oa Inleiding: massaal geweld in de twintigste eeuw

Genocide can be defined as a process of systematic persecution and annihilation of a group of people by a government. In the twentieth century approximately 40 to 60 million defenseless people have become victims of deliberate genocidal policies. In genocides individuals are persecuted and murdered merely on the basis of their presumed membership of a group rather than on their actual beliefs, character, or actions. Genocide is particularly malicious and destructive because it is directed against all members of a group, mostly innocent and defenseless people who are persecuted and killed regardless of their behavior. This thematic issue of the Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis includes original contributions on mass violence in Argentina during the military dictatorship, Yugoslavia during its wars of dissolution, the Netherlands during World War II, Poland after World War II, the Soviet Union under Stalin, and the western Indian state of Gujarat in 2002.