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<p>[QUOTE="Cachecoins, post: 4593592, member: 111237"]I did not ignore the crimes against humanity committed there. I clearly state that no reputable historian would. I simply point out the problematic aspect of placing any kind of number on the death and the specific causes of death and reporting it as factual without clearly dealing with the problematic nature of any such assessment. Also the problem with the label genocide and Holocaust.</p><p><br /></p><p> Nowhere did I refute that crimes against humanity were indeed committed by the Force Publique and I clearly pointed out that it was his secretary of state who wrote about his reaction to the news of the extent of those crimes. Pictures are gruesome and I did not want to post them in case it broke a rule in the forum. I posted them initially but did not want the thread to be locked if it broke a rule so I deleted them. </p><p><br /></p><p>All the same those pictures prove crimes happened but do not assist in establishing numbers that are commonly cited and causes of death knowing that many died of sleeping sickness as well as those who migrated from the area which factor into population decline as the Congo is vast and there were seldom more than a few thousand European agents in the country at any given time. It is hard to look at this objectively and not let judgement be clouded by the emotion that such photos illicit but I must do this in order to stay true to the goal of painting a factual picture of events.</p><p><br /></p><p>I also researched a specific case of a holocaust survivor for my senior research and had to do the same thing although his story is one of survival and redemption and a life that may have been cut short lived well and long.</p><p><br /></p><p>I am not an apologist for Leopold, all that happened in the Congo, regardless of what he might have known or ordered to be done, falls squarely on his shoulders as this was his personal enterprise.</p><p><br /></p><p>This was NOT the Belgian Congo as the Belgian government turned down his proposal of a colony and only ended up in possession after the horrors of the Free State became commonly known and under pressure of other world leaders (most of whom agreed to the establishment of said enterprise and profited from it).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Cachecoins, post: 4593592, member: 111237"]I did not ignore the crimes against humanity committed there. I clearly state that no reputable historian would. I simply point out the problematic aspect of placing any kind of number on the death and the specific causes of death and reporting it as factual without clearly dealing with the problematic nature of any such assessment. Also the problem with the label genocide and Holocaust. Nowhere did I refute that crimes against humanity were indeed committed by the Force Publique and I clearly pointed out that it was his secretary of state who wrote about his reaction to the news of the extent of those crimes. Pictures are gruesome and I did not want to post them in case it broke a rule in the forum. I posted them initially but did not want the thread to be locked if it broke a rule so I deleted them. All the same those pictures prove crimes happened but do not assist in establishing numbers that are commonly cited and causes of death knowing that many died of sleeping sickness as well as those who migrated from the area which factor into population decline as the Congo is vast and there were seldom more than a few thousand European agents in the country at any given time. It is hard to look at this objectively and not let judgement be clouded by the emotion that such photos illicit but I must do this in order to stay true to the goal of painting a factual picture of events. I also researched a specific case of a holocaust survivor for my senior research and had to do the same thing although his story is one of survival and redemption and a life that may have been cut short lived well and long. I am not an apologist for Leopold, all that happened in the Congo, regardless of what he might have known or ordered to be done, falls squarely on his shoulders as this was his personal enterprise. This was NOT the Belgian Congo as the Belgian government turned down his proposal of a colony and only ended up in possession after the horrors of the Free State became commonly known and under pressure of other world leaders (most of whom agreed to the establishment of said enterprise and profited from it).[/QUOTE]
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