Examples Of Ethnic Cleansing

“Ethnic Cleansing” or a Euphemism Used in Attempt to Justify the Deaths of Many?
The Holocaust Vs. The Bosnian Genocide

Haylee Shannon
English II
Ms. Autumn Farless, Ed. S.

Haylee Shannon
English II
Ms. Autumn Farless, Ed. S.
“Ethnic Cleansing” or a Euphemism Used in Attempt to Justify the Deaths of Many?
The Holocaust and the Bosnian Genocide are both often referred to as “ethnic cleansings”. This term implies that the actions that occurred in these genocides were not wrong and did not make the victims feel less than human although that is exactly what they did. Cleansing is something one does to his or her face at the end of the day, not something done to get rid of the people that don’t seem fit enough for society. The
The holocaust began because of Hitler’s hatred toward the Jews because of their race and religion. Hitler’s abhorrence towards the Jews mostly prospered because he discovered the the Jews were practicing usury, the action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest, leading to the Great Depression that followed World War 1. With people to blame for Germany’s financial issues, the Jews became Germany’s scapegoat. It could be compared to a child who does want to or maybe does not know how to accept their consequences for their actions. As time passed Hitler had instilled his hatred into the minds of other Germans. The Bosnian Genocide commenced because Bosnian Serbs wanted to be a part of a dominated Serbian state in the Balkans “the Greater Serbia” that Serbian separatists had long envisioned (Bosnian Genocide 1). Bosnian Serb actions also appear to have been motivated in part by revenge (Rhode 1).In 1992 Bosnia was recognized as an internationally independent state. The Muslim-led government wanted to maintain Bosnia as a unified, multi-ethnic state, but the militarily powerful Bosnian Serbs assisted by Serbia had taken control of approximately 70 percent of Bosnia and they did not see the muslim-led governments ideas as a priority (The Crisis in Bosnia 2). The
The fact that people have the audacity to refer to genocide as “ethnic cleansing” shows how much consideration and understanding people have towards these dehumanizing acts. By studying these genocides, finding out what they have in common, and learning how the victims of genocides are impacted in more ways than losing their lives, we can hopefully learn the signs of a genocide beginning and avert these actions from further happening and act as a preventative for these recurring actions before they even