Hey, the answer is Ethnic Group. :)
The Big Stick was the phrase used in a US policy over Latin America. President Theodore Roosevelt referred to this as being soft and gentle at the same time strict and disciplined. If there are problems with relationships to other countries military use was an option. This policy was used to handle Venezuela Crisis.
There were of course stories, but lies were fed into the public view, when stories were told, no one believed them. Who can lead genocide on such a massive scale? No one thought they (The Germans) could. But they did...
The axis in WW2 included Germany, Japan, and Italy.