The Zachor Project: Escape from the Holocaust

THE TEN STAGES OF GENOCIDE (continued)

6. Polarization
Propaganda is employed to amplify the differences between groups. Interactions between groups are prohibited, and the moderate members of the group in power are killed.
Prevention: Protect these moderate members and human rights groups. Seize the assets of the oppressors and refuse their access to international travel.

7. Preparation
The victims are identified, separated, and forced to wear symbols. Deportations, isolation, and forcible starvation. Death lists are drawn up.
Prevention: Humanitarian aid, armed international interventions, or major support for the victims to ensure their ability to defend themselves.

8. Persecution
Victims are identified and isolated based on their ethnic or religious identity. Death lists are drawn up. In state sponsored genocides, members of victim groups may be forced to wear identifying symbols. Their property is often expropriated.
Prevention: Regional organizations and the international community must mobilize themselves to assist or help the victims.

9. Extermination
The massacres begin. The perpetrators see their actions as extermination since they do not consider their victims to be entirely human.
Prevention: Only large-scale armed interventions can stop genocide. The international community must support the operations by providing air transport, equipment, and financial support.

10. Denial
The perpetrators of the genocide deny having committed their crimes. Victims are often blamed. Evidence is hidden and witnesses are intimidated.
Prevention: An international tribunal or national court must prosecute the criminals. Public education.

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