Historical Genocides
- Bodhi Milano '26
- Apr 20, 2025
- 4 min read
Investigating the lack of common knowledge and education surrounding mass atrocity crimes.
Many genocides have happened throughout history, yet common knowledge and social studies classes only describe a few; what other genocides have we not heard about? And why haven’t we?
Researchers and historians propose a variety of reasons why the Holocaust is the most –if only– widely remembered genocide, namely the scale, thorough documentation, and Eurocentric nature of the crime.
“But I think the main reason why [no one really knows about the genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia] is because they happened in countries that nobody really cares about,” says Michiel Pestman, an International Criminal Defense Attorney who worked on cases in Rwanda and Cambodia.
Both nations are small, and so are their genocides when compared to the Holocaust, in which 11 million people were killed.
Most scholarly estimates state that 800,000 people died in the 100 days of the Rwandan genocide, which began in April of 1994 and ended in July. However, this was about 11% of Rwanda’s population, as it was a nation with only 8 million citizens at the time. Similarly, during the Cambodian genocide, between 1.5-3 million died, or around 30% of the population. So although the numbers are smaller in direct comparison, their genocides had no less impact on their countries.
Pestman posing for an interview.
Additionally, outside of being small nations, the Holocaust was geographically widespread. Every country in Europe had its own Holocaust memories and trauma. Few countries surrounding Cambodia or Rwanda have the social and governmental bandwidth to formally recognize the crimes committed.
By definition, genocide is a large-scale crime characterized by the deliberate killing of a particular nation or ethnic group, with an entention to destroy that entity. In 1948, the UN adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (abbreviated to the Genocide Convention), which globally defined the term genocide and provided a framework for persecution of genocidal crimes.
Although the UN and Human Rights Watch are conservative with what they deem a genocide, three are defined by the UN Convention are: the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide and the Rwandan genocide. Other, less conservative estimates put the Cambodian genocide, Bosnian genocide, conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, or the Massacre of Najing on the list as well.
“At Human Rights Watch, we pay particular attention to the genocidal intention that has to be proven,” says Carine Kaneza Nantulya, Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch within the Africa division. This means that HRW needs to know without a doubt that a particular group intended to kill another.
With the Holocaust, this was easy– there were events like the Wannsee Conference that proved Nazi’s genocidal intent. However, for crimes like the massacres in Rwanda, this intention is harder to prove for lack of documented evidence. There are few records, barely any video footage and some photos.
Carine Kaneza Nantulya, Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch Africa Division.
“I have never received a phone call from a journalist in Rwanda. Because they know that whatever I say they are probably not allowed to publish it– they get into trouble…They are authoritarian regimes and have their own narrative,” Pestman said.
Pestman describes some of the leaders of Cambodia being former colleagues of Noun Chea, who turned shirt just in time to save themselves. As a result, children in Cambodia have a similar lack of knowledge of the genocide as youth in America.
“The younger generation does not know anything about the Khmer Rouge, it is not taught at schools, they just ignore it. The current leaders have no interest in highlighting their own roles in what happened,” Pestman said.
Because the Khmer Rouge mainly attacked large cities, many educated people died, leaving Cambodia a brain-drained nation. This, alongside recovering after the genocide, has left Cambodia in a state of survival. Perhaps unable to take a deep dive into their national history and search for reconciliation.
In Rwanda, the story is similar, if a bit different. Many people still live in the same villages as the people who killed their husbands, wives, daughters or cousins.
“It is basically a society with PTSD. They need to go into mass national therapy…Everyone knows who killed their parents and who killed their children. You can imagine how awful that is, and why you decide not to talk about it,” Pestman said.
In Germany post-WWII or Sierra Leone post-civil war, the main perpetrators of evil were completely defeated, making the process of national healing a bit easier than in places like Rwanda.
Want to Take Action? Here are some ways you can assist in preventing genocides and mass atrocity crimes:
Share what you’ve learned from this article to your community. Use social media, write articles or share through word of mouth.
Support education and relief efforts. Contact humanitarian organizations to see how you can help.
Contact the media. Tell television, radio, newspaper and online journalists that you want better coverage of places experiencing or at risk of genocide; call them, email them or tag them on social media to provide feedback on their coverage.
Contact your elected representatives. Alert them to the need to provide humanitarian assistance and stop the violence.
Stay informed. Follow the news, take a deeper dive into issues. Want to read more? Scroll down to resources on historical genocides.
Rwandan Genocide
Tigray Genocide
Armenian Genocide
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