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GENOCIDE SURVIVORS EXEMPLIFY HUMAN RESILIENCE
Western Queens Gazette
http://www.qgazette.com/news/2012-03-28/Editorials/Genocide_Survivors_Exemplify_Human_Resilience.html
March 28 2012
NY
This past weekend, the oldest residents of the New York Armenian Home
in Flushing shared their memories as victims of the first organized
genocide of the 20th century. The survivors recounted their memories of
watching relatives being murdered before their then young eyes, forced
marches through the Syrian desert, starvation and torture. They also
recounted instances of how some of their Muslim neighbors sheltered
the young victims and helped them get to safety in Lebanon, Syria
and eventually the United States.
The genocidal acts that began in 1915 and continued until 1923 did
not constitute the first or only occasion Armenian Christians were
subject to persecution in a non-Christian nation. It was, however,
the first time that a government made systematic, organized attempts
to wipe out an entire indigenous population as a matter of policy. That
government succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of those who planned and
carried out the massacres. Prior to 1915, despite sporadic persecutions
going back centuries, two million Armenians lived and worshiped in
2,000 churches in Turkish-controlled Armenia. After the genocide,
70,000 Armenians and 50 churches remained.
The lessons of the first organized, systematic genocidal act of the
20th century did not go unnoticed by succeeding generations. "Who after
all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Adolf Hitler
was quoted as asking in August 1939 as he prepared to undertake
the systematic annihilation of six million Jews and another six
million gypsies, homosexuals and other groups he deemed "racially
undesirable". The Holocaust was followed by the killing fields of
Cambodia, "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia, Serbia and other Balkan
states and the conflict between Rwandan minority Tutsi, who had
controlled power for centuries, and the majority Hutu that broke
out in 1994. The 21st century got off to a flying start as far as
genocides were concerned, with conflicts in the region of Darfur
in Sudan and Sri Lanka, an island nation off the southern coast
of India. We know we have hit just the high spots; at this moment
around the world, members of one ethnic group, nationality or tribe
are trying assiduously to wipe another off the face of the earth.
We like to think that we as human beings are capable of improvement.
Our species points with pride to our having developed from the
humanoid fossils of Olduvai Gorge in Africa to the specimens we are
today. Like a certain brand of paint, we humans cover the earth and,
we like to think, have, in a good many instances, left it better than
we found it. Sadly, though, sometimes there are those who decide that
"improving" a particular corner of the world means eradicating other
human beings.
The venerable residents at the New York Armenian Home who have retold
their stories in anticipation of the commemoration of the 1915-1923
genocide deserve the world's attention and respect. They and the other
survivors of the monstrous crimes against humanity that pervaded the
last century and the beginning years of this one in which we find
ourselves make us realize once again that even as man is capable of
indescribable evil, so too can mankind achieve immeasurable good. We
are beings endowed with free will; it seems to us that in spite of the
evil which sometimes threatens to overwhelm us, more often than not we
choose the higher path, however strewn with obstacles it may be. Hope
springs eternal, and like spring, we welcome it as rejuvenation of our
weary hearts in which altruism and nobility still remain unconquered.
Western Queens Gazette
http://www.qgazette.com/news/2012-03-28/Editorials/Genocide_Survivors_Exemplify_Human_Resilience.html
March 28 2012
NY
This past weekend, the oldest residents of the New York Armenian Home
in Flushing shared their memories as victims of the first organized
genocide of the 20th century. The survivors recounted their memories of
watching relatives being murdered before their then young eyes, forced
marches through the Syrian desert, starvation and torture. They also
recounted instances of how some of their Muslim neighbors sheltered
the young victims and helped them get to safety in Lebanon, Syria
and eventually the United States.
The genocidal acts that began in 1915 and continued until 1923 did
not constitute the first or only occasion Armenian Christians were
subject to persecution in a non-Christian nation. It was, however,
the first time that a government made systematic, organized attempts
to wipe out an entire indigenous population as a matter of policy. That
government succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of those who planned and
carried out the massacres. Prior to 1915, despite sporadic persecutions
going back centuries, two million Armenians lived and worshiped in
2,000 churches in Turkish-controlled Armenia. After the genocide,
70,000 Armenians and 50 churches remained.
The lessons of the first organized, systematic genocidal act of the
20th century did not go unnoticed by succeeding generations. "Who after
all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Adolf Hitler
was quoted as asking in August 1939 as he prepared to undertake
the systematic annihilation of six million Jews and another six
million gypsies, homosexuals and other groups he deemed "racially
undesirable". The Holocaust was followed by the killing fields of
Cambodia, "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia, Serbia and other Balkan
states and the conflict between Rwandan minority Tutsi, who had
controlled power for centuries, and the majority Hutu that broke
out in 1994. The 21st century got off to a flying start as far as
genocides were concerned, with conflicts in the region of Darfur
in Sudan and Sri Lanka, an island nation off the southern coast
of India. We know we have hit just the high spots; at this moment
around the world, members of one ethnic group, nationality or tribe
are trying assiduously to wipe another off the face of the earth.
We like to think that we as human beings are capable of improvement.
Our species points with pride to our having developed from the
humanoid fossils of Olduvai Gorge in Africa to the specimens we are
today. Like a certain brand of paint, we humans cover the earth and,
we like to think, have, in a good many instances, left it better than
we found it. Sadly, though, sometimes there are those who decide that
"improving" a particular corner of the world means eradicating other
human beings.
The venerable residents at the New York Armenian Home who have retold
their stories in anticipation of the commemoration of the 1915-1923
genocide deserve the world's attention and respect. They and the other
survivors of the monstrous crimes against humanity that pervaded the
last century and the beginning years of this one in which we find
ourselves make us realize once again that even as man is capable of
indescribable evil, so too can mankind achieve immeasurable good. We
are beings endowed with free will; it seems to us that in spite of the
evil which sometimes threatens to overwhelm us, more often than not we
choose the higher path, however strewn with obstacles it may be. Hope
springs eternal, and like spring, we welcome it as rejuvenation of our
weary hearts in which altruism and nobility still remain unconquered.