Primitive Culture
Although there are uncountable acts of injustice going on in the current generation, history has witnessed a plethora of such events.
This paper focuses on various injustices in human history with especial emphasis on the events which occurred from the 1940s. Some of these events include but not limited to the killing of other people, Nazi Death Camps, Japanese internment camps and Lynching in The United States. Killings Murdering of human beings reached its peak in the 1940s. This was mainly through gas and during the famous Nazi rule. The introduction and use of euthanasia to exterminate unworthy lives was among many cruel activities and practices of that time.
Many disabled people, the sick and mentally handicapped were killed by security forces and with the help of gas vans. Several Jews were killed using gas in 941 and this was immediately followed by the construction of fixed gas chambers and other buildings whose main purpose was to be used in the execution of people whom the authority felt that they were not worth living. Most of these people who were killed were political prisoners, laborers, slaves and war prisoners (Barri and Flowers 173). The use of carbon monoxide to suffocate people was used from 1941 to 1944 at Kulmhof where during over 150,000 Jews were killed together with about five hundred gypsies. This was not the end of killing people using gas.
More than 600,000 Jews were killed in gas chambers in from December 1942 at Belzec. There were series of death in extermination where millions of people lost there lives under the command of cruel leaders who were in power. With hundreds of people being killed in every camp, an approximate number of 900, 000 people died. Nazi Death Camps Hitler is among world leaders remembered for his cruelty. There were over six million people who died during his reign in camps, firers and through other painful and unjust ways.
He established his first death camp in 1933 when he came to power. However the number of these camps rapidly grew reaching 100. One of these camps was Maidanek camp which was established in 1941 after the Nazis had conquered part of Poland which was by then under the former Russia (Arad 119). The sole purpose of the facility was to kill Jews who were being ferried from different countries which included Austria, France, Holland and Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless, majority of the victims who were exterminated in this camp were from neighboring areas.
More than 1.5 million people lost their lives at the camp in an operation which lasted three years. This operation was characterized by a number of events. Operations of Nazi camps The main method of kiling prisoners in almost every Nazi camp was by use of gas which was obtained from IG Farben, a German chemical company. However, there was mass shooting in some camps with other prisoners starving or being tortured to death.
History records most of the people who were involved in mass shooting ran mud or committed suicide for being unable to walk in blood which socked the ground. This illustrates how thousands of people lost their lives by mass shooting. Dead bodies used to be destroyed at the crematoria and the ashes buried or scattered. It is also important to note that furnaces which were constructed for the destruction of bodies ran die and night in order to mange the number of dead bodies delivered continuously (Landau 327). One unique feature of the Nazi camps is that they were divided into three categories.
Although the sole purpose of these camps was to exterminate inmates some methods and procedures which were followed slightly differed. Some camps like Aktion Reinhardt” extermination camps were mainly for extermination. Unlike in other camps, prisoners who were delivered at Aktion Reinhardt extermination camps used to be shot immediately without any form of selection. The camps utilized poisoning gas in chamber before burying the bodies. However, they changed their mode of disposing bodies to use of crematories due to the increase in death numbers. The camps mainly executed Jews people and because of their small sizes, they were closed by the end of the year 1943.
On the other hand, there was selection of inmates who were delivered at Concentration and extermination camps. This mainly applied to those inmates who were capable of providing labor (Landau 328). These camps remained active up to the end of the war. The last group of Nazi camps was minor extermination camps which facilitated minor activities like detections and exterminations using gas chambers which were mobile.Japanese internment camps Human cruelty and injustice was also witnessed in 1942 during forced relocation and imprisonment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese who were residing at the Pacific Coast.
These people relocated to War Relocation Camps. The law to relocate Japanese-Americans was unequally applied in the entire country. These camps were not better than prisons. Their conditions were not up to date. They were poorly constructed structures with a barbed wire fence together with armed security guards. It is quite painful to note these people; over 100,000 were not guilty and had not been charged.
They were considered to be a security threat because of their originality (Cogan 108). According to the relocation order, the operation was to target those who had any ancestral link to Japan. It was therefore very easy for the Japanese to be picked from the crowd because of the racial difference. The relocation of Japanese to camps was quite disastrous and inhuman. They were forced to abandon everything they owned ranging from their material possessions to family members. Those who were relocated lost their businesses, suffered depression and some died due to unfavorable camp conditions (Cogan 147).
This decision which was ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt was an act of injustice and disrespect to humanity. Apart from death and disconnection from their family members, Japanese also suffered economic hardships after abandoning their businesses. The inequality of the order was clearly seen in Hawaii where very few Japanese were relocated despite the fact that the population of the region had over 75 % Japanese. Lynching in the United StatesExtrajudicial killings and mob justice were among the common injustices in the United States and around the globe. This method of murder mostly involves hanging of the victim. Moreover other activities may be employed like burning of victims and serious torture.
Lynching cases in the U.S significantly grew especially after the release of slaves. There were economic problems across the nation with white people considering the slaves as the main cause for existing financial problems. More tan four thousand lynching were recorded between 1882 and 1968 with over three thousand being black Americans. Although lynching numbers recorded in books are high, hundreds of lynching was never recorded (Inc Icon Group International 36).
Many of the lynched Americans used to collaborate with the black people and in coordination of criminal activities. Although lynching was not necessary since it was not to solve their problems, Americans believed that there was every need of ensuring the security of their women and daughters. There was no valid reason that would have warranted lynching with rape being among the cited factors which contributed to increase in lynching. Many lynching were reported in the south because. This was attributed to the end of civil war that left black people free. Lynching was also reported in the western part of the country.
Western lynching mainly involved white people. These events undoubtedly indicate the cruelty of human beings in all spheres of life. It is clear that millions of people who lost there lives in 1940s never deserved death. It was a complete deprival of their rights and misuse of power to pursue personalized agenda. Having a cruel generation or leadership is quite dangerous. It is also evident that minority groups are at a higher risk of facing human cruelty.
We notice that most the prisoners who were burnt in camps were mainly Jews, Japanese or the black. Regardless of the existing problem, cruelty has never worked.
