– (Samuel Ienzi/Carpintaria Estúdio/)
10) EVERYONE IS A SUSPECT
Where: Cambodia
When: From 1975 to 1979
Total dead: 1.7 million
In just four years, the dictator Pol Pot (1925-1998), wiped out 20% of the population of his own country. Teachers, journalists, people who wore glasses, Chinese, Vietnamese, Buddhists, Muslims… Anyone who could be characterized as an intellectual or a foreigner was detained in concentration camps to starve to death.
+ How many countries still live in dictatorship today?
9) HISTORICAL REVENGE
Where: eastern europe
When: [1945
Total dead: Between 1.5 and 2 million
After World War II, the dictator Josef Stalin (1879-1953) demanded that Germans living in territories newly dominated by the Soviet Union (previously controlled by Hitler) return to their country of origin. On foot! Along the way, entire families were attacked or murdered. In Poland alone, more than 1 million Germans died.
+ What were the gulags like in the Soviet Union?
8) Walk to death
Where: Türkiye
When: From 1915 to 1923
Total dead: Between 2 and 2.7 million
In the heat of World War I and in the years leading up to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish government forced minorities into exile, on long treks to concentration camps in what is now Syria. Between 1 and 1.5 million Armenians and 750,000 Assyrians died. Greeks and Kurds were also expelled or sentenced to death by starvation.
+ What was the Ottoman Empire?
7) BULLET IN THE OPPOSITION
Where: Bangladesh
When: 1971
Total dead: Between 2 and 3 million
India’s separation from Pakistan in 1947 triggered a series of genocide attempts among Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs in the region. To make matters worse, in 1971, the eastern portion of Pakistan went to war to become an independent state, Bangladesh. The Pakistani government reacted radically, killing separatists and supporters.
+ Why do many countries in Asia end in “istan”?
6) A COUNTRY ENSLAVED
Where: Belgian Congo
When: 1890s
Total dead: Between 5 and 8 million
In general, when a European country colonized a territory, it did not have the objective of exterminating the natives – they used to die from contracting diseases previously exclusive to “white men”. But in the Congo it was different. The Belgian King Leopold II (1835-1909) massacred the population and enslaved them to work in rubber extraction.
+ Which countries are still colonies today?
– (Samuel Ienzi/Carpintaria Estúdio/)
5) THE HITLER OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Where: Central Asia
When: 14th century
Total dead: 17 million
The Mongol Tamerlane (1336-1405) intended to rescue the glory of the empire of Genghis Khan (1162-1227), but with an Islamic character. Starting from Turkey, he massacred dominated peoples in vast territories in the Middle East, Central Asia and Mongolia. Alone, he wiped out 5% of the world’s population at the time.
+ Spoken Portrait: Tamerlane, the Bloody Mongol Emperor
4) A CRIME WITHOUT A NAME
Where: Europe
When: From 1939 to 1945
Total dead: Between 17 and 20 million
When the world discovered the horror of the Nazi concentration camps, the word genocide didn’t even exist. Never before or since has a government organized an infrastructure so efficient at killing people. Hitler’s Germany wiped out 6 million Jews and 10.5 million Slavs. It also persecuted gays, gypsies, Romanians and Serbs.
+ Why did the Nazis want to exterminate the Jews?
3) DEPORTED AND STARVING
Where: Soviet Union
When: 1930s and 1940s
Total dead: Between 20 and 25 million
Another by Josef Stalin. The Russian tyrant adopted varied techniques to pursue political rivals. Between 1932 and 1933, for example, he forced Ukraine and Kazakhstan to export all their food, starving the natives. Entire populations of other countries were displaced and exiled to freezing Siberia.
+ The 50 worst villains in human history
2) KHAN’S WRATH
Where: Asia and Eastern Europe
When: 13th century
Total dead: 40 million
Tamerlane even tried, but in total dead, he could not surpass his idol. Genghis Khan exterminated anyone who did not accept his idea of a great Mongol confederation. Men taller than a wooden wheel were killed. Women, elderly and children became slaves. Whole villages were set on fire. Khan eliminated everyone he came across – including Chinese, Koreans and Afghans.
+ Spoken Portrait: Genghis Khan, the owner of the world
1) HAND LIKE THE DEVIL!
Where: China and Tibet
When: From 1958 to 1969
Total dead: Between 45 and 70 million
Between 1958 and 1962, the communist leader Mao Zedong (1893-1976) led the “Great Leap Forward”, an economic overhaul that was intended to transform China into an industrial powerhouse – but which, in the end, provoked a collapse that took at least 40 years. millions of people dying of starvation. Between 1966 and 1969, a new persecution: the so-called Cultural Revolution hunted minorities, followers of any religion and citizens denounced for questioning the regime. The country was filled with concentration camps, and families were forced to pay for the bullet used to kill the convicts.
+ What was the Chinese Cultural Revolution?
SOURCES Websites daily mail, Telegraph, Courier Mail, The Sun, BBC It is ego