Adolf Hitler

The avatar of fascism posed the century's greatest threat to democracy and redefined the meaning of evil forever

By Elie Wiesel Monday, Apr. 13, 1998

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    Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel is professor in the humanities at Boston University

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    GENOCIDE'S HALL OF SHAME
    From the Ottoman Turkish genocide of 1 million Armenians in 1915 to the 1994 slaughter of 500,000 Rwandan Tutsi — the world had never seen such evil. These men redefined villainy:

    POL POT, CAMBODIA
    Number of victims: 2 million. The Khmer Rouge regime killed one-quarter of Cambodia's population from 1975 to 1978, targeting almost anyone with a high school education or a pair of glasses.

    JOSEF STALIN, SOVIET UNION
    Number of victims: 15 million to 20 million. In the 1930s, Stalin ordered the killing of peasants, collectivization of agriculture and a campaign of famine against Ukraine. By 1933, 11 million people were dead.

    IDI AMIN DADA, UGANDA
    Number of victims: 300,000. Beginning in 1971, Amin's supporters wrought terror by flagging down cars in broad daylight and locking drivers in the trunks; mutilated bodies would be found the next day floating in rivers.

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