5
The word “holocaust” originally meant a sacrifice that was totally burned by fire. Today, the word
“Holocaust”
is
used to refer to the time period of 1933-1945 when the Nazis and their collaborators systematically murdered 6
million Jewish people and targeted millions of others. The Hebrew word
Shoah,
which means “catastrophe” or
“destruction,” is also commonly used to refer to the Holocaust.
Genocide
In 1944, Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer, introduced a new word,
“genocide,”
to the English language.
The word is made from the ancient Greek word
“genos”
(race, tribe) and the Latin
“cide”
(killing).
Born in 1900 on a small farm in Poland, Raphael Lemkin was deeply affected by the persecution and mass murder
of the Armenians. He later experienced antisemitic pogroms (riots) in his own country of Poland. He strongly
believed in legal protection for groups and fought tirelessly throughout his life for this cause. When the German
army invaded Poland in 1939, Lemkin escaped and came to the United States. He later learned that 49 members of
his own family were murdered in the Holocaust.
Every day he spoke to government officials, national and international leaders, and to anyone who might listen on
the importance of recognizing genocide as a crime.
On December 9, 1948, the United Nations approved the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
Genocide. Lemkin continued to devote his life to the cause. He died in 1959.
The Genocide Convention became an internationally recognized law in 1951. Many of the world’s most powerful
countries, including the United States, delayed support for the ratification of the Genocide Convention for various
reasons. The United States ratified the Convention on Genocide in 1988.
Genocide begins with small acts of prejudice and stereotyping. Each of our actions and decisions makes a
difference. As we read and study about the Holocaust and genocide, each of us must struggle with difficult
questions: “What is my responsibility?” and “How do my actions and choices affect the world around me?”
Studying the Holocaust and genocide is complicated and difficult. The Holocaust Center is here to help and
support educators and students of these subjects. Please feel free to contact us.
