Copy of Vidur Prasad's Genocide Learning Experience

Vidur Prasad's Genocide Learning Experience

Entry 2

I found the excerpt from the book Forgotten Fire very interesting and quite eye-opening about the perils that victims faced during a Genocide. The thing that had the deepest impact on me from the excerpt near the end of the chapter is when they let anyone who wants to drink from a river of dead bodies. That in itself is an atrocity, but when about 50 people went to go drink the water, the soldiers putting them on a forced march shot them at point blank range without being provoked or for an reason. This really shows how Genocide is so terrible because innocent people are killed for absolutely note reason at all.

Current Day Genocide: Sudanese

1. I believe that this conflict is important because it is happening right now and has all the ingredients to be classified as a Genocide. The even more appalling thing about this Genocide is that it has gone on for many years, with over 500,000 casualties, and the international community has done nothing because of political reasons. When we think that Genocide will never happen gain, this is a slap in the face to the nations it has happening as this is being written.

2. The Genocide is taking place in a place called Darfur. Armed militias called Janjaweed are funded by the government because they are pro-government. Since there are a lot of rebel groups in the Darfur area, the government wants to squash the whole place by using bombing campaigns and then ordering the militias to raid the areas. The militias are looting, killing and torturing civilians in the area.

3. I believe that to personally help solve the situation, I should write a letter to my congressman urging him to get the US government to treat this as a Genocide and to go in with diplomatic or military action if necessary. If Congress can be persuaded to do something, hopefully we can help stop this Genocide were escalating any further.

4. Personally, I believe that America should do the right thing and ignore China's intentions and should apply sanctions to the Sudanese government. If this is not enough, I believe that America should put boots on the ground in only Darfur and announce that it would remain it would also all the aid workers in. I believe that it should act like a safe area that UN made during the Bosnian Genocide. If the UN did not do the rightful thing and condemn the violence, then America should take it into its own hands to stop the violence.

5. I think that if the International Community would be extremely strict and be very merciless with dealing with people planning a Genocide before it takes place, it will be very beneficial in the long run. Most countries are looking at the relative short term, 20 years, and are concerned that if they put boots on the ground or take significant action, they will be stuck in the country for over a decade like we see in Afghanistan, although that was for a different reason . If we show that we have a zero tolerance policy for Genocide, perpetrators will be much more scared and will think twice before trying to attempt a Genocide or mass killing. If we are able to show that we are actually strong in our belief that Genocide should end, then we will be able to stop Genocide in the long term. In the Sudanese case specifically, I think there should be more push to get the President of Sudan arrested and tried for his crimes and show that this is not OK.

Entry 3

Edward Racoubian was a boy who was part of the forced marches that took place during the Armenian Genocide. He was forced to walk toward the Euphrates River and go to a place called Rus-ul-Ain. All of his relatives except his mother died and he and his mother eventually escaped and were able to go and join some Arab nomads. The nomads treated him brutally though after his mother died. He looks like a half-European half-Middle Eastern man with scars on his hands.

Based on his picture and story, it appears that he has sadness mixed with anger. He also shows that the Genocide has had a lasting impact on his life by showing the permanent scars on his arm which it can be safely assumed happened during the turmoil in his life during the Armenian Genocide.

Hüsenig Kharpert was a 7 year old boy who lived during the extermination of young boys in the Armenian Genocide. He remembers being forced to march from city to city and then being asked to camp for some time at the shores of the Euphrates river. The guards then took all the boys who were five to ten years old and piled them up on the beach. They then used bayonets and swords to ruthlessly kill all the children. Hüsenig was in the middle of the pile and was only injured in the cheek by a sword. He then remembers seeing all of the parents of the children come to see their children lying dead a. He remembers how all the of the parents tried to bury their children or let their children drift of in the sea. In his picture, he looks extremely scared and is looking up in despair waiting for something terrible to happen to him.

Based on his picture and story, Hüsenig has seen so much carnage and has been so close to death that he is always fearful about what may happen to him. In his picture he is looking up in such anguish that feels as though someone is standing right in front of him with a sword about to kill him the same way someone tried to kill him with a sword during the Armenian Genocide.

Entry 4

Comparing the Holocaust Photo Project

Jewish Family

Photo Comparison

Reflection Questions

1. The members of the picture lived in Paris, France. The city had a small to medium sized Jewish community.

2. The Jewish population in France was about 350,000 people. There were countries such as Poland that had about 3,000,000 people but most countries such as Great Britain had about 300,000 so France was in the lower to middle zone in terms of population.

3. The Jewish people in France led relatively free lives until the late 1930s and the 1940s when the citizens of France saw things sliding and needed the Jews to blame it on.

4. This region came under Nazi rule when the Nazi's invaded France. The invasion started in May 10,1940 and France fell under Nazi control on June 22, 1940.

5. The Jewish population in France after the Holocaust was 273,000. After the war , the infrastructure, the economy and the military were weakened. Also, the colonies under France demanded independence that led to other long conflicts for France to fight.

1. I think that the phrase All the News That's Fit to Print means that they will report anything in the world no matter whether it is politically good or not. They just report the facts around the world without any bias.

2. The benefits of the The New York Times covering the Armenian Genocide is that it told the American public about what was happening in Armenia and also gives us a unbiased view of what actually happened and what people thought back then.

3. The term Genocide was created by Raphael Lempkin to describe events that were extremely inhumane and require international intervention to stop. It is also a way of putting a name on these events to put rules such as, if a country commits Genocide, X countries from the United Nations Security Council intervene.

4. The New York Times shies away from using the term "Genocide" since the government could not use the word for the Armenian Genocide and the American Government did not want to annoy the Turkish Government and the New York Times did not want to be in complete disagreement with the government.

5. The United Nations has the power to decide whether the Armenian Case is genocide since they also are people who make decisions about what is a violation against humans or violations against international law.

An American family of Indian descent at the Grand Canyon in April 2012.

Street scene in the Jewish quarter of Paris before the war. Paris, France, took place between 1933 and 1939.

Compare & Contrast

1. Life for Jewish families and communities in France before the Holocaust was quite nice. In France, Jews had their own cities where the children were able to play and the Jewish adults were able to sell things and do business for items related to Judaism and Jewish lifestyle. The picture of the kids playing on the street and laughing while the adults did business without fear shows how good life was before the Nazis.

2. The life of the Jewish family is similar to my family today because the kids are all smiling and playing together and families come together and have good lives together.

3. A surprising fact I learned about Jewish life in Europe is that the French actually accepted the Jews and respected them before the Holocaust. After things went badly for the French, they decided to turn on the Jews and blame the problems on them leading to the French Holocaust.

4. One stage of Genocide my family would have witnessed is classification as the French started to blame their problems on the Jews as a group. The second stage is dehumanization where the Jews were discriminated against because they were supposedly the source of all the problems in France. The third stage of Genocide we would have witnessed is symbolization when the French Jews were forced to wear the Yellow Star at all times to identify them as being Jewish.

Similarities

Both show families that have immigrated to another country.

Both pictures have smiling children.

Both pictures have everyone standing.

Both pictures have people wearing jackets because it is cold.

Both pictures take place in the day time.

Both pictures have people together spending time with each other.

Both pictures have people beaming with joy.

Differences

The modern family is on vacation while the Jewish people are just living daily life.

The modern family is posing for the picture while the Jewish people are mostly going on with their daily life apart from one person.

The modern family's picture takes place in a natural landscape rather than in a city like the Jewish picture.

The modern family's picture is color while the Jewish people's picture is in black and white.

There are no women in the Jewish picture unlike the modern family's picture.

The modern family's picture has everyone smiling while the Jewish people's picture has some people have gruff unsmiling faces.

Entry 4 (Continued)

1. Killing members of the group- "Turks have killed 500,000." Article 3

2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group- "The Turks systematically murdered ... where thousands perished of starvation. Article 5

3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part- "... Saw over 50,000 poor, dazed, helpless starving refugees in a region almost desert, with no provision for their food supply. Article 2

4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group- "There are very few men among them as most of the men were killed on the road" Article 2

5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group- "the Turks have been taking their choice of these children and girls for slaves or worse." Article 2