Genocide in the 20th Century
A Bibliography of Selected Sources
Mark Gudgel, USHMM Regional Education Corps
mark@eihr.org
The Genocide of the Herero and Nama People of Namibia
(1904)
“In 1904, the indigenous Herero people of German South West Africa (now Namibia) rebelled
against their German occupiers. In the following four years, the German army retaliated, killing
between 60,000 and 100,000 Herero people, one of the worst atrocities ever,” (ushmm.org).
Nonfiction Literature: The Kaiser's Holocaust: Germany's Forgotten Genocide and the
Colonial Roots of Nazism by David Olusoga and Casper Erichsen
The Armenian Genocide
(1915)
“April 24, 2015, marks one hundred years since the start of the Armenian genocide, sometimes
called the first genocide of the twentieth century. Of approximately 1.5 million Armenians living
in the multiethnic Ottoman Empire, at least 664,000 and possibly as many as 1.2 million were
massacred or died as a result of systematic abuse from Ottoman authorities from 1915–16,”
(ushmm.org).
Nonfiction Literature: A Shameful Act by Taner Akcam
Survivor Testimony: Armenian Golgotha by Grigoris Balakian
Literature; Student Favorite: Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian
Primary Source Documents: Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story: A Personal Account of the
Armenian Genocide by Henry Morgenthau
Film: The Armenian Genocide (2006)
The Killing Fields of Cambodia
(1975-1979)
“From April 17, 1975, to January 7, 1979, the Khmer Rouge perpetrated one of the greatest
crimes of the 20th century. Nearly two million people died under the rule of the fanatical
Communist movement, which imposed a ruthless agenda of forced labor, thought control, and
mass execution on Cambodia. The purported goal was to transform the Southeast Asian country
into a classless agrarian utopia. The result was an ancient society’s wholesale destruction and a
horrifying new term for the world to confront: ‘the killing fields,’” (ushmm.org).
Nonfiction Literature: Year Zero by Father Francois Ponchaud
Literature; Student Favorite: First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung
Film: The Killing Fields (1984)
Web: The Cambodian Genocide Program at Yale University – www.yale.edu/cgp/
Web: USHMM: http://www.ushmm.org/confrontgenocide/cases/cambodia/introduction/cambodia-1975
Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina
(1992-1995)
“On April 5, 1992, the government of Bosnia declared its independence from Yugoslavia. The
creation of an independent Bosnian nation that would have a Bosniak majority was opposed by
Bosnian Serbs, who launched a military campaign to secure coveted territory and ‘cleanse’
Bosnia of its Muslim civilian population. The Serbs targeted Bosniak and Croatian civilians in
areas under their control, in what has become known as ‘ethnic cleansing.’ During the
subsequent civil war that lasted from 1992 to 1995, an estimated 100,000 people were killed,
80% of whom were Bosniaks. In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces killed as many as 8,000 Bosniak
men and boys from the town of Srebrenica. It was the largest massacre in Europe since the
Holocaust,” (ushmm.org).
Nonfiction Literature: Bosnia: A Short History by Noel Malcolm
Survivor Testimony: The Tenth Circle of Hell by Rezak Hukanovic
Literature; Student Favorite: Good People in an Evil Time by Svetlana Broz
Film: ABC While America Watched: The Bosnia Tragedy with Peter Jennings (1994)
Web: USHMM - http://www.ushmm.org/confront-genocide/cases/bosnia-herzegovina
The Rwandan Genocide
(1994)
“In 100 days, from April to July 1994, between 500,000 and one million Rwandans,
predominantly Tutsis, were massacred when a Hutu extremist–led government launched a plan to
wipe out the country’s entire Tutsi minority and any others who opposed its policies,”
(ushmm.org).
Nonfiction Literature: A Thousand Hills by Stephen Kinzer
Survivor Testimony: Inside the Hotel Rwanda by Edouard Kayihura
Literature; Student Favorite: I’m Not Leaving by Carl Wilkens
Primary Source Documents: Machete Season by Jean Hatzfeld
Film: Frontline: Ghosts of Rwanda (2005)
Web: The Genocide Archive of Rwanda – www.genocidearchiverwanda.org.rw
“Genocide stems from thinking that says ‘my world
would be better without you in it.’” ~Carl Wilkens