History Fact Finder | War and Conflict: Twentieth Century - What Was The Origin Of The Term "Genocide"?

What was the origin of the term "genocide"?

The term genocide—which is defined as the crime of destroying or conspiring to destroy a group of people because of their ethnic, national, racial, or religious identity—was introduced by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish legal scholar. He created the word in 1944 to describe the systematic annihilation of entire groups of people by Nazi Germany during World War II (1939–45). Yet genocide did not originate with the Nazis: it has been a common practice since ancient times, and it has occurred in all parts of the world. In fact, scholars estimate that during the last half of the twentieth century genocide was committed or attempted by at least sixteen nations in Africa, Central and South America, Asia, and Europe.

In 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN; an international peace-keeping organization) authorized the establishment of the International Convention on...

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