Transcript The Armenian Genocide 1915-1923

The Forgotten Genocide
What is to be
learned from
this Hitler
quote?
The Armenian genocide is similar to the Jewish
Holocaust in many respects:
* Both people adhere to an ancient religion.
*Both are religious minorities of their respective
states.
*Both have a history of persecution.
*Both are new democracies.
*Both are surrounded by enemies.
*Both are talented and creative minorities who
have been persecuted out of envy and
obscurantism.
Avedis Aharonian
(1866-1948)
The Armenian Genocide
1915 - 1923
The Armenian Genocide: Context and Legacy---Adalian, Rouben Paul. Social Education: The
Official Journal of the National Council for the Social Studies: 1991, (February).
• “At a time when global issues dominate the political
agenda of most nations, the Armenian genocide
underlines the grave risks of overlooking the
problems of small peoples. We cannot ignore the
cumulative effect of allowing state after state to
resort to the brutal resolution of disagreements
with their ethnic minorities. That the world chose to
forget the Armenian genocide is also evidence of a
serious defect in the system of nation-states which
needs to be rectified. In this respect, the continued
effort to cover up the Armenian genocide may hold
the most important lesson of all."
Why Did it Happen? 6 Main Reasons
• The “Armenian Question” – 6 reasons for
emergence
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Decline of Ottoman Empire
Rise of Turkism or Pan-Turanism
Diplomacy to stop racism/injustices inadequate
Ottoman Military Weaknesses
Reform measures in Ottoman Gov’t gave hope to
Armenians
6. Armenian Modernization led to resentment among
Turks
Reason One: Decline of the Ottoman
Empire
–Caused violent competition for land
and resources
–Government failed to guarantee life
and property
–Armenians demand reform
–Invited resistance from government
1) Turkism: Unite all of the
Turkish peoples in the entire
region
2) Pan-Turanism: Expanding
the borders of Turkey
Reason Two: Turkism
• altered Ottoman self perceptions
from a religious to a national identity
by emphasizing the ethnicity of the
Turks of Anatolia to the exclusion of
other populations and promoted the
idea that region should be exclusive
domain of the Turkish Nation
Reason Two: Pan-Turanism
• advanced the idea of conquering
lands stretching into Central Asia
inhabited by other Turkic-speaking
peoples.
• Goal was to unify all the Turkic
peoples into a single empire led by
the Ottoman Turks.
Reason Two: Goal cont.
• Homeland of Armenia lay in the path of their
plan
• Rise in Islamic Fundamentalism
• Young Islamic extremists stage anti-Armenian
demonstrations
• Armenians resist
– Want to maintain culture/identity
– Push harder for say in gov’t
Reason Two: The Armenians resist the CUP
policy of Turkification
• The Armenians had worked hard to build up
the infrastructure of their communities,
including an extensive network of elementary
and secondary schools.
• Through education they hoped to preserve
their culture and identity and to obtain
participation in the government.
• Reason Three: Appeal of the
Armenians to the Christian
countries of Europe
• Ottomans saw Armenians
reaching out as subversion
Reason Four: Military weakness of the
Ottoman Empire
• left it exposed to external threats
and therefore made it prone to
resorting to brutality as a method of
containing domestic dissent.
Reason Five: Reform measures introduced
in the 19th century to modernize the
Turkish State had initially encouraged
increased expectations among
Armenians that better government and
even representation were imminent
possibilities.
• Massacre of Armenians undermine this
confidence
• Armenian national consciousness and
formation of political organizations grew
Reason Six:
• Rapid modernization experienced
by the Armenians---Differences
Between Armenians and Turks
=resentment among the Muslims
of the Ottoman Empire
Reason Six: Differences between
Armenians and Turks
Armenians
• Better educated
• Professionals
i.e.: Businessmen, lawyers,
doctors, and skilled
craftsmen
• Open to new scientific,
political and social ideas
from the west
Turks
• Illiterate peasant
farmers and small
shopkeepers
• Little values on
education
• Previous rulers values
loyalty and blind
obedience above all
• Never heard of
democracy
Armenian Origins
• The Armenians ancestry is traced all the way
back to ancient tribes that inhabited Asia
Minor.
• Armenian Kingdoms were located between
Rome and the Persian Empire, who at the
time were struggling.
• Because of this location these kingdoms were
sometimes able to achieve independence
while other times they were subjected to
foreign rule.
Religion- Armenian Apostolic Church
*Trace heritage back to Noah
*1st country to formally adopt Christianity (331
AD)
Karekin II, leader
of the Armenian
Orthodox Church
*93% of Armenians belong to Armenian
Apostolic church
(Canadian Armenian Embassy)
*Church as cultural and social force
(Canadian Armenian Embassy)
Armenian Religion and Culture
• Since 301 A.D. the official religion of the
Armenians was Christianity.
• After establishing the official religion and
creating their own alphabet, the Armenians
enabled their own distinct culture.
• Although Armenian independence was
dwindling in the 14th century, their unique
culture indentified them as an individual
group.
Medieval Armenia
• From 645-850 A.D. Armenia was under Arab domination.
• In the 9th century the Armenian Kingdom began to restore
itself, when the Arab- Islamic Empire started to decline.
• In 1045, the Armenian Kingdom was annexed by the
Byzantine Empire.
• Then in 1064 Turkic tribesmen from Central Asia invaded
the Armenian Plateau.
• For the next three centuries the Armenian Kingdom faced
invasions for Turkic and Mongols.
• Although the invasions did not stop the Armenians
attempted to recreate political stability.
• Armenian culture and life maintained itself until the 14th
century. The last Armenian Kingdom fell in 1375.
Under Ottoman Domination
• In the 15th century, the Ottoman Turks became a dominant force in
Asia Minor.
• In 1453, after defeating the Byzantine Empire, they declared
Constantinople their capital city.
• This led to the creation of the Ottoman Empire.
• The Patriarch or head of the Armenian Church, in the Ottoman
Empire, was responsible for the religious, educational, and judicial
establishments of the Armenian community.
• The church helped the Armenian identity stay distinct in the Empire.
• Under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Armenians received
moments of peace and periods of harsh treatment.
• The majority of Armenians were peasants in the eastern provinces
of the Ottoman Empire.
– Out of these peasants many worked as tenant farmers or share
croppers for Turkish landholders.
Under Ottoman Domination continued
• 250,000 Armenians who lived in the capital served
the Empire as bankers, merchants, civil servants,
and imperial architects.
• Soon Armenian leaders began to ask for democratic
reform in order to help alleviate the hardships.
– Armenian complaints consisted of misrule, overtaxation, and increasing insecurity of life and
property.
• Ottoman leader Abdul Hamid II was fearful
Armenians might gain independence so he declared
a massacre of about 200,000 Armenians in the
capital.
The Genocidal Process--1915-1923
• In 1914 during WWI Russia, Great Britain, and France were allied
together against Germany and Austria-Hungary.
• Russia, in enlarging their empire, controlled areas populated with
Turkish speaking people and hurt the Ottoman Empire. Because of
this it appeared Germany and Austria- Hungary were allied with the
Ottoman Empire.
– On Aug. 2, 1914 The Ottoman Empire signed a treaty making the
alliance with Germany and Austria- Hungary official.
• Young Turks hoped that they would defeat Russia so they can expand
to Central Asia and unite all Turkish speaking people
• This became known as Pan- Turkism.
• However, the Armenian plateau’s location, made it an inevitable
battle ground for war.
– No matter who won the war, the Armenians would face severe
problems.
Role of WWI (1914): Perfect Opportunity
• Leaders of the Young Turk
regime sided with the
Central Powers
• Armenians side w/Russia
(Allied)
• Outbreak of war would
provide the perfect
opportunity to solve the
“Armenian Question”
The New-York Times Mid-Week
Pictorial
New York, New York
December 30, 1915
Role WWI Played: Perfect Opportunity
• Ottomans defeated by Russians
• Place blame on Armenians
– “Collaboration with the enemy”
– War provided perfect opportunity for
Turkification
• No obligation to uphold international agreements
Role of WWI: Perfect Opportunity
• Because it was WWI, the rest of the
world was preoccupied (Completely
absorbed by another thought or action)
and did not notice the conflict until 1918.
• If WWI had not been happening, then the
other countries of the world could have
assisted the Armenians in their time of
need.
What reason did the Minister of the Interior
give when asked about the CUP policy of
deporting the Armenians?
• Armenians collaborate with
the enemy charging the
entire Armenians population
with treason
Preconditions to the Armenian Genocide
• Loss of Territories- The Ottoman Empire expanded throughout
Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the late 18th and 19th centuries the Empire
lost land along Europe and North African provinces.
• Economic Reversals- Trade balance shifted in the 17th century.
European trade had risen making the Ottoman Empire a debtor and
for once was dependent on European Markets.
• Armenian Demands for Reform- Armenians were scattered
throughout the Empire demanding democratic reform. And after
harsh conditions they demanded for protection, misrule, etc…
• Foreign Intervention- European powers pressured the Ottoman’s for
reforms from time to time creating more problems. The Armenians
citizens grew and the government lost more power.
• Repressive Reactions- After the wholesale massacre of 250,000
Armenians the Ottoman’s began to lose control of the Empire.
• In the late 1800s,
Abdul Hamid
organized pogroms
that killed
thousands of
Armenians.
• The only crimes the
Armenians had
committed were to
be Christian and to
ask for more
democratic rights
for all people
within the Ottoman
Empire.
• This is known as
the Hamidian
Massacres.
The 8 Steps of Armenian Genocide
Classification
• The Armenians were
considered separate
than Ottoman Turkey
• They were Christians,
and separated from the
mostly Muslim
population
Symbolization
• Generalizations were
made about all
Armenians because of
actions of a few
Christian people
The 8 Steps of the Armenian Genocide
(Cont.)
Dehumanization
• Because the Armenians
had different beliefs,
they were forced to pay
higher taxes
• They also were not
trusted and treated as
second class individuals
Organization
• The Committee of
Union and Progress
made lists of different
Armenian people to be
murdered
The 8 Steps of the Armenian Genocide
(Cont.)
Polarization
• Armenians were accused of
going against their
government to help the
Russians
• Only a few people tried to
help them, and by doing so
they put their lives at risk
Preparation
• The Turks ordered leaders
to send all Armenian
women and children on a
forced march through the
desert under terrible
conditions
• They set up 25
concentration camps
• Militias were developed for
the killings
The 8 Steps of the Armenian Genocide
(Cont.)
Extermination
• Armenian political and
intellectual leaders
were gathered and
killed on April 24th,
1915
• On that day, 5,000 of
the poorest Armenians
were butchered in the
streets
Denial
• The Turkish Government
denies that there was a
genocide of the Armenians
• They claim that the
Armenians were removed
from the Eastern “war
zone”
Genocidal Process : How It Begins
• During the first 6 months of war, there were reports about criminals released
from jail and being dispatched to where the Armenians lived.
• In Aug. 1914 the young Turk government created the Special Organization units.
– This units were instructed to carry out subversive activities on the Russo- Ottoman
border.
– Members were recruited among the ranks of the criminals and outlaws released from
prison on occasion.
– But later it became evident that these units were to kill off the Armenian population.
• The initial defeat of the Ottomans against Russians enhanced the government’s
ill- disposition toward the Armenian citizens.
• In the winter of 1914-1915 the Ottoman army launched an attack against Asia
hoping to open the way to Central Asia.
– The attack was poorly planned and it ended up with severe loss from the Ottoman
army.
• Armenian villages were taking the burden for the Turks anger and were being
accused of being non trustworthy to their government.
• This is when the massacres of Armenians began.
Turkish Actions
Minimizing Resistance
• Disarmed entire Armenian
population
• 40,000 Armenian men serving in
Turkish Army
–Weapons were confiscated and put
into slave labor
Turkish Actions cont.
Minimizing Resistance
• Extermination orders transmitted in coded
telegrams to all governors in Turkey
• All other Armenian men summoned for removal
process
– Turned themselves in willingly
– No clue about to be murdered
•
•
•
•
Imprisoned
Tortured
Taken away in chains
Mass executions
Armenian genocide
Armenian genocide
In 1915, when some Armenians welcomed Russian armies as liberators after years
of persecution, the Ottoman government ordered a genocidal mass deportation of
its Armenian citizens from their homeland to the empire's eastern provinces. This
photo, taken in Kharpert in 1915 by a German businessman from his hotel
window, shows Turkish guards marching Armenian men off to a prison, where
they will be tortured to death. A million Armenians died from murder, starvation,
and disease during World War I. (Courtesy of the Armenian Library & Museum of
America, Watertown, MA)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Men shot, killed and buried in mass
graves…
April 24, 1915
• 300 Armenian Leaders from Constantinople
• political leaders
• writers
• clergy
• Educators
• and dignitaries
• Taken from their homes, jailed & tortured, then
hanged and shot
• Tied together with rope in small groups then taken to
the outskirts of their town and shot dead
Armenian Leaders’ Fate
• Fate of Armenian Soldiers:
• Many Armenian citizens were
between the age of 25-45 and thus
conscripted to the army.
• When WWI began about 250,000
Armenian males began to serve in
the army.
• This was just another way to depart
Armenians, thus killing off their
civilization.
• Soon these Armenians were pulled
off the front and disarmed.
• Then they were regrouped to about
50- 100 men and were sentenced to
work on road maintenance
• . Later they were starved, beaten to
death, or gunned down.
• Fate of Armenian Intellectuals:
• On April 23-24, 1915 hundreds
of Armenian intellectuals were
arrested in front of the capital
• . This lead to the imprisonment
of most Armenian politicians,
scientists, lawyers, doctors,
and writers.
• Nearly all of them were
murdered.
• This pattern repeated to where
5000 community leaders were
eliminated.
• The Armenian deputies
expressed their anxiety to the
government but were killed.
Consequently the 24th of April
marked the Armenian
Genocide.
Armenians from Kesaria in front of jail one hour before
all were killed
The Armenian Genocide
• Turkish
leaders
first
executed
Armenian
leaders…
• The Fate of the Armenian Population• The loss of their leaders and able bodied
men made the Armenians very vulnerable
and defenseless.
• Panic broke out in the Armenian community.
• The elimination of the Armenian leadership
unfolded the systematic policy of
extermination being implemented by the
Young Turk government.
Armenian Women, Children, and the
Elderly
• Sometimes, local Turks spared young
Armenian children from deportation
• Coerced into denouncing Christianity
• Sexual abuse rape of girls at the hands of the
Special Organization (government units of
hardened criminals)
• Some
Armenian
children were
taken from
their families
and given to
Muslim
Turkish
families to be
raised.
• They were
given Muslim
names and
forced to
convert.
• They were
taught Arabic.
• The boys were
circumcized.
Armenian Women, Children, and the
Elderly
• Ordered to pack
belongings w/little-no
notice
• Claimed were being
relocated to the nonmilitary zone for their
own safety.
– Actually being taken
on death marches
The Armenian Genocide
- Armed round-ups begin April
24, 1915
- mass killing and deportation
follow
- property taken by local Turks
- Ambassador Henry
Morgenthau reported to
Washington, “When the
Turkish authorities gave the
orders for these deportations,
they were merely giving the
death warrant to a whole
race..."
The Armenian Genocide,
1915
U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry
Morgenthau Sr., concluded a “race murder” was
occurring. He cabled Washington and described
the Turkish campaign:
”Persecution of Armenians assuming
unprecedented proportions. Reports from widely
scattered districts indicate systematic attempt to
uproot peaceful Armenian populations and
through arbitrary arrests, terrible tortures, whosesale expulsions and deportations from one end of
the Empire to the other accompanied by frequent
instances of rape, pillage, and murder turning into
massacre, to bring destruction and destitution on
them.
The documentary, The Armenian
Genocide aired on PBS in April, 2006.
These measures are not in response to popular or
fanatical demand but are purely arbitrary and
directed from Constantinople in the name of
military necessity, often in districts where no
military operations are likely to take place…there
seems to be a systematic plan to crush the
Armenian race.”
Extensive Deportation
Plan
• Mass deportations were an
• Prepared in utmost secrecy
• Carried out by the police, the
Special Organization Units, and
under the direction of the
governors of the provinces
where the Armenians lived
• Government officials who
refused to carry out orders
were dismisses and
immediately replaced
• A Deportation Committee was
set up in Constantinople
unprecedented measure
• From May 1915 until spring
of 1916, nearly all
Armenians of the Ottoman
Empire disappeared from
the Armenian plateau.
• Notices of deportation
were posted in public
places and the news
announced by public criers
in the streets of Armenians
towns and villages
• The Armenian men,
women, and children were
given a few days to leave
their homes
• Over a million Armenians
• Covered hundreds of miles and
lasted months
• Food supplies ran out and they were
denied food or water
• Lagged behind  Beaten
• Could not continue  Shot
Deportation
• The Turkish authorities said
that the deportation of the
Armenians would merely
be a war-time measure.
• Families were expected to
take only a minimal
amount of baggage.
• The government reassured
them that all their
belongings and livestock
would be safeguarded until
their return.
• Then the deportations
began.
• Proceeded on the
mountainous plateau where
communication routes were
few and poorly maintained
• Organized in convoys and
made to walk to the Syrian
desert to the south
• This pattern was repeated in
every town and indicated it
was a well-organized plan.
• The deportations and
subsequent massacres
proceeded in progressive
stages.
Deportation
• Shortly after reaching the
outskirts of a village, all
males over the age of fifteen
were separated from the
convoy, taken to isolated
locations and shot or
slaughtered.
• The women, children, and
straggling elderly were left
to die a much slower death.
• They were forcefully
dragged from one province
to another under the
supervision of the police.
• Had to cross mountains,
ravines, and through the
desert on foot
• Most women had to walk
carrying a child in their arms
while attending to their
surviving sons and daughters
and the straggling elderly
• Food was often refused to the
convoys of deportees
• Pieces of bread were sold in
exchange for the few remaining
belongings
• Water was rationed.
• Conditions allowed for
additional deaths due to
exposure, malnutrition, thirst,
and epidemics.
Deportations
• The Special Organization kidnapped
women and children to be sold to
Turkish families as slaves.
• Girls and women were also raped
and their bodies were left mutilated.
• During the marches mothers left
behind children or families as a
whole committed suicide.
• Food and water were rationed and
this led to many deaths.
• The proclaimed destinations of the
deportations were the interior parts
of the Empire, the city of Aleppo to
the south and the desert wasteland
of Deir el-Zor in the Iraqi/Syrian
desert in the south east.
• The deportations were organized
and conducted in such a way, so that
only 10% of those who were made
to leave their homes reached the
deportation camps.
• By July 1915 most Armenians were
deported and killed
• Deportations from the coastal region
of Cilicia was made easier and more
effective by the better
communication lines and railway.
• From July 1915 to the winter months
of 1915-1916, the Armenians of
Cilicia were deported.
• They were often piled in boxcars
initially reserved for the
transportation of goods and
livestock.
• They were asked to pay the fare and
all travel expenses of what ended up
to be their death journey.
• Often they had to wait for days and
weeks in impoverished camps around
the tracks in isolated areas.
• The deportees had not access to food
or water.
• After their defeat in World War I, the new Ottoman
government tried the leaders of the genocide and
sentenced them to death in absentia.
• However within a few months the proceedings were
suspended and the matter dropped.
• The Armenian survivors were not allowed to return
to the Armenian plateau.
Women
and
children
slowly
starved to
death on a
forced
march
Results
• Any resistance ended in massacre.
• By spring of 1915 400,000-500,000 survivors were
separated into two groups moving from camp to
camp.
• Any survivors by the spring of 1916 were killed.
• “Estimates of the Armenian dead vary from 600,000 to
two million…
• More than half the Armenian population perished and
the rest were forcibly driven from their ancestral
homeland.
• Another important point is that what befell the
Armenians was by the will of the government.” – Ibid.,
p.36
Photographed by a German Officer in
Turkey
• Auction of Souls” or “Memorial of Truth”
• “Ravished Armenia”, one of the first documentary memoirs
of an eyewitness of Armenian Genocide was published in
1918, in New York.
• In this book Arshaluys (Aurora) Mardiganian, a girl from
Chmshkatsag, Armenian populated town in the Ottoman
Empire, gave a detailed account of the terrible experiences
she endured during the genocide.
• At the age of fourteen Arshaluys was beaten and tortured in
harems of Turkish officials and Kurdish tribesmen.
• The most traumatic of all, though, was the fact that she lost
her parents, sisters and three brothers who were viciously
killed in front of her eyes.
• After two years of those horrors Arshaluys Mardiganian, or
Armenian Janna d’Ark, as she was called in America, resisted
the conversion of her faith, escaped from the harem of
Kemal Efendi, her Turkish lord.
•
Auction of Souls
• In the beginning of spring in 1917, after long-lasting
wandering she reached Erzrum, which had already been
occupied by Russian forces.
• There Arshaluys was sheltered by American missionaries.
Later by the help of Armenian National Union and American
Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief she moved to
Peterograd, Russia, then to New York USA and settled there.
• Despite all the sufferings Mardiganian stayed unbending.
• She had a mission to tell the world about the atrocities
committed against Armenians in Turkey.
• The book “Ravished Armenia” was completed when
American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief offered
to create a film based on the scenario of the book.
• It was agreed that all the profit which reached $30 million
would be given for relief purposes of 60.000 Armenian
orphans gathered in the Near East.
The poster of the film “Auction of Souls”
•In 1918, at Metro Goldwin Mayer studio, director Oscar
Apfel made a silent film “Auction of Souls”, which actually
became the first genocide movie ever made.
•More than 10.000 Armenian residents of Southern
California, including 200 deported children, participated in
the scenes.
•The script of the film had 3 versions.
•First version consisted of 675 frames, and the last, restored
one – 531.
•The frames were investigated by Viscount James Bryce, the
President of American Committee for Armenian and Syrian
Relief, former ambassador of Great Britain to USA and Henry
Morgenthau, American ambassador to Turkey, from 1913 to
1916.
• All gentlemen gave high appraisal to all the frames.
• The film is especially remarkable due to the fact
that Arshaluys Mardiganian was the author of the
scenario as well as played the leading role.
• Her input regarding the accuracy of the costumes,
characters, settings and backgrounds was
incredible.
• Oscar Apfel the director of the film took into
consideration the great political importance of the
film and chose Mardiganian to play the leading
role.
• Apfel was convinced that Mariganian’s
participation would be appealing not only to one
nation, but for entire humanity.
• The American National Motion Picture Committee officially licensed
the film before the premiere.
• In its report to the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian
Relief of January 25, 1919, the ANMPC stated that the film was not
only of artistic, historical, educational and informational value, but
“it represented the sufferings of Armenians, which would leave a
deep impression on each representative of American society”.
• The premiere of the “Auction of Souls” was held on February 16,
1919, in Plaza Hotel, New York under the auspices of Oliver
Harriman and George Vanderbilt, members of American Committee
for Armenian and Syrian Relief.
• 7000 prominent New Yorkers attended the premiere at a ticket price
of $10).
• The movie played for a week and the gains were sent to The Near
East Relief.
• In large cities as New York, San Francisco, and Los
Angeles is Mardiganian held meetings with
representatives of upper ten talking about the brutal
atrocities of the Turks.
• Apfel in his turn held meeting with public and said
that “Auction of Souls” was the fatal claim of Armenia
to American people, and he approached to each event
with extreme caution.
• Apfel also confessed that several scenes of the film
were eliminated, as they were horrifying.
• One of the torture scenes in the film revealed an
elderly clergyman whose fingernails were pulled out
with tweezers.
• Apfel was against the omission of any harrowing
scenes from the public showing of the film, as the
falsifying of facts was even more dreadful.
A line of naked, crucified Armenian girls
• The film was shown in large cities of 13 U.S. states, in several countries of Latin
America, including Mexico and Cuba.
• It was a success everywhere and was estimated as “epoch-making film”.
• In 1919-1920 London “Bayoscop”, newspaper dedicated to motion picture arts
published in wrote about the great importance of ”Auction of Souls”.
• Popular newspapers like “The Illustrated London News”, “The Morning
Telegraph” mentioned that every person should see the film.
• The “Auction of Souls” was taken to Great Britain in December, 1919, and
censured. After long lasting negotiations the film was shown in Royal Albert Hall,
by the permission of Scotland Yard and played for three weeks.
• Then it was censured again, some headlines were changed, four scenes were
eliminated after which the film continued playing.
• At the beginning of 1920s Mardiganian’s “Ravished Armenia” was censured and
taken off the British and American libraries.
• For over eighty years film historians have been searching the world for the
nine reels of Ravished Armenia but failed to find any trace.
• The remaining reels of the rare nitrate based film were lost.
• Some say the reels presumably sunk with a ship on their way to the port
of Batoum, or stolen by thieves.
• The full-length version of the film, which lasting 85 minutes,
unfortunately, hasn’t been saved.
• With the efforts of Eduard Gozanlian, an Armenian from Argentina, a
segment from the reel was found in 1994
• One copy of that segment is kept in the funds of Armenian Genocide
Museum-Institute.
• The film included English, French and Armenian subtitles for every scene.
• The list of the original subtitles for Ravished Armenia is preserved in The
Selig Collection at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences.
• They are also reproduced in Anthony Slide’s book "Ravished Armenia and
the Story of Aurora Mardiganian".
• This book was published by Scarecrow Press in 1997.
• It tells the story of the making of the film and reveals the young girl's
survival story.
•
•
•
•
•
•
EDWARD RACOUBIAN
We walked for many days, occasionally running across small lakes and rivers. After awhile
we saw corpses on the shores of these lakes. Then we began seeing them along the path:
twisted corpses, blackened by the sun and bloated. Their stench was horrible. Vultures
circled the skies above us, waiting for their evening meal.
At one point, we came upon a small hole in the ground. It was a little deeper than average
height and 25-30 people could easily fit in it. We lowered ourselves down into it. There was
no water in it but the bottom was muddy. We began sucking on the mud. Some of the
women made teats with their shirts filled with mud and suckled on them like children. We
were there for about a half hour. If we hadn't been forced out, that would have been our
best grave.
Many days later we reached the Euphrates River and despite the hundreds of bodies
floating in it, we drank from it like there was no tomorrow. We quenched our thirst for the
first time since our departure. They put us on small boats and we crossed to the other side.
From there we walked all the way to Ras-ul-Ain.
Of a caravan of nearly 10,000 people, there were now only some of us 300 left. My aunt,
my sisters, my brothers had all died or disappeared. Only my mother and I were left. We
decided to hide and take refuge with some Arab nomads. My mother died there under
their tents. They did not treat me well—they kept me hungry and beat me often and they
branded me as their own.
• KRISTINE HAGOPIAN
• We had already been deported once, in 1915, sent towards Der-Zor. But, my
uncle's friend had connections in the government and he had us ordered back to
Izmir.
Orders came again that everyone must gather in front of the Armenian
church to be deported. My father refused to go and told us not to worry. He
didn't think the Turkish government would do anything to him, since he was a
government employee himself.
Twelve Turkish soldiers and an official came very early the next morning.
We were still asleep. They dragged us out in our nightgowns and lined us up
against the living room wall. Then the official ordered my father to lie down on
the ground… they are dirty the Turks… very dirty… I can't say what they did to
him. They raped him! Raped! Just like that. Right in front of us. And that official
made us watch. He whipped us if we turned away. My mother lost consciousness
and fell to the floor.
Afterwards, we couldn't find our father. My mother looked for him
frantically. He was in the attic, trying to hang himself. Fortunately, my mother
found him before it was too late.
My father did eventually kill himself—later, after we escaped.
• SAM KADORIAN
•
•
They took us from Hüsenig, to Mezre, to Kharpert to Malatia and then, after a
couple of days walk, to the shores of the Euphrates River. It was around noon
when we got there and we camped. For a while, we were left alone. Sometime
later, Turkish gendarmes came over and grabbed all the boys from 5 to 10 years
old. I was about 7 or 8. They grabbed me too. They threw us all into a pile on the
sandy beach and started jabbing us with their swords and bayonets. I must've
been in the center because only one sword got me… nipped my cheek… here, my
cheek. But, I couldn't cry. I was covered with blood from the other bodies on top
of me, but I couldn't cry. If had, I would not be here today.
When it was getting dark, my grandmother found me. She picked me up and
consoled me. It hurt so much. I was crying and she put me on her shoulder and
walked around.
Then, some of the other parents came looking for their children. They
mostly found dead bodies. The river bank there was very sandy. Some of them
dug graves with their bare hands—shallow graves—and tried to bury their
children in them. Others, just pushed them into the river, they pushed them into
the Euphrates. Their little bodies floated away.
•
• SION ABAJIAN
• The crowds were huge in Meskeneh. We were in the middle of a
vast sandy area and the Armenians there were from all over, not
only from Marash. We had no water and gendarmes would not give
us any. There were only two gendarmes for that huge crowd. Just
two. Wasn't there a single man among us who could have killed
them? We were going to die anyway. Why did we obey those two
gendarmes so sheepishly?
The word was that from Meskeneh, we were going to be
deported to Der-Zor. My father had brought along a tent that was
black on one side and white on the other. Each time gendarmes
approached us to send another group to Der-Zor, my father would
move the tent. He would pitch it on the other side of the crowd—as
far away as possible. We were constantly moving. He bought us
quite a bit of time that way.
Eventually, we crossed the Euphrates River to Rakka where we
found an abandoned house—with no doors or windows—and we
squatted there. But we still had no food. We used to eat grass. We
used to pick grains from animal waste, wash them and then in tin
cans fry them to eat. We used to say: "Oh, mommy, if we ever go
back to Marash, just give us fried wheat and it will be enough."
• EDWARD BEDIKIAN
• There was a girl, a girl who I had befriended on the
road, earlier. Her name was Satenig. I remember her
very well. She was not too strong. I saw her again in
that basement. In the basement of the school where
they had thrown us. She was there. She had a little bit
of money and she gave it to me. "Don't let them take
me," she said. "Don't let them take me." They would
come around everyday and take whoever was dead or
very weak. She was not in good shape, she was very
weak. I stood her up and leaned on her. Held her up,
so. They came. I was holding her up, leaning her up
against the wall. But they saw her and took her… took
her…
•
• HAIG BARONIAN
• I do not remember how many days our decimated caravan marched
southward toward the Euphrates River. Day by day the men
contingent of the caravan got smaller and smaller. Under pretext of
not killing them if they would hand over liras and gold coins, men
would be milked by the gendarmes of what little money they had.
Then they would be killed anyway.
Days wore on. We marched through mountain roads and
valleys. Those who could not keep up were put out of their misery.
Always bodies were found strewn by the wayside. The caravan was
getting smaller each day. At one place, my little grandmother, like
Jeremiah incarnate, loudly cursed the Turkish government for their
inhumanity, pointing to us children she asked, "What is the fault of
children to be subjected to such suffering." It was too much for a
gendarme to bear, he pulled out his dagger and plunged it into my
grandmother's back. The more he plunged his dagger, the more my
beloved Nana asked for heaven's curses on him and his kind. Unable
to silence her with repeated dagger thrusts, the gendarme
mercifully pumped some bullets into her and ended her life. First
my uncle, now my grandmother were left unmourned and unburied
by the wayside.
We moved on.
Turkish Genocide Against Armenians
Districts & Vilayets of Western
Armenia in Turkey
1914
1922
Erzerum
215,000
1,500
Van
197,000
500
Kharbert
204,000
35,000
Diarbekir
124,000
3,000
Bitlis
220,000
56,000
Sivas
225,000
16,800
Western Anatolia
371,800
27,000
Cilicia and Northern Syria
309,000
70,000
European Turkey
194,000
163,000
73,390
15,000
2,133,190
387,800
Other Armenian-populated Sites
in Turkey
Trapizond District
Total
• Reaction of the European Powers and U.S.• On May 24th, 1915 France, Britain, and Russia filed a joint
protest with the Ottoman Government
• In July and August 1915, the German Government
also submitted a protest to the Ottoman Empire.
• Henry Morgenthau, the American ambassador in
the Ottoman Empire send many reports to
Washington documenting in detail what was
happening to the Armenians
• In 1915, he wrote that a “campaign of race
extermination” was unfolding against the Armenian
citizens of the Ottoman Empire
• The Ottoman govt continuously and persistently
denied all reports.
The Armenian Genocide: How the World Responds
- estimated 1,500,000 killed
- oppression and murder of Armenians
in Turkey continues until 1923 destruction of the Armenian
communities in this part of the world
was total
International Response - May 1915, Great Britain, France,
and Russia advised the Young Turk leaders they would be
held personally responsible for crimes against humanity
- Post-war demands that the Ottoman government
prosecute the Young Turks accused of wartime crimes
International Response
- Relief efforts were also mounted to save “the starving
Armenians” – US sent $75,000 (~ $2,500,000 in today’s
money)
- American, British, and German governments sponsored
the preparation of reports on the atrocities and numerous
accounts were published (NY Times)
- Despite moral outrage of the international
community, no strong actions were taken against
Ottoman Empire
- No steps taken to require the postwar Turkish
government to make restitution to the Armenian
people for their immense material and human losses
or prosecute those responsible
• What is the cartoonist
saying about the
world’s lack of real
action towards the
Armenian Genocide?
• How can you tell?
• What does a buzzard
mean to us?
• Why would the
cartoonist depict the
Ottomans as a
buzzard?
• Why is Europe
represented by a
small, child-like men,
dragging a gun, and
looking confused?
• Explain.
• Who do the figures
represent?
• How can you tell?
• What does the
caption refer to?
• What is the
cartoonist’s
perspective on the
culpability of the allies
of the Ottoman
Empire---Germany
and Austria-Hungary?
• How can you tell?
• Who are
the two
figures in
the
cartoon?
• What does
the
caption
refer to?
• What is
the
cartoonist
trying to
say?
• How can
you tell?
United by the Christian Blood on
Their Hands
"The Meeting: God separates us, but
blood unites us!"
- L'Asino (Milan)
The New-York Times Mid-Week
Pictorial
New York, New York
December 30, 1915
• What is the cartoonist
point about the
Armenian Genocide?
• How can you tell?
• What political cartoon
strategies are used?
Explain.
• Do you agree or disagree
with the cartoonist? Why
or why not?
Reactions of the European Powers and
the United States
• The Armenian Genocide made the headlines of major
newspapers like the New York Times and the Christian
Science Monitor.
• In daily articles, American and German missionaries,
educators, journalists, and travelers told of the horrors
of the death marches.
• By 1916, when the Armenian plateau had already been
depleted of its inhabitants, attempts to protest or
intervene became practically insignificant…it was too
late
• At that point, the most practical step was to organize
relief work for the surviors.
Humanitarian Assistance to the
Survivors
• In early April of 1915, the American and German
missionaries stationed in the various cities of the
Ottoman Empire.
• On September 1915, Ambassador Morgenthau
asked the American government for emergency
funds.
• In 1915, the American Committee for Armenian
and Syrian Relief (ACASR) was founded.
• By the end of 1915, they raised up to $176,000.
Near East Relief (NER)
• In 1916, the ACASR was reorganized to the
NER and incorporated under a Congressional
charter.
• During 1916 and 1917, it was able to come up
with 2 million dollars each year.
• In 1918 and 1919m the amount reached 7
million and 19 million respectively.
Relief the Children
• In 1919, NER had gathered thousands of
surviving Armenian children and placed them
in orphanages.
• Boys were trained to become shoe-makers,
bakers, tailors while girls were taught how to
sew and spin.
• Schools were set up to ensure continued
education for the surviving children.
Conviction of the Young Turk
Leadership
• In 1918, The Young Turk Leaders fled the
country after the defeat of WWI.
• The new Ottoman government organized the
trial of these leaders in military courts. The
trial last from April to July 1919.
• Four years after planning and executing the
Armenian Genocide, the perpetrators were
sentenced to death.
“ No attempt was made to carry out the
sentence, however, the thousands of the
culprits were neither tried nor even removed
from office. Within a few months the judicial
proceedings were suspended, and even
accused the imprisoned war criminals were
freed and sent home.”
The
Unpunished
Criminal.
January 1,
1946.
Turkish Genocide Against Armenians
A Portent of Future Horrors to Come!
• On August 22, 1939, in preparation for the impending invasion of Poland, Hitler
stated to Reichmarshal Hermann Goering and the commanding generals at
Obersalzberg...
• Referring to the Armenian Genocide, the young German politician Adolf Hitler
duly noted the half-hearted reaction of the world’s great powers to the plight of
the Armenians.
• After achieving total power in Germany, Hitler decided to conquer Poland in 1939
and told his generals
•
• "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?"
Massacred
Armenians.
March 16,
1946.
World Pressure for Return of Lands. April 6,
1946.
Turkish Imperialism. May 25, 1946.
The Aftermath of the Armenian
Genocide
• The Allied forces reached the Armenians too late to save most of
them
• Armenian survivors, including many orphans, found refuge in the
Middle East, Western Europe, the United States and Canada
• The promised trials of the genocide’s perpetrators were indefinitely
suspended by the British as the price of Kemal Ataturk’s cooperation
in their anti-Bolshevik intervention
• Denial that the deaths of the Armenian victims were part of an
intentional, planned annihilation of the Armenians in Turkey
continues as a staple of Turkey’s curriculum and diplomatic activities,
although progress is being made with the help of some Turkish and
other specialist scholars
The Armenian Controversy
To this day, the Turks deny that the Genocide occurred.
• This is a VERY controversial issue to the Turks.
• Turkey suspended its military ties with France in 2006 after the
French Parliament's lower house adopted a bill that that would
have made it a crime to deny that the Armenian killings constituted
a genocide.
• 23 countries acknowledge the event was genocide
• In early October 2007, the U.S. Congress opened debate on whether
or not to declare the Armenian event a genocide – much to the
dismay of the Turkish government.