Tweet
GERMAN HISTORIAN SAYS THERE IS PROOF POPE BENEDICT XV TRIED TO STOP ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
09:48, 11 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
Just before the world commemorates the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, well-known German historian Michael Hesemann
announced the discovery of 2000 pages of hitherto unpublished documents
on, what he calls "the greatest persecution of Christians in history"
in the Vatican Secret Archives.
In this in-depth analysis with ZENIT, the historian discusses his
findings, what's often not realized about the Armenian genocide,
and its victims, items which he discusses in his new book.
He also speaks about the Holy Father's recent visit to Turkey, why
he didn't speak on the subject, and what people should realize about
the tragedy which happened then, and what's happening now.
ZENIT: What compelled you to start going through the documents? What
did you feel you had uncovered?
Hesemann: Actually, I was fascinated by the Armenian genocide after
reading a letter written by the Cologne Archbishop--and I am from the
Archdiocese of Cologne-, Cardinal von Hartmann, who in 1913 wrote a
letter to the German Chancellor of the Reich requesting German support
to prevent a new Armenian Genocide after the withdrawal of the Russian
troops from Northeastern Turkey. And his words were very impressive.
He confirmed the Armenian genocide of 1915/1916 and compared it with
the early persecutions of Christians like the Diocletian persecution
of early 4th century.
He said because Germany was such a close ally to Turkey it would also
cause shame on the German name for future generations if it wouldn't
do anything to stop it. I immediately realized how right he was and
that he was a voice of justice in the middle of this horrible World
War I. And then I asked myself: What did Germany do after World War
I and even today to tell the world what it knew about these horrible
events, just to prevent that history repeats itself - nothing indeed!
Then in 1939, Adolf Hitler met with his leading generals in his
"Berghof" near Berchtesgaden, his headquarters in the mountains, and
announced his plans for Poland: the completely recklessly slaughter
of the Polish elite and all the other atrocities. He ordered to
proceed with the utmost, merciless brutality, since "history is
always written by the victors' and, anyway, "Who is talking about
the Armenian Genocide today?" So obviously the denial or the cover
up of the Armenian Genocide made Hitler's brutality in Poland and
eventually the Holocaust possible? It seems so. If you do not tell
the story, history will always repeat itself. So I thought it was my
responsibility as a historian who has access to the Vatican Secret
Archives since 2008 to look for more documents. I became curious
and in some way fascinated by the subject. I wanted to know what
really happened.
So I found documents and documents and documents, more than 2000
pages, most of them never before published, researched, or evaluated
by any historian. Of course, I educated myself on any aspect of the
Genocide, read the works of all the leading contemporary historians
in this field like Kevorkian, Dadrian and others and just realized
that I am entering a brand new territory, adding a new aspect to
their important work. The sources we have on the Armenian Genocide
are, of course, the German documents, both coming from the officers
and diplomats stationed in the Ottoman Empire, which we find in the
Archives of the German foreign office. Another important stock were the
American diplomat's reports and, of course, the brilliant report by the
American Ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau. Of course we
also have intelligence reports from both the British and the French
and the reports of the Italian diplomats in Turkey. But the Vatican
documents are an excellent, first class new source of information.
ZENIT: Why did these massacres happen?
Hesemann: Well, the massacres happened after the Turks searched the
Armenian's homes for weapons and used any weapon they found as an
"evidence" for a conspiracy or planned revolt, which, of course, was
nonsense - people on the countryside needed to have their guns for
self-defense. Then all men were arrested, tortured, lead outside the
towns or villages and were massacred. Well, how can you resettle the
people if you kill all the men? This is the end of future generations.
Without men, you can't have families.
Then all the women, the elderly and the children were sent on foot
to the new destination, hundreds of miles through the mountainous
highlands of Anatolia, often enough with no food and water at all.
Sometimes they were not even allowed to drink from the rivers they
passed. They were raped and robbed, by mountain tribes, released
prisoners and their own police guards, and of the few which survived
those death marches - often enough only 5 percent - many were left
completely nude, dirty and ashamed, under the hot Turkish sun and in
the cold of the nights.
Still some 350,000 who arrived in the Syrian Desert were put into
concentrations camps, with no food and very little water and deadly
epidemics going around. And those who survived for another half a year
were sent on new death marches deeper into the desert or were just
massacred.So at the end, maybe a couple tens of thousands survived.
Many of them orphans. Benedict XV later donated two orphanages to
give at least some of them shelter.
If you read the eyewitness testimony, this is really heartbreaking.
You read even of nuns who were raped and all their clothes were
stolen. Many of them went mad afterward because they couldn't handle
all these terrible experiences. Mothers threw their children into
gorges, into rivers, to kill them, so they wouldn't have to suffer
as much as they suffered. Suicides were in the daily order.
For a couple of months, the populations of Mosul and other cities
were warned by the government, the Muslim population of course,
not to drink any water from the river because it was polluted by the
thousands of corpses which were drafting down the Euphrates and the
Tigris rivers. All of this is very well documented. But it is still
officially denied by the Turkish government.
ZENIT: Can you elaborate on this?
Hesemann: For example, if you read a book by the department of Tourism
of the Republic of Turkey "2,000 years of Turkish history"- a strange
title since Turkey has more than 5000 years of documented history - you
read the following quote: "The Ottoman government decided to immigrate
the Armenians who were involved in the uprising to a safer place,
namely Syria and Lebanon ... The immigration process was carried out
in a successful way as most of the Armenians were safely transferred
to Syria", you can only call this a cynical lie!
And as passionately, the Turkish government tries to do everything
to suppress the treatment of the Armenian genocide in the schoolbooks
of the free world, or to prevent recognition of the Armenian genocide
as genocide.
Of course, the term genocide can be discussed, but according to
the definition by the United Nations any mass killing of a group or
population, also if it is a religious group, is termed "genocide".
Because in the end, Armenians weren't killed because they were
Armenian, but because they were Christians. Armenian women were even
offered to be spared if they convert to Islam. They were then married
into Turkish households or sold on slave markets or taken as sex
slaves into brothels for Turkish soldiers, but at least they survived.
A whole group of Islamized Crypto-Armenians was created by this offer
to embrace Islam. But at least it shows that the Armenians were not
killed because they were Armenians, but because they were Christians,
and for the same reason the Syrian Christians were killed too.
ZENIT: So based on the statistics, how should it be considered?
Hesemann: It was both: A genocide by definition of the United Nations
and, at the same time, the greatest persecution of Christians in
history, when altogether 2.5 million were killed - 1.5 million
Armenians and about one million Syrian and Greek Christians.
ZENIT: What is your view on Pope Francis' visit to Turkey and on how
he addressed the Armenian subject?
Hesemann: He was not the first Pope in history to speak about the
Armenian genocide because Benedict XV and John Paul II did so, too.
But I am very grateful that Pope Francis even before he became Pope,
in his book with Rabbi Skorka, for example, mentioned the Armenian
genocide. Even in the first months of his pontificate, in May 2013,
when he received one of the Armenian Patriarchs, he called the
events of 1915-1916 a genocide, which caused a lot of unrest and a
very unfriendly reaction from the Turkish side, as did John Paul
II's remarks on the Armenian genocide did. So I am very grateful
that he continued the long row of Popes who openly spoke about the
Armenian genocide.
I was a little bit disappointed that he didn't bring it up when he
met Erdogan because his visit took place on the eve of this year
commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Then
again, he was a guest and he didn't want to provoke an even more
hostile situation for the Christians, [...] the still persecuted
Christian minority in Turkey. So from a diplomatic point of view,
he did the right thing.
ZENIT: Is the Holy Father doing anything in April to commemorate
the anniversary?
Hesemann: Yes, indeed. Pope Francis announced that on April 12 he will
celebrate Holy Mass in the Armenian rite in commemoration of what
happened 100 years ago. I hope that he will find clear words in his
homily on that occasion. And I hope that he will follow the invitation
of the Armenian president and the Armenian Patriarch Catholikos
Karekin II to come to Armenia. Even if he won't come to Armenia on
the 24th of April, he might come later this year. Sometimes, truth
and solidarity with the martyrs are more important than diplomacy.
Everyone who reads the Vatican documents on the events of 1915/6
gets a very clear idea about what happened. Even Pope Benedict XV,
who was a very careful diplomat, stressing neutrality, wherever he
could, could not remain silent and protested three times, two times
in personal letters to the Sultan and one time in his speech during
a consistory. Indeed, his attempt to stop the Armenian genocide by
public protests is one of the most impressive examples in history
how the Vatican's diplomacy tried everything humanly possible to
stand up for those persecuted brothers and sisters and save innocent
victims of one of the biggest crimes in history. At the same time,
it's also a very frustrating example that Vatican diplomacy cannot
change the minds of fanatic ideologists who just demonstrated that
"conscience"and "compassion" are foreign words for them.
ZENIT: As we are now approaching the 100-year anniversary, is there
anything you think people should realize or take away in a way they
have not already?
Hesemann: One thing should be learned: Nobody should ever turn around
and look away if he hears about atrocities in any part of the world.
If you are ignorant today, you will bear the consequences tomorrow. So
it's better to act and react now.
Hitler believed he was on the safe side, but he wasn't. So I hope that
the atrocities of 100 years ago wake up Christians and responsible
people from the world of politics, of art, science, and moral [realms],
of all fields of life to look what is happening to Christians in the
same area today.
When I saw reports and videos of what is going on the ISIS controlled
areas, I had a deja vu. I have to admit that when I studied these
files, pictures, and everything from the Armenian genocide, I wondered
sometimes if some of my sources were not just exaggerating. It
sounded so unreal, all those atrocities, this violence, these
reports about crucifixions and mountains of skulls of decapitated
men and so on. And then all this happens in front of my eyes in the
news. So history repeats itself: If you don't learn from history,
if you aren't aware of what happened in the past, we allow people
to commit the crimes again. That is why every crime has to be
[prosecuted]. So that people learn that crimes don't pay off. In
1915, the German chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg knew everything about
the Armenian genocide, since he received all those careful reports
from his diplomats. But he was not willing to stop the slaughter,
but, instead, declared: "We have to keep Turkey as an ally on our side
until the war is over, even if the Armenians perish over it." Because
of this, Germany is guilty, too, of what it allowed to happen. Today,
we shall not follow Germany's example and ignore what is happening
in order to not jeopardize diplomatic or trade relations. We should
stop ISIS and end the slaughter of Christians right now!
And finally: As a Catholic, I believe that everyone can be forgiven
if you confess your sins. But that is the first condition. I
don't want any revenge or punishment for Turkey. Not at all. I want
reconciliation. Reconciliation between the Armenian and Turkish people,
but the condition for this, for forgiveness, is the truth. If I go
to confession and deny my sins, it is worthless and I won't find
forgiveness. Forgiveness I will only find if I honestly confess what
truly happened. Only the truth can set us free!
The historical facts are so crystal clear. They are as clear as those
of the Holocaust, or any other event that you'd find in any history
book...so many documents, sources, clear statistics, clear evidence
that 1.5 million Armenians and another 1 million Syrian and Greek
Christians were murdered. You cannot deny it. You cannot excuse it.
You can only, and that it's overdue, admit it. This is the first
step for reconciliation. Any historians looking at all the evidence
would come to the same conclusion of what happened, unless they were
being paid or put under pressure. But facing the evidence we have,
there's no other conclusion possible. It was genocide. It was the
biggest persecution of Christians in history. If you still deny it,
you protect the perpetrators, you side up with murderers. And you
allow that it will happen again.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/03/11/german-historian-says-there-is-proof-pope-benedict-xv-tried-to-stop-armenian-genocide/
http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/the-greatest-persecution-of-christians-in-history-part-I
http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/the-greatest-persecution-of-christians-in-history-part-ii
09:48, 11 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
Just before the world commemorates the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, well-known German historian Michael Hesemann
announced the discovery of 2000 pages of hitherto unpublished documents
on, what he calls "the greatest persecution of Christians in history"
in the Vatican Secret Archives.
In this in-depth analysis with ZENIT, the historian discusses his
findings, what's often not realized about the Armenian genocide,
and its victims, items which he discusses in his new book.
He also speaks about the Holy Father's recent visit to Turkey, why
he didn't speak on the subject, and what people should realize about
the tragedy which happened then, and what's happening now.
ZENIT: What compelled you to start going through the documents? What
did you feel you had uncovered?
Hesemann: Actually, I was fascinated by the Armenian genocide after
reading a letter written by the Cologne Archbishop--and I am from the
Archdiocese of Cologne-, Cardinal von Hartmann, who in 1913 wrote a
letter to the German Chancellor of the Reich requesting German support
to prevent a new Armenian Genocide after the withdrawal of the Russian
troops from Northeastern Turkey. And his words were very impressive.
He confirmed the Armenian genocide of 1915/1916 and compared it with
the early persecutions of Christians like the Diocletian persecution
of early 4th century.
He said because Germany was such a close ally to Turkey it would also
cause shame on the German name for future generations if it wouldn't
do anything to stop it. I immediately realized how right he was and
that he was a voice of justice in the middle of this horrible World
War I. And then I asked myself: What did Germany do after World War
I and even today to tell the world what it knew about these horrible
events, just to prevent that history repeats itself - nothing indeed!
Then in 1939, Adolf Hitler met with his leading generals in his
"Berghof" near Berchtesgaden, his headquarters in the mountains, and
announced his plans for Poland: the completely recklessly slaughter
of the Polish elite and all the other atrocities. He ordered to
proceed with the utmost, merciless brutality, since "history is
always written by the victors' and, anyway, "Who is talking about
the Armenian Genocide today?" So obviously the denial or the cover
up of the Armenian Genocide made Hitler's brutality in Poland and
eventually the Holocaust possible? It seems so. If you do not tell
the story, history will always repeat itself. So I thought it was my
responsibility as a historian who has access to the Vatican Secret
Archives since 2008 to look for more documents. I became curious
and in some way fascinated by the subject. I wanted to know what
really happened.
So I found documents and documents and documents, more than 2000
pages, most of them never before published, researched, or evaluated
by any historian. Of course, I educated myself on any aspect of the
Genocide, read the works of all the leading contemporary historians
in this field like Kevorkian, Dadrian and others and just realized
that I am entering a brand new territory, adding a new aspect to
their important work. The sources we have on the Armenian Genocide
are, of course, the German documents, both coming from the officers
and diplomats stationed in the Ottoman Empire, which we find in the
Archives of the German foreign office. Another important stock were the
American diplomat's reports and, of course, the brilliant report by the
American Ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau. Of course we
also have intelligence reports from both the British and the French
and the reports of the Italian diplomats in Turkey. But the Vatican
documents are an excellent, first class new source of information.
ZENIT: Why did these massacres happen?
Hesemann: Well, the massacres happened after the Turks searched the
Armenian's homes for weapons and used any weapon they found as an
"evidence" for a conspiracy or planned revolt, which, of course, was
nonsense - people on the countryside needed to have their guns for
self-defense. Then all men were arrested, tortured, lead outside the
towns or villages and were massacred. Well, how can you resettle the
people if you kill all the men? This is the end of future generations.
Without men, you can't have families.
Then all the women, the elderly and the children were sent on foot
to the new destination, hundreds of miles through the mountainous
highlands of Anatolia, often enough with no food and water at all.
Sometimes they were not even allowed to drink from the rivers they
passed. They were raped and robbed, by mountain tribes, released
prisoners and their own police guards, and of the few which survived
those death marches - often enough only 5 percent - many were left
completely nude, dirty and ashamed, under the hot Turkish sun and in
the cold of the nights.
Still some 350,000 who arrived in the Syrian Desert were put into
concentrations camps, with no food and very little water and deadly
epidemics going around. And those who survived for another half a year
were sent on new death marches deeper into the desert or were just
massacred.So at the end, maybe a couple tens of thousands survived.
Many of them orphans. Benedict XV later donated two orphanages to
give at least some of them shelter.
If you read the eyewitness testimony, this is really heartbreaking.
You read even of nuns who were raped and all their clothes were
stolen. Many of them went mad afterward because they couldn't handle
all these terrible experiences. Mothers threw their children into
gorges, into rivers, to kill them, so they wouldn't have to suffer
as much as they suffered. Suicides were in the daily order.
For a couple of months, the populations of Mosul and other cities
were warned by the government, the Muslim population of course,
not to drink any water from the river because it was polluted by the
thousands of corpses which were drafting down the Euphrates and the
Tigris rivers. All of this is very well documented. But it is still
officially denied by the Turkish government.
ZENIT: Can you elaborate on this?
Hesemann: For example, if you read a book by the department of Tourism
of the Republic of Turkey "2,000 years of Turkish history"- a strange
title since Turkey has more than 5000 years of documented history - you
read the following quote: "The Ottoman government decided to immigrate
the Armenians who were involved in the uprising to a safer place,
namely Syria and Lebanon ... The immigration process was carried out
in a successful way as most of the Armenians were safely transferred
to Syria", you can only call this a cynical lie!
And as passionately, the Turkish government tries to do everything
to suppress the treatment of the Armenian genocide in the schoolbooks
of the free world, or to prevent recognition of the Armenian genocide
as genocide.
Of course, the term genocide can be discussed, but according to
the definition by the United Nations any mass killing of a group or
population, also if it is a religious group, is termed "genocide".
Because in the end, Armenians weren't killed because they were
Armenian, but because they were Christians. Armenian women were even
offered to be spared if they convert to Islam. They were then married
into Turkish households or sold on slave markets or taken as sex
slaves into brothels for Turkish soldiers, but at least they survived.
A whole group of Islamized Crypto-Armenians was created by this offer
to embrace Islam. But at least it shows that the Armenians were not
killed because they were Armenians, but because they were Christians,
and for the same reason the Syrian Christians were killed too.
ZENIT: So based on the statistics, how should it be considered?
Hesemann: It was both: A genocide by definition of the United Nations
and, at the same time, the greatest persecution of Christians in
history, when altogether 2.5 million were killed - 1.5 million
Armenians and about one million Syrian and Greek Christians.
ZENIT: What is your view on Pope Francis' visit to Turkey and on how
he addressed the Armenian subject?
Hesemann: He was not the first Pope in history to speak about the
Armenian genocide because Benedict XV and John Paul II did so, too.
But I am very grateful that Pope Francis even before he became Pope,
in his book with Rabbi Skorka, for example, mentioned the Armenian
genocide. Even in the first months of his pontificate, in May 2013,
when he received one of the Armenian Patriarchs, he called the
events of 1915-1916 a genocide, which caused a lot of unrest and a
very unfriendly reaction from the Turkish side, as did John Paul
II's remarks on the Armenian genocide did. So I am very grateful
that he continued the long row of Popes who openly spoke about the
Armenian genocide.
I was a little bit disappointed that he didn't bring it up when he
met Erdogan because his visit took place on the eve of this year
commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Then
again, he was a guest and he didn't want to provoke an even more
hostile situation for the Christians, [...] the still persecuted
Christian minority in Turkey. So from a diplomatic point of view,
he did the right thing.
ZENIT: Is the Holy Father doing anything in April to commemorate
the anniversary?
Hesemann: Yes, indeed. Pope Francis announced that on April 12 he will
celebrate Holy Mass in the Armenian rite in commemoration of what
happened 100 years ago. I hope that he will find clear words in his
homily on that occasion. And I hope that he will follow the invitation
of the Armenian president and the Armenian Patriarch Catholikos
Karekin II to come to Armenia. Even if he won't come to Armenia on
the 24th of April, he might come later this year. Sometimes, truth
and solidarity with the martyrs are more important than diplomacy.
Everyone who reads the Vatican documents on the events of 1915/6
gets a very clear idea about what happened. Even Pope Benedict XV,
who was a very careful diplomat, stressing neutrality, wherever he
could, could not remain silent and protested three times, two times
in personal letters to the Sultan and one time in his speech during
a consistory. Indeed, his attempt to stop the Armenian genocide by
public protests is one of the most impressive examples in history
how the Vatican's diplomacy tried everything humanly possible to
stand up for those persecuted brothers and sisters and save innocent
victims of one of the biggest crimes in history. At the same time,
it's also a very frustrating example that Vatican diplomacy cannot
change the minds of fanatic ideologists who just demonstrated that
"conscience"and "compassion" are foreign words for them.
ZENIT: As we are now approaching the 100-year anniversary, is there
anything you think people should realize or take away in a way they
have not already?
Hesemann: One thing should be learned: Nobody should ever turn around
and look away if he hears about atrocities in any part of the world.
If you are ignorant today, you will bear the consequences tomorrow. So
it's better to act and react now.
Hitler believed he was on the safe side, but he wasn't. So I hope that
the atrocities of 100 years ago wake up Christians and responsible
people from the world of politics, of art, science, and moral [realms],
of all fields of life to look what is happening to Christians in the
same area today.
When I saw reports and videos of what is going on the ISIS controlled
areas, I had a deja vu. I have to admit that when I studied these
files, pictures, and everything from the Armenian genocide, I wondered
sometimes if some of my sources were not just exaggerating. It
sounded so unreal, all those atrocities, this violence, these
reports about crucifixions and mountains of skulls of decapitated
men and so on. And then all this happens in front of my eyes in the
news. So history repeats itself: If you don't learn from history,
if you aren't aware of what happened in the past, we allow people
to commit the crimes again. That is why every crime has to be
[prosecuted]. So that people learn that crimes don't pay off. In
1915, the German chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg knew everything about
the Armenian genocide, since he received all those careful reports
from his diplomats. But he was not willing to stop the slaughter,
but, instead, declared: "We have to keep Turkey as an ally on our side
until the war is over, even if the Armenians perish over it." Because
of this, Germany is guilty, too, of what it allowed to happen. Today,
we shall not follow Germany's example and ignore what is happening
in order to not jeopardize diplomatic or trade relations. We should
stop ISIS and end the slaughter of Christians right now!
And finally: As a Catholic, I believe that everyone can be forgiven
if you confess your sins. But that is the first condition. I
don't want any revenge or punishment for Turkey. Not at all. I want
reconciliation. Reconciliation between the Armenian and Turkish people,
but the condition for this, for forgiveness, is the truth. If I go
to confession and deny my sins, it is worthless and I won't find
forgiveness. Forgiveness I will only find if I honestly confess what
truly happened. Only the truth can set us free!
The historical facts are so crystal clear. They are as clear as those
of the Holocaust, or any other event that you'd find in any history
book...so many documents, sources, clear statistics, clear evidence
that 1.5 million Armenians and another 1 million Syrian and Greek
Christians were murdered. You cannot deny it. You cannot excuse it.
You can only, and that it's overdue, admit it. This is the first
step for reconciliation. Any historians looking at all the evidence
would come to the same conclusion of what happened, unless they were
being paid or put under pressure. But facing the evidence we have,
there's no other conclusion possible. It was genocide. It was the
biggest persecution of Christians in history. If you still deny it,
you protect the perpetrators, you side up with murderers. And you
allow that it will happen again.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/03/11/german-historian-says-there-is-proof-pope-benedict-xv-tried-to-stop-armenian-genocide/
http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/the-greatest-persecution-of-christians-in-history-part-I
http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/the-greatest-persecution-of-christians-in-history-part-ii