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A PUBLIC CONVERSATION WITH PROFESSOR RICHARD HOVANNISIAN
http://asbarez.com/113301/a-public-conversation-with-professor-richard-hovannisian/
Tuesday, August 27th, 2013
Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz
BY RABBI ELIE SPITZ
Congregation B'nai Israel
TUSTIN, Calif.-On Sunday, August 18h, members of the Jewish and
Armenian community shared a kosher Armenian dinner mentored by Zov
Karardian, a child of survivors of the Armenian Genocide and much
admired proprietor of Zov's Bistro. Afterwards, we enjoyed a public
conversation with Professor Richard Hovannisian, a founding scholar
of Armenian studies. Professor Hovannisian taught at UCLA, published
extensively on Armenian history, and with his students interviewed
close to eight hundred survivors of the Genocide of 1915-1918. He
did so when there were still those alive to recount what they saw.
As a Jew and a child of survivors of the Holocaust of World War II,
listening to Professor Hovannisian gave me a wider context for my
people's own tragedy. I learned that the nationalist Young Turks in
an emerging new nation of Turkey saw the collapse of the once mighty
Ottoman Empire as a national affront. Christian countries, such as
Russia, were taking land away. In crafting the new Turkey, there was
a desire to consolidate identity. Christians, Greek and Armenian,
were seen as potential subversives and as lacking a commonality with
the Islamic, Turkish majority. Under cover of World War I, the Turks
were able in an organized, centralized fashion to direct the deaths
of close to 60 percent of the more than two million Armenians who
had lived in Turkey. Men were shot and most women and children died
on brutal marches for relocation to the desert.
Professor Hovannisian described a parallel with World War II and
the Germans. Forced to pay enormous penalties marking the end of
World War I and beset by a world economic crisis, German nationalism
and scapegoating grew. The Nazis sought to purify Germany of the
foreigners, the Jews, as potentially disloyal and different in race
and faith than the Aryan. Under cover of War the Third Reich was able
to engage in mass extermination of the Jews.
A key difference between the Jewish and Armenian communities is the
aftermath of our respective genocides. The Armenian Genocide meant
that Armenians lost their historic homeland and were left to define
themselves for the first time as primarily a Diaspora community. The
Turkish government made it a crime to claim that the Turks perpetrated
mass killings of the Armenians. Instead, the official line was that
there were Armenian provocations and a kind of civil war during World
War I. Turkey used much leverage against governments who were willing
to recognize the Armenian Genocide. For instance, in 1982 there was the
first international gathering on genocide, organized by institutions in
Israel and to be held in Tel Aviv. Several hundred scholars from around
the world were scheduled to participate. In anticipation of the event,
an Israeli newspaper article noted that several scholars would address
the Armenian Genocide. Turkish government leaders contacted their
counterparts in Israel and said that if the Armenians participated,
Turkey would close its borders to Iran during a time in which many
Iranian Jews were fleeing toward freedom. Elie Wiesel, chair of the
event, withdrew. He said that he could not deny the Armenian Genocide
and would not want to jeopardize Jewish lives. The official Israeli
sponsors withdrew their names from the conference, which still took
place with the Armenian scholars participating, including Professor
Hovannisian. Until now, both the United States and Israel have failed
for political reasons to officially acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
Jews have had a long history of Diaspora and the events of World War
II were part of a larger identity of suffering and dispersion. Germany
acknowledged its responsibility and reparations were paid. In fact,
in the aftermath of the Holocaust, Jews regained a national land in
the State of Israel, a product in part of international guilt for
not having done more to prevent the horrific crimes. And Jews have
memorialized their story through film, museums, and ritual events.
Indeed, those museums have become places of learning the dangers of
hate speech, political tyranny, and government sponsored crime.
I asked Professor Hovannisian, "How can we as wounded peoples heal?"
Professor Hovannisian responded, "We need to make our particular
stories universal, so that they will be meaningful to others, and
we need to respond to suffering in the world." As a Jew, I am much
identified with his guidance for our people's healing.
http://asbarez.com/113301/a-public-conversation-with-professor-richard-hovannisian/
Tuesday, August 27th, 2013
Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz
BY RABBI ELIE SPITZ
Congregation B'nai Israel
TUSTIN, Calif.-On Sunday, August 18h, members of the Jewish and
Armenian community shared a kosher Armenian dinner mentored by Zov
Karardian, a child of survivors of the Armenian Genocide and much
admired proprietor of Zov's Bistro. Afterwards, we enjoyed a public
conversation with Professor Richard Hovannisian, a founding scholar
of Armenian studies. Professor Hovannisian taught at UCLA, published
extensively on Armenian history, and with his students interviewed
close to eight hundred survivors of the Genocide of 1915-1918. He
did so when there were still those alive to recount what they saw.
As a Jew and a child of survivors of the Holocaust of World War II,
listening to Professor Hovannisian gave me a wider context for my
people's own tragedy. I learned that the nationalist Young Turks in
an emerging new nation of Turkey saw the collapse of the once mighty
Ottoman Empire as a national affront. Christian countries, such as
Russia, were taking land away. In crafting the new Turkey, there was
a desire to consolidate identity. Christians, Greek and Armenian,
were seen as potential subversives and as lacking a commonality with
the Islamic, Turkish majority. Under cover of World War I, the Turks
were able in an organized, centralized fashion to direct the deaths
of close to 60 percent of the more than two million Armenians who
had lived in Turkey. Men were shot and most women and children died
on brutal marches for relocation to the desert.
Professor Hovannisian described a parallel with World War II and
the Germans. Forced to pay enormous penalties marking the end of
World War I and beset by a world economic crisis, German nationalism
and scapegoating grew. The Nazis sought to purify Germany of the
foreigners, the Jews, as potentially disloyal and different in race
and faith than the Aryan. Under cover of War the Third Reich was able
to engage in mass extermination of the Jews.
A key difference between the Jewish and Armenian communities is the
aftermath of our respective genocides. The Armenian Genocide meant
that Armenians lost their historic homeland and were left to define
themselves for the first time as primarily a Diaspora community. The
Turkish government made it a crime to claim that the Turks perpetrated
mass killings of the Armenians. Instead, the official line was that
there were Armenian provocations and a kind of civil war during World
War I. Turkey used much leverage against governments who were willing
to recognize the Armenian Genocide. For instance, in 1982 there was the
first international gathering on genocide, organized by institutions in
Israel and to be held in Tel Aviv. Several hundred scholars from around
the world were scheduled to participate. In anticipation of the event,
an Israeli newspaper article noted that several scholars would address
the Armenian Genocide. Turkish government leaders contacted their
counterparts in Israel and said that if the Armenians participated,
Turkey would close its borders to Iran during a time in which many
Iranian Jews were fleeing toward freedom. Elie Wiesel, chair of the
event, withdrew. He said that he could not deny the Armenian Genocide
and would not want to jeopardize Jewish lives. The official Israeli
sponsors withdrew their names from the conference, which still took
place with the Armenian scholars participating, including Professor
Hovannisian. Until now, both the United States and Israel have failed
for political reasons to officially acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
Jews have had a long history of Diaspora and the events of World War
II were part of a larger identity of suffering and dispersion. Germany
acknowledged its responsibility and reparations were paid. In fact,
in the aftermath of the Holocaust, Jews regained a national land in
the State of Israel, a product in part of international guilt for
not having done more to prevent the horrific crimes. And Jews have
memorialized their story through film, museums, and ritual events.
Indeed, those museums have become places of learning the dangers of
hate speech, political tyranny, and government sponsored crime.
I asked Professor Hovannisian, "How can we as wounded peoples heal?"
Professor Hovannisian responded, "We need to make our particular
stories universal, so that they will be meaningful to others, and
we need to respond to suffering in the world." As a Jew, I am much
identified with his guidance for our people's healing.