Ukrainian Genocide Dbq

As we look throughout history, governments have implemented policies and are partially responsible for the denial of human rights to a certain group. These groups include Ukrainians and Rwandans. The denial of human rights in these regions not only affect those in the region but internationally. Both Ukrainians and Rwandans were denied their human rights. Ukraine’s hope and will was in the hands of the dictator Joseph Stalin.

With the policy of collectivization Ukrainians were virtually forced to give up essential necessities for the Empowerment of the Soviet Union resulting in Starvation of millions of Ukrainians. Stalin’s even used propaganda to falsify Ukrainians as happy servants to the Soviet Union but in reality their right and freedom were sacrificed and with the shortage of food coming into Ukraine it lead to starvation. Soviet Union rise in self-determination allowing them to become economic viable at the expenses of millions of

I was born in Russia before the revolution. I was born in Tula province and my name then was not Mikhail, or even Misha, as I am known here in America. No, my real name–the one given to me at birth–was Leonid Sednyov, and I was known as Leonka” (12). His identity is stated clearly and he goes on to state his position in the Ipatiev House, “What I wish to confess is that I was the kitchen boy in the Ipatiev house where the Tsar and Tsaritsa, Nikolai and Aleksandra, were imprisoned” (12). It is made unmistakably evident that he worked as a kitchen boy in the Ipatiev House.

Post WWl, Russia was still not industrialized, suffering economically and politically and in no doubt in need of a leader after Lenin’s death. “His successor, Joseph Stalin, a ruthless dictator, seized power and turned Russia into a totalitarian state where the government controls all aspects of private and public life.” Stalin showed these traits by using methods of enforcement, state control of individuals and state control of society. The journey of Stalin begins now.

The region has witnessed two bloody wars both committed by the Russian military to suppress the Chechens,who wanted to break away from the Soviet Union and form their own independent nation, just like the ones in Central Europe. A Small Corner of Hell by Anna Politkovskaya is about the stories of local Chechens, who lived under the constant threat of the Russian military and unfortunately most of whose stories have been told are no longer alive today, including the author. This book is particularly important because amidst all the upbeat futuristic promises of globalization, there are regions in the world such as Chechnya whose people till today live in an inhumane situation. Overlooking the injustices that have been done to Chechens would set a very bad precedent and would encourage dictators around the world to freely abuse and oppress its citizens without fear of condemnation or

Stalin’s use of Strong language shows us how truly serious the Soviet Union were going to be in promoting and carrying out their plans. The use of state terror to encourage such production increases proves this even further. The regime also used propaganda in the form of Stakhanovism to promote the industrial revolution that the country went through. This use of propaganda promoted Aleksei Stakhanov as the ideal Soviet worker who could apparently produce one hundred and two tonnes of coal in one shift.

They committed many crimes that caused great tragedy throughout the country. Sviatoslav Karavansky testified in front of the United States Ukraine Famine Commission stating “My parents wondered how it was possible that such great quantities of food were being exported while the village population was starving” (Document D). He said as he testified that the government was starving them and hurting them even more by taking all their food. The Government took everything from these people and punished them if they didn’t follow the new law. Clarence Manning wrote, ”They even in places took specimens of fecal matter from the toilets in an effort to learn by analysis whether the peasants has stolen government property and were eating grain” (document J).

The Russian Revolution, which was started by Lenin and his followers, was a rebellion that occurred in 1917 which forced higher powers to act to the needs of the lower class. For instance, many citizens were worried for their protection in consequence to the lack of survival necessities due to an early drought. Furthermore, their current czar during the time was incapable for his position as a czar and made horrendous decisions as czar. For example, when the czar, Nicholas, entered in World War I, he sent untrained troops into countless battles of failure which costed in mass amounts of lost life (paragraph 23).

This highlights the still present class system in Russia. Even though serfs had been freed they were still being treated as the lowest class, but in turn they were still free to vote and do everything any other free Russian citizen could do, in theory. Things were still unequal and life was hard for the serfs. Serfs who had recently been freed had no means for income and struggled to provide for their families. This arrangement worked in favor for the Russian government because the freed unemployed serfs would join the army and help Russia fight.

In analysis of Vera Figner’s Memoirs of a Revolutionist, Figner expressed a few political goals that led her to assume violence as the only answer to the economic, political, and social injustices forced upon the peasants, by the government authority and Russian traditions. All of Figner’s energy was spent in effort to achieve these goals at any cost. These goals were to use influential propaganda, to educate the peasants1, and to kill the Tsar. All of which, were used to motivate a peasant uprising, to remove2 the suppressive Tsarist regime and to give birth to democratically3 free institutions4. To justify her violent means, she used her personal belief that there were no other peaceful ways, that they had not tried, to provide liberty and justice for the peasants.5

Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, is no ordinary dictator; he was highly driven by the ideology of total revolution which had four separate, but related components. First, and most important of all, is the push for total independence and self-reliance, second, the dictatorship of the proletariat, third, total and immediate economic revolution, and lastly, a complete transformation of Khmer social values (Jackson 135). To implement this ideology of total revolution, the Khmer Rouge had to resort to permanent purges in order to eliminate all potential competitors and to “create a society with no past and no alternatives” (Jackson 137). Pol Pot divided Cambodian society into five classes: the working, the peasants the bourgeoisie, the capitalist, and the feudal class. However, in an effort to create an egalitarian society, the only acceptable classes were the “workers, peasants, and the revolutionary army” (Jackson 136).

In a repressive regime, many people cannot conclude whether it was the fault of the people or the fault of the ruler. Without taking the people into consideration, new rulers come into the government, knowing how they want things to go, regardless of how the people feel. Stalin used his power, and fear to be sure that they were going to do what he wanted. Although while Stalin was getting power, the people were not aware of what was going on. The people were at fault because they sat back and watched the events unfold.

The Russian government treated the working class terribly, leading to several protests and boycotts. S.I. Somov was a Russian Soviet who shared his emotions on his overwhelming experience in the demanding Soviet working class. At a protest, he wrote that there was a “...mystical, religious ecstasy...” that peppered the angry workers who fought for their freedom from the exhausting chains of overwhelming labor and inhumane working conditions (Document 4). He added that the working class was deprived of a lively human soul, and their bitterness and dissatisfaction had “overflowed.” Somov was a worker himself, who first hand experienced the cruelty described and developed his own reasonable emotions towards the topic.

“He was determined to establish a sphere of influence that would safeguard Soviet periphery for all time.” (doc. 12) Stalin’s goal was to promote a great country, and he did. His footprint was left behind, as effects of his work is still shown throughout the previous countries of the

The purpose of this letter is to inform you throughly about the significance of the eight stages of genocide. When recognising the importance of the eight stages of genocide, future atrocities, to the degree of the Holocaust, can be anticipated and prevented. To introduce myself, I come from the prestigious Munich International School. Throughout my academic studies, I acquainted myself with the subject of genocide. I have read several first hand accounts where the eight stages of genocide were not utilised to anticipate the order of events in the massacre, leading to a variety of iniquities. To introduce these “classics of Holocaust literature” (Chicago Tribune), Elli Coming of Age in the Holocaust written by Livia Jackson is a very moving piece full of lucid sorrow about the experience of death camps, while Night by Ellie Wiesel portrays the horror of Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945. These novels portray the procedure of a genocide. Earliest in order, Classification occurs, thereupon Symbolisation, Dehumanisation, leading to Organisation,