Haim Gordon is professor in the Department of Education at Ben-Gurion University, Israel.
Encyclopedia of Genocide
israel w. charny (editor-in-chief)
Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 1999. Two volumes, 718 pages
Hardback: $175.00
Our recent past, especially the entire twentieth century, includes many periods during which the evils of genocide were carried out in different parts of the world. Israel Charny’s Encyclopedia of Genocide provides many truths and much significant information about these periods of evil, and the details of the acts of genocide; the entries often help the reader to put the evil performed in proper perspective. Charny has undoubtedly provided us with a first-rate work of scholarship and a worthy resource. In addition, as intimated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Simon Wiesenthal, who wrote the two forewords to the Encyclopedia, the book may help those who wish to struggle so that such wicked and evil deeds will not be repeated.
The Encyclopedia opens with a definition and discussion of its central term, “genocide”. This was coined in 1944 by a Polish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin. It related primarily to the purposeful annihilation of a people or an ethnic group. Lemkin also indicated some of the grave political and legal implications of his new term. Later, in 1948,
the United Nations enacted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (which entered into force in 1951), defining genocide not only as a crime during times of war but also a crime in times of peace. (Vol. 1, p. 11)
Since 1948, many scholars and politicians have discussed the term “genocide”. Some thinkers have indicated that, as defined by Lemkin, it raises problems. One major difficulty is that it does not cover mass murders in which the victims are not of one nation or ethnic group, say, Armenians, Jews, Gypsies or Tutsis. Would the mass murder of millions of Soviet citizens from different ethnic groups during Stalin’s reign be classified as genocide? And what about the hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens who were killed by Chinese officials and mobs during Mao’s “cultural revolution”?
In response to such questions, some scholars have suggested that the term “genocide” is too limited. Instead, they have recommended the use of the term “democide”, which would cover all mass murders of any group of people; thus democide includes acts of genocide. The Encyclopedia of Genocide presents this scholarly view in some detail. But it does not reach a final decision as to the definition of genocide. In its two volumes, however, the Encyclopedia does cover many instances of mass murder that are not linked to the wish to exterminate a nation or an ethnic group, such as the mass murders initiated by Stalin in the Soviet Union. In this indirect manner the Encyclopedia indicates that its editors believe that all mass murders can be termed “genocide”.
Reading an encyclopaedia of genocide is no gentle task. Still, some entries are much harder to read placidly than others. This reviewer felt very uncomfortable about the Turkish government’s firm and continual denial of the fact that the Turks had conducted a campaign of genocide against the Armenians residing in the Ottoman Empire. In that genocide, more than two million Armenians were brutally murdered by the Turkish armed forces during the First World War and in the years that followed. As the Encyclopedia shows by citing some of the thousands of relevant documents and testimonies, the denial of these acts of genocide is an attempt to conceal truths and to establish falsehoods.
Let us look at these falsehoods and attempts at deceit more closely. The denial today by the Turkish government and its enlisted scholars of well-established truths about the genocide of the Armenians is taking place almost eight decades after the last Armenian was murdered on Turkish soil. It is a purposeful attempt to cover up a horrendous crime. The cover-up is in itself an act of deceit and an evil deed. Furthermore, such a denial of truth reveals that the Turks wish to evade responsibility towards the Armenian victims of this terrible crime. It is also an act of irresponsibility against the few Armenians who escaped the Turkish murderers, and against their progeny; these living Armenians wish to relate authentically and truthfully to their sad and disturbing past.
The Encyclopedia of Genocide describes in some detail many instances of genocide committed against indigenous populations all over the world; it endeavours to present an overall picture of some of these instances of genocide. Table 1 on page 350 in volume two presents thirty-four cases of genocide of indigenous peoples; the cases are presented according to the continent in which these terrible crimes were committed. The list is not complete. For instance, the aborigines of Australia are not listed. Yet the information provided reveals how little an educated lay person, such as this reviewer, knows about the prevalence of mass murder of indigenous peoples during the twentieth century. The providing of such detailed, relatively arcane information is probably the most important virtue of this encyclopaedia.
Despite the many virtues of the Encyclopedia of Genocide, some problems soon strike the eye. This review will mention only two. I believe that both are based on editorial mistakes, hence I choose to mention them.
One problem is the Vietnam War. It is not even mentioned as an entry. Yet there is plentiful testimony as to the purposeful killing of at least tens of thousands of unarmed Vietnamese civilians by the armed forces of the United States. Furthermore, in the 1960s, a public tribunal—the Bertrand Russell Tribunal—dedicated many meetings to the genocide of the Vietnamese people. The tribunal was headed by two major twentieth-century philosophers: Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre. Hence, it is surprising and regrettable that the acts of genocide performed by the United States during the Vietnam War are not even mentioned. Nor has the Russell Tribunal, which dealt with these terrible crimes, been awarded an entry in the Encyclopedia of Genocide.
Again, an entry is devoted to Leo Kuper, “the world’s foremost scholar of genocide, [who] passed away at age 85 in Los Angeles on May 23, 1994” (vol. 2, p. 373). I have no quarrel with an entry for Kuper as such, but I believe that dedicating ten pages to him, however great his merits, is wrong and out of proportion. Personally, I had never heard of Leo Kuper before opening the Encyclopedia. Note that the genocide of the Kurds, which is the entry under the letter K that follows Kuper’s, receives only a page and a half. In my view, the greatness of any scholar pales beside the instigated murder of tens of thousands of Kurds.
In addition, I do have a quarrel with the handing out of grades in an encyclopaedia. I believe editors are mistaken to decide and declare who is the “world’s foremost scholar” in any field, including that of genocide studies.
These comments are not intended to detract from the worthy contribution represented by the publication of the Encyclopedia of Genocide. Let me state this contribution in blunt words. I have mentioned the significance of the Encyclopedia in helping us to comprehend our sad and miserable history in which many acts of genocide were perpetrated, especially during our recent past. But I also hold that such a work of scholarship has great significance when we consider our present and envision our future.
Put briefly, I would be very grateful if a hundred years from now, at the beginning of the twenty-second century, there was no need for anyone to compile and publish an encyclopaedia of genocide. I would be very grateful if these coming hundred years differed from the twentieth century in that no crimes of genocide were committed. Fulfilling such a hope, however, requires that we learn from the mistakes and evil deeds of the past while engaging in dialogue between peoples. I firmly believe that genuine global dialogue between individuals and peoples can help us work for a better future in which genocide will be a crime of the distant past.
Israel Charny’s Encyclopedia of Genocide can be a source of inspiration for such a worthy undertaking.
