Armenian Genocide - Your Reaction

Due primarily to political and military needs, the United States to this day has yet to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide as a genocide. The need for military bases in Turkey, both during the Cold War and our current wars in the Middle East, has necessitate that our government not take an official stand on this subject. During the final years of President George W. Bush's administration, motions to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide as a genocide did not pass in the United States Congress. Turkey to this day does not acknowledge the event even happened and has threatened the U.S. with removing its support of our military efforts and use of its bases if we were to officially recognize the genocide.

Given your studies of the Armenian Genocide and study of the Holocaust through the reading of Night in Mr. Parker's class, what is your opinion. Should we acknowledge the tragedy the Armenians endured even though it happened during World War I or should current needs of our goverment take priority? What dangers, if any, does not officially recognizing an event like the Armenian Genocide present?

Armenian Genocide - New York Times Reports

New York Times Accounts
• The New York Times’ slogan is “All the news that’s fit to print.”
• It is the newspaper of record of the Armenian Genocide –one of the best and most reliable sources.
• The term genocide was not coined until 1944 by Raphael Lempkinand not approved by the United Nations until
1948.
• The NY Times, like the rest of the United States, stopped paying attention to the Armenians in the 1930s.
• The NY Times did not use the term genocide to talk about the Armenian Case until 2004.


Examine these reports in the New York Times from August 1, 1915 - November 15, 1915. Based on what you read, answer the following question:

1. Give three specific examples from the New York Times accounts of how the plight of the Armenians fits the United Nations Defnintion of Genocide

Armenian Genocide - Map and Chart

1. Examine the Map of The 1915 Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. What can be found in the key of the map? Why are these things significant?
   
   
   
2. Based on the chart of genocide statistics, what comparisons can be made to other genocides?

Armenian Genocide - Photographic Evideince.

Armin T. Wegner was a second lieutenant in the German army stationed in the Ottoman Empire in April 1915. Wegner disobeyed strict orders from Turkish and German authorities during World War I by taking pictures of the atrocities committed against the Armenian people and collecting notes and other documentation to expose the rest of the world to what was going on. He was eventually arrested, but not before sharing his research. Following World War I, he became an advocate for the Armenian pople, writing an "Open Letter to President Wilson" of the United States, appealing for the creation of an independent Armenian Country. He also was one of the eariliest voices to critiziz Hitler's treatment of the Jews in Germany. (teachgenocide.org).

Examine some of Armin T. Wegner's photographs. What is your reaction to these pictures. How did what you see reflect the UN Definition of Genocide in the previous post. Give specific examples.

Armenian Genocide - Survivor Accounts

When we talk about history, we often make generalities and focus on the key figures and events. Often we forget the "common" people who are caught up in events beyond there control.

The United Nations definition of Genocide, adopted after World War II on December 9, 1948, defines Genocide as:

...genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:

a. Killing Members of the Group;
b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Go to the following link: Armenian Genocide Survivor Accounts. Read at least three of the survivor accounts (Kurzweil will work on this page).

Answer the following question based on what you read in the survivor accounts:

1. Do the experiences of these survivors fit the UN definition of Genocide. Give at least three specific examples.
   

Armenian Genocide - Impact on Hitler

The Armenian Genocide in Turkey during World War I was the first modern genocide resulting in the death of over one million ethnic Armenians, more than half of the Armenian population within the country. The genocide in large part was due to centuries of hostility between the minority Christian Armenians and the majority Muslim Turks who ruled the region. World War I brought an agreement between the "Young Turks" who championed a Pan-Turkisim, strong Nationalism/desire to create a unified country of Turkey as the Ottoman Empire was collapsing, and Germany. Germany would support their efforts if Turkey allied themselves with Germany during World War I.

The Armenians were seen as an obstacle to the Pan-Turkish movement and they were seen as "traitors" and possible allies neighboring Russia. The extreme nationalism coupled with centuries of mistrust set the stage for what was to come.

When we think of Genocide, the massacre of Armenians are often over looked. It was the first modern genocide and its important to study it, along with all other human rights violations, to help prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

The lessons of the Armenian Genocide were not lost on Adolf Hitler. The following is from the Armenian Genocide Resource Library for Teachers:

On August 22, 1939, in preparation for the impending invasion of Poland, Hitler stated to Reichmarshal Hermann Goering and the commanding generals at Obersalzberg...

"Our strength consists in our speed and in our brutality. Genghis Khan led millions of women and children to slaughter - with premeditation and a happy heart. History sees in him solely the founder of a state. It's a matter of indifference to me what a weak western European civilization will say about me.

I have issued the command - and I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad - that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formations in readiness - for the present only in the East - with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space (lebensraum) which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

Source: http://www.teachgenocide.org/background/hitler.htm

Answer the following questions based on the document:

1. What are two ways Hitler justifies his actions in August 1939?
2. What is your reaction to the final sentence of the passage?

Please answer these questions in the comments.