Crimes Against Humanity - Essay Example

that this term first appeared in the preamble of the 1907 Hague Convention, the meaning of this term have evolved to take on a much broader meaning to include “anything atrocious committed on a large scale.”1 Killing is morally evil and wars bring so many deaths that even though “decisions relating to war are not made in a moral vacuum”2 one can never claim that the death of innocent people are but the collateral damages of war. As the term “crimes against humanity” has become so broad that it encompasses just all other types of violence against certain groups of people, sector or race, it would help us to understand it better by looking into some specific events that resulted into the loss of thousands human lives.

There have been many events in the past, which involves great loss of human lives, but nothing could ever surpass the holocaust. In the generic sense of the word, a holocaust is any event where there is great loss of human life as is near total destruction by fire. However, the meaning of this word somewhat changed with the event that led to the death of some 11 million people. The holocaust is one of the best examples of “crimes against humanity”. Between 1933-1945, around 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jewish people were systematically killed when the Nazi and its supporter ruled the most part of Europe3.

Although most of Hitler’s target was the Jews, there are also other people who suffered and died on the process under the brutality of the military, the government officials and the leaders of the Nazi. Technically, the holocaust started when the Nazi in Germany opened the first concentration camp sometime in January 19334. At first, these camps were used as the holding place for political prisoners but eventually evolved over time until in 1939, it became the place of horror where people were tortured and killed.

Prisoners were classified in the concentration camps. Those who are healthy and strong were subjected to forced