Guiding Questions

• What is genocide — and why is it called “the crime of crimes”?

• Can justice ever match the scale of such horror?

• Is forgiveness possible after mass atrocity?

What Is Genocide?

The word genocide means the deliberate attempt to destroy a group based on identity — race, religion, ethnicity, or nationality.

Examples include:

• The Holocaust (Nazi Germany)

• The Rwandan Genocide (1994)

• The Armenian Genocide (1915)

• The Bosnian Genocide (Srebrenica, 1995)

• The Rohingya crisis in Myanmar (ongoing)

Genocide aims not just to kill — but to erase.

People, culture, history — all wiped out.

Justice for the Unthinkable

After genocide, survivors ask:

• Who ordered this? Who allowed it?

• Where was the world?

• Can any justice bring back what was lost?

Legal responses often include:

• International tribunals (e.g. Nuremberg, Rwanda, Yugoslavia)

• Life sentences for organizers

• Testimony by survivors

• Memorialization and reparations

But trials take years. Many perpetrators escape.

And some nations still deny the genocide happened at all.

Philosophical Perspectives

Raphael Lemkin

Coined the word genocide. Believed it was a unique crime that threatened humanity itself — and needed a name so the world could fight it.

Judith Shklar

Warned that legalism alone cannot make justice real — especially when it comes too late, or without political will.

Elie Wiesel

A Holocaust survivor who said: “To forget a Holocaust is to kill twice.” Justice begins with remembrance.

Forgiveness After Genocide?

Some survivors choose to forgive. Others never will — and don’t have to.

Forgiveness is personal. It can’t be demanded, only offered.

But society must ask:

• Can a nation heal without confronting its crimes?

• Can peace exist without memory?

A Thought Experiment

A man who participated in genocide confesses in court.

He begs for forgiveness. He is old, ill, and near death.

His victims are in the courtroom — listening.

Should his punishment be reduced?

Does remorse change justice?

Who gets to decide?

Justice After Genocide Requires

• International cooperation to prosecute the guilty

• Full acknowledgment of truth — no denial

• Education for future generations

• Memorials to honor the dead

• Legal protection for survivors

• Restoring culture, names, and stories that genocide tried to erase

Reflect and Discuss

• Is there any punishment equal to genocide?

• What does “never again” truly require?

• Can humanity learn from past genocides — or are we doomed to repeat them?

Suggested Readings

• Elie Wiesel – Night

• Samantha Power – “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide

• UN Genocide Convention (1948)

• Romeo Dallaire – Shake Hands with the Devil (Rwanda)

• Primo Levi – If This Is a Man