Psychology of Genocide

Psychology of Genocide Once Raphael Lemkin said, “Genocide is not war! It is more dangerous than war”. Through this quote it is understandable that how much genocide affect a society, a country and more importantly on people. The trauma of the genocidal event haunts the victims for days. But, as much as the victims, the Perpetrators were also important element in a genocidal event. It surprised the scholars and historians, how the perpetrators were calm & composed while confessing their crimes. This kind of behavior forced the experts to think and discuss about the psychology of the perpetrators. What psychological factors drive the perpetrator leader to murder innocent people with the intention to eliminate them in organized way. To understand genocide, it is not enough to only study the root causes of that event. Psychology of the perpetrators and who limit those acts, also contribute much in the genocide study. A good number of genocide analysts are psychologists & psychiatrist. After studying many genocide events and the main leader behind them, scholar could not find any major abnormal psychological factors that can differ them from normal human being. But they do find some factors that led the perpetrators to do or order heinous acts. In genocide one can find three groups of people who are involved in the event. 1) Perpetrators - who ordered or actively participated in the genocidal event, 2) Bystanders- who do not actively participate or rescue people in genocidal events, 3) Rescuers- who oppose the genocidal acts and help the victims. These three groups go through different psychological stages for which their action in the event differs. To understand the whole psychology behind any genocide, it is necessary to study the different psychological stages of these groups separately. Perpetrator’s psychology The psychological factors of the Perpetrator, or the one who architect of the genocide, is more complex than the two other groups. In common perception, these perpetrators are considered evil and it is assumed that some of them have problematic behavior from childhood. But no one is born evil or has evil perception from the very childhood period. It is their surrounding atmosphere or any event that can lead one in becoming a cold- hearted perpetrator. Steven K Baum divided the human psychological structure into two parts- i) You & Us, ii) Greater Awareness. “You & Us” is that mental stage where a person developed consciousness about himself. He tries to protect himself and develop self interests which later developed into protective nature toward him and his loved ones. In this stage, he abides by all kinds of rules and laws of his ethnicity and developed a feeling of distinct ethnicity. In “Greater Awareness'' a person has its highest mental development. At this stage he thinks about the world and its people. He respects the world culture, world people. According to Steven K Baum, the perpetrators of the genocides cannot make a proper journey from one stage to another. As a result, he could not respect the people who are not his own or not from his race. This can happen because of any event in early childhood or any particular incident that makes the perpetrator believe in the superiority of his race, resentment towards another group of people. These kinds of events develop Narcissism, greed & fear. Narcissism is a mental state where a person only thinks about himself and has a superiority complex. This contributes much in the 1st stage of genocide- Dehumanization. In much genocide the victim group is considered to be subhuman race such as cockroach (Rwandan Genocide), lower human race (Holocaust). Greed is “an overriding theme in human affairs”, and a principal motive of genocidal perpetrators and bystanders. Here, greed referring to the opportunity to strip victims of their wealth and property by looting it and occupy their forcibly vacated houses in accounts of genocide. Greed is more than a desire for material goods beyond those necessary for survival. It is intimately connected to the hunger for power, domination, and prestige. Fear is another factor that drives the perpetrators to commit mass murder. Perpetrators have the fear that lower class people will usurp their property, harm them in any way. That's why they think eliminating the other group is the only solution. Finally, humiliation is the final result of narcissism, fear and greed. Apart from these factors, Social Scientist pointed out some other issues that contribute to escalating these attributes in human nature. Such as  Difficult Life conditions and scarcity of basic needs: When a country goes through inflation, extreme unemployment, political & economical instability - it becomes difficult to survive for any common people and to lead a nation for a leader. This kind of situation develops self -concern, protectionism and animalistic survival instinct (animalistic survival instinct means to survive by eliminating a rival). After World War I, Germany had to go through an economic penalty, which led to the change of leadership to Hitler. Hitler was the main perpetrator of holocaust in World War II. For him, these penalties, treaties are noting but humiliation to their country and countrymen. It should be noted that, for him, countrymen were the “pure blood- Germans”.  Communal/ Group Conflict: In a multiethnic country it is not always possible to ensure the rights and justice for all groups. There are histories where a group is neglected for a long time despite being a majority of the population. Some groups may face extreme economic, social or political discrimination. Past histories contribute much to the attitude towards the minority groups by the group in power. If the discriminated group comes to power, they seek revenge from the other group. In Rwandan Genocide case, Hutus were majority of the population but for a long time they were economically, socially and politically discriminated. When Hutus came to power, they acted by their past hatred and discontent.  Cultural Devaluation : In a multiethnic state, when a group is constantly humiliated for their cultural practice, or blamed for anything bad happening in the country can be another cause of hatred toward other groups. This hatred could drive them to punish the other groups in any means. In World War II, anti-Semitism toward Jewish, extreme trust issues towards Armenians (1915-16), ancient hatred between Hutus & Tutsis are some of the examples.  Respect for Authority: An authoritarian leader can only order genocidal acts, it is the officers or people who execute them. They do these kinds of acts due to their respect for authority. They believe in their leader, in their culture, and in their institutions. They believe that their leader is doing the right thing to establish the superiority of their group and culture. Because of this, they do not defy the genocide orders or come forward to protest it. In most of the genocide events, common people, government officials believe in their leader and help to execute his orders. They may not be the main perpetrators but they are the people who actually execute these acts.  Past victimization: Some people think, past victimization can make sympathetic gestures towards other minorities. But in most of the cases, it's not true. Past victimization develops more insecurity and trust issues towards other groups. If the group is power has past history of genocide or violence, they have their fear of history repetition and do not trust any other groups in crisis. Their need for security can be aggressive and turn into elimination of other groups to protect their loved ones. If a group or ethnicity is historically aggressive then it is not difficult for them to repeat history. Their leader would automatically seek aggressive solutions to any problems. They would try to secure them with elimination of others or violence. Aggressiveness would become their trait. German is a aggressive nation from the beginning. They engaged in many wars and violence in their past history. Holocaust is just another example of their extreme violent nature.  Assabiyaan nature: Assabiyah is a key concept of „group feeling', or 'group. Consciousnesses. When a group has solidarity for their group only, they want to secure them from other groups and build protectionism around them. When this feeling develops into extreme they want to annihilate other groups to secure them. Bystanders Psychology Bystanders psychology is not as complex as the perpetrators. They are mostly the common people. They do not actively participate or protest the genocide. They consider these kinds of events to be the fate of the victims. They want to protect themselves so they remain neutral from these acts. Some of them also believe that the leader is doing the correct thing and because of this they do not help the victim party. They also have the cultural devaluation in them. If one observes the Holocaust, it can be seen that those who executed the Jews were all government officials. The common non-Jews were not participating in the act. But they did not help the victim to escape either. They followed the supreme orders and boycotted the Jewish products and people. Not only the native people but the remaining world can play the role of bystanders. A genocidal act may happen in a country but if other countries do not support this act they protest and help the victims. But when a country remains silent on such acts they are also considered bystanders. In Rwandan genocide, the united nation knew what was happening but they could not help the victims because of their rules and regulations. Genocidal acts happened in front of peacekeeping soldiers but they could not protest those acts as they were not attacked on that event because as per rules they can only use arms when they are affected. Same type of event happened in Bosnian genocide. Innocent people were murdered in front of the peacekeeping soldiers. If one goes back to the holocaust events, same kinds of acts were happened. The whole world knew what was happening in Germany but they did not boycott the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Psychology of Rescuers Rescuers or protesters can come from the very group who are the perpetrators. This group of people believes in humanity and world culture. They do not come from any particular group or religion. In every genocidal event, these kinds of people come as a hero. In holocaust, Oscar Schindler rescued many Jewish people and helped them to escape the country. In Rwandan genocide, a religious group came forward to help. Because of these kinds of people some of the victims can escape the event. Observation: After studying the psychological aspects of three groups especially the perpetrators, some observation can be drawn1) Cultural and ethnic superiority plays an important and major role in genocide. 2) Every man has an animalistic instinct by evolution. Some of them can overpower them in case of crisis, and some of them cannot. Genocidal acts are the reflection of this animalistic attitude and protective nature. 3) Perpetrators are not different in terms psychologically from other people. They are just driven by some factors that were in them for a long time. 4) Bystanders are mostly opportunists. Most of them remain silent not out of fear, but by choice. 5) Assabiyaan nature can be extreme and can be the reason for the extreme violence. Psychology of genocide is an important arena in genocide study. It helps to find the root cause of the event. This is also helpful for stopping any other genocidal events in future. If one observes the current world it can be seen that, study of perpetrators‟ psychology in genocide is still limited to academic sector. The findings or observations needs to be more studied in the real world. In events like Rohingyan massacre / genocide , this field of study was not used . This kind of study is necessary to use in the current world politics and system to stop any other heinous acts like genocide to be happen. Reference 1. Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction , Adam Jones, Routledge- Taylor & Francis Group, London & New York, ISBN 0–415–35384–X (pbk. : alk. paper) – ISBN 0– 415–35385–8 (hardback : alk. Paper (2006) 2. 'Less Than Human': The Psychology Of Cruelty, David Livingstone Smith, npr, March 29, 20111:00 PM ET, https://www.npr.org/2011/03/29/134956180/criminals-see-their-victims-as-lessthan-human?fbclid=IwAR1bt08q4A7CIDBGHWtu7SRt46YP7tirYMO7Pn_LHD3rLM3tkXD2DoNUNU 3. The Psychology of Genocidal Behavior, James Edward Waller, Resource Library/Video, Facing History & Ourselves, https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/video/psychology-genocidalbehavior?fbclid=IwAR2u9vT8R_SCfsdi9a_iQ8yB8nJGPGFayW_lQoWbkj1 PmCG4m5QhE-DPDWg