Terminology for Genocides

Anti-Semitism

1. Is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestation of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities (IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance 2016; US Department of State)
2. Hostility toward or hatred of Jews as a religious or ethnic group, often accompanied by social, economic, or political discrimination. (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/glossary)
3. Prejudice or discrimination against Jews. Antisemitism can be based on hatred against Jews because of their religious beliefs or their group membership (ethnicity), but also on the erroneous belief that Jews are a race. Nazi antisemitism was racial in nature; Jews were viewed as racially inferior to Aryans and destructive of the world order. --antisemitic adj. (https://echoesandreflections.org/audio_glossary/).

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Bystander

1. "A person who observes a conflict or unacceptable behavior". This behavior "might be something serious or minor, one-time or repeated, but the Bystander knows that the behavior is destructive or likely to make a bad situation worse." The implication is that the bystander has a moral duty to act in some way on behalf of the victim.
2. Simply put, a bystander is "standing by" but not involved in a significant situation of conflict between a perpetrator and a victim (or groups of each) (Source: Active Bystander Program and Mediation@ MIT "Active Bystanders).

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Complicit(y)

Involvement or inaction that aids or allows for immoral or criminal act(s).

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Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, or Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to enforce its prohibition.

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Culture

The characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition goes a step further, defining culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding that are learned by socialization. Thus, it can be seen as the growth of a group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group. Source: LiveScience

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Cultural Genocide

The killing of a target group's "soul," according to the original definition by Raphael Lemkin (who coined the term genocide), as an integral component of genocide (examples would include destruction of churches during the Armenian Genocide or synagogues during the Holocaust). In modern understanding, it can mean forced assimilation (such as "Indian Boarding Schools" in Colorado and the United States) or systematic destruction of cultural sites (such as the 1997-2006 erasure of 28,000 medieval Armenian monuments in Post-Soviet Nakhichevan).

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Dehumanization

The process of depriving a person or group of positive human qualities; a stage of genocide, where perpetrators no longer see their victims as human.

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Discrimination

1. Unfair or unequal treatment of an individual (or group) based on certain characteristics including, but not only, age, disability, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, national origin, religion, or sexual orientation.
2. The denial of justice, resources, and fair treatment of individuals and groups (often based on social identity) through employment, education, housing, banking, political rights, etc.

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Ethnic/Ethnicity

A group of people with a shared language and/or culture associated with a specific geographic area.

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Ethnocide/Ethnic Cleansing

Violent or non-violent erasure of an ethnic group from a particular territory; if it's intentional, it's genocide.

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Genocide

1. As defined in HB20-1336 (PDF) - "Genocide" means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group:
   1. Killing members of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group;
   2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group;
   3. Deliberately inflicting on a national, ethnic, racial or religious group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
   4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group; or
   5. Forcibly transferring children of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group to another group.
2. As defined by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM): Genocide is an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. These acts fall into five categories:
   1. Killing members of the group
   2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
   3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
   4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
   5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
3. There are a number of other serious, violent crimes that do not fall under the specific definition of genocide. They include crimes against humanity, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and mass killing.

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Holocaust

• As defined in HB20-1336 (PDF) - "Holocaust" is the systemic, bureaucratic state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews and five million individuals targeted for their religion, disability, or identity by the Nazi Regime and its collaborators.
• As defined by the USHMM - The Holocaust was the state-sponsored systemic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Jews were the primary victims. Six million were murdered.
• As defined by Echoes and Reflections - The murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators. Sinti-Roma, Poles, people with physical and mental disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents were also targeted by the Nazis.

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Human Rights

Human rights pertain to all people. In that sense, as they variously impact the human condition, they can be deemed "universal." However, in their specifics they do not apply equally to all, nor is there agreement by all as to what constitutes a right. Some vary cross-culturally. Rights emerge through discourse, debate, and experience. Not all are codified. They span economic, ecologic, social, cultural, religious, and political spheres.

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Marginalization

To put or keep an individual or group in a powerless or unimportant position within a society or group

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Marginalized Populations

Includes, but is not limited to, groups who are excluded due to race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, language, and/or immigration status. Marginalization occurs due to unequal power relationships between social groups.

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Mass Violence

Deliberate and sustained attacks on non-combatant civilians who belong to a certain communal or political group within a country. Mass violence can take many forms but can generally be defined as an intentional violent criminal act that results in physical, emotional, or psychological injury to many people.

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Perpetrator

Someone who does something morally wrong or carries out a criminal act.

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Prejudice

Prejudging or making a decision about a person or group of people without sufficient knowledge. Prejudicial thinking is frequently based on stereotypes (Source: Echoes and Reflections).

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Propaganda

False or partly false information used by a government or political group intended to sway and control the opinions of large groups of people.

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Racism

1. A belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
   • The systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another.
   • A political or social system founded on racism and designed to execute its principles (Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
2. Involves treating someone unfavorably because they are of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race (such as hair texture, skin color, or certain facial features). Color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of skin color complexion (Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).

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Rescuers

A person who helps someone out of a dangerous situation even at personal risk. In connection to the Holocaust, Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, honors what are known as Righteous Among the Nations, which are non-Jewish individuals who risked their lives to aid Jews (Source: Yad Vashem).

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Stereotype

• An oversimplified generalization about a person or a group of people without regard for individual differences.
• A standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.

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Survivor

Within the context of the Holocaust, a survivor is someone who escaped death at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators (Source: Echoes and Reflections).

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Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that codifies the rights and freedoms of all human beings.

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Victim

One who has been physically or emotionally harmed by another (Source: Echoes and Reflections).

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