The Terrible Acts of Rwandan Genocide - 1296 Words

In between 1930 and 1945, an event took place that changed the world in many ways. The Holocaust was a genocide that consisted of the decimation of one single race, the Jews. This solemn event is very similar (and also quite different) to another event that took place only four thousand miles away. Like the Holocaust, this event is was a genocide and it took place at Rwanda in 1994. This genocide was between the Hutus and Tutsis. These two groups have a long background with each other that consisted of civil wars, switches in power and superiority, and tension. It began when the Europeans put the Tutsis in a superior position because they were the ones that closely resembled them, the Europeans, in physical appearance. It was the death of†¦show more content†¦Gourevitch talks about a character, Paul Rusesabagina, who played a large role in the Rwandan genocide. He was a hotel manager who hid Tutsis from the Hutus. He filled the hotel up over its capacity and even bargained w ith money for their safety. Gourevitch says, â€Å"Paul sought to save everybody he could, and if that meant negotiating with everybody who wanted to kill them - so be it.† This attitude was commonly shared during the Holocaust as well. There were many people around Germany and even in other countries that helped hid the Jews from the Nazis. This can be seen from Miep Gies who hid eight Jews in her attic, one of them being Anne Frank. â€Å"They were powerless, they didnt know where to turn... she says. We did our duty as human beings: helping people in need. In such a tragic time, people from both Rwanda and Germany helped their people as they could. It was one of the only things they seemed to be able to do to make the world seem less hopeless. Ironically, both of these people’s stories were made into movies, â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† and â€Å"The Diary of Anne Frank.† Another correlation that can be seen is the racism that the leaders, or leading grou ps, had toward a specific race or group of people. Gourevitch talks about the different measures that were taken in Rwanda when identification cards were being distributed to people. â€Å"The scientists brought scales and measuring tapes and calipers, and they went about weighing Rwandans, measuring RwandansShow MoreRelatedThe Rwandan Genocide And The Genocide1637 Words   |  7 PagesWith over eight hundred thousand to one million deaths, the Rwandan genocide is undoubtedly one of the most sad and shocking examples of the lack of intervention by not only the US and the UN, but by other countries as well. The ongoing tensions between the Hutu, the largest population in Rwanda, and the Tutsi, the smaller and more elite population is what eventually lead to the Rwandan genocide. 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