This document discusses various megamurders (defined as murders of over 1 million people) that occurred in the 20th century, primarily caused by authoritarian leaders and regimes. It outlines the estimated number of civilians murdered in China under Mao Zedong, the Soviet Union under Stalin, Nazi Germany under Hitler, Belgium under Leopold II, Japan under Tojo, the Ottoman Empire, Cambodia under Pol Pot, North Korea under Kim Il Sung, Ethiopia under Mengistu Haile Mariam, and Nigeria under Gowon. It also discusses the persecution of Christians, female infanticide in India and China, and abortions in the 20th century.

1. MEGAMURDERS: THE WORST CRIMES
AGAINST HUMANITY

2. • It is estimated that more than 250 million
people were systematically murdered in the
20th century, the century of mass murder.
• In sheer numbers, the 20th century is the
bloodiest period in human history.
• 1 Megamurder = 1,000,000 murders
• This presentation is about megamurders in
the 20th century, usually caused by leaders
or regimes. It does not include people died
in combat.
• Notice that some images may be offensive.

3. China (1949-present), especially under
Mao Ze-Dong
• 38,702,000 - 76,702,000 murders of civilians
supposed as dissidents.
Mao

4. U.S.S.R (1917-1990), especially under
Josef Stalin
• 23,000,000 - 61,911,000 murders of civilians,
including 7,500,000 Ukrainians died of
starvation (Holodomor).
Stalin

5. Nazistic Germany under Adolf Hitler(1939-1945)
• 12,000,000 - 20,946,000 murders of civilians,
including 6,000,000 Jews (Holocaust),
Poles, Roma, homosexuals, the physically
and mentally handicapped, and dissidents.
Hitler

6. Leopold II, king of the Belgians (1886-1908)
• 5,000,000 - 15,000,000 deaths of Congolese
(indigenous inhabitants of the Congo River
Basin) through barbarous exploitation,
tortures, and mass killings.
Leopold II

7. Japan under Hideki Tojo (1941-1944)
• 5,000,000-6,000,000 murders of Chinese
civilians during Japan’s invasion in China
Tojo

8. Ottoman Turkey, especially under Ismail
Enver and Kemal Ataturk (1909-1923)
• 2,500,000 – 2,800,000 murders of civilians. It
includes the systematic killing of 1,500,000
Armenians, 800,000 Greeks, and 500,000
Assyrians, as a policy of extermination of the non-
Turkish population of the Ottoman Empire.
Enver Ataturk

9. Cambodia under Pol Pot (1975-1979)
• 1,700,000 -2,000,000 murders by torture,
starvation, and execution. It included every
civilian supposed as potentially opponent to
the regime of Khmer Rouge, especially the
educated and the religious.
Pol Pot

10. North Korea (1948-present),especially
under Kim Il Sung
• 1,600,000-3,500,000 murders of civilians by
starvation, work to death, torture, execution
and experiments.
Kim Il Sung

11. Ethiopia under Mengistu Haile Mariam
(1975-1978)
• 1,500,000 murders of supposed enemies or
suspected opponents of the Derg regime
(Communist military junta that governed
Ethiopia), including university students,
intellectuals and politicians.
Mengistu

12. Nigeria under Yakubu Gowon (1967-1970)
• 1,000,000-3,000,000 murders of Biafran
people due to the enforcement of a
comprehensive blockade which led to severe
shortages of food, medicine, clothing, and
housing.
Gowon

13. • Unfortunately, the previous
megamurders are not the worst cases of
the 20th century.
• We may see the previous 10 cases as the
result of the policy of authoritarian
regimes, and assume that such crimes
cannot take place in democratic
societies.
• If you believe so, see the next 3 cases.

14. The Christian Martyrs
• Although Christianity is the largest religion of
the world, it is also the most persecuted
religion, especially in Islamic (even
democratic) and Communistic regimes
• 45,500,000 martyrs in the 20th century.

15. Countries where Christians
are persecuted

16. Female Infanticide
• 90.000.000 female infant homicides only in
India and China, as e result of systematic sex
discrimination
• The global number of female infanticides in
the 20th century, must be hundreds of millions

17. Abortion: The lawful murder of the most
innocent and defenseless human beings
• 1-2 billion murders of unborn children in
50 years

19. • We may consider megamurders as
outcomes of policy.
• However, the last three cases, in the
first place, are not matters of policy
but matters of human wickedness,
cruelty and greed.

20. • And even as they did not like to retain God in
their knowledge, God gave them over to a
reprobate mind, to do those things which are
not convenient; Being filled with all
unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity;
(Romans 1:28-29)