Genocide is the systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group. In Germany during World War II a man named Hitler tried to eliminate any race except for what he called the ‘Arian’ race. In the process he committed genocide by killing off 6 million Jews and a total of 8 million people in all. Europe was going through some very hard times during the mid 1900’s so that no one was able to see a disaster such as the Holocaust coming. Many things led to the weakening of Europe at the time. The Ottoman Empire was breaking up plus they were still trying to get over the devastation of WW I.
Bosnia and Herzegovina had been having many problems as well. They were a witness to much change and devastation ever since the early 1900’s when they became merged as Yugoslavia with three distinct ethnic groups. In the middle of WW II the axis powers split Yugoslavia into two separate pieces, pinning one side in conflict and war against the other. By the end of WW II a man named Josip Tito, a Croatian Communist created a pact between the two fighting sides. This lasted until 1960 when Tito granted Muslims a distinct ethnic status in society as an effort to put them on equal grounds with the Serbs and Croats.
After Tito’s death conditions got bad. The Serbs gained most of the power and began killing off the weaker non-Serb peoples. The situations between Germany and Bosnia are quite different, however, there is a strong resemblance as well. It is highly unlikely that another Holocaust would ever occur again as long as the memory of the catastrophe is not forgotten. What Happened in Bosnia is quite bad but it is in no comparison with the world domination of Hitler and his army. The main difference between the Bosnia genocide and the Holocaust is that Hitler gained respect and power, whereas the Serbs had the majority of the army and were smarter then the non-Serbs so they were able to take charge.
When Hitler first started his campaign people loved him and wanted him in power. It was what he did once he was in power that astonished the nation. However, in Bosnia there were always tensions between the three groups. The Serbs were not let into power; they never had the other group’s respect they were just able to establish a strong army and state that was capable of killing. In Yugoslavia there were many different republics formed all representing a different ethnic group. In 1991 the Croats and Slovenes declared their independence from Yugoslavia.
The Serbs then dominated Yugoslavia so they then decided to try and expand by setting up Serbian regions in Bosnia. The Bosnian government did not allow that, thus leading to armed conflicts between the Serbs and the non-Serbs. Another major difference was the fact that Hitler started the mass murder within his own country and expanded outward through Imperialism, Bosnia however did not. When the Serbs got control of Yugoslavia they became more of a nation banded together than the Croats and the Slovenes were, so what started off as a war became blown up into a mass-murdering spree. In Bosnia the people who were doing the killing was not one person, it was the whole nation of Serbs.
Meanwhile in Germany the people committing murder were all looking up to one person. They followed Hitler’s ideas and not their own. Hitler was able to manipulate the minds of the community and make them believe that what he was doing was good and was only for the good of the nation. In Bosnia the people knew that they what they were doing was murder and bad and that they were killing off the people just to gain power but that didn’t stop them, their goal was to be the leading ethnic race. In Bosnia it wasn’t until the early 1990’s that the Croats and Muslims decided to fight together against the Serbs. All the years of war before that took place with all three groups at odds with each other, and the Serbs trying to kill them all off with the help of the other group.
In Germany from the beginning it was always the Nazi’s against any non-Arian member of society. Even though the Holocaust is better known than the genocide of Bosnia, they do have many similarities. One main similarity between the two nations is that they both thought there was one group that was not only better than the others but that should also be the leaders of the others. In Germany it was the Arian race that was supposedly better than the rest and in Bosnia it was the Serbs. The Serbs however didn’t necessarily think they were better they were just trying to gain power and control of the nation.
The most obvious similarity of all is the fact that both the minds of Hitler and the minds of the Serbs were set on Imperialism. Imperialism is the policy of extending a nation’s authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations. The Serbs wanted to dominate all of Bosnia by controlling the people and the government in it. They wanted themselves to be the superior race and the way they went about it was to involve themselves in mass murder and the raping of women. In both Germany and Bosnia there was a formation of some kind of party that would eventually try to take over. In Germany it was the ‘Nazi Party’ and in Bosnia it was called the ‘Assembly of the Serbian People’.
In Bosnia the Serbs targeted everyone except themselves, as did the Nazi’s of Germany. A situation such as the Holocaust, which was created by Hitler, will never happen again on such a large scale just because of the education of the people. If a dictator tried to recreate the scene of the Holocaust he would fail miserably because at this point there are too many alliances and pacts that would have to be broken. No continent would allow such devastation to occur once again.
The military alliances are too powerful and the teamwork is too strong. On the other hand, a situation such as what happened in Bosnia can easily occur in the world once again because of the instability of certain governments. All that certain nations need is a strong leader to take their country over and to produce mass-murders.