{"id":621,"date":"2020-10-01T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T08:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/?page_id=621"},"modified":"2025-06-11T22:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T20:27:13","slug":"prologue-european-history-of-violence-in-the-20th-century","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/jewish-perspectives-on-the-crises-of-an-idea\/prologue-european-history-of-violence-in-the-20th-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Prologue: European History of Violence in the 20th Century"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<div id=\"attachment_2885\" style=\"width: 1008px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2885\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2885 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/21.05.25-Graz-Museum_Die-letzten-Europaeer_112_c-Sebastian-Reiser-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1008\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/21.05.25-Graz-Museum_Die-letzten-Europaeer_112_c-Sebastian-Reiser-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/21.05.25-Graz-Museum_Die-letzten-Europaeer_112_c-Sebastian-Reiser-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/21.05.25-Graz-Museum_Die-letzten-Europaeer_112_c-Sebastian-Reiser-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/21.05.25-Graz-Museum_Die-letzten-Europaeer_112_c-Sebastian-Reiser-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/21.05.25-Graz-Museum_Die-letzten-Europaeer_112_c-Sebastian-Reiser-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/21.05.25-Graz-Museum_Die-letzten-Europaeer_112_c-Sebastian-Reiser-1008x672.jpg 1008w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-2885\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Sebastian Reiser<\/p><\/div>\r\n<p><strong>Our list of the dead of European violence in the 20th century counts 125,300,000 people. It is not complete.<\/strong><br \/><strong>By the end of the exhibition &#8220;The Last Europeans&#8221; on January 11, 2026, \u00a0they will have disappeared from the display.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>1888\u20131908: The atrocities committed by the Belgian colonial power in Congo claim approx. ten million Congolese victims.<br \/><br \/>1900: In the course of the Second Boer War, 22,000 Britons and 32,500 Boers perish. <br \/><br \/>1900: The Russian invasion of Manchuria claims 112,000 lives. <br \/><br \/>1903\/04: During the British expedition to Tibet, more than 600 Tibetans are killed. <br \/><br \/>1903\u20131906: In various Russian cities, 4,245 Jews are murdered during pogroms carried out by Russians, Ruthenians, Greeks, or Cossacks. <br \/><br \/>1904\/05:\u00a0 The Russo-Japanese War ends with 90,000 casualties on the Russian and 75,000 on the Japanese side. <br \/><br \/>1904\u20131908: In German South West Africa, approx. 70,000 members of the Herero and Nama fall victim to the genocide at the hands of the \u201cGerman <em>Schutztruppe<\/em>\u201d (protection force).<\/p>\r\n<p>1906: Dutchmen kill 1,000 Balinese in today\u2019s Indonesian Badung.<\/p>\r\n<p>1906\u20131911: The Wadai War in today\u2019s Chad and western Sudan claims 4,000 French and 8,000 Wadai victims.<\/p>\r\n<p>1908: In Bali, Netherlanders kill 194 Balinese.<\/p>\r\n<p>1909: The second Melilla war in Morocco claims 2,517 Spanish and an unknown number of Kabyle victims.<\/p>\r\n<p>1911\/12: In the course of the Italo-Turkish War, \u202f1,432 Italians and 14,000 Arabs and Berbers meet their death in the territory of today\u2019s Libya.<\/p>\r\n<p>1911\/12: In the East Timor war, 289 Portuguese and 3,424 Timorese are killed.<\/p>\r\n<p>1912\/13: The Balkan Wars claim 71,000 Serbian, 11,200 Montenegrin, 156,000 Bulgarian, 48,000 Greek, and 100,000 Turkish lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1914\u20131918: In the course of World War I, about 20 million people of all belligerent nationalities perish in Europe.<\/p>\r\n<p>1914\u20131921\/23: During the Zaian War, 782 French and 3,600 Moroccans die.<\/p>\r\n<p>1915: More than one million people fall victim to the Turks\u2019 genocide of the Armenians.<\/p>\r\n<p>1917\u20131923: The Russian civil war results in seven million dead.<\/p>\r\n<p>1918\u20131920: The Latvian independence war claims 17,000 victims.<\/p>\r\n<p>1919: Cossacks murder 1,700 Jews in Proskurov in today\u2019s Ukraine.<\/p>\r\n<p>1919: The Third Anglo-Afghan War claims 236 British and 1,000 Afghan lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1919: In Amritsar, India, British soldiers shoot and kill at least 379 Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus.<\/p>\r\n<p>1919\/20: In the Hungarian-Romanian War, 3,670 Hungarians und 3,000 Romanians lose their lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1919\u20131921: The Irish War of Independence claims 714 lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1920: In the Polish-Lithuanian War, 454 Lithuanians die.<\/p>\r\n<p>1920: In the course of the Turkish-Armenian War, 198,000 Armenians and an unknown number of Turks perish.<\/p>\r\n<p>1920\/21: The Polish-Soviet War claims the lives of 431,000 Russians, 202,000 Poles, and 60,000 Jewish civilians.<\/p>\r\n<p>1921\u201323: During the Greco-Turkish War, 9,167 Turks and 19,362 Greeks lose their lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1921\u20131926: The Rif War ends with 63,000 Spanish, 18,500 French, and 30,000 Riffian victims.<\/p>\r\n<p>1922\/23: The Irish Civil War claims around 2,000 victims.<\/p>\r\n<p>1932-33: Famines in Ukraine and other areas of the Soviet Union, exacerbated as a means of repression, claim more than 3,000,000 lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>February 1934: In the Austrian Civil War, 357 people die.<\/p>\r\n<p>1935\u20131941: The Italian war against today\u2019s Ethiopia claims between 350,000 and 760,000 Abyssinian victims.<\/p>\r\n<p>1936\u20131939: During the Spanish Civil War, thousands of <em>interbrigadistas<\/em> and more than 400,000 Spaniards die.<\/p>\r\n<p>1936\u201349: The revolt against the British mandatory power, the Arab-Jewish civil war in Palestine until May 1948, and the subsequent Arab-Israeli war until 1949 claim the lives of 165 Britons, 6,000 Jewish Palestinians and Israelis, 9,000 Arab Palestinians, and 5,000 Arab allied soldiers.<\/p>\r\n<p>1939: In the Slovak-Hungarian War, 22 Slovaks and eight Hungarians perish.<\/p>\r\n<p>1939\u20131945: In the course of World War II, approx. 50 million people of all belligerent nations meet their death in the European theaters of war.<\/p>\r\n<p>1939\u20131945: In the context of the systematic annihilation of the European Jews by the German Reich\u2019s National Socialist regime, approx. six million Jews are murdered.<\/p>\r\n<p>1939\u20131945: In the context of the systematic annihilation of the Roma by the German Reich, approx. 200,000 members of these groups are murdered.<\/p>\r\n<p>1941\u20131945: The Croatian Ustasha murder 500,000 Jews, Serbs, and Roma. 1945: The Battle of Surabaya, East Java, claims 1,000 British and 12,000 Indonesian lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1945\u20131949: In the Indonesian War of Independence, 1,200 British, 6,125 Dutch, and approx. 60,000 Indonesian soldiers perish.<\/p>\r\n<p>1945\u20131950: In the context of the expulsions from Central- and Eastern Europe, more than 500,000 Germans perish.<\/p>\r\n<p>1946: Inhabitants of the Polish city of Kielce kill forty Jews.<\/p>\r\n<p>1946\u20131949: In the Greek Civil War, 50,000 people die a violent death.<\/p>\r\n<p>1946\u20131954: In the course of the First Indochina War, 130\u202f000 French and one million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians lose their lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1948\u20131960: During the Malayan Emergency, Britons kill more than 10,000 Malaysians.<\/p>\r\n<p>1952\u20131956: In the course of the Tunisian independence war, 17,459 French soldiers and at least 300,000 Tunisians perish.<\/p>\r\n<p>1952\u20131960: During the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya, 200 British soldiers and 20,000 guerilla fighters perish.<\/p>\r\n<p>1954\u20131962: In the Algerian War of Independence, approx. 24,000 French soldiers and approx. 300,000 Algerians lose their lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1961: The French police carry out a massacre against 200 Algerians in Paris.<\/p>\r\n<p>1963\u20131964: The Cypriot civil war claims 174 Greek and 364 Turkish lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1968\u20131998: In the Northern Ireland conflict, 3,500 people perish.<\/p>\r\n<p>1974: The Turkish invasion of Cyprus claims the lives of 3,000 Turks as well as of 5,000 Greek and Turkish Cypriots.<\/p>\r\n<p>1979\u20131989: In the course of the Soviet-Afghan War, 14,453 Soviet soldiers and approx. one million Afghans lose their lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1982: In the Falklands War, 258 British and 649 Argentinian soldiers die.<\/p>\r\n<p>1991\u20131995: The Yugoslav Wars claim 52,800 Bosnian, 18\u202f530 Croatian, 30,000 Serbian, 4,000 Kosovar, and 800 Albanian lives.<\/p>\r\n<p>1995: In Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbs carry out a massacre against 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks.<\/p>\r\n<p>1992\u201393: In the Georgian Civil War, 10,000 people perish.<\/p>\r\n<p>1998\/99: The Kosovo War claims the lives of 2,170 Serbs and 10,527 Albanians.<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_2630\" style=\"width: 1008px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2630\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2630 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_720-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1008\" height=\"670\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_720-1024x681.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_720-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_720-768x511.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_720-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_720-1008x671.jpg 1008w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_720.jpg 1667w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-2630\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Presentation in the Jewish Museum Munich in 2022, Photo: Daniel Schvarcz<\/p><\/div>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_2638\" style=\"width: 1008px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2638\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-2638\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/\u00a9DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_039-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1008\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/\u00a9DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_039-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/\u00a9DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_039-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/\u00a9DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_039-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/\u00a9DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_039-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/\u00a9DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_039-1008x672.jpg 1008w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/\u00a9DanielSchvarcz_JMM_20221122_039.jpg 1667w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-2638\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Daniel Schvarcz<\/p><\/div>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_2516\" style=\"width: 1008px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2516\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2516 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511304-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1008\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511304-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511304-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511304-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511304-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511304-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511304-1008x672.jpg 1008w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-2516\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The presentation in the Volkskundemuseum Vienna in 2022., photo: kollektiv fischka\/kramar<\/p><\/div>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_2528\" style=\"width: 1008px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2528\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-2528\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511309-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1008\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511309-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511309-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511309-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511309-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511309-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/1641913511309-1008x672.jpg 1008w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-2528\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: kollektiv fischka\/kramar<\/p><\/div>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_767\" style=\"width: 1008px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-767\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-767\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer018-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1008\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer018-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer018-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer018-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer018-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer018-1008x672.jpg 1008w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer018.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-767\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The presentation in the Jewish Museum Hohenems in 2020, photo: Dietmar Walser<\/p><\/div>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_773\" style=\"width: 1008px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-773\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-773\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer021-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1008\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer021-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer021-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer021-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer021-1008x672.jpg 1008w, http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/201002Europaer021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-773\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Dietmar Walser<\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our list of the dead of European violence in the 20th century counts 125,300,000 people. It is not complete.By the end of the exhibition &#8220;The Last Europeans&#8221; on January 11, 2026, \u00a0they will have disappeared from the display. 1888\u20131908: The atrocities committed by the Belgian colonial power in Congo claim approx. ten million Congolese victims. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":624,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"categories":[64,44,78,47,66],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/621"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2910,"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/621\/revisions\/2910"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lasteuropeans.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}