Exhibition

The genocide is a specific breach of international criminal law and a very individualized concept. The specificity of this violation and the precision of this concept are underlined by the comparative approach of three mass murders perpetrated during the 20th Century, which have been proven beyond any reasonable doubt to be genocides. In chronological order, they are the destruction of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire, of the Jews of Europe, and of the Rwandan Tutsis. These genocides are comparable. The analysis of their similarities and their differences allows for a better understanding of their respective mechanisms.

Each genocide is singular. By the irrationality of the motive, the radicalness of the group’s destruction, and its disproportion, the Holocaust is an unprecedented crime in the history of mankind, while the two other genocides partly fall under political motives.

This exhibition was designed, created, and distributed by the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, France (curators Georges Bensoussan, Joel Kotek, and Yves Ternon), and made possible through the generous support of SNCF.

Photo: Eleanor Roosevelt, President of the Redaction Committee for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Lake Success, New York, November 1949, Public Domain.

Photo: Eleanor Roosevelt, President of the Redaction Committee for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Lake Success, New York, November 1949, Public Domain.