genocide
Systematic group annihilation
Genocide is the deliberate, systematic destruction of a racial, ethnic, religious, or national group.
The term was coined in 1944 to describe the Nazi extermination of Jews and has since been applied to similar atrocities, from the Armenian massacres to Rwanda and Bosnia.
Genocide includes not just mass killing but also forced sterilization, family separation, and cultural destruction—any acts intended to eliminate a group's existence.
International law recognizes it as a crime against humanity.
Large-scale unlawful killing
- exterminationComplete destruction of a group
- slaughterKilling for meat
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
- mass murderKilling multiple people simultaneously
ethnic cleansing · pogrom · mass killing · death squads · eradication · liquidation · decimation · mass graves
Systematic attack on civilians
- tribunalJudicial decision-making body
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- indictmentFormal charge from jury
- ICCGlobal justice body
war crimes · Nuremberg · jurisdiction · intent · ratification · accountability · complicity · incitement
Nazi genocide of Jews
- ShoahNazi extermination of Jews
- RwandaEast-Central African nation
- ArmeniaCaucasian republic, capital Yerevan
- CambodiaIndochinese kingdom near Vietnam
Darfur · Rohingya · Uyghur · Bosnia · Tutsi · Khmer Rouge · Ottoman · Nazi
Denying personhood to others
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- ideologyStructured belief framework
- hatredIntense hostile aversion
- scapegoatingUnfairly assigning fault to innocents
classification · polarization · preparation · persecution · denial · supremacy · radicalization · complicity
Alert before event occurs
- interventionPurposeful involvement to change course
- sanctionsPunitive international restrictions
- peacekeepingPreventing or ending conflict
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
witness · monitoring · education · remembrance · memorial · never again · awareness · advocacy
massacre
Large-scale unlawful killing
- exterminationComplete destruction of a group
- slaughterKilling for meat
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
mass murder · ethnic cleansing · pogrom · mass killing · death squads · eradication · liquidation · decimation · mass graves · killing fields
crime against humanity
Systematic attack on civilians
- tribunalJudicial decision-making body
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- indictmentFormal charge from jury
ICC · war crimes · Nuremberg · jurisdiction · intent · ratification · accountability · complicity · incitement
Holocaust
Nazi genocide of Jews
- ShoahNazi extermination of Jews
- RwandaEast-Central African nation
- ArmeniaCaucasian republic, capital Yerevan
Cambodia · Darfur · Rohingya · Uyghur · Bosnia · Tutsi · Khmer Rouge · Ottoman · Nazi · Hutu
dehumanization
Denying personhood to others
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- ideologyStructured belief framework
- hatredIntense hostile aversion
scapegoating · classification · polarization · preparation · persecution · denial · supremacy · radicalization · complicity · bystander
early warning
Alert before event occurs
- interventionPurposeful involvement to change course
- sanctionsPunitive international restrictions
- peacekeepingPreventing or ending conflict
documentation · witness · monitoring · education · remembrance · memorial · never again · awareness · advocacy · human rights
- HolocaustHolocaust, Auschwitz, concentration camps, Holocaust survivors, gas chambers
- -cide wordsbactericide, germicide, parricide, filicide, sororicide
- Historical TragediesHolocaust, massacre, atrocity, ethnic cleansing, 9/11
- literary themesheroism, hero's journey, ennui, social realism, morals
- persecutionHolocaust, pogrom, pogroms, ethnic cleansing, mass murder
- atrocitiesHolocaust, massacre, massacres, ethnic cleansing, mass execution
genociderescue
Save from harm
salvation · preservation · liberation · protection · peacekeeping
genocidepeace
Freedom from disturbance
reconciliation · coexistence · peaceful coexistence · harmony · tolerance
genocidepreservation
Maintaining something's condition
survival · flourishing · cultural revival · population growth · renaissance
- cultural genocideDestroying identity without killing
- genocide survivorOne who lived through systematic extermination
- Rwandan Genocide1994 mass killings in central Africa
- Rwanda genocide1994 ethnic mass murder
- genocide denialRejecting evidence of mass extermination
- Armenian GenocideOttoman massacre of Armenians