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Berlin to host `I'm not a killer' documentary performance

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  • Berlin to host `I'm not a killer' documentary performance

    Berlin to host `I'm not a killer' documentary performance

    27.02.2010 16:17 GMT+04:00

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ On March 5, within the framework of `100 Grad'
    festival, `I'm not a killer' film produced in documentary theatrical
    style will be presented in Berlin's Hebbel am Ufer theatre. The film
    is a story telling about Armenian Genocide. Opening night of a play
    was held in Berlin's Heimathafen theatre on February 12, second
    performance was on February 19.

    5 actors and a musician (Armenian, Turkish, French and German origin
    performers) will be citing extracts from shorthanded entries of
    Soghomon Tehlirian's trial, held in Berlin Criminal Court in 1921.

    For the first time, the entries were published by `Berlin Publishing
    Society for Politicians W8'in 1921. Afterwards, second edition of the
    minutes was published by Tessa Hofmann, specializing in Armenian
    studies, in 1980-1985.

    `Every time, right before the performance, Tessa Hofmann, briefly
    tells about the historical events. Afterwards, we (five actors) embody
    all the characters, by citing records of the trial. The performance
    aims to promote reconciliation and better understanding among nations
    and countries involved in the process,' performance actor Stepan
    Gantralyan told a PanARMENIAN.NET reporter.

    According to him, mostly Armenian audience attended the first
    performance. Yet, during the second one, Germans, Turks and Kurds were
    also present.

    `All the tickets for performances were sold. About 80 to 100 people
    were present,' Stepan Gantralyan said.

    Soghomon Tehlirian was a native of Erzinjan, an Armenian Evangelical
    (Protestant) and Armenian Genocide survivor. During the Genocide he
    watched his sisters raped and family butchered by Turks while on the
    extermination marches, and although he too was injured and believed
    dead, he escaped and recovered. With the organization and direction of
    Shahan Natalie, Tehlirian assassinated the former Turkish Grand Vizir
    Talat Pasha in Berlin, Germany in broad daylight and in the presence
    of many witnesses on March 15, 1921 as an act of vengeance for his
    role in orchestrating the Armenian Genocide.

    Tehlirian was tried for murder, but was eventually acquitted by the
    German court. The trial of Tehlirian was a rather sensationalized
    event at the time, with Tehlirian being defended by three defense
    attorneys, including Dr. Theodor Niemeyer, professor of Law at Kiel
    University.
    The trial examined not only Tehlirian's actions but also Tehlirian's
    conviction that Talat Pasha was the main author of the Armenian
    Genocide. The defense attorneys made no attempt to deny the fact that
    Tehlirian had killed a man, and instead focused on the influence of
    the Armenian Genocide on Tehlirian's mental state. It took the jury
    slightly over an hour to render a verdict of "not guilty" on grounds
    of temporary insanity.

    The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic
    destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during
    and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and
    deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to
    lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths
    reaching 1.5 million.

    The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the
    Genocide survivors.

    To date, twenty countries and 44 U.S. states have officially
    recognized the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide
    scholars and historians accept this view.
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