The Atrocities of the 20th Century

When people say the word genocide, most people think of the atrocities of Hitler and the Nazi Party.  Unfortunately, this was not the only genocide to occur in Eastern Europe.  For this installment of the Eastern European blog column, I thought we would examine some of the lesser known and more recent tragedies across Europe.

The term “genocide” is relatively new and yields from Raphael Lemkin who defined the term to mean the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.

Armenian Genocide: Occurred after the first Great War.  The Ottoman Empire sought to destroy the Armenian empire.  Through massacres, forced deportations and group marches the Ottoman Parliament (through legislation) forced the “troublesome” Armenians to leave cities and villages and relocate to the desert (today this area is the Syrian Desert).  It is believed that 1-1.5 million people died as a result.

Greek Genocide: Similar to the Armenian genocide, the Young Turks were responsible for the exportation and deportation of the Greeks form Asia Minor.  At the same time the Young Turks worked to expel Greek culture and religion from Asia Minor.

Soviet Union: 1932-1933: Stalin enforced the Soviet system of collectivism on the USSR territory of the Ukraine.   The system of collectivism did not go over well with the general public and they rebelled, as a result Stalin ordered the soviet troops and police to intervene to make sure the public meet the new quotas Stalin ordered.  The quotas were so demanding it purposely forced many Ukrainians into starvation.  As a result more that seven million people died under the restrictions imposed by Stalin.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1992-1995: The territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina is an ethnic mix of Serbs (Orthodox Catholics), Croats (Catholics) and Bosniaks (Muslims).   Starting in 1992, Serbia embarked on a mission to cleanse Bosnia of all the Muslims.  The Muslims were driven out of their homes, murdered or forced into concentration camps and the women were often raped.  The UN tried to step in to prevent further escalation but they were successful.  Finally NATO carried out air strikes against the Serbs.  The conflict finally came to an end in 1995 after the USA hosted the Dayton Talks.

Hopefully this blog hasn’t depressed you too much! The next one won’t deal with such a heavy topic, promise.

-Christopher J. Cirrincione, Associate Editor for Eastern European History

The True Story of Anastasia

On behalf of the Eastern European section of the blog, I thought we would start a familiar topic to most – the story of the princess of the last Russian Tsar, Anastasia Romanov.  Over a decade ago the animated movie (also titled Anastasia) hit the big screen.  For those of you are unfamiliar with the movie, it painted a picture of the Russian Empire as lavish and exquisite until the evil Rasputin and his followers stormed the palace and captured the family.  The Romanov grandmother was able to escape on board a train, but little Anastasia (who in the film was five or six) could not run on board fast enough and ended up hitting her head which causes her to lose her memory and forget her identity.  The story goes on to show that Anastasia was the only viable heir to the Romanov throne.

Switching back to reality, Anastasia was not that lucky (nor did Rasputin storm the palace).  In February 1917, Anastasia’s father (Nicholas II, the Tsar of Russia) abdicated the throne.  Soon after Anastasia and the result her family, which included her father, mother (Tsazrina Alexandra), three sisters (Olga, Tatiana and Maria), and a brother (Alexei, heir to the throne) were sentenced to house arrest.

By October 1917, the situation between the “White Forces” or anti-Bolshevik army and the “Red Forces” was worsening.  Soon the White forces approached the city of Yekateringburg, where the royal family was located since they were forced to evacuate the palace.  As the white forces drew near the red forces got nervous, and according to Edvard Radzinsky’s 1992 book The Last Tsar, the royals were murdered, their bodies buried and jewels and clothes were thrown down a mineshaft.

By the time the White Forces captured the city of Yekateringburg, the royal family had already disappeared.  After an official investigation by the White Forces, they concluded that the royal family was murdered.

Fast-forwarding to the early 1980’s the bodies of several family members and servants were found.  These results were kept a secret from the Communists and only made public in 1991 at which time DNA evidence proved that the bodies were the corpses of the Romanov family.

Throughout the rest of the 20^th century, many women tried to convince the world that Anastasia outlived the brutal murder of her family.  However, both Russian and American scientists put these conspiracy theorists to a rest by confirming the DNA of a series of bodies that were found in a 2007 excavation were the missing bodies of the Romanov children

While the animated version of this story may have a few catchy songs and even an comical villain, the movie takes into account the conspiracy theories rater than the actual story of poor Anastasia who met her fate all too soon!

-Christopher J. Cirrincione, Associate Editor for Eastern European History