Kristen Yeager - Revere Middle School The Holocaust and Present Day Sudan: A Comparison and Contrast of Events There are many historical events that have shaped the world. One such event is the Holocaust - the systematic mass murder of the European Jewish population by the Nazi Party during World War II. Another such event, taking place currently in the Sudan, is the policy-driven starvation of the Sudanese people in the Southern regions by the ruling population in the North. Both of these events are tragic and have resulted in millions of people being killed. The purpose of this paper is to compare two events in history and discuss the lessons learned as well as the implications for the future of the world. The Jewish Holocaust began in 1938. Following a difficult ten-year political struggle, Adolph Hitler came to power. Hitler and the Nazi political party believed that the Jews were the cause of Germany's defeat in World War I. Hitler and his Nazi followers planned to exterminate the entire population of the Jews in Europe (History of the Holocaust 1). The beginning of the genocide occurred in Germany. Ninety Jews were killed, five hundred synagogues were burned, and the windows in the Jewish shops and stores were smashed (History of the Holocaust 2) Twenty-five thousand were then taken to concentration camps. Hitler and his troops then invaded other European countries including, Austria, Poland, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and France (4). During this time, Hitler continued to kill Jews and build concentration camps. In 1942, the huge mass murders began (5). The war continued and in 1944, Hitler and his armies were being defeated by the allied troops from different countries, but the killing of the Jews continued until Hitler and his Reich surrendered. Hitler committed suicide in. 1945 (II). However Hitler and the Nazis had gassed four million Jews in the death camps and two million others were shot or had starved to death in the ghettos (11). The country of Sudan declared independence in 1956 and has been in a civil war since {Woodward, ix). Many factors contribute to Sudan's civil war. One of those factors is the geographical region (Deng, .1). The Northern and Southern regions are at war against each other. Other factors include religion and ethnic identity. The war is between the Arab Muslim pro-government north and the B1ack African-Christian South. In addition, oil was discovered in the southern Sudan more than twenty years ago. Struggles over the oil reserves have made the civil war and the political conflict worse (Yale Insider, 1). The Sudanese government in the North has killed more than 2 million civilians and the South since 1983 (Yale Insider, 1) There is an organized and systematic plan by the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias (nomadic Arab shepherds) to eliminate 80 black African groups from the Daufur region (Wikipedia Sudan, 1). The conflicts and the brutal killings continue today. The government has created many man-made famines or, "calculated starvations" since the1980's. Between 100,000-200,000 people have perished as a result of the man-made famines (Salopek l). The Holocaust and Sudanese genocide are alike in some ways and different in others. Religion and culture are causes for the killing in both Sudan and in World War II. In the Holocaust the main target was the Jewish people, (Wikipedia Germany, 1) but in the Sudan, the targets are the Black African-Christians and non-Moslems (Feitlowitz, 1). In both cases the political parties in power be1ieved that their race, culture, and religion was superior to the rest. Hitler believed that the Aryan race (people with light hair and light eyes) was better that the others. The Sudanese government believes that the Islamic religious law is superior. Another similarity is the peace camps and concentration camps. In both Sudan and the Holocaust they used these to kill people. Concentration camps were places where Jews were killed and murdered by the Germans. Auschwitz was the biggest concentration camp in Germany (History of the Holocaust 3). In Sudan peace camps resembled those of the Nazi death camps (Aita, 1). Both camps were used for the same reasons, to kill innocent people. The peace camps were also used to force Christian Sudanese refugees to the Islamic faith (Alley, 1). The Jews and the Sudanese people are alike because they have suffered death and starvation at concentration camps. The killing and terror in the Sudan today is no different than what happened in the Holocaust. The world did not respond right away to the killing of the Jews in World War II. Many years went by and many Jews were murdered. Currently the world nations have provided some help but not enough to directly stop the mass murder, famine, and slavery in South Sudan (I, Abolish). People of the world have not learned very much from the Holocaust because genocides and mass murders have continued to occur since 1945. Mass murders and genocides care sad because so many innocent people are killed. People did not learn to stop genocides as soon as they heard about them. Mass murders are different from wars because wars can happen anywhere and at anytime in the world. Wars are usually people fighting over borders or political power. Mass murders, on the-other hand, are systematic plans to wipe out an entire religion or culture. Since no one is doing anything about mass murders and genocides, it is scary because some one could decide to wipe out a religion or a culture anywhere in the world. In conclusion, as long as the world doesn't help to stop what is happening in other countries, the mass murders and genocides will continue.
Works Cited Ally, Sabit A. "A Brief Overview on: War and Genocide in the Sudan." 07 Dec. 2005 http://www.iabolish.com/today/ features/sudan/overview1.htm. Deng. Francis M. "Sudan-Civil War and Genecide." The Middle East Quarterly. 31 Dec. 2005 http://www.meforum.org/ article/22 . Feitlowitz, Marguerite. "Crimes of War." Sudan Magazine. 31 Dec 2005 http://www.crimesofwar.org/sudan-mag/sudan/indiscuss.html . "History of the Holocaust." United Human Rights.
31 Dec 2005 "Oil and the Civil War in Sudan" Yale Insider. 31 Dec. 2005 http://www.yaleinsider.org/article.jsp?id=14 . Salopek, Paul. "A Shattered Sudan." National Geographic. 07 Dec. 2005 http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0302/feature2/?fs=www7.nationalgeographic.com. |