention.” It then provides a brief overview of the history of the Eastern Question—the question of the survival or the death of the “sick Man of Europe”—before contextualizing the meaning of “massacre,” “atrocity,” and “extermination.” It also distinguishes between the Capitulations and intervention and concludes with an analysis of the extent to which military interventions against massacre built on the Capitulations.Less
This chapter examines the international context of humanitarian interventions during the nineteenth century in order to understand why humanitarian intervention emerged as an international practice in the Ottoman Empire. It also sets the geopolitical context of humanitarian intervention, when Ottoman Christians were victims of massacre, atrocities, and extermination. The chapter begins with a discussion of the concept and practice of intervention in nineteenth-century international relations, explaining the term “intervention.” It then provides a brief overview of the history of the Eastern Question—the question of the survival or the death of the “sick Man of Europe”—before contextualizing the meaning of “massacre,” “atrocity,” and “extermination.” It also distinguishes between the Capitulations and intervention and concludes with an analysis of the extent to which military interventions against massacre built on the Capitulations.
Élisabeth Anstett and Jean-Marc Dreyfus (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781526107381
- eISBN:
- 9781526120694
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526107381.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This book addresses the practices, treatment and commemoration of victims’ remains in post-genocide and mass violence contexts. Whether reburied, concealed, stored, abandoned or publically displayed, ...
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This book addresses the practices, treatment and commemoration of victims’ remains in post-genocide and mass violence contexts. Whether reburied, concealed, stored, abandoned or publically displayed, human remains raise a vast number of questions regarding their legal, ethical and social uses.
Human Remains in Society will raise these issues by examining when, how and why bodies are hidden or exhibited. Using case studies from multiple continents, each chapter will interrogate their effect on human remains, either desired or unintended, on various political, cultural or religious practices. How, for instance, do issues of confiscation, concealment or the destruction of bodies and body parts in mass crime impact on transitional processes, commemoration or judicial procedures?Less
This book addresses the practices, treatment and commemoration of victims’ remains in post-genocide and mass violence contexts. Whether reburied, concealed, stored, abandoned or publically displayed, human remains raise a vast number of questions regarding their legal, ethical and social uses.
Human Remains in Society will raise these issues by examining when, how and why bodies are hidden or exhibited. Using case studies from multiple continents, each chapter will interrogate their effect on human remains, either desired or unintended, on various political, cultural or religious practices. How, for instance, do issues of confiscation, concealment or the destruction of bodies and body parts in mass crime impact on transitional processes, commemoration or judicial procedures?
Leora Auslander and Tara Zahra (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781501720079
- eISBN:
- 9781501720086
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501720079.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History
Historians have become increasingly interested in material culture as both a category of analysis and as a teaching tool. What new insights can historians gain about the past by thinking about ...
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Historians have become increasingly interested in material culture as both a category of analysis and as a teaching tool. What new insights can historians gain about the past by thinking about things? A central object (and consequence) of modern warfare is the radical destruction and transformation of the material world. And yet we know little about the role of material culture in the history of war and forced displacement: objects carried in flight; objects stolen on battlefields; objects expropriated, reappropriated, and remembered. This book illuminates the ways in which people have used things to grapple with the social, cultural, and psychological upheavals wrought by war and forced displacement. Chapters consider theft and pillaging as strategies of conquest; soldiers' relationships with their weapons; and the use of clothing and domestic goods by prisoners of war, extermination camp inmates, freed people, and refugees to make claims and to create a kind of normalcy. While studies of migration and material culture have proliferated in recent years, as have histories of the Napoleonic, colonial, World Wars, and postcolonial wars, few have focused on the movement of people and things in times of war across two centuries. This focus, in combination with a broad temporal canvas, serves historians and others well as they seek to push beyond the written word.Less
Historians have become increasingly interested in material culture as both a category of analysis and as a teaching tool. What new insights can historians gain about the past by thinking about things? A central object (and consequence) of modern warfare is the radical destruction and transformation of the material world. And yet we know little about the role of material culture in the history of war and forced displacement: objects carried in flight; objects stolen on battlefields; objects expropriated, reappropriated, and remembered. This book illuminates the ways in which people have used things to grapple with the social, cultural, and psychological upheavals wrought by war and forced displacement. Chapters consider theft and pillaging as strategies of conquest; soldiers' relationships with their weapons; and the use of clothing and domestic goods by prisoners of war, extermination camp inmates, freed people, and refugees to make claims and to create a kind of normalcy. While studies of migration and material culture have proliferated in recent years, as have histories of the Napoleonic, colonial, World Wars, and postcolonial wars, few have focused on the movement of people and things in times of war across two centuries. This focus, in combination with a broad temporal canvas, serves historians and others well as they seek to push beyond the written word.
Madhav Gadgil and Ramachandra Guha
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780198077442
- eISBN:
- 9780199082155
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077442.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
Indian subcontinent experienced a major resource crunch between the fourth to tenth centuries of the Christian era. Caste society had developed an elaborate system of the diversified use of living ...
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Indian subcontinent experienced a major resource crunch between the fourth to tenth centuries of the Christian era. Caste society had developed an elaborate system of the diversified use of living resources that greatly decreased inter-caste competition, and frequently assured that a single caste group had monopoly over the use of any specific resource from a given locale. Different caste populations traditionally moderated or largely removed inter-caste competition through diversifications in resource use and territorial exclusion. The interpretation of the caste system as a form of ecological adaptation may be employed to show the two different paths by which conflicts between different modes of resource use are resolved: path of extermination and path of selective incorporation. The geographical diversity of the Indian subcontinent and the productivity of hilly and forested areas enabled the continuance of hunting-gathering and shifting agriculture in large expanses where the plough could not penetrate.Less
Indian subcontinent experienced a major resource crunch between the fourth to tenth centuries of the Christian era. Caste society had developed an elaborate system of the diversified use of living resources that greatly decreased inter-caste competition, and frequently assured that a single caste group had monopoly over the use of any specific resource from a given locale. Different caste populations traditionally moderated or largely removed inter-caste competition through diversifications in resource use and territorial exclusion. The interpretation of the caste system as a form of ecological adaptation may be employed to show the two different paths by which conflicts between different modes of resource use are resolved: path of extermination and path of selective incorporation. The geographical diversity of the Indian subcontinent and the productivity of hilly and forested areas enabled the continuance of hunting-gathering and shifting agriculture in large expanses where the plough could not penetrate.
Mailänder Elissa
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780719096020
- eISBN:
- 9781781707876
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719096020.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
Any study of the routine activities of the SS in an extermination camp must consist above all of an analysis of the whole process of day-to-day extermination and its implementation by human beings. ...
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Any study of the routine activities of the SS in an extermination camp must consist above all of an analysis of the whole process of day-to-day extermination and its implementation by human beings. This article deals with the example of Majdanek, a combined concentration and extermination camp situated in the General Government area of Nazi-occupied south-east Poland. In studying the work of SS personnel at Majdanek, this paper seeks to develop our understanding of how destruction constituted the underlying principle of day-to-day work in the camp, and how, in material terms, this work achieved this destruction a process that was highly professionalised, involved a large number of different actors, and was divided into a series of discrete tasks.Less
Any study of the routine activities of the SS in an extermination camp must consist above all of an analysis of the whole process of day-to-day extermination and its implementation by human beings. This article deals with the example of Majdanek, a combined concentration and extermination camp situated in the General Government area of Nazi-occupied south-east Poland. In studying the work of SS personnel at Majdanek, this paper seeks to develop our understanding of how destruction constituted the underlying principle of day-to-day work in the camp, and how, in material terms, this work achieved this destruction a process that was highly professionalised, involved a large number of different actors, and was divided into a series of discrete tasks.
Grégoire Chamayou and Steven Rendall
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151656
- eISBN:
- 9781400842254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151656.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter discusses how the conquest of the New World gave rise to vast manhunts that continued for almost four centuries and took place all over the Americas. This was a massive phenomenon with ...
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This chapter discusses how the conquest of the New World gave rise to vast manhunts that continued for almost four centuries and took place all over the Americas. This was a massive phenomenon with its specially trained dogs, professional hunters, weapons, and culture. As a social phenomenon, Indian hunting was indissolubly a large-scale economic activity, a way of life, and a cruel pleasure, a macabre form of sport—and this was so from the beginning of the conquests. Acquisition hunts were intended to take future slaves. Extermination hunts were entirely different; their main goal was the eradication of the population in order to conquer the territory. These hunts of conquest had to be provided with legitimations, with theories. How could the hunts for Indians be justified? That is where, very early on, philosophers made their entrance.Less
This chapter discusses how the conquest of the New World gave rise to vast manhunts that continued for almost four centuries and took place all over the Americas. This was a massive phenomenon with its specially trained dogs, professional hunters, weapons, and culture. As a social phenomenon, Indian hunting was indissolubly a large-scale economic activity, a way of life, and a cruel pleasure, a macabre form of sport—and this was so from the beginning of the conquests. Acquisition hunts were intended to take future slaves. Extermination hunts were entirely different; their main goal was the eradication of the population in order to conquer the territory. These hunts of conquest had to be provided with legitimations, with theories. How could the hunts for Indians be justified? That is where, very early on, philosophers made their entrance.
John P. Fox
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113171
- eISBN:
- 9781800340589
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113171.003.0048
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter studies the works of Władysław Bartoszewski and Oswald Amstler. Almost half of Bartoszewski's present account is a useful presentation of contemporary documents and records of events ...
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This chapter studies the works of Władysław Bartoszewski and Oswald Amstler. Almost half of Bartoszewski's present account is a useful presentation of contemporary documents and records of events both within and pertaining to the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw up to the great deportations of the summer of 1942. The rest of his story concerns his own involvement in aid to the Jews from that time on. Meanwhile, the pamphlet by Oswald Amstler is a short but interesting collection of eye-witness accounts of particular instances of murder and terror in the Nazi concentration and extermination camps, with particular reference to the situation of children, their mutual help, and their rescue or relief whenever that became possible. Both publications add to the current knowledge of the subject of the Nazi system of terror. Above all, though, their greatest contribution is to force the reader to think more seriously about key issues such as the nature of human behaviour in extreme circumstances, besides forcing a realization that ordinary mores of human morality are hardly applicable to such conditions.Less
This chapter studies the works of Władysław Bartoszewski and Oswald Amstler. Almost half of Bartoszewski's present account is a useful presentation of contemporary documents and records of events both within and pertaining to the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw up to the great deportations of the summer of 1942. The rest of his story concerns his own involvement in aid to the Jews from that time on. Meanwhile, the pamphlet by Oswald Amstler is a short but interesting collection of eye-witness accounts of particular instances of murder and terror in the Nazi concentration and extermination camps, with particular reference to the situation of children, their mutual help, and their rescue or relief whenever that became possible. Both publications add to the current knowledge of the subject of the Nazi system of terror. Above all, though, their greatest contribution is to force the reader to think more seriously about key issues such as the nature of human behaviour in extreme circumstances, besides forcing a realization that ordinary mores of human morality are hardly applicable to such conditions.
Jan Pakulski
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719097027
- eISBN:
- 9781526103987
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097027.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
An eliticide or ‘national ‘decapitation’ – a systematic and deliberate targeting and mass extermination of a nation’s ‘ruling minority’– is a form of organised and state-perpetrated mass violence ...
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An eliticide or ‘national ‘decapitation’ – a systematic and deliberate targeting and mass extermination of a nation’s ‘ruling minority’– is a form of organised and state-perpetrated mass violence that, until recently, has been escaping the attention of historians and social scientists. Eliticides emerged in the 20th century as tools of social engineering and political conquest, primarily by Stalin and Hitler. The 1939-45 eliticide in Poland, conducted by the Nazi and Soviet invaders, not only weakened the resistance movement and undermined the social, political and moral order (thus opening the way for social pathologies), but also increased vulnerability to Soviet take over and fatally hindered the post-war social reconstruction of Poland. It resulted in the formation of a politically dependent and socially deracinated ‘quasi-elite’ with limited capacity for governing.Less
An eliticide or ‘national ‘decapitation’ – a systematic and deliberate targeting and mass extermination of a nation’s ‘ruling minority’– is a form of organised and state-perpetrated mass violence that, until recently, has been escaping the attention of historians and social scientists. Eliticides emerged in the 20th century as tools of social engineering and political conquest, primarily by Stalin and Hitler. The 1939-45 eliticide in Poland, conducted by the Nazi and Soviet invaders, not only weakened the resistance movement and undermined the social, political and moral order (thus opening the way for social pathologies), but also increased vulnerability to Soviet take over and fatally hindered the post-war social reconstruction of Poland. It resulted in the formation of a politically dependent and socially deracinated ‘quasi-elite’ with limited capacity for governing.
Guénaél Mettraux
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199207541
- eISBN:
- 9780191709203
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207541.003.0012
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
The chapeau elements discussed in the previous chapter represent the general requirements which any criminal act must meet before qualifying as a crime against humanity. In addition, the underlying ...
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The chapeau elements discussed in the previous chapter represent the general requirements which any criminal act must meet before qualifying as a crime against humanity. In addition, the underlying offence which forms the basis of the charges against the accused must be one of the acts listed in Article 5 and Article 3, respectively, of the statutes of the ad hoc tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, namely: murder; extermination; enslavement; deportation; imprisonment; torture; rape; persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds; other inhumane acts. The perpetrator need not bear principal responsibility for any of these offences to be found guilty of a crime against humanity; it is enough that he participated in any manner specified in Article 7 and Article 6 of the statutes of the Yugoslav and Rwanda tribunals, respectively.Less
The chapeau elements discussed in the previous chapter represent the general requirements which any criminal act must meet before qualifying as a crime against humanity. In addition, the underlying offence which forms the basis of the charges against the accused must be one of the acts listed in Article 5 and Article 3, respectively, of the statutes of the ad hoc tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, namely: murder; extermination; enslavement; deportation; imprisonment; torture; rape; persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds; other inhumane acts. The perpetrator need not bear principal responsibility for any of these offences to be found guilty of a crime against humanity; it is enough that he participated in any manner specified in Article 7 and Article 6 of the statutes of the Yugoslav and Rwanda tribunals, respectively.
Guénaél Mettraux
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199207541
- eISBN:
- 9780191709203
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207541.003.0026
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
Genocide is often viewed as the ultimate crime against humanity, but they are in fact legally distinct. First, crimes against humanity and genocide have a different mens rea. Second, the range of ...
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Genocide is often viewed as the ultimate crime against humanity, but they are in fact legally distinct. First, crimes against humanity and genocide have a different mens rea. Second, the range of underlying offences which may qualify as genocidal is more restricted in scope than those that may qualify as crimes against humanity. Third, crimes against humanity must be committed in the context of an armed conflict, whereas genocide may be committed in time of peace as well as in time of war. Fourth, the definition of genocide unlike that of crimes against humanity does not require that the acts of the accused occur in the context of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population. Fifth, whereas a crime against humanity may only be committed against civilians, genocide can be committed against any member of the targeted group, whether combatants or civilians. This chapter also discusses the distinction between genocide and persecution and between genocide and extermination.Less
Genocide is often viewed as the ultimate crime against humanity, but they are in fact legally distinct. First, crimes against humanity and genocide have a different mens rea. Second, the range of underlying offences which may qualify as genocidal is more restricted in scope than those that may qualify as crimes against humanity. Third, crimes against humanity must be committed in the context of an armed conflict, whereas genocide may be committed in time of peace as well as in time of war. Fourth, the definition of genocide unlike that of crimes against humanity does not require that the acts of the accused occur in the context of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population. Fifth, whereas a crime against humanity may only be committed against civilians, genocide can be committed against any member of the targeted group, whether combatants or civilians. This chapter also discusses the distinction between genocide and persecution and between genocide and extermination.
Anstett Élisabeth and Dreyfus Jean-Marc (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780719096020
- eISBN:
- 9781781707876
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719096020.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
Destruction and human remains investigates a crucial question frequently neglected from academic debate in the fields of mass violence and Genocide Studies: what is done to the bodies of the victims ...
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Destruction and human remains investigates a crucial question frequently neglected from academic debate in the fields of mass violence and Genocide Studies: what is done to the bodies of the victims after they are killed? Indeed, in the context of mass violence and genocide, death does not constitute the end of the executors' work. Following the abuses carried out by the latter, their victims' remains are treated and manipulated in very particular ways, amounting in some cases to social engineering. The book explores this phase of destruction, whether by disposal, concealment or complete annihilation of the body, across a range of extreme situations to display the intentions and socio-political framework of governments, perpetrators and bystanders. The book will be split into three sections; 1) Who were the perpetrators and why were they chosen? It will be explored whether a division of labour created social hierarchies or criminal careers, or whether in some cases this division existed at all. 2) How did the perpetrators kill and dispose of the bodies? What techniques and technologies were employed, and how does this differ between contrasting and evolving circumstances? 3) Why did the perpetrators implement such methods and what does this say about their motivations and ideologies? The book will focus in particular on the twentieth century, displaying innovative and interdisciplinary approaches and dealing with case studies from different geographical areas across the globe. The focus will be placed on a re-evaluation of the motivations, the ideological frameworks and the technical processes displayed in the destruction of bodies.Less
Destruction and human remains investigates a crucial question frequently neglected from academic debate in the fields of mass violence and Genocide Studies: what is done to the bodies of the victims after they are killed? Indeed, in the context of mass violence and genocide, death does not constitute the end of the executors' work. Following the abuses carried out by the latter, their victims' remains are treated and manipulated in very particular ways, amounting in some cases to social engineering. The book explores this phase of destruction, whether by disposal, concealment or complete annihilation of the body, across a range of extreme situations to display the intentions and socio-political framework of governments, perpetrators and bystanders. The book will be split into three sections; 1) Who were the perpetrators and why were they chosen? It will be explored whether a division of labour created social hierarchies or criminal careers, or whether in some cases this division existed at all. 2) How did the perpetrators kill and dispose of the bodies? What techniques and technologies were employed, and how does this differ between contrasting and evolving circumstances? 3) Why did the perpetrators implement such methods and what does this say about their motivations and ideologies? The book will focus in particular on the twentieth century, displaying innovative and interdisciplinary approaches and dealing with case studies from different geographical areas across the globe. The focus will be placed on a re-evaluation of the motivations, the ideological frameworks and the technical processes displayed in the destruction of bodies.
Michael Geheran
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781501751011
- eISBN:
- 9781501751035
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501751011.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History
At the end of 1941, six weeks after the mass deportations of Jews from Nazi Germany had begun, Gestapo offices across the Reich received an urgent telex from Adolf Eichmann, decreeing that all ...
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At the end of 1941, six weeks after the mass deportations of Jews from Nazi Germany had begun, Gestapo offices across the Reich received an urgent telex from Adolf Eichmann, decreeing that all war-wounded and decorated Jewish veterans of World War I be exempted from upcoming “evacuations.” Why this was so, and how Jewish veterans at least initially were able to avoid the fate of ordinary Jews under the Nazis, is the subject of this book. The same values that compelled Jewish soldiers to demonstrate bravery in the front lines in World War I made it impossible for them to accept passively, persecution under Hitler. They upheld the ideal of the German fighting man, embraced the fatherland, and cherished the bonds that had developed in military service. Through their diaries and private letters, as well as interviews with eyewitnesses and surviving family members and records from the police, Gestapo, and military, this book challenges the prevailing view that Jewish veterans were left isolated, neighborless, and having suffered a social death by 1938. Tracing the path from the trenches of the Great War to the extermination camps of the Third Reich, the book exposes a painful dichotomy: while many Jewish former combatants believed that Germany would never betray them, the Holocaust was nonetheless a horrific reality. In chronicling Jewish veterans' appeal to older, traditional notions of comradeship and national belonging, the book forces reflection on how this group made use of scant opportunities to defy Nazi persecution and, for some, to evade becoming victims of the Final Solution.Less
At the end of 1941, six weeks after the mass deportations of Jews from Nazi Germany had begun, Gestapo offices across the Reich received an urgent telex from Adolf Eichmann, decreeing that all war-wounded and decorated Jewish veterans of World War I be exempted from upcoming “evacuations.” Why this was so, and how Jewish veterans at least initially were able to avoid the fate of ordinary Jews under the Nazis, is the subject of this book. The same values that compelled Jewish soldiers to demonstrate bravery in the front lines in World War I made it impossible for them to accept passively, persecution under Hitler. They upheld the ideal of the German fighting man, embraced the fatherland, and cherished the bonds that had developed in military service. Through their diaries and private letters, as well as interviews with eyewitnesses and surviving family members and records from the police, Gestapo, and military, this book challenges the prevailing view that Jewish veterans were left isolated, neighborless, and having suffered a social death by 1938. Tracing the path from the trenches of the Great War to the extermination camps of the Third Reich, the book exposes a painful dichotomy: while many Jewish former combatants believed that Germany would never betray them, the Holocaust was nonetheless a horrific reality. In chronicling Jewish veterans' appeal to older, traditional notions of comradeship and national belonging, the book forces reflection on how this group made use of scant opportunities to defy Nazi persecution and, for some, to evade becoming victims of the Final Solution.
Edith Wyschogrod
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823226061
- eISBN:
- 9780823235148
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823226061.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
In addition to the parameters established by the legal definition of genocide, this chapter also considers meanings ascribed to the term “ethnic cleansing” as starting ...
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In addition to the parameters established by the legal definition of genocide, this chapter also considers meanings ascribed to the term “ethnic cleansing” as starting points for a discussion of the warring logics intrinsic to events of mass extermination. The chapter then turns to Dominique Janicaud's insightful account of the way in which rationality is currently configured as it bears upon, even if it fails fully to capture, the character of the warring logics at work in genocide. The chapter interprets “logic” as a complex of interpretive indicators or perspectives that arise within the sphere of events. In the case of genocidal acts, these logics are exhibited as the modus operandi of the acts themselves. The first of these warring logics is best described as the rationality of unencumbered replicability, the sensed multiplication of individuals so that vast numbers are seen as indistinguishable from one another. This absence of distinctiveness gives rise to a second logic, the logic of indiscernibles, which the chapter explicates in terms of Emmanuel Levinas's concept of the il y a.Less
In addition to the parameters established by the legal definition of genocide, this chapter also considers meanings ascribed to the term “ethnic cleansing” as starting points for a discussion of the warring logics intrinsic to events of mass extermination. The chapter then turns to Dominique Janicaud's insightful account of the way in which rationality is currently configured as it bears upon, even if it fails fully to capture, the character of the warring logics at work in genocide. The chapter interprets “logic” as a complex of interpretive indicators or perspectives that arise within the sphere of events. In the case of genocidal acts, these logics are exhibited as the modus operandi of the acts themselves. The first of these warring logics is best described as the rationality of unencumbered replicability, the sensed multiplication of individuals so that vast numbers are seen as indistinguishable from one another. This absence of distinctiveness gives rise to a second logic, the logic of indiscernibles, which the chapter explicates in terms of Emmanuel Levinas's concept of the il y a.
