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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
INTRODUCTION
“Genocide,” is an attempt to destroy a group of people. Genocide mixes the Greek genos (race or kind) and the Latin cide (kill). It was coined by Raphael Lemkin (1900–59), a Polish Jew, in his 1944 book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe to describe Nazi Germany’s extermination policy, later called the Holocaust.
Historical studies on the background, scope, prevention, and punishment of genocide explain how racism, politics, and hatred trigger genocide by addressing ideological, psychological, social, gender, class, security, territorial, economic, diplomatic, and cultural problems. Tracing the history of genocide, recent advocacy and policy guidelines focus on how to prevent genocide by identifying and addressing such issues, then treating them. This chapter covers the definition and history of genocide, developments in researching the field, and its popular culture presentations.
GENOCIDE: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Earlier Genocides
Acts of genocide reoccurred, carried out especially by empires craving territories and obedience. Examples include the Assyrians who destroyed and exiled the Arameans and the Israelites between the ninth to seventh centuries BCE. The Babylonians perpetrated genocide in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE against the Phoenicians and the Judeans.
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