When historians talk about the atrocities of the 20th century,
当历史家谈到20世纪的暴行时，
we often think of those that took place during and between the two World Wars.
我们往往会想起发生于两次世界大战或是两次大战之间的那些事。
Along with the Armenian genocide in modern-day Turkey, the Rape of Nanking in China, and Kristallnacht in Germany,
除了现代土耳其的亚美尼亚大屠杀、中国的南京大屠杀和德国的水晶之夜，
another horrific ethnic cleansing campaign occurred on an island between the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
还有另一个恐怖的种族清洗活动在一座位于大西洋和加勒比海之间的岛屿上发生。
The roots of this conflict go back to 1492,
这个冲突的根源可追溯到1492年，
when Christopher Columbus stumbled onto the Caribbean island that would come to be named Hispaniola,
克里斯托弗·哥伦布意外地在加勒比海发现一座后来被命名为伊斯帕尼奥拉的岛，
launching a wave of European colonization.
从此展开了欧洲人的殖民浪潮。
The island's Taíno natives were decimated by violence and disease
该岛的原住民泰诺人因为暴力和疾病而人口锐减，
and the Europeans imported large numbers of enslaved Africans to toil in profitable sugar plantations.
欧洲人则带入大批的非洲奴隶在盈利丰厚的甘蔗园做苦力。
By 1777, the island had become divided between a French-controlled West and a Spanish-controlled East.
到了1777年，该岛已分裂成法国控制的西部和西班牙控制的东部。
A mass slave revolt won Haiti its independence from France in 1804 and it became the world's first black republic.
1804年发生的奴隶大反抗使海地从法国争取独立，它成为了世界上第一个黑人共和国。
But the new nation paid dearly, shut out of the world economy and saddled with debt by its former masters.
但海地赔上了极高的代价，经济上被其他国家孤立，又遭法国索赔，负债累累。
Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic would declare independence
同时，多米尼加共和国则宣布独立，
by first overthrowing Haitian rule of eastern Hispaniola and later Spanish and American colonialism.
他们推翻了海地在东伊斯帕尼奥拉的统治，又打败了西班牙和美国的殖民主义。
Despite the long and collaborative history shared by these two countries,
尽管两国共享悠长的历史，也常常一起合作，
many Dominican elites saw Haiti as a racial threat that imperiled political and commercial relations with white western nations.
但是多米尼加的许多上层人士依然视海地为一个种族威胁，危害他们跟西方白人国家在政治与贸易上的关系。
In the years following World War I, the United States occupied both parts of the island.
第一次世界大战后，美国占领了该岛上的两国。
It did so to secure its power in the Western hemisphere by destroying local opposition and installing US-friendly governments.
为了巩固它在西半球的势力，美国粉碎了地方反抗势力，并设立了亲美的地方政府。
The brutal and racist nature of the US occupation, particularly along the remote Dominican-Haitian border,
美占时期的残暴和种族歧视，在多米尼加-海地边界的偏僻地区尤为严重，
laid the foundation for bigger atrocities after its withdrawal.
为美国撤退后该地发生的种种暴行播下种子。
In 1930, liberal Dominican president Horacio Vásquez was overthrown by the chief of his army, Rafael Trujillo.
1930年，开明的多米尼加总统霍拉希奥·巴斯克斯被他的陆军总司令拉斐尔·特鲁希略推翻。
Despite being a quarter Haitian himself, Trujillo saw the presence of a bicultural Haitian and Dominican borderland
尽管有着四分之一的海地血统，特鲁希略还是把海地和多米尼加边界的二元文化
as both a threat to his power and an escape route for political revolutionaries.
视为对他的权利的威胁以及政治革命者们的发泄渠道。
In a chilling speech on October 2, 1937, he left no doubt about his intentions for the region.
1937年10月2日，在一个令人寒心的演讲中，他毫无保留地说明他对该地区的计划。

Claiming to be protecting Dominican farmers from theft and incursion,
打着保护多米尼加农民免受被盗和侵犯的旗帜，
Trujillo announced the killing of 300 Haitians along the border and promised that this so-called "remedy" would continue.
特鲁希略宣布杀害300名居住于边界的海地人，并言之凿凿地承诺这个“解决方法”将不会间断。
Over the next few weeks, the Dominican military, acting on Trujillo's orders,
接下来的几个星期，多米尼加军队在特鲁希略的命令下，
murdered thousands of Haitian men and women, and even their Dominican-born children.
滥杀上千名海地男女，包括他们在多米尼加出生的孩子。
The military targeted black Haitians, even though many Dominicans themselves were also dark-skinned.
军队主要针对海地黑人，尽管许多多米尼加人本身也拥有黝黑的皮肤。
Some accounts say that to distinguish the residents of one country from the other,
有些记载称为了辨识两国的公民，
the killers forced their victims to say the Spanish word for parsley.
杀手会强迫受害者用西班牙语说“香菜”这个词。
Dominicans pronounce it perejil, with a trilled Spanish "r."
多米尼加人会把它念成“perejil”，颤音的西班牙“r”。
The primary Haitian language, however, is Kreyol, which doesn't use a trilled r.
而海地人的主要语言克里奥尔语，是从不使用颤音的“r”的。
So if people struggled to say perejil, they were judged to be Haitian and immediately killed.
所以如果某人很难说出“perejil”这个词，他就被视为海地人，格杀勿论。
Yet recent scholarship suggests that tests like this weren't the sole factor used to determine who would be murdered,
但现代学者提出，类似这种的测试并不是用来决定谁将被杀死的唯一方法，
especially because many of the border residents were bilingual.
尤其是因为有很多住在边界的人都懂两种语言。
The Dominican government censored any news of the massacre,
多米尼加政府对任何跟大屠杀有关的新闻严加检查，
while bodies were thrown in ravines, dumped in rivers, or burned to dispose of the evidence.
而受害者的尸体则被抛入深谷、弃于河中、或焚毁以毁尸灭迹。
This is why no one knows exactly how many people were murdered,
这就是为什么没有人知道受害者的确实数目，
though contemporary estimates range from about 4,000 to 15,000.
但现代推测这个数字介于4千到1万5千人之间。
Yet the extent of the carnage was clear to many observers.
无论如何，大屠杀程度之严重是众所周知的。
As the US Ambassador to the Dominican Republic at the time noted,
就如当时美国驻多米尼加共和国的大使所说的，
"The entire northwest of the frontier on the Dajabón side is absolutely devoid of Haitians.
“达哈翁省西北方边界的整个地区没有一个海地人。
Those not slain either fled across the frontier or are still hiding in the bush."
未遭受屠杀的要么跨过边界逃命，要么依然躲在森林之中。”
The government tried to disclaim responsibility
多米尼加政府尝试拒绝承认罪行，
and blame the killings on vigilante civilians, but Trujillo was condemned internationally.
并把滥杀归咎于非法民间义警团，不过特鲁希略还是被国际社会谴责。
Eventually, the Dominican government was forced to pay only $525,000 in reparations to Haiti,
最终，多米尼加政府被迫赔偿区区的52万2千美元给海地，
but due to corrupt bureaucracy, barely any of these funds reached survivors or their families.
但是由于腐败的官僚制度，只有少量的赔偿金真正落入了幸存者或受害者亲人手里。
Neither Trujillo nor anyone in his government was ever punished for this crime against humanity.
特鲁希略和他的政府官员都没有因为这项危害人类罪的罪行而被处置。
The legacy of the massacre remains a source of tension between the two countries.
大屠杀所留下的影响仍然是这两国关系紧张的根源。
Activists on both sides of the border have tried to heal the wounds of the past.
双方的积极分子都在尝试愈合过去的伤痕。
But the Dominican state has done little, if anything, to officially commemorate the massacre or its victims.
然而多米尼加政府却几乎没采取什么行动来正式纪念这场屠杀或其受害者。
Meanwhile, the memory of the Haitian massacre remains a chilling reminder
与此同时，海地大屠杀的记忆仍然是个刺骨寒心的警示，
of how power-hungry leaders can manipulate people into turning against their lifelong neighbors.
提醒我们权欲熏心的领导可以如何操控人民，让他们和相处多年的邻国朋友反目成仇。