Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity | Denationalization

The Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of War and on Enforcement of Penalties first used the term denationalization in 1919 in an early effort to describe crimes similar to genocide that were committed during World War I. It cited many examples of Bulgarian, German, and Austrian official attempts to "denationalize the inhabitants of the occupied territory" in Serbia. Among the specific violations mentioned were the prohibition of the Serb language; the destruction of archives, churches, monasteries, and law courts; and the closure of schools.

Genocide was first described as the destruction of the national pattern or character of the victimized group and replacing it with the national pattern or character of the oppressor. Therefore, genocide involved a two-stage process. It was the first stage, which entailed the destruction of the national pattern of the victimized group, for which the word denationalization...