PurposeWhat Is Genocide?
Prior to 1944, the word GENOCIDE had not yet been spoken. The term refers to the deliberate killing of an ethnic or religious group of people with the intent to destroy the existence of that group.
In 1944 a Polish Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lempkin made it his purpose to expose what the Holocaust truly was. He formed the word GENOCIDE by combining geno, the Greek word for race or tribe with the word cide, the Latin word for killing.
In 1945 the International Military Tribunal charged Nazi officials with Crimes Against Humanity. The word GENOCIDE was included in the indictment as a legal term for a crime for the first time.
The DetailsWhat Defines Genocide?
Killing members of the group
This method of genocide can vary depending on the resources at hand, and how planned out the genocide is.
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
This method of genocide is done in ways such as forcing hard labor or destroying the area of which they lived.
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
This method of genocide is done by taking away necessities of life such as: water, food and shelter.
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
This is done by raping the women of the group and killing them off after they give birth.
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
Children are separated from parents and forced to live in unfamiliar areas.