Genocides scarred humanity in the 20th century, leaving behind graves, ashes, and silence, but what is the psychology behind genocides? The causes are based on eight parameters as common denominators.
First, are genocides really spontaneous eruptions of hatred, or are they carefully planned and deliberate operations? The Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust. Cambodia, Rwanda and Bosnia, different nations, different decades, yet disturbingly similar patterns are at work.
When we look closely, we see that these events were never random. They were prepared, step by step. Every genocide begins with an idea. That “the other” is dangerous, does not belong and therefore must be removed.
Enemies are invented. They are made into scapegoats for economic crises, political struggles, or national humiliation.
But words are not enough. To kill, millions must first be conditioned. Propaganda is broadcast relentlessly, through posters, speeches, songs, and even children’s books. Hate is repeated until it feels like the truth.
Genocide also requires consent. And consent requires manipulation. And then comes the machinery of death. Militias are armed. Police and soldiers are given orders. Bureaucracies are mobilised. This is not chaos; it is organisation.
What purpose does genocide serve?
Genocide can be a means to seize land, to claim resources, to crush political rivals, or to unite a population under fear. Viewed this way, genocide looks less like chaos and more like a psychological operation. A manipulation of entire societies, turning neighbours into enemies, turning ordinary people into executioners.
One constant – organised hate speech
If there is one constant across genocides, it is this: organised hate speech. Words prepare the ground. Words ignite fear. And words make killing thinkable.
Genocides are not accidents of history. They are planned and deliberate. They are operations carried out with precision and with purpose. But they always begin the same way, with words.
Genocide is never a single act. It is not merely a massacre, nor solely a deportation. It is a deliberate, multi-layered process—a series of interlocking policies designed to destroy an entire people.
Researchers have identified several recurring mechanisms that, together, form the architecture of such atrocities:
First: Persecution
This can begin with stigmatisation, boycotts, economic exclusion, forced relocation, or internment. It isolates the community and marks them as outsiders.
Second: Decapitation of leadership
The arrest and liquidation of intellectuals, teachers, and community leaders—those who could inspire resistance or preserve identity.
Third: Expropriation
Dispossession strips a community of its wealth, land, and means of survival. Without property or capital, the victims become far more vulnerable, as seen in multiple genocides across history.
Fourth: Mass deportations
Entire populations uprooted—sometimes to seize land, other times with the aim of erasing them entirely.
Fifth: Mass murder
At the heart of genocide lies systematic killing—often carried out not by regular armies but by paramilitary groups, specially organised to execute the violence.
Sixth: Forced assimilation
Children taken from their families, renamed, re-educated, made to forget their origins. Women and children were absorbed into the dominant group, their identities erased.
Seventh: Starvation as a weapon
Sometimes famine is not a tragic accident but a calculated policy—access to food deliberately denied to cause mass death.
Eighth: Erasure of memory
Destruction of monuments, religious sites, and cultural heritage—an attempt not only to annihilate the people but also to obliterate their history.
Genocide is not chaos. It is a process, planned, layered, and deliberate. To prevent it, we must recognise these patterns before they intertwine into a catastrophe. If we want to prevent the genocides of the future, we must first dismantle the machinery of hate speech.
Text, manuscript, voice-over and video by Torbjorn Sassersson, editor, NewsVoice
Sources and related
- Professor Scott Strauss – What Have We Learned About Genocide Prevention?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74_ypbx235U - The Path to Nazi Genocide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRcNq4OYTyE
- Gaza Notifications: https://x.com/gazanotice
