COMMENTARY | Some of you may know a little world history or at least remember the history surrounding the Holocaust during WWII. The Holocaust began in 1933 when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and started ending rights for the Jewish people. It ended in bloodshed, murder, the escape and freeing of Jews at concentration camps, and finally Hitler’s suicide in 1945. People all around the world remember this genocide because of it massive scale of horror, inhumanity, hate, and death. From biblical times to the recent Darfur Genocide in 2003 many cultures around the world have experienced genocide. Today, we remember one culture’s struggle and loss.
On April 24, 1915, the Armenian culture experienced such a horror that did not end until 1923 when their empire could no longer stand and was replaced by the Republic of Turkey. To start this genocide, Turkish authorities in Constantinople (now Istanbul) gathered almost 200 Armenian community leaders and shipped them to concentration camp in Ayash and Chankari. During the Spring and Summer of 1915, Armenians in the tens of thousands were deported from their homes and traveled toward the Syrian Desert. The deportation was masqueraded as a relocation effort to get them out of the “war zones.” This, however, was a lie.
On the way to their new locations the Armenian people experienced abuse, murder, rape, stoning, and torture (mostly in the form of many having to walk the entire way causing many losses). Many times the murders would come from a government organized group of gangs or butchers that had a love of killing with swords and knives. The women and young children would be captured and forced into slavery in Turkish and Muslim homes. We can only imagine what kind of horrors they endured as enslaved females.
Not only was there physical abuse, but they were not provided with adequate amounts of food and water resulting in a huge population decline. Many of those who died due to starvation and dehydration were the elderly and children. Nearly a million and a half Armenians died in this massacre between 1915 and 1923.
To this day, Turkish and Armenian cultures have not been reconciled as there are still strong negative feelings between the two. This may be due to the fact that the Turkish Empire refused to acknowledge what happened, and swept it under the rug as if nothing wrong took place.
This is a day of remembrance, not only for those who are Armenian, but for those of us who are human and understand the importance of life and liberty. The Holocaust claimed an estimated 2 million people. Why should we so easily forget about the Armenian Genocide when they had almost as many people die and brutalized? All those who have been lost in genocide need remembrance, so Armenians, April 24 is yours.
Sources:
http://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocidefaq.html
http://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocide.html
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html
