Bosnia V. Holocaust Essay -- essays research papers

Genocide is the systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group. In Germany during World War II a man named Hitler tried to eliminate any race except for what he called the "Arian" race. In the process he committed genocide by killing off 6 million Jews and a total of 8 million people in all. Europe was going through some very hard times during the mid 1900's so that no one was able to see a disaster such as the Holocaust coming. Many things led to the weakening of Europe at the time. The Ottoman Empire was breaking up plus they were still trying to get over the devastation of WW I. Bosnia and Herzegovina had been having many problems as well. They were a witness to much change and devastation ever since the early 1900's when they became merged as Yugoslavia with three distinct ethnic groups. In the middle of WW II the axis powers split Yugoslavia into two separate pieces, pinning one side in conflict and war against the other . By the end of WW II a man named Josip Tito, a Croatian Communist created a pact between the two fighting sides. This lasted until 1960 when Tito granted Muslims a distinct ethnic status in society as an effort to put them on equal grounds with the Serbs and Croats. After Tito's death conditions got bad. The Serbs gained most of the power and began killing off the weaker non-Serb peoples. The situations between Germany and Bosnia are quite different, however, there is a strong resemblance as well. It is highly unlikely that another Holocaust would ever occur again as long as the memory of the catastrophe is not forgotten. What Happened in Bosnia is quite bad but it is in no comparison with the world domination of Hitler and his army. The main difference between the Bosnia genocide and the Holocaust is that Hitler gained respect and power, whereas the Serbs had the majority of the army and were smarter then the non-Serbs so they were able to take charge. When Hitler first started his campaign people loved him and wanted him in power. It was what he did once he was in power that astonished the nation. However, in Bosnia there were always tensions between the three groups. The Serbs were not let into power; they never had the other group's respect they were just able to establish a strong army and state that was capable of killing. In Yugoslavia there ... ...lves to be the superior race and the way they went about it was to involve themselves in mass murder and the raping of women. In both Germany and Bosnia there was a formation of some kind of party that would eventually try to take over. In Germany it was the "Nazi Party" and in Bosnia it was called the "Assembly of the Serbian People". In Bosnia the Serbs targeted everyone except themselves, as did the Nazi's of Germany. A situation such as the Holocaust, which was created by Hitler, will never happen again on such a large scale just because of the education of the people. If a dictator tried to recreate the scene of the Holocaust he would fail miserably because at this point there are too many alliances and pacts that would have to be broken. No continent would allow such devastation to occur once again. The military alliances are too powerful and the teamwork is too strong. On the other hand, a situation such as what happened in Bosnia can easily occur in the world once again because of the instability of certain governments. All that certain nations need is a strong leader to take their country over and to produce mass-murders.