Libyan genocide

Libyan genocide
Part of the Second Italo-Senussi War and Italian colonization of Libya
Inmates at the Sid Ahmed el Maghrun concentration camp
Location	Italian Libya
Date	1929–1934
Target	Libyan Arabs
Attack type	Genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass killings, forced displacement, forced death marches, settler colonialism, chemical warfare, concentration camps and no quarter
Deaths	20,000–100,000
Perpetrator	Italian Empire
Motive	Italian fascism, imperialism, settler colonialism, anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia

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The Libyan genocide, also known in Libya as Shar (Arabic: شر, lit. 'Evil'),^[1] was the genocide of Libyan Arabs and the systematic destruction of Libyan culture during and after the Second Italo-Senussi War between 1929 and 1934. During this period, between 20,000 and 100,000 Libyans were killed by Italian colonial authorities under Benito Mussolini. Near 50% of the population of Cyrenaica was deported and interned in concentration camps, resulting in a population decline from 225,000 to 142,000 civilians.

This period was marked by a brutal campaign characterized by widespread major Italian war crimes, including ethnic cleansing, mass killings, forced displacement, forced death marches, settler colonialism, the use of chemical weapons, the use of concentration camps, mass executions of civilians and refusing to take prisoners of war and instead executing surrendering combatants. The indigenous population, particularly the nomadic Bedouin tribes, faced extreme violence and suppression in an attempt to quell Senussi resistance to colonial rule, whose population was reduced by half.

News about the genocide was heavily suppressed by Fascist Italy, evidence was largely destroyed, making remaining files in Italian concentration camps in Libya difficult to find even after the end of Fascist rule in Italy in 1945. The only camp with a record of prisoners is the Swani al-Tariya camp. However, the mass graves still attest to the genocide. It was not until 2008 that Italy apologized for its killing, destruction and repression of the Libyan people during its colonization of Libya.^[2]

The Libyan Genocide also has a direct link to the Holocaust, as the death camps were visited by Nazi notables like Himmler and Goering.