Man's inhumanity to man (nonfiction)

This victim of Nazi inhumanity still rests in the position in which he died, attempting to rise and escape his horrible death. He was one of 150 prisoners savagely burned to death by Nazi SS troops. Gardelegen, Germany. April 16, 1945.

The phrase "Man's inhumanity to man" is first documented in the Robert Burns poem called Man was made to mourn: A Dirge in 1784.

It is possible that Burns reworded a similar quote from Samuel von Pufendorf who in 1673 wrote, "More inhumanity has been done by man himself than any other of nature's causes."

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  1618: Writer and alleged troll Culvert Origenes publishes his essay Man's Inhumanity to Man, which will profoundly influence three generations of Enlightenment-era thinkers.

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Perfidy (nonfiction)
• War (nonfiction)
• Weapon (nonfiction)