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Friday, March 23rd, 2012
`Still Documenting the 1915 Genocide': Politics, Prose and Poetry - II
By Alan Whitehorn
After almost a century since the 1915 state-sponsored mass slaughter of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, one would think there would be few new
pioneering books on the subject of the Armenian Genocide. That, however, is
not the case. At least four important new reference volumes on the Armenian
Genocide have appeared in English within the past year: Verjine Svazlian,
The Armenian Genocide: Testimonies of the Eyewitness Survivors, Vahakn
Dadrian & Taner Akcam, Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials,
Raymond Kevorkian, The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History, and Shahen
Khachaturian, The Colour of Pain: The Reflection of the Armenian Genocide
in Armenian Painting. Each book is an important work that has been years in
the preparation. Collectively, these works will have an enduring impact, as
we approach the 100th memorial year.
The Armenian Genocide: Testimonies of the Eyewitness Survivors
Verjine Svazlian, author of a number of previous books of survivor memoirs
on the genocide, is a remarkable scholar who has produced her lifetime's
legacy book: The Armenian Genocide: Testimonies of the Eyewitness Survivors
(Yerevan, Gitoutyoun, 2011; ISBN 978-5-8080-0857-1). At 848 pages, it is
epic in scope, in almost every sense. Dr. Svazlian began her research
interviews in the Soviet Union of the 1950s when it was politically
dangerous to conduct such research. Half a century after and, at
considerable expense in personal time and money, she has produced the most
comprehensive published documentary account ever of Armenian Genocide
survivor testimonies. Seven hundred entries, most mini-autobiographies, are
included. Dr. Verjine Svazlian, senior research professor at the Armenian
Genocide Museum, has published key portions of her genocide survivor
research previously, but this is the integrating encyclopedic volume.
Notably, it is co-sponsored by the prestigious National Academy of Sciences
of the Republic of Armenia, the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide
and the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography in Yerevan. With the help
of her daughter Dr. Karnik Svazlian, the epic volume is exceptionally
well-indexed by survivor's name, city, region and subject. It has become
an
essential primary source documentary work. That this vast volume was
achieved by one individual, rather than a team of scholars, is
extraordinary. Without a doubt, it will become a crucial reference source
for future researchers and educators writing about the Genocide. A copy
should be acquired by every genocide and human rights museum. An
Armenian-language version is also available. A Turkish language version was
planned, with a brave publisher in Istanbul. Regrettably, he was arrested
by state authorities in the fall of 2011. Government coercion, with the
intent of silencing and intimidating publishing on the 1915 Genocide,
continues in Turkey even to this day, almost a century later. It is an
aggressive authoritarian form of genocide denial and, according to Genocide
Watch's Gregory Stanton, the last stage of genocide. Dr. Svazlian's
encyclopedic volume, in English and Armenia, is an articulate and powerful
response to such arbitrary state censorship.
Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials
Vahakn Dadrian and Taner Akcam are two remarkable and respected scholars
(one Armenian and one Turkish) who have individually published many
important books on the Armenian Genocide. Their new co-authored 363 page
volume Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials (New York,
Berghahhn Books, 2011; ISBN 978-0-85745-286-3) focuses upon the years after
World War I when a new Turkish regime sought to punish the former Young
Turk government and party officials who had engaged in atrocities and
extensive human rights abuses. A Turkish-language version of the book was
originally published in 2008. Drawing upon many primary sources in a
variety of languages, this volume pulls together the most complete record
to date of the pioneering post-WW I trials. It details the charges laid in
a Turkish military court against Young Turk leadership, the course of the
trials and the verdicts (including death sentences in absentia for Mehmet
Talaat, Ismail Enver, Ahmed Cemal, and Mehmet Nazim). This pivotal volume
shows the too-often neglected story of a key stepping stone for the
emergence of human rights law, as it relates ultimately to crimes against
humanity, genocide and war crimes. These landmark Turkish court cases
preceded by three decades the crucial and far better know Nuremberg and
Tokyo Tribunals of the 1940s. It would take even longer, until the end of
the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st for the creation of the
International Tribunals for Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia and the
International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to prosecute others for
such crimes against humanity. Judgment at Istanbul is part of several
ongoing projects sponsored by the Zoryan Institute to document ever more
fully the Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History
Raymond Kevorkian's The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History (London, I.B.
Tauris, 2011; 978 1 84885 561 [image: 8)] is a 1,029 page opus that
provides a broad canvass on the plight of the Armenians in the latter
decades of the Ottoman Empire during both times of peace and war. The book
commences with chapters on the massacres in the 1890s, then explores
in-depth the pre-WWI era, documents extensively the key phases of the 1915
Genocide, including individual chapters on specific events in the different
regions of Anatolia. Quite significantly, it also includes extensive
coverage of the post-war trials and the emergence of the crucial concept of
`crimes against humanity'. This is a volume that is epic in time frame
and
regions covered. As an academic book, it is well-footnoted, with 200 pages
of references. The tables of data on Armenian population statistics, number
of churches/monasteries and schools are exceptionally useful. They remind
us that the Genocide was not simply the death of a million and a half
individuals, but an entire ethnic community targeted and slaughtered, with
neighbourhood schools, churches and monasteries destroyed. Genocide is a
crime against a collective group of people such as an ethnic group or
religious minority. Amongst its key targets are community schools and
places of collective worship. Raymond Kervorkian, based in Paris,
originally published this important work in French in 2006. Now that this
encyclopedic volume is available in English, his epic work will have an
even wider audience. It is destined to become a key reference work. We
should all be grateful for his life-time dedication to the writing of this
massive volume.
The Colour of Pain:The Reflection of the Armenian Genocide in Armenian Painting
In addition to detailed analysis by scholars, members of the Arts community
have also endeavored to `describe the indescribable'. Shahen Khachaturian's
edited collection The Colour of Pain: The Reflection of the Armenian
Genocide in Armenian Painting (Yerevan, Printoinfo Publishing House, 2010;
ISBN 978-9939-53-643-9) is a compendium of Armenian artists' account of
mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. This 208 page bilingual
(English and Armenian) large-format art book focuses upon colour paintings
on the Hamidian Massacres of the 1890s, the 1915 Genocide, and the
continued period of suffering long after the horrific deeds. This volume is
a powerfully moving portrayal of the collective suffering from
state-sponsored ethnic and religious persecution of the Armenian people.
The insights are through the eyes of famous and notable Armenian artists.
Many of the paintings included in this volume can be found in the
collections of the National Gallery of Armenia and the Armenian Genocide
Museum in Yerevan. The painfully evocative paintings include those by
Hovhannes Ayvazovsky, Vartges Sureniants, Sarkis Khachaturian, Arshak
Fetvadjian, V. Podpomogov (Ter-Astvatsatrian), Khoren Der-Harutian, Arshile
Gorky (Vostanik Adoyan), Kero Antoyan, Carzou (Carnik Zulumian), Jansem
(Hovhannes Semerdjian), Papaz (Hagop Papazian), Hagop Hagopian, Grigor
Khandjian and others. The edited collection could have included other
contemporary artists such as Canada's Hagop Khoubesserian, but it is,
without a doubt, an impressive volume. The quality of the colour prints is
excellent. It is often said that a picture can convey more than words.
Together these works of art offer a highly effective way to teach about the
Young Turk's genocide of Armenians. The Colour of Pain is an important new
volume that lends powerful visual testimony through the artists'
perspective. A DVD or website version would be useful to widen the audience
reach of this volume. I could imagine such organizations as `Facing
History' and the `Genocide Education Project' using such materials in their
high school genocide education seminars. For a younger more
visually-oriented generation, this might be quite informative.
As best we can, we continue to try to document the 1915 Genocide, but it is
a very, very difficult account to write. We draw enormously upon dedicated
individuals who have devoted a lifetime to tell as full a story as possible
after such enormous death and trauma. But it not enough that scholars and
artists pen this profoundly moving story. It also requires others to resist
the `sin of indifference' and read these important accounts. They need to
better learn and understand. They can further help by donating copies of
these volumes to community and public libraries, so that the voices of the
dead are more widely heard and not forgotten. These four books can help
make a difference. They are worthy testaments to the Armenian victims and
their kin.
Alan Whitehorn is author of a number of books on the Armenian Genocide,
including Just Poems: Reflections on the Armenian Genocide.
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
`Still Documenting the 1915 Genocide': Politics, Prose and Poetry - II
By Alan Whitehorn
After almost a century since the 1915 state-sponsored mass slaughter of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, one would think there would be few new
pioneering books on the subject of the Armenian Genocide. That, however, is
not the case. At least four important new reference volumes on the Armenian
Genocide have appeared in English within the past year: Verjine Svazlian,
The Armenian Genocide: Testimonies of the Eyewitness Survivors, Vahakn
Dadrian & Taner Akcam, Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials,
Raymond Kevorkian, The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History, and Shahen
Khachaturian, The Colour of Pain: The Reflection of the Armenian Genocide
in Armenian Painting. Each book is an important work that has been years in
the preparation. Collectively, these works will have an enduring impact, as
we approach the 100th memorial year.
The Armenian Genocide: Testimonies of the Eyewitness Survivors
Verjine Svazlian, author of a number of previous books of survivor memoirs
on the genocide, is a remarkable scholar who has produced her lifetime's
legacy book: The Armenian Genocide: Testimonies of the Eyewitness Survivors
(Yerevan, Gitoutyoun, 2011; ISBN 978-5-8080-0857-1). At 848 pages, it is
epic in scope, in almost every sense. Dr. Svazlian began her research
interviews in the Soviet Union of the 1950s when it was politically
dangerous to conduct such research. Half a century after and, at
considerable expense in personal time and money, she has produced the most
comprehensive published documentary account ever of Armenian Genocide
survivor testimonies. Seven hundred entries, most mini-autobiographies, are
included. Dr. Verjine Svazlian, senior research professor at the Armenian
Genocide Museum, has published key portions of her genocide survivor
research previously, but this is the integrating encyclopedic volume.
Notably, it is co-sponsored by the prestigious National Academy of Sciences
of the Republic of Armenia, the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide
and the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography in Yerevan. With the help
of her daughter Dr. Karnik Svazlian, the epic volume is exceptionally
well-indexed by survivor's name, city, region and subject. It has become
an
essential primary source documentary work. That this vast volume was
achieved by one individual, rather than a team of scholars, is
extraordinary. Without a doubt, it will become a crucial reference source
for future researchers and educators writing about the Genocide. A copy
should be acquired by every genocide and human rights museum. An
Armenian-language version is also available. A Turkish language version was
planned, with a brave publisher in Istanbul. Regrettably, he was arrested
by state authorities in the fall of 2011. Government coercion, with the
intent of silencing and intimidating publishing on the 1915 Genocide,
continues in Turkey even to this day, almost a century later. It is an
aggressive authoritarian form of genocide denial and, according to Genocide
Watch's Gregory Stanton, the last stage of genocide. Dr. Svazlian's
encyclopedic volume, in English and Armenia, is an articulate and powerful
response to such arbitrary state censorship.
Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials
Vahakn Dadrian and Taner Akcam are two remarkable and respected scholars
(one Armenian and one Turkish) who have individually published many
important books on the Armenian Genocide. Their new co-authored 363 page
volume Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials (New York,
Berghahhn Books, 2011; ISBN 978-0-85745-286-3) focuses upon the years after
World War I when a new Turkish regime sought to punish the former Young
Turk government and party officials who had engaged in atrocities and
extensive human rights abuses. A Turkish-language version of the book was
originally published in 2008. Drawing upon many primary sources in a
variety of languages, this volume pulls together the most complete record
to date of the pioneering post-WW I trials. It details the charges laid in
a Turkish military court against Young Turk leadership, the course of the
trials and the verdicts (including death sentences in absentia for Mehmet
Talaat, Ismail Enver, Ahmed Cemal, and Mehmet Nazim). This pivotal volume
shows the too-often neglected story of a key stepping stone for the
emergence of human rights law, as it relates ultimately to crimes against
humanity, genocide and war crimes. These landmark Turkish court cases
preceded by three decades the crucial and far better know Nuremberg and
Tokyo Tribunals of the 1940s. It would take even longer, until the end of
the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st for the creation of the
International Tribunals for Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia and the
International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to prosecute others for
such crimes against humanity. Judgment at Istanbul is part of several
ongoing projects sponsored by the Zoryan Institute to document ever more
fully the Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History
Raymond Kevorkian's The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History (London, I.B.
Tauris, 2011; 978 1 84885 561 [image: 8)] is a 1,029 page opus that
provides a broad canvass on the plight of the Armenians in the latter
decades of the Ottoman Empire during both times of peace and war. The book
commences with chapters on the massacres in the 1890s, then explores
in-depth the pre-WWI era, documents extensively the key phases of the 1915
Genocide, including individual chapters on specific events in the different
regions of Anatolia. Quite significantly, it also includes extensive
coverage of the post-war trials and the emergence of the crucial concept of
`crimes against humanity'. This is a volume that is epic in time frame
and
regions covered. As an academic book, it is well-footnoted, with 200 pages
of references. The tables of data on Armenian population statistics, number
of churches/monasteries and schools are exceptionally useful. They remind
us that the Genocide was not simply the death of a million and a half
individuals, but an entire ethnic community targeted and slaughtered, with
neighbourhood schools, churches and monasteries destroyed. Genocide is a
crime against a collective group of people such as an ethnic group or
religious minority. Amongst its key targets are community schools and
places of collective worship. Raymond Kervorkian, based in Paris,
originally published this important work in French in 2006. Now that this
encyclopedic volume is available in English, his epic work will have an
even wider audience. It is destined to become a key reference work. We
should all be grateful for his life-time dedication to the writing of this
massive volume.
The Colour of Pain:The Reflection of the Armenian Genocide in Armenian Painting
In addition to detailed analysis by scholars, members of the Arts community
have also endeavored to `describe the indescribable'. Shahen Khachaturian's
edited collection The Colour of Pain: The Reflection of the Armenian
Genocide in Armenian Painting (Yerevan, Printoinfo Publishing House, 2010;
ISBN 978-9939-53-643-9) is a compendium of Armenian artists' account of
mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. This 208 page bilingual
(English and Armenian) large-format art book focuses upon colour paintings
on the Hamidian Massacres of the 1890s, the 1915 Genocide, and the
continued period of suffering long after the horrific deeds. This volume is
a powerfully moving portrayal of the collective suffering from
state-sponsored ethnic and religious persecution of the Armenian people.
The insights are through the eyes of famous and notable Armenian artists.
Many of the paintings included in this volume can be found in the
collections of the National Gallery of Armenia and the Armenian Genocide
Museum in Yerevan. The painfully evocative paintings include those by
Hovhannes Ayvazovsky, Vartges Sureniants, Sarkis Khachaturian, Arshak
Fetvadjian, V. Podpomogov (Ter-Astvatsatrian), Khoren Der-Harutian, Arshile
Gorky (Vostanik Adoyan), Kero Antoyan, Carzou (Carnik Zulumian), Jansem
(Hovhannes Semerdjian), Papaz (Hagop Papazian), Hagop Hagopian, Grigor
Khandjian and others. The edited collection could have included other
contemporary artists such as Canada's Hagop Khoubesserian, but it is,
without a doubt, an impressive volume. The quality of the colour prints is
excellent. It is often said that a picture can convey more than words.
Together these works of art offer a highly effective way to teach about the
Young Turk's genocide of Armenians. The Colour of Pain is an important new
volume that lends powerful visual testimony through the artists'
perspective. A DVD or website version would be useful to widen the audience
reach of this volume. I could imagine such organizations as `Facing
History' and the `Genocide Education Project' using such materials in their
high school genocide education seminars. For a younger more
visually-oriented generation, this might be quite informative.
As best we can, we continue to try to document the 1915 Genocide, but it is
a very, very difficult account to write. We draw enormously upon dedicated
individuals who have devoted a lifetime to tell as full a story as possible
after such enormous death and trauma. But it not enough that scholars and
artists pen this profoundly moving story. It also requires others to resist
the `sin of indifference' and read these important accounts. They need to
better learn and understand. They can further help by donating copies of
these volumes to community and public libraries, so that the voices of the
dead are more widely heard and not forgotten. These four books can help
make a difference. They are worthy testaments to the Armenian victims and
their kin.
Alan Whitehorn is author of a number of books on the Armenian Genocide,
including Just Poems: Reflections on the Armenian Genocide.