The 10 Stages of Genocide

Examples through NAZI Germany

Identification & Prevention According to, genocidewatch.org

Stage 1: Classification
STAGE
The first warning sign that theres
trouble is when people begin
separating themselves into us and
them

PREVENTION
This can be prevented with social
institutions that bring the two
groups together or that create
classify people in ways that
transcend those divisions.

NAZI Example

Early on Hitler and his followers used

and spread the already somewhat
prolific idea that the Jews were
responsible for the worlds problems
The text in the poster says, Der
Ewige Jude which translates to,
The Everlasting Jew.

Stage 2: Symbolization
STAGE
Using symbols is only bad when it is
associated with hate. When someone is
forced to wear a symbol, or when
someone wears one that gives him or
her social status above others, thats
when its time to worry.

PREVENTION
This can be prevented by outlawing
symbols that do these things as hatespeech, but the government can only
do so much on its own

NAZI Example
After gaining power, the NAZIs
forced Jews to wear special badges
or arm-bands that identified them
and portrayed them as malicious
and evil in their very wellcoordinated propaganda

Stage 3: Discrimination
STAGE
In this stage, one group begins to
deny rights to the other group using
laws, customs, or political power.

PREVENTION
Discrimination based on ANYTHING
(race, gender, sexual preference,
religion, etc.) should be outlawed.
But again, this prevention starts with
regular people. The government
cannot do anything without the
support of its people.

NAZI Example
In 1935, NAZI controlled Germany
passed the Nuremburg Laws which
denied many basic rights to German
Jews.
They Stripped them of their
Citizenship and forbade them from
working in government or university
positions.

Stage 4: Dehumanization
STAGE
At this point, members of the
discriminated group are denied their
humanity. This often means they are
compared to diseases, insects, or
animals like rats.

PREVENTION
Sometimes, the oppressor group claims
that their hateful comparisons are
protected by free speech, but since the
oppressed group is denied the right to
counter such speech, it cannot be
tolerated.

NAZI Example
NAZI propaganda habitually
compared Jews to rats, cancer, and
vermin.
The text in this poster is partly cut
off, but the word, rotten means
the same as the English word of the
same spelling.

Stage 5: Organization
STAGE
Genocide is always organized, but not
always from a central authority. At this
stage, special militias are formed, plans
are made, and/or mobs are armed.

PREVENTION
Membership in hate-militias should be
outlawed, leaders who organize or
condone them should be banned from
travel, and trade sanctions and
investigations should be conducted by
the UN.

NAZI Example
The NAZIs were very well organized.
The picture above depicts the
uniform worn by NAZI brownshirts; early civilian followers of
Hitlers NAZI movement.
The bottom picture depicts the
Hitler Youth. A national
organization to indoctrinate young
men and women into the NAZI
ideology.

Stage 6: Polarization
STAGE
Moderates, or those who do not
identify with either group are targeted
in this stage. The groups on either side
insist on an, with us or against us
perspective, and those who remain in
the middle are forced to choose or be
persecuted or killed.

PREVENTION
Moderates from the group doing the
oppressing are most able to act at this
point, and so are the first targets.
Effective prevention at this point should
come from the international
community.

NAZI Example
On November 9th 1938, the NAZI
party organized mostly by brownshirts, and civilians supportive of
the NAZI party planned coordinated,
widespread vandalism of Jewish
shops, businesses, Synagogues, and
other properties. These acts went
totally un-punished by remaining
moderates within German society.
After this point, sympathizers and
those who spoke out for the rights
of Jews were shunned, bullied,
arrested, or worse

Stage 7: Preparation
STAGE
Plans to solve the problem posed by
the other are made at this stage.
Armies are armed, people are taken
away, and the leaders responsible for
the plans might use words like
purification or cleansing to make
the pill easier for the public to swallow.

PREVENTION
Arms Embargos and sanctions should be
conducted by the international
community. Leaders can be charged
with conspiracy to commit genocide
under article 3 of the Geneva
Convention.

NAZI Example
The NAZIs planned and prepared for
not only genocide, but for conquest.
In the end they were the most
modern, well-trained fighting force on
earth.
The top picture depicts a regiment of
the SS; Hitlers elite combat
division.

The bottom-right picture depicts the

housing facilities of a NAZI
concentration camp, where Jews,
Romani, homosexuals, and
Communists were taken for forced
labor, and eventual extermination.

Stage 8: Persecution
STAGE
At this point, victims are forcibly relocated, their property is
confiscated, and massacres may
even begin.

PREVENTION
A genocide emergency must be
declared when persecution begins.
Armed or otherwise heavy
resistance should be prepared by the
international community.

NAZI Example
The NAZIs started shipping people to
concentration camps as early as 1933,
the year he took power as Chancellor
of Germany. By the time the final
solution was in full force, victims
were transported by train on cattle
cars.
The systematic murder of those who
were sent to the camps (Jews,
Romani, Homosexuals, &
Communists) began in 1941, when
Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

Stage 9: Extermination
STAGE
Escalation to this stage can happen
very quickly after persecution
begins. This stage can easily evolve
into an endless cycle of killing if the
former victims pursue revenge.

PREVENTION
At this point, outright war with the
international community is a
necessity.

NAZI Example
The NAZIs used the concentration
camps they built to systematically
murder millions of people.
Most common was the use of
poison gas to suffocate the victims
to death in large gas chambers.
The remains of the victims were
typically burned to ash in ovens to
eliminate the evidence.
Sometimes however, the victims
were burned alive in the ovens if
the gas left them only half-dead.

By the end of the war the NAZIs

knew that there was no chance of
victory, and didnt have enough
time to burn the bodies and often
disposed of them in mass-graves.

Stage 10: Denial

STAGE
After and even throughout the
genocide, those responsible hide the
bodies, eliminate the evidence, and
lie, sometimes even after the truth
has already been discovered.

Justice, not Revenge

Leaders must be brought to justice
by the international community
whenever possible.

NAZI Example
As the soviets closed in around Berlin,
the NAZI high command either fled or
committed suicide.
Those that were caught were brought
to justice at the Nuremburg Trials,
which lasted from November 1945 to
October 1946.
Left to right:
Heinrich Himmler: Commander of the SS
Suicide
Adolf Hitler
Unknown, Presumed Suicide
Joseph Goebbels: Minister of Propaganda
Suicide