Starting on April 6, 1994, Hutus began a massive massacre of Tutsis in the African country of Rwanda. This mass killing is referred to as genocide, the deliberate annihilation of an ethnic, racial, religious or political group. The Rwandan genocide lasted 100 days while other countries stood by and watched the brutal massacres continue. Hatred against Tutsis began after the RPF invasion in October 1990. Accusations in editorials and radio broadcasts claimed that Tutsis wanted to establish a monarchy with Hutu slaves; other racial vilifications included calling all Tutsis cockroaches. Several years before the Rwandan genocide, a similar deliberate extinction occurred. Between 1933 and 1945, members of the Nazi Party killed more than six million Jews in what is now known as the Holocaust. The genocide began when the Treaty of Versailles required Germany to pay massive monetary compensation to other nations. As Sean Sheehan stated in Why Did the Holocaust Happen? (2011), “Some anti-Semites viewed the harsh terms of the treaty as part of a Jewish conspiracy against the German people. Rich German Jews were accused of investing their money in enemy countries instead of joining the German army” (p. 7). Jews were soon accused of plotting world domination and spreading communism to destroy Christian culture. Hatred of Jewish culture increased when several Jews held government positions during the Weimar era. Similarities The Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide showed some similarities when they occurred. Both described certain characteristics and conditions conducive to genocide: a national culture that did not place a high value on human life; a totalitarian society with a superior ideology; ...... middle of paper ...... conditions necessary for them to occur. With history to fall back on, it is unclear whether another act of genocide could occur today. The Holocaust demonstrated how international forces can and should intervene in scenarios of this nature; however, international forces stood idly by during the Rwandan genocide. History is very contradictory and no one can predict the future consequences. We can only hope that people will stand up for what is right and intervene. Works Cited Mare, J. (2011). Genocide Monitoring Moves Afrikaner Genocide to Stage 6. The Afrikaner Journal. Retrieved November 28, 2011 from http://afrikanerjournal.wordpress.com/tag/gregory-stanton/Melvern, L. (2004). Assassination plot: the Rwandan genocide. New York, NY: Verso. Sheehan, S. (2011). Why the Holocaust Happened (1st ed.). New York, NY: Gareth StevensPublishing.