Genocide Similarities

Genocide Similarities George Santayana, the Spanish-American philosopher, once stated that, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” Many have heard this before, but are they aware of just how true it is? The Dzungar Genocide occured in China in the 1750’s. It wiped out the majority of the Dzungar Nation. A majority of people do not know of the Dzungar Genocide or Armenian genocide, and the similarities between the two are shocking. The Forgotten Fire talked about the Armenian Genocide from the point of view of a twelve year old boy, Vahan Kenderian, who managed to survive even though he lost all his family along the way. He was able to get to Constantinople where he lived until he was able to move to the United States.

The Turkish government said that there was no genocide. History has an article that explains that the government in Turkey denies all accusations because they do not classify it as a genocide (History Staff). They are also allies of several countries which may make people hesitant to acknowledge the genocide. Because of this, many people have forgotten it. There were also very few people to record the Dzungar Genocide that took place. Ruth Dunell found that 80% of the population was destroyed and the many of the remaining were taken as slaves (Dunell et al). Even though most people, especially those with non Asian heritage, have forgotten the Dzungar genocide, this does not mean everyone has. Many Mongolians (who are the modern day Dzungar) are still very upset with China over the events. One English teacher working abroad found that his Mongolian students found the Chinese to be horrible people, stating that, “…all Chinese are by nature untrustworthy, dirty, and they have always been and will always be enemies of Mongolia.” (“The Lasting Impact”). The Mongolians still loathe the Chinese because of the genocide. They feel that the Chinese will never change. In both cases, very few people remember that either event

The Turks felt that the Armenians would betray them while Emperor Qianlong wanted to punish the rebellion by Prince Amursana of the Dzungar. Both genocides also ended with the significant loss of one’s population. Finally, they both share the fact that they are considered forgotten. We should learn from others’ pasts so we can learn to not make the same mistakes. Everyone must try to remember these horrible events, because if we chose to ignore that they ever happened, they could happen