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Norman M. Naimark. Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2001. 256 pp. $20.50, paper, ISBN 978-0-674-00994-3.

Norman M. Naimark. Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2001. 248 pp , , .

Reviewed by Nick P. Baron

Published on H- (March, 2004)

Ethnic Cleansing, Modernity, and the State tion, in Bosnia and , which have brought In his latest work, Stanford University histori‐ the term "ethnic cleansing" into common usage. an Norman Naimark ofers a brilliantly engaging Beyond ofering brisk, vivid empirical ac‐ and deeply dispiriting examination of the role of counts of these events, Naimark refects more ethnic cleansing in twentieth-century Europe. In broadly on their commonalities and inter-rela‐ doing so, he provides the reader with a series of tionships, on defnitional problems such as distin‐ well-crafted, cogent, analytical narratives describ‐ guishing ethnic cleansing from , ing the historical origins, political objectives, lo‐ on the character of the modern state, and on the gistical procedures, and savage outcomes of fve murderous potential of integral . His case studies of ethnic cleansing: the Turkish ac‐ consideration of these conceptual issues is com‐ tions against the in 1915 and against pelling, and elaborated without the dense jargon the Anatolian in 1921-22; the Nazi assault and solipsism so frequently encountered in the on the Jews from the start of the Second World social science literature on genocide and mass War to the initiation of policies of mass extermi‐ killing.[1] Naimark's slim volume is comparative in 1941; the Soviet of the history at its most intelligent, lucid, and readable. Chechens-Ingush from the North Caucasus and of In the last decade of the twentieth century, the from the Crimea in 1944; the expul‐ the calamitous break-up of the former sions of Germans from and Czechoslova‐ (as well as the even more bloody disaster of kia after 1945; and the more recent inter-ethnic Rwanda, which Naimark honorably concedes lies conficts, and attempts at international interven‐ outside his feld of expertise) opened a dreadful H-Net Reviews new perspective on the course and consequences clysmic events in the course of the twentieth cen‐ of earlier events. This seemed all the more shock‐ tury" (p. 3). This second point takes us to the core ing to many since it crushed the hopes of harmo‐ of the author's comparative project. ny and peace inspired by the end of the Cold War Genocide, in Naimark's conception, is the con‐ and the collapse of state socialism. From this dis‐ summate realization of the "impetus to homoge‐ mal millennial vantage point, numerous scholars nize" (p. 8), which all too frequently in the twenti‐ have been moved to reconsider the history of the eth century prompted European states--as well as last hundred years and to re-assess the trajectory others which, as noted above, remain outside the of European modernity.[2] "Was the twentieth purview of this work--to embark on ethnic cleans‐ century's sordid history of genocide simply re‐ ing.[3] It is this underlying motivation which peating itself in this last decade?" asks Naimark. makes the phenomenon of ethnic cleansing "a "Or was there something new in these wars of profoundly modern experience" (p. 6). 'ethnic cleansing' about which the media spoke Naimark ofers a compelling account of why and wrote so often" (p. 2)? this is so. Firstly, the late-nineteenth and early- Naimark's answer is twofold. Firstly, he ar‐ twentieth centuries witnessed the spread of a gues, it is important to distinguish between "eth‐ "racialist nationalism" which asserted an "essen‐ nic cleansing" and genocide. These two activities tialist view of , a view that excluded the are characterized by their diferent objectives. 'other' and foreswore assimilation" (p. 7). This "Genocide is the intentional killing of of part or prompted European imperial powers to repatriate all of an ethnic, religious or national group; the practices of mass murder from the colonies to murder of a people or peoples ... is the objective. their continental homelands. The intention of ethnic cleansing is to remove a Secondly, as European imperial territories people and often all traces of them from a con‐ fragmented in the early-twentieth century, there crete territory" (p. 3). The goal of the latter, there‐ emerged a new form of state, defning itself in fore, is concerned with securing the ethnic in‐ ethnic terms and striving to "homogenize" society tegrity of a given space, usually identifed with to meet its own "needs for order, transparency, the borders of a new and insecure state. This may and responsiveness" (p. 8).[4] To accomplish this, involve expulsions, , or forced trans‐ the modern nationalist state intervened to an un‐ fers of a carried out in a more or less precedented degree in the lives of its citizens, sub‐ orderly, though invariably brutal, manner. In cer‐ jecting its population to regulation, surveillance, tain circumstances, however, "ethnic cleansing" and manipulation by means of policy and propa‐ can generate genocidal actions; as Naimark writes ganda. Crucially, it "insisted on identifying ethnic in his habitually simple yet evocative prose, "eth‐ groups and concretizing diference and otherness nic cleansing bleeds into genocide, as mass mur‐ with the goal of banishing it" (p. 8). der is committed in order to rid the land of a peo‐ ple" (pp. 3-4). Thirdly, the new states' capacity to intervene in society and efect their desired social and spa‐ If it is necessary to distinguish in this way be‐ tial re-ordering would have been impossible with‐ tween genocide and ethnic cleansing, this does out modern innovations in communications, not mean that recent events in the former Yu‐ transportation, and the means of killing: "the goslavia were unprecedented. On the contrary, drive toward ethnic cleansing comes in part from Naimark asserts that "'ethnic cleansing' is a useful the modern state's compulsion to complete poli‐ and viable term for understanding not just the cies and fnish with problems but also in part war in former Yugoslavia but other similar cata‐ from its technological abilities to do so" (p. 9).

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Naimark, drawing on the work of historians communal hostility" (p. 16) which determined the such as Omer Bartov and Elizabeth Domansky, context and course of the events in question, and identifes the First World War as the defning ex‐ could stand alone as a short but thorough intro‐ perience, the "crucible for the development of the duction to each topic, suitable for students as well modern nation-state and its willingness and abili‐ as for a more general readership. At the same ty to engage in mass population policies" (p. 9).[5] time, Naimark takes care throughout to assess the In particular, he points to ways in which states at similarities and diferences between each in‐ war asserted "total" claims over the lives of their stance of ethnic cleansing. citizens and for the frst time engaged in mass- A concluding chapter ofers a useful system‐ scale forced deportations and evacuations (which atization and reiteration of the insights the atten‐ persisted as practices of peace-making, as new tive reader will have elicited from the case stud‐ post-war governments embarked on the "unmix‐ ies, if they have not been numbed by the often ing" of territories and before the gruesome descriptions of violence. Through all treaties were signed, sealed, and implemented).[6] the individual instances of ethnic cleansing, from The Great War also "introduced industrial killing 1915 in Turkey to the present day in Kosovo, into the consciousness and reality of the Euro‐ Naimark identifes a marked consistency of pur‐ pean state system" (p. 9). pose and commonality of procedure. Finally, Naimark directs attention to the role Firstly, Naimark notes that ethnic cleansing is of political elites in instigating ethnic cleansing, always a violent process. Unlike war, however, and of bureaucrats and technical professionals in which "matches armed men against armed men organizing its implementation. Throughout the in a contest of will, machines and numbers, ethnic book, in fact, the author repeatedly emphasizes cleansing usually involves an armed perpetrator that eruptions of inter-communal confict have and an unarmed victim--more often than not, an more to do with the "warped ambitions" (p. 16) of armed man and an unarmed woman, child, or el‐ cynical political actors, and their machinations derly person" (p. 186). The violence of ethnic and manipulations, than with the "ancient ethnic cleansing is particularly vicious and personal, mo‐ hatreds" so often adduced by the world's media tivated in part by a "rational" strategy of encour‐ (and by politicians in other countries reluctant to aging fight, but also by a desire to punish the vic‐ intervene) as the source of . This is tims for "their crime of being diferent" (p. 186). doubtless true, but Naimark might have attempt‐ Even the "well-organised and premeditated" de‐ ed to examine the motives which lead "ordinary portations of the Chechens-Ingush and Crimean men" suddenly to visit such ferce blood-letting Tatars involved high rates of mortality from dis‐ upon neighbors with whom they have lived for ease and starvation, and the "orderly 'transfer'" of years in peace.[7] Germans from Poland claimed up to half a million Naimark, however, is more interested in writ‐ victims (pp. 186-187). ing history "from above" and he writes this histo‐ Naimark's second observation is that all the ry with admirable clarity, constructing a series of surveyed cases of ethnic cleansing have occurred detailed analytical narratives that draw together either during war or during the "chaotic transi‐ an impressive range of secondary literature in nu‐ tion from war to peace" (p. 187). In such circum‐ merous languages as well as some of his own stances, state leaders can carry out extreme ac‐ archival research in the Russian archives. Each of tions beyond the scrutiny of their own public and the fve case studies examines the particular "con‐ outside the purview of international opinion. War fuence of events, political leadership, and inter‐ also ofers regimes the opportunity to eliminate

3 H-Net Reviews allegedly treacherous groups of the population. pied by neighbors or new settlers of the ethnic Furthermore, war "habituates its participants to majority population). They also destroy all cultur‐ killing and to obeying orders" (p. 188). The author al and linguistic residues, burning books, ency‐ remarks usefully that regular armies are fre‐ clopaedias, dictionaries, and archives, changing quently employed to carry out ethnic cleansing, place and street names, re-writing history books but many of the worst atrocities are perpetrated and , or proscribing the use of a by paramilitary formations. language. Another characteristic common to all the cas‐ Secondly, ethnic cleansing also involves dis‐ es of twentieth-century ethnic cleansing under ex‐ possessing the displaced population. Sometimes amination has been their "totalistic" objectives. the state itself undertakes to expropriate their "Ethnic cleansing, driven by the ideology of inte‐ property. More often it encourages its supporters gral nationalism and the military and technologi‐ to rob, exploit, and cheat the refugees out of their cal power of the modern state, rarely forgives, possessions. There is purpose in this criminality: makes exceptions or allows people to slip through to ensure departing communities have no means the cracks" (p. 190). Here, as throughout the book, to return, and to ensure that if they do return, Naimark sensibly allows for exceptions to his gen‐ they can make no claims over confscated or eralizations: his comparative treatment is ad‐ stolen property. mirably sensitive to nuance and diference. Thus, Finally, ethnic cleansing is deeply misogynis‐ while the author emphasizes the "totalizing" na‐ tic, invariably being directed disproportionately ture of the Soviet national deportations and of the at female populations as the "cultural and biologi‐ Nazi , deportation, and, later, murder cal repository of the nation" (p. 83). In particular, of the Jews, he concedes that Turkish assaults on Naimark underlines the use of systematic cam‐ the Armenians and Greeks did not aspire to total paigns of rape as a "tool of ethnic cleansing" (p. elimination of these ethnic populations (permit‐ 197), employed to terrorize the target population, ting some Armenian women, for example, to con‐ to drive them out of their homes and territories, vert to Islam and join Turkish households), and and to punish and humiliate them for their difer‐ that the Polish and Czechoslovak governments in ence. 1945 promulgated defnitions of and Naimark's stated ambition in this work is that citizenship which left some slight room for ac‐ by identifying "the characteristics of ethnic commodation with minorities, at least initially. cleansing and [examining] the way it works in Throughout the case studies, Naimark stress‐ concrete cases ... we may perhaps fnd ways to es three further aspects of ethnic cleansing that prevent future episodes, or at least to stop them testify to its "totalizing" scope. He consolidates earlier in their fearsome trajectories towards these themes in his conclusion. Firstly, in almost genocide" (p. 185). His conclusion, however, is not all instances the authorities responsible for up‐ optimistic. Corrupt and cynical political elites con‐ rooting populations have striven to eradicate tinue to exploit to mobilize from the purged territory all residual traces of the support; having gained power, they continue to former existence of these departing groups. To implement "homogenizing" programs on behalf of achieve this, the instigators of ethnic cleansing do their own socio-ethnic constituency. Yet when na‐ not stop at the demolition of material remains of tionalist regimes undertake such actions, the in‐ the displaced, levelling churches, mosques, syna‐ ternational community continues to be impotent, gogues, monuments, graveyards, and frequently refusing to intervene or intervening tardily and homes (though sometimes the houses are occu‐ inefectually. What is worse, history seems to

4 H-Net Reviews demonstrate that ethnic cleansing is successful in (New York: Syracuse University Press, 2000). its own terms. In Kosovo, despite international in‐ While many of the individual chapters are engag‐ tervention (or, some would claim, partly as a re‐ ing works of historical synthesis, social scientifc sult of a belated and misconceived intervention), abstraction, or theological and philosophical re‐ "ethnically pure enclaves are under construction, fection, the volume as a whole, in the opinion of separated from their former neighbours by walls, this reviewer, serves more to befuddle than to en‐ barbed wire, and heavily armed NATO forces" (p. lighten. 182). As Naimark argues, societies in the longer [2]. See, for example, David Mazower's Dark term are left impoverished by the departure of Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century (London: minorities and the permanent loss of . Allen Lane, 1998); and Jonathan Glover, Humani‐ Overall, this volume is a signifcant contribu‐ ty: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century tion to the literature on genocide, as well as to our (London: Jonathan Cape, 1999). understanding of forms of collective violence and [3]. For a magnifcent treatment of collective the nature of the modern state. The book's violence in non-European societies, ofering strengths have already been described. To criti‐ meticulous analysis of many instances of ethnic cize it for a lack of great theoretical originality or cleansing, see Donald L. Horowitz, The Deadly sophistication would be to miss the point--this vol‐ Ethnic Riot (Berkeley and London: University of ume is designed to be a comparative analysis of a California Press, 2001). series of empirical case studies, and its conceptual [4]. Naimark here acknowledges the ideas of framework is perfectly adequate for this purpose. Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and Holocaust It raises many important and challenging ques‐ (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989); and James tions, in particular concerning the nature of "high C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes modernism"; about the correlation between mod‐ to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed ern state-building and the "totalizing" claims and (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998). practices of diferent systems and regimes; about the rationality of ethnic cleansing as a state strate‐ [5]. Omer Bartov, Murder in Our Midst: The gy; about the character of popular participation in Holocaust, Industrial Killing, and Representation collective violence; and about the displaced per‐ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996); and son's own experience of ethnic cleansing. That a Elisabeth Domansky, "Militarization and Repro‐ slim volume such as this ofers only partial an‐ duction in Germany," in Society, Cul‐ swers is to be expected. Indeed, its great virtue ture, and the State in Germany, 1870-1930, ed. Ge‐ and value lie precisely in its vigorous exposition of Eley (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, of a new and vital research agenda, which will, 1996), pp. 427-463. without doubt, inspire many scholars to pursue [6]. For the "unmixing of peoples," see Rogers more exhaustive studies. That the publishers Brubaker, Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood failed to include relevant maps to illustrate the and the National Question in the New Europe case studies is, however, unforgivable, especially (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), since the author defnes ethnic cleansing specif‐ especially chap. 6. cally with reference to its territorial dimensions. [7]. , Ordinary Men: Re‐ Notes serve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution [1]. For example, see Isidor Wallimann and in Poland (New York: HarperCollins, 1993). See Michael Dobkowski, Genocide and the Modern also, for example, Horowitz, The Deadly Ethnic Age: Etiology and Case Studies of Mass Death Riot.

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Citation: Nick P. Baron. Review of Naimark, Norman M. Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth- Century Europe. ; Norman M. Naimark. Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. H-Genocide, H-Net Reviews. March, 2004.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=9030

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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