Although the genocide that this tattoo reflects is one of the most heinous acts in the history of mankind, it is not the only black mark in recorded history.
1492-1890, North America.Genocide of Aboriginal Americans
Between 15-100 million people killed. Considered the most massive act of genocide in history.
1932, USSR. Joseph Stalin's Genocide in the USSR
40,000,000 (not including 20 million war dead) total civilians, including 7,000,000 starved to death in the Ukraine. Another six million farmers were starved or shot. 3,000,000 Muslims killed. Rampage included Lithuanians, Bulgarians, Estonians, Germans, and Cossacks.
1941, Germany. Nazi Holocaust (Genocide)
Total of people killed approximately 11 million: 22% Polish population (3 million Jews; 2 million non-Jews); 2.8 million Soviet POWs and 1.2 million Soviet civilians; 500,000-1,500,000 Gypsies (Romanies); 75,000-250,000 disabled people; 60% of the Jews in Europe.
1939-1945 World War II- Deadliest military conflict in history.
Highest death tolls were: 23 million in Soviet Union; 10-20 million in China; 6.5-8.5 million in Germany; 5-6 million in Poland; 3-4 million in the Dutch East Indies; 1.7 million in Japan; 1.6-2.6 million in India; 1-1.5 million in French Indochina; 1 million in Yugoslavia; .5-1 million in the Philippines; and around 1/2 million each in Great Britain, the US, Italy, France, Hungary, and Romania.
1945, Japan. Worst single act of genocide: Bombing of Tokyo, Toyama, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. Death toll was between 450,000 and 1 million, mostly civilians. Tokyo: 90,000 people; Toyama: 128,000 people; Hiroshima: between 90,000-140,000 people; Nagasaki (plutonium bomb) 74,000 killed, 75,000 injured, several hundred thousand more died later from radiation poisoning.
1949-1969, China. Genocide by Mao Zedong of 49-78 million people in China and Tibet.
To remember isn't just enough. To progress, we must learn from the Genocide we have inflicted on all humankind, and we must vow to put an end to its perpetration by anyone, to anyone, for any reason.
We have entered an age where we can inflict the horrors of Genocide at almost any time with the push of a button. The key to our survival as a species, is to destroy those buttons, and stop them from ever being pushed again.
