Abstract

BAUER, Yehuda. Comparing the Holocaust to Other Genocides. Rev. mex. cienc. polít. soc [online]. 2016, vol.61, n.228, pp.145-172. ISSN 0185-1918.

The driving question underlying this work is whether the Holocaust had features that did not exist in any other form of genocide. When unprecedented elements in a social phenomenon are discussed, the first question that comes to mind is: Unprecedented compared to what? Taking a comparative stance and bearing in mind that the horror of the Holocaust consisted not in that it diverted from human standards, but that in fact it did not, this work reviews the genocide of Tutsis, Armenian, Khmer, Muslim Chams, Vietnamese, and Roma, to conclude that the Holocaust represents an extreme form of genocide. On the other hand, it is argued that differences must be analyzed in order to learn from what has happened. As a result of the acquired knowledge, the dialectical relationship between particularity and universality of horror is revealed. The Holocaust conveys a warning. We do not know if we will succeed in spreading what we have learned, but if there is even a single chance in a million, that sense must prevail; we have the moral obligation of trying, in the spirit of Kant's ethical -moral- philosophy.

Keywords : Holocaust; genocide; mass murder; Nazi ideology.