The Holocaust exceeds other twentieth-century genocides in cruelty and in lacking territorial motive.

Evidence

This has been true of other twentieth-century genocides, including the Turkish massacres of mil­ lions of Armenians, the excesses of the Pol Pot regime during the Vietnam- Cambodian War, Stalin’s purges, and the more recent incidents of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. However, none of these seem to equal the Holo­ caust for its systematic and widespread cruelty or for its apparent disconnect from territorial and political gain (Wehler, 1998). — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 1089

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why would a genocide detach from territorial or political gain? That unexplained surplus is exactly the gap a scapegoating/envy account is built to fill.
• XREF: connects to: Normalizing the Holocaust as one genocide among many also defuses its challenge to sociology — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 39; Comparative genocide research makes the Holocaust appear less exceptional — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 516; Holocaust uniqueness claims position all other genocides as marginal by comparison — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 272

Broader Connections

• Normalizing the Holocaust as one genocide among many also defuses its challenge to sociology #corroborates (0.85) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 39
• Holocaust uniqueness claims position all other genocides as marginal by comparison #corroborates (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 272
• Comparative genocide research makes the Holocaust appear less exceptional #corroborates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 516