Genocide targets economically successful middleman minorities across centuries

Evidence

Similarly, a history of envious stereotyping is evident in most of the large-scale genocide attempts of the twentieth century. The Armenians in Turkey and the Jews in Germany filled strikingly similar social niches; both were economically successful minorities, often in “middleman” roles as merchants and traders. Perceived as a powerful minority, the Armenians were blamed for weakening the Ottoman Empire during the years of its decline (Adanir, 2001) much as Nazis blamed the loss of the First World War on a Jewish conspiracy (the “stab in the back” theory). In Rwanda (see Prunier, 2001), the Tutsi are a high-status minority, who (having been favored during Belgian colonization) are typically better educated, wealthier, and more likely to hold high-status jobs in comparison to the Hutu majority. The genocidaires among Rwanda’s Hutus characterized the Tutsi as a powerful minority profiting off of the majority’s misery. Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, who had their roots in the peasantry, resented and specifically targeted those with wealth and social influence, such as intellectuals (Kiernan, 2001). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1594

Categorization

• SHARE: The striking parallel — Armenians and Jews both filling ‘middleman’ merchant roles blamed for national decline — is exactly the sort of comparative-history nugget a Middle East or genocide-studies colleague would savor.
• SEED: Possible essay: the recurring ‘middleman minority as national parasite’ trope across Armenia, Germany, Rwanda, and Cambodia — a comparative pattern in how genocide selects its victims.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1594
• XREF: connects to: The same racecraft tools operate against every subordinated minority across centuries — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 455