Holocaust Chapter 7

In his essay author Robert Melson opens by stating that the Armenian genocide was the first genocide and served as the prototype for subsequnt genocides in the twentieth century.  He describes the Armenian genocide and then compares it to the Holocaust, the Nigerian and Bosnian genocides.  Both the Armenians and the Jews were low-status religious minorities that became increasingly assertive.  Both genocides followed a revolution.  The Holocaust was different in that it was driven by racism and antisemitism.  While the Armenians were located in one geographic area, the Jews were dispersed.  Conversion was not an option for Jews, but it was for Armenians.  Jews were considered killers of the son of God, and it was feared that they were conspiring.  The death camps used in the Holocaust differed from Armenian massacre and starvation.