lars hillås lingius, ed. vahagn avedian • david gaunt göran gunner • kevork hintlian klas-göran karlsson • maria karlsson suzanne khardalian • maria småberg

In Times of Genocide 1915–2015 Report from a conference on the Armenian Genocide and Syriac Seyfo in times of genocide 1915–2015 cover photo This cross is to be found inside the Church of Resurrection, or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem. It stands next to the Tomb of Christ at an altar dedicated to “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary”, whom where the first to be told that Christ had conquered death (Matthew 28:1). These Armenian khatchkars, Cross-stones, combine the Cross of Christ with the Tree of Life – a reminder of the resilience of the Armenian and Syriac minorities in Asia Minor, still today. Photo: Lars Hillås Lingius Lars Hillås Lingius (ed.) In Times of Genocide 1915–2015

Report from a conference on the Armenian Genocide and Syriac Seyfo

2015 overlooking the mesopotamian plain, the inhabitants of the Mar Augin Syriac monastery became eyewitnesses to the ransacking of villages below, and to the forced death marches into the desert, passing by. The monastery itself suffered from the Seyfo, but though partly in ruins, it is to this day an active monastery. Photo: Mikael Aho Damar

© Studieförbundet Bilda; Each author his or her article; Mikael Aho Damar (photo p. 4); Lars Hillås Lingius (ed. and cover photo), 2015. Layout: Boel Algulin Print: TMG Tabergs, Växjö, Sweden ISBN: 978-91-976398-8-0 Studieförbundet Bilda • P.O. Box 79 • 125 22 Älvsjö • Sweden • www.bilda.nu Greeting from His Beatitude Patriarch Nourhan Manougian

During its brief period of existence, the Swedish Christian Study Centre has become a dynamic centre of intellectual endeavour. Its academic activities have made an important contribution towards our knowledge of Jerusalem and its different communities, and thus it is rightfully considered part of the local cultural landscape. In this year of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, the present vo- lume with its professional team of academics will make a significant input towards our understanding of the horrible phenomenon of genocide perpet- rated on Armenian, Syrian and Greek people. We send our blessings, and wish you all the success in the fulfilment of your mission of goodwill in the Holy Land.

 Archbishop Nourhan Manougian Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem

Greeting from His Grace Archbishop Severios Malki Murad

What the Ottomans, together with those helping them, did 1915 to our Christian people – Syrian Orthodox, Armenian, Greek, and others – is con- sidered a Crime against humanity. We ask all the countries in the world to recognize this genocide, so these indigenous Christian people can have their rights and properties restored. It is our hope, that no other genocide will take place, and that the United Nations will put an end to all kinds of violence and war against innocent pe- ople, especially against Christians.

 Mar Severios Malki Murad Syrian-Orthodox Archbishop, Jerusalem Content

Greeting from His Beatitude Patriarch Nourhan Manougian

Greeting from His Grace Archbishop Severios Malki Murad

Preface 7

The authors 8

Opening 9 Samuel Gustafsson

The Armenian Genocide – the Archetype of Modern Atrocities 11 Klas-Göran Karlsson

From my courtyard. Survivors of the Armenian Genocide 27 Kevork Hintlian

The Year of the Sword in the Province of Diyarbakir 36 David Gaunt

The Swedish Mayrik Saving Armenian Mothers and Orphans 1902–1941 51 Maria Småberg

Making the Unfathomable Known 65 Göran Gunner

Knowing and Doing The Armenian Genocide in Official Swedish Reports 71 Vahagn Avedian

Under the Lid: Women, Silenced Memories and the Armenian Genocide Introduction to the film Grandma’s Tattoos 84 Suzanne Khardalian

“The Alleged ‘Genocide’ of 1915”: The Structure of Genocide Denial 91 Maria Karlsson Preface

   With this book, Studieförbundet Bil- ports dispatched by the Swedish envoys to da is happy to present to a broader audience the Swedish Foreign Office. the lectures given at our conference In Times While also giving some eye-witness re- of Genocide, at the Swedish Christian Study ports, Suzanne Khardalian discusses in her Centre in Jerusalem January 14–15, 2015. article the phenomenon of memory and am- We are grateful to the Swedish scholars who nesia, partial and to some extent deliberate, accepted the invitation to give a lecture, and among the survivors and their children in 7 contribute in writing to this report. her introduction to her movie Grandma’s Professor Klas-Göran Karlsson gives an Tattoos, which was screened at the con- introduction to the academic field of geno- ference. And in the closing article, Maria cide research, with special reference to the Karlsson presents her research about how Armenian Genocide. Then comes some texts the final stage of genocides tends to be not conveying testimonies from eye-witnesses to recognition, but denial using some well- the genocide, starting with Kevork Hintlian estab­lished patterns. who presents some twenty of the 800 wit- It has been my privilege to work with ness reports ha has gathered from survivors these highly charged and challenging artic- during the last fifty years, followed by pro- les, dealing with the unspeakable horrors of fessor David Gaunts research on Seyfo with the Armenian Genocide and Syriac Seyfo in certain focus of some priests who were there the Ottoman Empire, with its focal point in when it happened. 1915 – one hundred years ago. And it has Maria Småberg and Göran Gunner write been my privilege to – before, during and af- in their articles about some of the most im- ter the conference – stay in regular contact portant witnesses to the genocide when it with these exquisite scholars. Thank you! comes to informing the Western powers of what was going on while it was going on: Lars Hillås Lingius Scandinavian missionaries and organizations Director, Swedish Christian Study Centre, affiliated with them. In his article, Vahagn Jerusalem. Avedian gives an account of the official re- The authors

Vahagn Avedian is Chief Editor of Armenica.org, and Ph.D. Candidate at the History Department, Lund University. David Gaunt is a professor of history at Södertörn University, Stockholm. Göran Gunner is an associate professor at the Church of Sweden Research 8 Unit, and at Stockholm School of Theology. Kevork Hintlian is an Armenian historian and a Jerusalemite, affiliated with the Swedish Christian Study Centre. Klas-Göran Karlsson is a professor of history at Lund University. Maria Karlsson is a Ph.D. of Lund University. At the end of March, 2015, she successfully presented her doctoral thesis Cultures of Denial: Comparing Holocaust and Armenian Genocide Denial. Suzanne Khardalian is a renowned, prize winning Swedish-Armenian jour- nalist and film maker with a dozen films. Maria Småberg is a Ph.D. and research fellow at the History Department, Lund University.

Opening

Samuel Gustafsson

Your Grace. Brothers and sisters, Ladies and body, comprised of 48 member organiza- Gentlemen. In short: Dear friends! tions, primarily churches and organizations We at Bilda are happy to welcome you to connected to them. Our task is to work on this conference, commemorating 100 years a grass-root level, organizing local study since the Armenian Genocide and Syriac groups on whatever topic a group wants to 9 Seyfo in the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. study. From time to time, however, we co­ My name is Samuel Gustafsson. I am the operate with academic scholars, of which Deputy Secretary-General for Bilda, and sin- this conference is an example. ce Secretary-General Kerstin Enlund will not Founded in 1947 by the independent chur- arrive until this evening, it is my privilege to ches such as the Baptists, Methodists and re- open this conference: In Times of Genocides. formed churches, Bilda has had the privilege Not without some modest pride, we find to welcome several new churches during the among the lecturers some of the real experts last decades. New in Bilda, that is, but other- on this terrible topic: genocide, specifically wise much older than the original founding the one in focus during our conference. churches of Bilda, for example the Catholic Professor David Gaunt, professor Klas- church and almost all the Orthodox Chur- Göran Karlsson, Ph.D. and research fellow ches established in Sweden due the ongoing Maria Småberg, journalist and film maker globalization and movement of persons. Suzanne Khardalian Holmquist, Ph.D. can- These movements have to some extent didates Vahagn Avedian and Maria Karls- been the result of free choices, but to a rather son. And of course Kevork Hintlian, an high degree it has been forced on people, flee- Arme­nian historian and a Jerusalemite, and ing from war, persecution and terror. a long-standing friend and associate of this So inside Bilda we find, among other study centre. Churches, the Armenian Apostolic Church Among absent friends, one in particular and the Syrian Orthodox Church. They ex- shall be mentioned. Associate professor Gö- perienced the Armenian Genocide and Sy- ran Gunner proposed this conference and has riac Seyfo in the disintegrating Ottoman been most helpful in preparing it. He should Empire, and they are today, together with have been one of the speakers, but had an ac- people of all faiths, facing political violence cident a few months ago and broke his leg. in parts of the breaking Syria and Iraq. This Göran is better now but the doctors gave him is one of the reasons why we wanted to or- a no-go concerning flying here. ganize this conference. Bilda, which is the organization behind During the genocide of 1915, some of the this study centre, is a liberal adult education most accurate eye-witness reports of what was going on came from Scandinavian mis- contributes to our wish for doing this con- sionaries, reporting not only to their own ference. organizations and through them to the Swe- Through SCSC, Bilda organizes and fa- dish government, but also to the American cilitates some thirty study trips to the Holy 10 ambassador Morgenthau in Constantinople. Land every year, for groups coming from And in 1920, Sweden was asked by the Lea- Sweden. Since its foundation, SCSC has re- gue of Nations to be the mandate power for ceived more than 10,000 Swedish visitors, the emerging Armenian state, but declined and has made a substantial contribution the offer. So this Swedish presence in the to the interest in and knowledge about the midst of things, is another reason for us as a Holy Land in Sweden. Swedish study organization to invite to this And we are very glad at this moment to conference. welcome you all. Since 1991, we are the tenants of the Ar- With this, I open this conference. menian Apostolic Church in Jerusalem, in this beautiful study Centre, the Swedish Samuel Gustafsson Christian Study Centre – SCSC. This, also, Deputy Secretary General of Bilda The Armenian Genocide – the Archetype of Modern Atrocities

Klas-Göran Karlsson

The Task century, not least due to external influences, The main purpose of this article is to sug- and the Young Turks’ assumption of impe- gest a complex understanding of the Young rial power in 1908 strongly accelerated this Turks’ genocide of the Armenians in the Ot- process. toman Empire during the First World War, The difference between a historical and 11 by situating the atrocity in a systemic frame­ a structural approach should not be exag- work of a “genocidal” society and ideolo­ gerated; historians often find fault with the gy. A structural and functional analytical static, synchronic character of a structural frame­work will be established by joining analytical operation, but surely the latter with a scholarly approach that is more com- can also cast new light on dynamic, diachro- mon in the social sciences than among his- nic problems of continuities and influences torians. The basic idea is to identify general involved in genocide processes. The present factors, variables or cases that are consi- preoccupation within history scholarship on dered of crucial importance for explaining comparative, entangled, transnational, trans- and understanding modern genocide. These cultural, global and other orientations often factors are supposed to transcend chrono- presupposes that historical and structural logical and national boundaries that tra- perspectives are applied together. Within ditionally set historiographical bounds. It geno­cide studies, there are also useful con- goes without saying that this synchronic ceptual instruments to bridge over the diffe- perspective must be supplemented with a rent perspectives, such as “cumulative radi­ diachronic one, but focus is nevertheless on calization”, adding a historical touch to a genocidal structures more than on historical structural state.1 processes of genocide. I will start my essay by narrating the Ar- Here, the most general structure involved menian Genocide as we know it in the pre- is modernity itself, which is a particularly sent scholarly discourse. Even when I conti- interesting phenomenon in a late Ottoman nue by inserting the Young Turks’ genocide context in which modernity is not an obvi­ of the Ottoman Armenians into the bigger ous and unquestionable concept. However, structural and functional picture of modern in genocide studies, the modern condi- atrocities, the starting and ending points of tion more often than not also includes the my analysis will be the Armenian Genocide, twisted road towards the modern condition , while other modern killings of categories of often called modernization. No doubt, Otto- people will be referred to in order to better man society had been subjected to modern­ explain and understand the atrocities that i­zation since the last decades of the 19th fell upon the Ottoman Armenians. First, I in times of genocide

will briefly discuss the archetypal character ideas coming into the Empire from the West of the Armenian Genocide. Subsequently, prompted considerable misgivings among I will carry out a structural analysis of the many Turkish intellectuals. Their suspici- geno­cidal society, focusing particularly on ons, which were directed at all Ottoman the ideological factor. Arme­nians – the merchant class and poli- tical players as well as the vast majority of The Armenian Genocide as We Know It impoverished peasants loyal to the regime The Ottoman Empire was a multi-ethnic, – gave way to physical persecution. Between multi-religious state. Although Muslim 1894 and 1896, thousands of Armenians Turks was the dominant group, the Empire were massacred. Most of the violence took was also home to Arabs, Kurds, Jews and place in East Anatolia, near the border with Christians. In the late Ottoman state, the the Ottomans’ arch-enemy Russia, where Greeks and the Armenians were superior the majority of Armenians lived. Fearful in numbers among the Christian groups. of Armenian political and social mobiliza- 12 Though segregated from Muslims, these tion and alarmed by their supposed lack of communities were tolerated and guaranteed loyalty to the state, the Ottoman Sultan, certain privileges and immunities on religi- Abdul Hamid II, allowed the massacres to ous grounds, provided they did not demand continue. Protests from Europe’s major po- equal rights. The Greek and Armenian com- wers and their Ambassadors in Constantin­ munities in the capital, Constantinople, had ople went unheard. However, these horrible managed to secure positions of power and events should probably not be characterized influence in the government administration as genocide because it is not apparent that and economy, thanks to their knowledge the Sultan intended to exterminate the en- of languages and Western culture. In the tire Armenian community. Rather the aim 1870s, just over 2 million of the Ottoman was to eliminate those groups of Armenians Empire’s 40 million inhabitants were Arme- who, in the Sultan’s view, posed the greatest nians. internal threat to the existing order and to The influx of European ideas and indus­ the supremacy of Islam in the Empire. t­­­rial goods in the late 19th century served In 1908, the conservative Sultan was to intensify existing antagonisms between dethroned in a bloodless coup d’état by a the traditional Muslim-Turkish ruling elite group of reform-minded young officers be- and a crisis-hit artisan class on the one hand longing to the Committee for Unity and and the Armenians, who were influential in Progress – CUP. This event marked the the foreign trade and banking sectors, on beginning of what became known as the the other. Tensions between these groups Young Turk revolution. The Young Turks were exacerbated by demands from the in- were animated by one of two political and creasingly prosperous Armenian middle ideological tendencies. One was liberal and class for the same civil rights equal to those constitutional, dedicated to the decentrali- enjoyed by Muslims. In order to achieve zation of the Ottoman Empire and greater a stronger impact, the Armenians organi- autonomy for its religious and national mi- zed themselves into political parties, all of norities. The other was nationalist, aimed at which, despite different ideological leanings, preserving centralized Ottoman power and issued nationalist demands for greater auto­ strengthening Turkish domination of its pe- nomy for their own community. The new ople. As the Empire’s economic plight wor- the armenian genocide – the archetype of modern atrocities sened, the internal opposition gathered mo- took place in many parts of the empire. In mentum and the external defeats in the first the capital and large cities, where the pre- Balkan war 1912–1913 placed increasing sence of foreign missions was probably a pressure on the Young Turks. Words like restraining factor, the violence was on a freedom and equality gradually disappeared smaller scale. Genocidal acts included ar- from their vocabulary. Opposition to their rests, executions, massacres, coordinated rule was met with violence and terror. Ot- forced deportations and engineered famine. toman society was militarized. Although the While able-bodied men often were arrested Young Turks were originally in favour of in groups to be shot outside towns, women, Western-style modernisation, Turkish natio- children and elderly persons were deported nalist and Islamic tendencies were now rein- in accordance with a temporary deporta- forced. As a result, the Armenian problem tion law that was introduced in May 1915, had once again become a pressing concern but with no indication­ that it was targe- for the Ottoman leadership in a number of ting any specific ethnic group. Hundreds of ways. Pan-Turkish aspirations of uniting all thousands of Arme­nians succumbed during 13 Turks in the Ottoman Empire, the Cauca- the “death marches” to the Mesopotamian sus and Central Asia became popular. The and Syrian deserts and other remote parts Armenian heartland was looked upon as a of the Ottoman domains. Children were ta- galling wedge into the territory of an envi- ken from their parents and brought up as sioned Greater Turkey. Thus the Ottoman Turks. Armenian assets were expropriated Armenians were, in the eyes of the Young and confiscated. Many Armenian churches, Turks, the ethnic group most responsible monuments and memorials were destroyed. for splitting the country. They were dis- The Young Turk officers and Ottoman gen- loyal to their Ottoman rulers and fraterni- darmes were not the only perpetrators. Cri- zed with their Christian European brothers, minal elements and nomadic groups also the rulers’ main enemy in the Caucasus and took part, with the government’s blessing. the Balkans. With the outbreak of the First A secret “special organisation”, founded by World War in 1914 and ensuing Ottoman the Young Turk leaders and given official reverses, the Armenians were seen as a con- responsibility for intelligence services and crete threat to the Empire’s continued exis- counter-sabotage operations, was particular- tence. ly active in mounting attacks on convoys of The genocide of the Ottoman Arme­nians deported Armenians. began in the spring of 1915. Although the There is no doubt that the instigators, led largest number of victims lost their lives by the interior minister Talaat Pasha, and during the first two years, the killing conti- the minister of war, Enver Pasha, intended nued until the end of the war in 1918 and to solve the problem of the disloyal, double- even longer. On April 24, 1915, hundreds of dealing Armenian minority once and for all leading Armenian intellectuals were roun- by using the First World War to cloak their ded up in the Armenian millet2 in Con- operations. A decision to commit genocide stantinople, deported and murdered. This was taken and an overall plan of operation was the starting signal for the mass mur- was jointly implemented by the military au­ der of approximately one million Armeni- thorities, the ministry of the interior and the ans. It was not confined to areas where the central committee of the ruling CUP. The US army was engaged in military action but ambassador, Henry Morgenthau, was one in times of genocide

of many eyewitnesses. In his book “Ambas- deportations. I am convinced that we are com­ sador Morgenthau’s Story”, published in pletely justified in doing this owing to the hostile 1918, his assessment of the mass killing is attitude of the Armenians toward the Ottoman clear and unequivocal: Government, but we are the real rulers of Tur­ key, and no underling would dare proceed in a 4 The real purpose of the deportation was robbe­ matter of this kind without our orders.’ ry and destruction; it really represented a new method of massacre. When the Turkish autho­ On May 24, 1915, just a month after the ge- rities gave the orders for these deportations, nocide had begun, the Entente Powers war- they were merely giving the death warrant to a ned the Ottoman government not to commit whole race; they understood this well, and, in crimes against “humanity and civilization”, their conversations with me, they made no par­ stressing that if such crimes were commit- ticular attempt to conceal the fact.3 ted, the government members would be held personally responsible. Looking back, it is 14 The well-informed US ambassador was ide- clear that they were not. When the war en- ally placed to converse with the Young Turk ded, just over a hundred Committee party leaders and to influence them. It is worth leaders were tried in Ottoman courts. Ho- quoting one such conversation with Enver wever, the international trials promised by Pasha as it illustrates the Young Turk men- the allies in 1915 never materialized. Both tality well and leaves little doubt about the Talaat and Enver Pasha fled to Berlin. Talaat intention to commit genocide: was assassinated by an Armenian avenger in 1921. He was described by the German ‘Of course, I know that the Cabinet would ne­ Foreign Ministry as a “great statesman and ver order such terrible things as have taken loyal friend”. When Enver died in 1936, he place’, I said. ‘You and Talaat and the rest of was honoured by Hitler with a state funeral. the Committee can hardly be held responsible. Undoubtedly your subordinates have gone The Archetype, much further than you have ever intended. I the Paradigm and “the Other” realize that it is not always easy to control your In our analysis of modern genocide, profes- underlings.’ sor Kristian Gerner and I have identified the Armenian Genocide as the archetypal ge- 5 Enver straightened up at once. I saw that my nocide of modern history. The idea of this remarks, far from smoothing the way to a quiet concept is not so much that it should refer and friendly discussion, had greatly offended to the first modern genocide in a chronolo- him. I had intimated that things could happen gical sence, since it can be argued that the in Turkey for which he and his associates were colonial atrocities in late 19th and early not responsible. 20th century – the Belgian King Leopold II’s brutal exploitation of the Congo Free State ‘You are greatly mistaken’, he said, ‘We have and its indigenous population in the 1880s, this country absolutely under our control. I and the Germans’ genocide of the Herero have no desire to shift the blame on to our un­ and Nama peoples in German South-West derlings and I am entirely willing to accept the Africa in the years 1904–1907 – preceded responsibility myself for everything that has the Young Turks’ massacres of Armenians taken place. The Cabinet itself has ordered the as the first modern genocides. Nor does the armenian genocide – the archetype of modern atrocities it primarily reflect the fact that it was the tous consequences for groups regarded as a first genocide perpetrated by means of mo- threat to a desired ethnic homogeneity. Whi- dern technical and communicative devices. le arranging Europe in accordance with the Rather, the idea of the archetype relates to formula “one people–one nation–one state” the fact that the analytical framework of the was the greatest wish for many European Armenian Genocide in important aspects is collectives, it proved to be an extremely the world in which we live today, charac­ painful process for others. Although some­ terized by the nation-state, a nationalist what idealistically divorced from political ideology, national majorities aiming for eth- reality, Wilson should not be made the main no-nationally clean and pure states, and ex- scapegoat. His main key to avoid the unin- posed and vulnerable ethnic minorities who tended consequences of his peace solution do not fit into the structure of the modern was the simultaneous creation of a League state. The Young Turks’ killings were not di- of Nations, an intergovernmental organiza- rected against the population of a foreign or tion with a principal mission to maintain pea- a newly conquered state or other territory, ce by settling international disputes through 15 but against their own Armenian and other negotiation and arbitration, and by securing Christian subjects. Ethnic cleansing, forced the protection of minorities in Europe. Unfor- deportation and mass murder on a genoci- tunately, for different reasons, the League of dal scale were the tools employed in an at- Nations never lived up to its noble objectives. tempt to realize the nationalist Turks’ vision In the eastern part of Europe, to which of an ethnically homogeneous state, either the Ottoman Empire clearly belonged, the a preserved empire with a strong Turkish First World War radically changed the map core, or a Turkish nation-state. In both ca- by laying the foundations of the nation- ses, of empire-saving or nation-building, re- state. Siding with Germany and the Central moval of the Armenians was regarded as im- powers, the Ottoman Empire was defeated perative. Never before had an entire people in the war and finally disappeared from been targeted for murder on ethnic or religi- the map in 1923. However, from the view- ous grounds. The destruction of the Armeni- point of the Young Turk nationalists, the ans implied a qualitative change in the his- population and resettlement policies trig- tory of political violence. gered and legitimized by the Great War and In George Mosse’s euphemistic characte- its immediate aftermath were opportune. rization, the First World War marked a cer- The Armenian Genocide was a successful tain brutalization of European conscious- political-­demographic project which acti- ness.6 The rise of a brutalized Europe was vely prepared the Turks for a homogeneous not only connected to the acts of war them- and uniform Turkish nation-state, rid of selves, but also to changes in the internatio- Armenians and other Christian minorities. nal order brought about by the war. In fact, The genocide, part of a larger plan for the even one of the ostensibly more beneficial homo­genization of Anatolia, was conducive effects of the war – the notion that peoples to transforming the Ottoman Empire into a or nations had a right to independent state­ Turkish state.7 hood, a concept fundamental to US presi- In the same vein, we have considered the dent Woodrow Wilson’s peace proposal and Holocaust to be the genocide paradigm, in to the deliberations of the parties at the Pa- the sense that the Nazi murder of European ris Peace Conference – was to have calami- Jewry is the ideal type of genocide, the atro- in times of genocide

city most consistent with most definitions of selves from any similarities often base their genocide. The United Nations Convention opinion on the merciless war fought bet- on the Prevention and Punishment of the ween Nazi Germany and Communist Soviet Crime of Genocide was adopted by the UN Union in the years 1941–1945, their oppo- General Assembly on 9 December 1948 and nents usually refer to the Molotov–Ribben- came into effect on 12 January 1951. Its trop Pact of August 1939 to demonstrate provisions strongly reflected the impact of the proximity between these regimes. the Holocaust and the trials of leading Na- zis at Nuremberg immediately after the war. Five Genocidal Periods Indirectly, it could be argued that also the When writing general genocide studies, his- Armenian Genocide constituted a point of torians, sociologists and others have ven- reference, since Raphael Lemkin, the lawyer tured to classify genocides into different who more than anyone else struggled to le- categories or types, based on historical de- gally establish the genocide concept, was ac- velopments, roles, accusations, functions 16 quainted with it during his studies in Berlin and results or societies and states involved.8 in the early 1920s when he attended the tri- Other scholars are more hesitant of such al of Talaat Pasha’s Armenian murder. Ne- an analysis, with reference to variations in vertheless, the Holocaust, more thoroughly sequences of actions, scales, technologies, scholarly explored than other modern atro- degree of organization and other historical cities, often serves as an analytical pattern particularities.9 Nevertheless, my starting for all other genocides, performing a natural point is that five genocidal periods can be point of reference and providing concepts identified in modern history. and interpretations that are – often uncriti- The first is the late imperialist era during cally – applied on other genocide histories. which colonial exploitation intensified and While interested parties of other genocides conflicts between colonial powers and nati- often claim similarities between the Holo- ve populations increased, as well as conflicts caust and “their” genocide, hoping to gain a between the colonial powers themselves. more unconditional recognition of their cau- The second period, to which the Armenian se, most activists, politicians and scholars Genocide chronologically belongs, is the connected to the Holocaust history dismiss time before, during and after the First World these similarities, arguing that the Holo- War. It was a period characterized not only caust constitutes a unique or unprecedented by military violence but also by the break- genocide. up of societies, by revolution and by the fall In this perspective, the Soviet Communist of the Romanov, Habsburg, Hohenzollern terror is probably best analysed as the “sig- and Ottoman Empires. A third period is the nificant other” modern atrocity. It is more age of totalitarian regimes, 1930–1953, with often than not connected to the Nazi geno- Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin as main actors cide, in an ambition to either demonstrate in Nazi and Soviet Communist atrocities, a the similarities or interrelations between the fourth the decolonization era in the decades totalitarian Communist and Nazi regimes, following the Second World War, and a fifth or to refute any of these proximities. How­ the 1990s, informed by the numerous ethno- ever, even in the latter case, there is often nationalist and other conflicts that followed an implicit or “tacit” comparative element the collapse of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia involved. While those who dissociate them- and East European communism. the armenian genocide – the archetype of modern atrocities

An immediate analytical objection is that in Among these genocidal factors is obviously this periodization, the Armenian Genocide war. The First World War was the first mo- belongs to another historical period than dern war, a radicalized, industrial war that the Holocaust and the Soviet terror history. included biological warfare, ethnic cleansing The periodization is not without interest, and racial killing. Some even say that this and other scholars, such as William Rubin- war was the foundation of modern society, stein, have chosen to include the Armenian with its strong state apparatus, mass charac- Genocide into the totalitarian period.10 If ter, democratic or totalitarian leanings and we choose the First World War context, we nation-state or nationalist ideals. First of tend to interpret this genocide as a defence all, the First World War was a total war, in against the disintegration or decomposition which killings were indiscriminate, with no of the Ottoman state, i.e. as a basically con- distinction between militaries and civilians. servative, empire-saving process. But, if we War and genocide became hard to differenti- follow Rubenstein and denote the Armenian ate between when total warfare engaged all Genocide as an expression of a totalitarian aspects of society and aimed at destroying 17 context, we rather emphasize its radical and the entire hostile state, society and culture. progressive character, oriented towards total On the one hand, this merging of war and war and total revolutionary change, or, with genocide has correctly been called a degene- Helen Fein’s expression, “fulfilment of the ration of modern war.12 On the other hand, state’s design for a new order”.11 No doubt, it has been pointed out that war and geno­ there are several indications that the second cide analytically can and should be kept and the third periods have much in common apart and that total war did not produce ge- and should merge into one, characterized by nocide. Rather, it has been argued, the mo- a continuous thirty-years’ war of the 20th dern war “created the military, political, and century. Furthermore, the Soviet terror pe- cultural space in which it could occur, and riod stretches over both eras, with a “red” occur again”.13 terror as part of an extremely brutal civil To understand the Armenian Genocide, war that belongs to the First World War era, the presence of war in general, and unsuc- and a Stalinist “great” terror that clearly is cessful wars in particular, is of crucial im- part of the Second World War context. portance. No doubt, the continuing late Ot- toman wars, defeats and territorial losses The Structural Approach culminating in the catastrophic First World The chronological dimension is not necessa- War scared severely the Young Turks’ de- rily the most fruitful for a genocide scholar. cade in power. The territory they ruled over Alternatively, as mentioned in the introduc- became smaller and smaller. The wars meant tion, we could choose to focus on recurrent that normal political activity and long-range processes and factors during these modern social and economic reconstruction work periods, factors that represent a continuum had to be pushed into the background by or have a certain general applicability that more urgent tasks to handle, such as the goes beyond the unique historical context of war crisis and to hold together the disinte- each particular genocide or period. Through grating Empire. Open constitutional proces- this approach, genocides from different his- ses had to give way to closed sessions within torical contexts can be interconnected in a a Young Turk military oligarchy, and, from systemic way. 1913, to a military dictatorship who centra- in times of genocide

lized political decisions. Liberal, constitutio- completely different ways: as a bright, al- nal ideas are obviously much easier to trans- most romantic process, expressed in terms form into political practice in peace than in of the brave struggle of unselfish intellectual war, and the rise of an aggressive Turkish elites against an oppressive old regime, or nationalism can be regarded as a more or as a dark, despotic or totalitarian process, less natural corollary of the strained war expressed in terms of the ruthless struggle situation and tendencies of disintegration. of power-hungry intellectual elites to seize Demographic pressure added bitterness and power at any cost. The “benign” revolution helped radicalize political attitudes. This fosters progress and democracy as implied pressure was due to the military reverses in the motto of the French Revolution – that the country suffered in the Balkan Wars freedom, equality and fraternity – while the and in the subsequent World War, and the “malign” revolution leads to loss of liberty, arrival of many displaced Turks into Ana- lack of equality, dictatorship, oppression tolia. Christians had driven the Turks out and genocide. It goes without saying that 18 of the Balkan area, and if no adequate steps none of these two revolutionary stereotypes were taken, the same could happen in the have ever existed in the real world. More in- Anatolian area, was the Turkish fear. teresting is the fact that all revolutions have Consequently, in a wider perspective, war two sides, albeit of unequal weight. At the or the threat of war strengthens the collec- same time as “evil” revolutions may result tive tendency to look for conspiracies and in oppression, terror and genocide, they are scapegoats, especially among those who often concerned with social policy and pub­ have or are thought to have ties with the lic welfare, which attracts large strata of a enemy camp. No doubt, such connections population. Remember that it was the “Wel- were facilitated by the fact that many Arme- fare Committee” of the French revolution nians since early 19th century lived on the that started the great terror and decapitated other side of the border, in the Transcauca- aristocratic and other members of l’ancien sian region of Russia. War can also foster régime. The beneficial effects of “good” re- genocide by hampering efforts to find alter- volutions sometimes disguise the atrocities native solutions to perceived problems. In they cause, not least among those intent on addition, the mobilization of the Ottoman defending the revolutions ideologically by army and various irregular groups provided calling them “progressive”. the crew for deportation and extermination. Revolutions create insecurity by cutting External opposition was weak, because war people off from the past. Old, deep-seated makes it harder for other states or the inter- values and standards suddenly become ob- national community to intervene against re- solete. The new post-revolutionary regime gimes committing genocide. The Armenian urgently needs to restore security, stability Genocide certainly took place with the cur- and legitimacy, justifying the revolution by tain up, but priorities of the ongoing World describing it as a battle between good and War were others than rescuing Ottoman Ar- evil, with the revolutionaries unequivocally menians. To sum up, war tends to sanction cast in the role of the good. Those groups and approve genocide. with links to the old order, to external po- History also demonstrates that revolu- wers and to the evil past are stigmatized tion is a kindred dimension to genocide. and demonized. The next stage, which of- Modern revolutions can be perceived in two ten coincides with a de facto power struggle the armenian genocide – the archetype of modern atrocities either to consolidate or to bring down the physical coercion and passive submission, revolution, is terror and genocide. with a constant interplay of opposing ele- Communists in power murdered real or ments – domination and subordination – imagined opponents of the revolution on a which often leads to tensions between ethnic mass scale on a number of occasions during and national groups, in particular in peri- the 20th century. While ruling communist ods in which nationalist ideas are advanced. parties seldom, if ever, succeeded in combi- Through­out imperial history, the dominant ning their rule with respect for democracy group has tended to use violent force to and human rights, their policies have often maintain subordination and discrimination. been identified with crimes against huma- When empires and colonial systems are dis- nity. The link between revolution and ge- solved, violent conflicts with genocidal fea- nocide is often less apparent in countries tures are often triggered off. The Armenian where non-communist revolutions have ta- Genocide is far from the only example from ken place. However, Ottoman history pro- modern history: post-colonial genocides in vides another distinct example. After the Cambodia and Rwanda, and post-Com­ 19 Young Turk Committee for Unity and Pro- munist conflicts in the Balkan and Caucasia gress overthrew the autocratic Sultan in serve to strengthen the idea that imperial 1908, a brief period of reform rule and li- strain, disintegration and heritage involve beralization ensued. Armenian radicals sup- structures that can turn into genocides. ported the revolutionary Young Turks and generally welcomed the departure from the Ideology as a Genocidal Factor Sultan’s repressive, increasingly Islamic po- Ideologies never kill, only human beings do. licies. However,­ hopes for reforms, minority But ideology provides the inspiration, in- rights and autonomy soon evaporated. The tention, authorization and legitimation for reformist regime rapidly gave way to increa- perpetrators of genocide. A set of ideas can singly aggressive nationalist policies and the make genocide appear necessary and justi­ persecution of political opponents. It was fiable, even meaningful, if it can be demon- during this phase the Armenian Genocide was strated that a progressive end justifies even launched, closely related to both a derailed the most brutal means. It is difficult to ima- revolution and military defeats that threate- gine a genocide taking place at all in the ab- ned the continued existence of the Empire. sence of an ideology that appeals to broad Moreover, empire, related to both impe- or at least powerful segments of the popula- rial governance and imperial disintegration, tion. Since genocide implies that normal hu- can be chiselled out as another genocidal man conduct is violated in the most extreme factor. An empire is a multi-ethnic state ba- way, the ideology involved has to carry a sed on hierarchical power relations between strong power of conviction and persuasion. on the one hand a governing nation with This applies to variations of the modern a dominant interest in the rule, economy mass ideologies­ that celebrated triumphs in and defence of the empire, and on the other the 19th and 20th centuries: nationalism subordinate ethnic groups or nations. Im- and communism. When discussing genocide perial states are not ruled democratically, typologies,­ Kurt Jonassohn and Frank Chalk nor do their populations enjoy the status of point out that 20th century genocides belong citizens. Rather, the survival and expansion to a type associated with the implementation of an empire depend on a combination of of a belief, a theory, or an ideology.14 in times of genocide

The ideological conviction is often related to the Ottoman forces in these wars, changed a dramatic and critical historical situation, the historical scene, providing a framework involving war and revolution, but it is not for the rapid and aggressive rise of Turkish generated only by the ease of the reception nationalist ideas. Political life was militari- but also by the efficiency of the ideological zed and brutalized. Young Turk rule turned message. In a genocidal ideology, society repressive and centralist. moves from a dark history via a present The more the Ottoman Empire dwind- struggle to a bright future painted in utopi- led, the more aggressive was the nationalist an, visionary colours. To this is often added rhetoric. Turkish nationalist ideas became a strongly activist component when selected a political weapon used more frequently individuals and groups consciously and re- in an official endeavour to assimilate some solutely intervene in the “natural” course of and dissimilate others. “Turkishness” seems history, defeat the enemies of progress and to have gained ground among the Young pave the way for Utopia: the classless, ideal Turks and their supporters as a primary 20 society of communism, the racially pure, ideological instrument for unity and stabi- thousand-year Reich of National socialism, lity. Intellectual ideologists such as the his- or, in the case of aggressive nationalists, an torian Yusuf Akcura and the sociologist ethnically cleansed and homogeneous nation- Ziya Gökalp, the latter a leading member of state. the Committee of Unity and Progress from If there was a genocidal ideology active in 1911, provided the backbone of the natio- the Ottoman Empire of the Young Turks, it nalist ideology. Leading Committee politici- obviously belongs to the last case.15 How­ ans such as the doctors Bahaeddin Sakir and ever, the rise of a Turkish nationalism was Mehmet Nazim together with Talaat and not unequivocal. Few historical periods Enver Pasha were conducive to transferring have been depicted in a more multifaceted, them into a political discourse. polarized and contradictory way in scholar- The development of these ideas followed ly discourse than the Young Turk era of the a well-known pattern: from a few intellectu- Ottoman history. In the years 1908–1918, als’ cultural and populist work with lingu­ traditionalism met with modernity, decen- istic and historical dimensions, glorifying tralization with centralization, imperial Ot- an eternal Anatolian peasant living in the tomanism and Islamism with Turkism and real Turkish homeland, to the introduction other nationalisms, secularism with a religi- of Turkism as a secular and political pro- ous revival, liberal reformism with conserva- gramme, although sometimes hidden behind tive autocratic or revolutionary totalitarian or blurred with a traditional Ottomanism. rule, and attempts at socio-political integra- In the new Young Turk system of active go- tion with the most horrendous massacres of vernment intervention, a politics of Turkifi- ethnic minorities. Many have argued that cation meant that the Turkish language and the idea of being a Turk was alien to many history was actively promoted in schools Ottomans, which has explained the “delay” and in society. Journals and associations of Turkish nationalism. In many scho­larly with a specific “Turkish” character appea- works, the Tripolitanian War against Italy red en masse. 1911–1912, the Balkan wars 1912–1913 The situation surely became even more and the First World War 1914–1918, or serious, and the ethnic “core” of the na- rather the continuing military disasters of tionalist ideas more pronounced, when the the armenian genocide – the archetype of modern atrocities

Young Turks’ Ottoman state stumbled into ved the purposes of fostering a strong in- unwelcome wars in which the numerically ternal sense of community, to legitimize ac- inferior minorities, in particular the non- tions against marginalized victim categories Muslim communities, were drawn in by me- regarded as being foreign and hostile, and, ans of their preconceived antagonism to the afterwards, to rationalize the brutal repres- Turkish rulers of the Empire. “Unreliable” sion directed against these categories. The non-Turks were expelled, deported and in line between ideology and conspiracy theory other ways separated from the Empire as the is indistinct. Sometimes, too, it is difficult war-driven process of disintegration went on, to distinguish between ideology and deep- while the Young Turk ideologues identified seated cultural patterns, partly because the the Turks as a reliable Anatolian “core” of kind of ideological constructs described here the Empire. Even worse, non-Turks were per- both draw on and politicize old, established ceived as impossible to live side-by-side with, perceptions, and partly because they often and, through their ties to Europe, Greece and are so effective in transmuting from consci- Russia, as a threat to the very survival of the ous ideology into a more or less unconsci- 21 Empire. No doubt, the situation was one of ous culture. “cumulative radicalization” of Turkism. However, to make historical justice to the From 1913, the Young Turk nationalists, ideological dimension of the Young Turks’ of whom many were not ethnic Turks, star- genocide in a brief comparative note, it ted to promote political, economic and cultur- must be established that Turkish nationa- al Turkism. The nationalist constructs were to lism did not have the same strong and wide­ a great extent drawn in black and white. They spread support in Ottoman society as Na- embodied clear-cut racial distinctions­ between zism had in Germany and Communism had “we” and “the others”, “super­ior”­­­­ and “in- in the Soviet Union. The Young Turk ideo- ferior”, “friend” and “foe”, “reliable” and logy did not penetrate Ottoman society as “unreliable”, “pure” and “tainted”, thereby Nazism did in Germany. One reason is that effectively positioning Turks against Armeni- the Nazi party and state were more organi- ans. The latter were stigmatized as Christians zationally coherent and functionally efficient or as a category protected by the European structures than the equivalent Ottoman great powers, in particular the Russian arch ones. In administrative, communicative and enemy. History provided a rich empirical technical respects, the Young Turks’ repres- fundament for the distinctions, but ideas for sive apparatus obviously could not match a better future were also in circulation. A Nazi or Soviet Communist effectiveness in great concern for the Young Turks was what murdering large populations. In Ottoman they perceived as a lack of Turkishness in society, violence was much more multipolar. the eastern provinces. With no Armenians Besides, the general level of modernity was left in eastern Anatolia, opportunities would generally lower in Ottoman Empire, inclu- be created for a new Turkish homeland, ding the spread of education and literacy. “Turan”, gathering all Turks of Western and When I argue that the Young Turks’ mas- Central Asia into a cultural community, and sacres of Ottoman Armenians constituted rejecting all non-Turks. Possibly, this Pan- the archetype of modern genocide, I focus Turkish expansionism aimed at making up on their modern political and ideological for lost Ottoman territories elsewhere. inducements of the genocide. But the identi- These ideological constructs obviously ser- fication with “Turkishness” in Ottoman so- in times of genocide

ciety was certainly not as clear-cut and uni- risk of perishing in the European struggle form as the corresponding racial and class between the great powers. Simultaneously, distinctions in Nazi Germany and Commu- there was another risk involved: such a pro- nist Soviet Union, respectively. The Young gressive societal development could under- Turks’ Committee for Union and Progress mine traditional political power structures. was a political party with not only the buil- Together with the Greeks, the Armenians ding of a Turkified nation as their basic po- were the most successful bankers and bu- litical programme, but also the creation of a sinessmen in the Ottoman Empire. Also in modern state. However, these aims were not state bureaucracy such as the Foreign Mi- necessarily divergent; the Young Turks’ po- nistry, Armenians had a proportionately licies of social and demographic engineering very strong position. Quite the reverse, Turks can certainly reflect both processes. were weakly represented in commerce,­ trade and industry. The entrepreneurial Christian Genocide and Modernity minorities’ upward mobility, based on an 22 Modernity is a multifaceted concept which ability of reaping the fruits of initial mo- obviously cannot be made justice here. In dernization, raised the discontent and envy the Sultan’s Ottoman Empire, due to their of the Muslim, Turkish majority. Fear was international contacts and skills, Armeni- imminent that the Armenians, with their ans, together with Greeks, were conside- extended international contacts, their con- red valuable agents of social and economic nections to Armenians in the neighbouring modernity. At the same time, they were de- Russian Empire, and their nationalist am- picted as politically dangerous, since their bitions to re-establish an Armenian state of internationalism and industriousness could their own, should sell out their Ottoman upset traditional power relations and desta- homeland. The fact that only a tiny mino- bilize the imperial society and state. It was rity of Ottoman Armenians belonged to this obviously the latter suspicion that triggered industrious middle-class made no difference; off the massacres of Armenians in the years ethno-national imagination became more 1894–1896. important than reality. In the fateful year In fact, during the entire 19th-century 1915, a Turkish nationalist expressed these reform period in Ottoman Empire, called attitudes when he noted that tanzimat, reformist representatives of the rulers were confronted with a dilemma of [t]he Christian population of Turkey has been modernization. In this dilemma, the situa- consistently progressing, partly by means of tion of what scholars often have denoted privileges too easily granted, and partly by as “middleman minorities” or “mobilized their own initiative, and they are ousting the diaspora” is decisive for the results of the real owner of the country more and more from reform process.16 In the modernization pro- their heritage.17 cess, these Christian minority categories, better educated than the Muslims, had both Needless to say, the “real owners” and the requirements and the ambition to serve heirs of the Ottoman state were the Turks. as important agents of economic and social Initially, the Young Turk power assump- change in a society in urgent need of re- tion promised that progress should outdo forms and change. Otherwise, as the “sick unity. However, during the first years of the man of Europe”, the Empire would run the First World War, unity had certainly become the armenian genocide – the archetype of modern atrocities more important than progress among the ting threats to the perfectly run modern sta- leading Young Turks. Economic and mili­ te or to development and progress. Bauman tary rationality, closely connected to the cites the language used by Hitler and other non-Muslim communities with their com- Nazis to marginalize and stigmatize Jews – mand over important parts of the agricul- Aryan purity is contrasted to Jewish impu- tural, industrial and commercial infrastruc- rity, the healthy Aryan to the diseased Jew. ture, had to give way to nationalism and In Nazi discourse, denying the victims their large-scale violence against these communi­ humanity, Jews were called by non-human ties.18 At the time of the outbreak of war, names, as lice, bugs and vermin, which ob- the modernist dilemma was gone. When viously refer to things people want to anni­ characterizing the ideology-driven genocide hilate. Reading Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s of modern history, Chalk and Jonassohn The Gulag Archipelago, it becomes appa- argue that this is the only type of genocide rent that the same stigmatization and demo- that was carried out in spite of enormous nization discourse, pointing out enemies of economic, political and developmental costs Communist modernity as harmful elements 23 for the perpetrator state.19 such as cancerous tumours, vermin, germs and microbes, was frequent in Soviet Com- The Body Politic and Modern Genocide munist terror. The principal function of the The idea that genocide is linked to moder- modern gardener state, according to Bau- nity is to a great extent based on the works man, is to detach and isolate “useful ele- of the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, espe- ments that are to survive and flourish” from cially his masterpiece Modernity and the “harmful and unhealthy elements that must Holocaust from 1989. He often starts from be exterminated”.21 the drastic idea that the modern era “has Metaphoric, pseudo-scientific termino- been founded on genocide, and has pro- logy frequently crops up in genocidal con- ceeded through more genocide”.20 Such a texts. In one of his most celebrated poems, provocative statement obviously opens for “Red Apple” from 1915, idealizing a clean discussion, but only one aspect of Bauman’s and pure Turkish nation-state “that nobody astute argumentation of the destructive ele- plots against”, Ziya Gökalp maintains that ments of the Enlightenment heritage and the “the people are a garden and we are the gar- growth of a modern bureaucratic culture of deners”. “We”, of course, referred to the social engineering will be emphasized here. Young Turks and their ruling Committee of Hopefully, this aspect can help us to enter Unity and Progress. To all probability, Ar- deeper into the genocidal ideological con- menians are the imagined plotters. In the struct of the Young Turks. It concerns the next lines of the poem, the work of the gar- perpetrators’ “modern” intolerance towards dener is described in wordings that imme- what in bureaucratic culture is classified as diately suggest themselves from Bauman’s different or deviant. Individuality, diversity analysis: “trees are not rejuvenated by and variation have no place in the modern grafting only; first it is necessary to trim the project, whereas standardization and unifor- tree.”22 mity have. Rational representatives of what The Committee of Unity and Progress Bauman calls the “gardener state” adopt a was founded in 1889 in a military medi- special terminology, talking about “weeding cal school in Constantinople. Since several out” undesirable elements, i.e. extermina- leading Young Turks were trained doctors, in times of genocide

they often tended to articulate their ethno- main responsibility for this cleansing, and nationalist ideas through a medical and bio- for the ideal in which the leaders and the logical discourse: Armenians became “an in- people joined forces, lies with the brain and ner disease to be diagnosed”, “an incurable the heart. ill to be annihilated”, “a mental illness to Paradoxically, Bauman attaches very little be treated and cured”, “a deadly worry to importance to ideological blueprints of ge- be handled”, or “a tumour to be operated”. nocide, and to their origins and develop- The suggested connection between medi- ments. For him, modern atrocities and their cine and genocide may seem dubious, since cultural representations originate from mo- a doctor’s primary duty is to save lives, not dernity itself and its bureaucratic machine, to kill. However, as Hans-Lukas Kieser has without any triggering devices such as gra- demonstrated in his analysis of the Young dually more sharp-edged and aggressive Turk doctor Mehmed Reshid, the Young ideo­logies. He has been criticized for taking Turks saw their rescuing mission in a larger, up such an extreme structural and functio- 24 ethno-national scale: nal position, which historians have de­ scribed as both intellectually unsatisfying and Faced with the necessity of having to choose, immoral. To a certain extent, I can share I did not hesitate for long. My Turkishness tri­ this critical standpoint, and it has certainly umphed over my identity as a doctor. Before not been the purpose of this article to draw they do away with us, we will get rid of them, a straight horizontal line between moder- I said to myself. /…/ The Armenian bandits nity, modern ideology and genocide. Rather, were a load of harmful microbes that had affec­ it has been maintained that cases of modern ted the body of the fatherland. Was it not the mass ideologies in specific historical situa- duty of the doctor to kill the microbes?23 tions have served as necessary prerequisites for the perpetration of genocide. Still, what The body politic which the Armenians were makes Bauman’s interpretation worthwhile thought to infect, degenerate or in other is that he demonstrates the fundamentally ways hurt was the Turkish Fatherland that contradictory character of modern genocide; needed to be “liberated from its pains”, be- being the ultimate crime against a category come one and indivisible through cleansing of people as well as humanity, it also stands and purification. Underlying the entire dis- out as an expedient, appropriate and there- course is an organic view of state and so- fore objective instrument of progress for the ciety, with the political party as the brain, perpetrators and their supporters and defen­ the executive branches of the genocidal state ders, in contemporary life and sometimes as the heart, and society as the body. The even in posterity. In my opinion, this is the body, both the human individual and society most offensive and the most delicate histori- itself, must be kept clean and healthy. The cal lesson of modern genocide. the armenian genocide – the archetype of modern atrocities

Endnotes

1 Hans Mommsen, “Cumulative Radicalization and Progressive Self-Destruction as Structural De- terminants of the Nazi Dictatorship”, in Ian Kershaw & Moshe Lewin (eds.), Stalinism and Na- zism: Dictatorships in Comparison, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1997, pp. 75–87. 2 Millet was the Ottoman system for non-territorial autonomy, leaving ethno-religious minorities with a limited self-government in cultural, economic, legal and religious matters. 3 Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, New York: Doubleday 1918, p. 212–213. 4 Ibid, p. 240–241. 5 Kristian Gerner & Klas-Göran Karlsson, Folkmordens historia. Perspektiv på det moderna sam- hällets skuggsida, Stockholm: Atlantis 2005, pp. 35–47. 6 George Mosse, Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars, New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press 1991, pp. 159–181. See also Klas-Göran Karlsson, Urkatastrofen. Första världskrigets plats i den moderna historien, Stockholm: Atlantis 2014, passim. 25 7 Taner Akcam, The Young Turks’ Crime against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Clean- sing in the Ottoman Empire, Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press 2012, pp. 29–62. 8 Cf. the first chapters of two well-known collective works: Isidor Wallimann & Michael Dobkowski (eds.), Genocide and the Modern Age: Etiology and Case Studies of Mass Death, Syracuse: Syra- cuse University Press 2000, and Robert Gellately & Ben Kiernan (eds.), The Spectre of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2003. 9 Cf. Leo Kuper, Genocide: Its Political Use in the Twentieth Century, New Haven & London: Yale University Press 1981, pp. 101–105. 10 William Rubinstein, Genocide: A History, Harlow: Pearson 2004, p. 125. 11 Helen Fein, Accounting for Genocide, New York: The Free Press 1979, pp. 29–30. 12 Martin Shaw, War and Genocide: Organized Killing in Modern Society, Cambridge: Polity 2003, pp. 23–26. 13 Jay Winter, “Under Cover of War: the Armenian Genocide in the Context of Total War”, in Jay Winter (ed.), America and the Armenian Genocide of 1915, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2003, p. 39. 14 Frank Chalk & Kurt Jonassohn, The History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case Stu- dies, New Haven & London: Yale University Press 1990, p. 37. 15 This section is a further elaboration of Klas-Göran Karlsson, “The Young Turks in Power: A Comparative and Critical Perspective”, in Jørgen S. Nielsen (ed.), Religion, Ethnicity and Con- tested Nationhood in the Former Ottoman Space, Leiden: Brill 2012, pp. 11–28. 16 For the middleman minorities and mobilized diasporas concepts, see Edna Bonacich, “A Theory of Middleman Minorities”, American Sociological Review 1973:5, pp. 583–594, and John Arm- strong, Mobilized and Proletarian Diasporas”, American Political Science Review 1976:2, pp. 393–408, respectively. See also Klas-Göran Karlsson, ”De som är oskyldiga idag kan bli skyldiga i morgon.” Det armeniska folkmordet och dess efterbörd, Stockholm: Atlantis 2012, pp. 67–76. 17 Quoted from Ugur Ümit Üngör & Mehmet Polatel, Confiscation and Destruction: The Young Turk Seizure of Armenian Property, London, New Delhi, New York & Sydney: Bloomsbury 2011, p. 34. in times of genocide

18 See Eric J. Zürcher, The Young Turk Legacy and Nation-Building: From the Ottoman Empire to Atatürk’s Turkey, London & New York: I.B. Taurus 2010, pp. 70–71. 19 Chalk & Jonassohn 1990, p. 37. 20 Zygmunt Bauman, Postmodern Ethics, Oxford: Blackwell 1993, p. 227. 26 21 Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, Cambridge: Polity 1989, p. 70–71. For intellec- tual historical analyses of Bauman’s ideas of the instrumental bureaucratic rationality, see Marie Fleming, “Genocide and the Body Politic in the Time of Modernity”, in Gellately & Kiernan (eds.) 2003, pp. 97–113, and Klas-Göran Karlsson, Europeiska möten med historien. Historiekulturella perspektiv på andra världskriget, förintelsen och den kommunistiska terrorn, Stockholm: Atlantis 2010, pp. 193–208. 22 Quoted from Ugur Ümit Üngör, “‘Turkey for the Turks’. Demographic Engineering in Eastern Anatolia, 1914–1915”, in Ronald Grigor Suny, Fatma Müge Göcek & Norman Naimark (eds.), A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire, Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press 2011, p. 294. 23 Quoted from Hans-Lukas Kieser, “From ‘Patriotism’ to Mass Murder: Dr. Mehmed Resid (1873– 1919)”, in Suny, Göcek & Naimark (eds.) 2011, p. 137. From my Courtyard Survivors of the Armenian Genocide

Kevork Hintlian

Hearing Small Talk on Hideous Matters about dispossession from the land, the se- Instead of presenting a dry paper riddled vere winters, the accumulation of snow, pil- with politically correct language, I decided grimages, and how pilgrims from the South to talk about my voyage which started half of the country came on their horses to spend a century ago. a week at the monastery of Sourp Karapet 27 My earliest childhood memory is my (John the Baptist) in Kayseri (Cappadocia). grandmother, a widow having lost her hus- My uncle and father were choir boys and band in 1915, who, like many others, never they would remember every detail of the li- remarried and wore all her life a single co- turgy in different feasts. They would break lour, black. As I grew up, I noticed dozens into hymns with the intonation of hund- in our courtyard, widows always silent, as- red years ago. The choir sang from their sociating only with their peers and whispe- lodge in the gallery which was situated in ring to each other. I never grasped the sym- the dome, they mentioned this with parti- bolism and thought that older women prefer cular pride. Then they would enumerate the to dress in dark colours. tombstones of the notables who were buried I had never heard of an alarm clock. The in the courtyard of the church. Of course, church bell very much filled the same fun- all of them donors, church builders, and ction. At five, when the church bell rang, my they would engage in discussions charting grandmother and all these widows would go where each one lay. This way I learnt about to church, each had her corner. They knew the prominent families, Gulbenkians, Khou- the hymns and the liturgy by heart. During besserians, Baleozians. But the most they the rest of the day, the only book she would enjoyed was to talk about how the family read was the Bible and would murmur gathered around the hearth. All in a circle hymns from the hymnbook. Besides, she under a woollen blanket and engaged in would teach my mother the cuisine of the storytelling. old country, basically mante and sou-boe­ One of the major events in town was the reck. She was treated as the matriarch and reception reserved for people returning from nobody would challenge her expertise as a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with the title mah- master cook. Punctually, she would get me desi which they carried to the grave. And toys for Christmas and St George’s day. they talked often about the American mis- Every Sunday, my uncle would drop sionaries and their schools and hospitals in and a lively but nostalgic conversation and about Christmas day when the missio- would develop between my father, uncle and naries distributed gifts to the children from grandmother. The topic was recollections, America. The lost paradise was the odyssey in times of genocide

of every family. Those who came from vil- the catalyst for me and I set on for my voy- lages would talk about harvest and the ex- age. For the study of the archives, he stayed cellence and uniqueness of the fruits. I re- six weeks. Every day he would engage in member everybody from Diyarbakir would long discussions with my father about topics talk about the huge size of the watermelon relating to day-to-day life in genocide years. and the people of Van about the friendly I discovered for the first time that my father bear who would pay a courtesy visit every was an officer in the British army during day and pick up his pear. The famous cat of the allied occupation of Constantinople and Van, with each eye of a different colour. was employed as interpreter in the trials of My family came from Talas, the birth the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide. place of Mar Sabas, in Cappadocia, but I These discussions fascinated me and this had never seen any picture of Talas, nor was was my first encounter with the essence of there any picture of my grandfather and the the topic. The more I knew about it, the family. I have never seen a picture of my more it grew mysterious. Professor Dadrian 28 uncle who died on the death march at the was to return to Jerusalem in 1971 for an age of four, nor of the house which they left extended stay. In the preceding five years, he behind. What hovered in my mind was only had been to almost every important archive graphic and vivid descriptions. and disappointed with some, as he did not In 1964, I was at the American University find them thorough, or they did not fulfil of Beirut to continue my studies. In 1965, his expectations, as in such subjects crucial it occurred to the Armenians that fifty years information is not readily available. It is a had elapsed. So they marked it worldwide. matter of decades of tireless work, requiring And in Beirut, 100,000 Armenians assemb- skilful patchwork techniques. Like Dadrian, led in the sports stadium to remember it. I other scholars had come to the conclusion was there, orators spoke one after the other, that, to build up a scientific narrative besi- but nobody noticed the rally outside the sta- des archives and consular reports, you need dium. All these commemorations never hit to document the survivors. Myself, I chose the headlines except locally. But memorial as my priority to interview the survivors. books flooded the market. My first encoun- The last three nights, I had troubled sleep, ter with the genocide was in Beirut dropping as I felt that I had to formulate and convey by Armenian bookshops. the feelings and the experiences of hundreds of survivors I had interviewed for at least Encountering the big “Why?” 40 years. In my mind, I made a quick sur- During my summer break in Jerusalem, Pro- vey and, above all, it was a painful parade. fessor Vahakn Dadrian came for research One other reason for my interviews was to to Jerusalem. He had just come back from know about the old land, most of all about Germany going through the consular archi- their life in the human hell. These stories are ves of the war years, he was to return there not to be found in the official archives. Like 28 times. other researchers, if I did not have the chance It was the first time that somebody was to meet them, they would have been lost for looking at the deportations as a systematic good. discipline. He gave two lectures to packed Hearing all these stories I often wonde- audiences and called on the youth to explo- red what motivated these individual tortu- re their recent history. These lectures were rers who subjected people to so much suf- from my courtyard. survivors of the armenian genocide. fering, people they had never met. To that Giving History Names and Faces big “why?”, I’ve never been able to answer I return again to the courtyard of my child- till now. hood. Stories about the old country were Thinking back on the 800 survivors told with deep gratification and pride. whom I’ve interviewed, other survivors I Talking about their birthplace everybody have lived with, receptacles of bitter me- claimed to be rich and that they owned mories, sometimes waiting for months and many orchards. It was not accepted to ask years to capture their moods, relive with about what happened during the death mar- them the vividness of their traumas, sinking ches. Everything was said in whispers as it with them into the abyss of perdition, I was was unspeakable. So you would overhear a companion of their loneliness, of their about what happened to a family from a misery. Each time, I had to revisit mentally third person. That domain was discrete, ta- their chamber of detention. Each time you boo, sacred and nobody dared to violate talk to a survivor, the story has a different that unwritten rule. There were two stories pulse, a different respirational rhythm. which everybody knew and treated with 29 How different the history of the genocide vene­ration. would have been without their torment sto- One was a bent short woman of 80 who ries, it would have been impossible to meet went to church twice a day with her inse- the tormentor without them. Through them, parable cane. Even her cane could not slow we know the killing fields, the land soaked her trembling constitution. They called her with blood, the rivers with the floating corp- meshetsi Mayrig, Mayrig from Mush. Her ses, the canyons, the cemetery of thousands, five children were slaughtered on her lap. the mountain passes, which served as traps Once I asked her about her husband and if or ambush sites. All this landscape becomes ever she had children. She said all happened alive. on this lap and broke out into endless sob. Through them, we know the mass gra- Her room was full of incense and with holy ves, the ditches, the resting places of their objects hanging from the ceiling, like a cha- restless souls. Their stories of life and death pel. She was like a woman hermit and was defeat the Turkish military logic, these sim­ treated like a walking saint on earth, mur- ple folk with their memories dripping with muring prayers as she walked. She and the blood defy the evil and through their survi- other widows never travelled in their life, val and their graphic stories undermine the did not need passports and some never left plans of their executioners whose only wish the Armenian quarter. They lived a virtual was to annihilate them. life and were almost part of the building of There is a brotherhood of destiny, and St James. They had reinvented their cosmos. even in torment there is creativity. The tor- The other story everybody knew was that mentors have their hierarchy, their heroes, of police Vartouk (Rose). She was a customs their exploits, their legends, their endless officer, a short woman, never smiled and ne- stories and their sagas of heroic exploits on ver associated with neighbours. Her story defenceless victims. The survivors are the was as it was in the case in many couples. In only humans in this dehumanised world. her orphanage, matchmakers arranged her The tormentors are proud of their inhuma- to marry with another orphan. On the night nity, as if killing more grants them more of her honeymoon, she noticed a brown ener­gy and eternity. patch on the hip of her husband. Then she in times of genocide

said, my brother had the same spot. As they and spread the contents on the floor. They were discussed further, it became clear that her new-born babies clinging to each other. They partner was actually her brother. She never said, come here and identify your babies. The married again and looked traumatized. The women rushed and screamed, this looks like dazed look never left her. mine. /…/ Then they added ‘now you have With time, with the growing number of seen them’, collected them, tied the sacks and interviews, I acquired a vast knowledge of took them away. geographical spots, place names, towns, vil- lages, names of notorious canyons. All these Zarouhy Odabashian was a neighbour, the place names became a necessary tool for an mother of Mardick minimarket. She was a effective communication with the intervie- silent , polite and laconic lady. I didn’t have wed person. Though there was an overall much dealings with her but we greeted each plan of destruction, each individual was a other warmly. One day, as she visited my story of its own and a category of its own. father in his office, I made her talk. She was 30 Besides Jerusalem, I included interviews in from a village Shoushankan from Van. As my travels wherever such a possibility pre- a group of 30 women were escaping, they sented itself. I travelled 4 hours beyond were surrounded by Turks. They were all Richmond to meet a person above 100 who sexually assaulted and left naked. Then they knew two words in Armenian. He told me decided to finish them off and took them to how the relatives of those left behind in dia­ a dilapidated building and attacked them spora gathered every Sunday in church ho- with knives and axes. Then they had the ping to hear if their relatives were alive and roof collapse on them. Zarouhy, who was a that they raised money for the orphans. girl of nine was wounded and fainted. When Each story sheds new light on one aspect she woke after several days, in total dark- of human suffering and each story could not ness, she found herself under her mother have been more graphic. who was agonizing. With a faint voice, her Once I met a short lady of 80 called Mar- mother asked for water. There was no wa- got from Marseille. She was from a village ter. Zarouhy said that until today her voice of Sebastia (Sivas). I asked her: “Do you re- begging for water still rings in her ears. She member the day you left your village ?” In a creeped out of the ruined building and she very innocent way, she said : “I was pained walked a few metres. Two Turks saw her at a sight of our small dog who was crying and knew immediately that she was Armeni- after us from our roof.” Then she talked an as she was totally naked. They whipped about the pregnant women in the convoy. her until every part of her was blue. Then As a new bride, she was one of them. When they discussed among themselves whether to they delivered, they wrapped the new-borns kill her or not. One of them said leave her and placed them on the roadside and she alone. As she told the story, Zarouhy was did the same and put her baby under a tree. perspiring profusely and breathing heavily. Then, after a few days they arrived to a vil- Serpouhy Hekimian, a resident of the Ar- lage and were lodged in a khan: menian quarter and grandmother of ceramic artist Garo Sandrouny, told me the following: Out of the blue, several Turks came in with tied sacks, we thought they were watermelons. I am from Adiyaman. In 1915, I was a young They gathered all the women, untied the sacks girl. One night, they arrested all the men. It from my courtyard. survivors of the armenian genocide.

was impossible to visit them in prison, then the orphanage washed ashore. Sarkis infor- the authorities called us saying ‘come and see med his brother and, with a rope made up your husbands in front of the city hall’. We of shreds of cloth, escaped from the orph­ went and saw them, they looked exhausted and anage into the woods. Then, he found a every five were tied by ropes. We greeted them Greek family in a village, who were family from a distance and they were marched away by friends. He went around dressed in Greek the gendarmes. This was the last time we saw village costume till the end of the war. them. We, the women, children and old people, We had a kawas, a gatekeeper, called were deported a week later and, one day, as we Haig Mekertchian, but he was popularly were sitting on the banks of the Euphrates, it known by his Turkish name, Hassan Agha. was midday, we saw almost a hundred head­ That was the name given to him when he less swollen bodies tied to each other flowing was forcibly converted to Islam. With time, downstream. Women wondered if these were he had become a valuable apprentice to their husbands judging from the colour of their a Turkish baker. As he was preparing the clothing. They were followed by more corpses. dough, he would hear Turkish clients come 31 Women were screaming, pointing to one corpse and boast how many Armenians they mana- and the other. ged to kill. Almost like a competition. Ac- cording to Hassan Agha, there were several Now the fate of their husbands was certain. older Armenian converts to Islam and they To my question : “Was it true that the were given special jobs like muezzin, calling waters of river Euphrates became turbid Moslems to prayer, or assistant to the Imam. or red with blood ? “ She said: “As we did These appointments were made in order to not have fresh water, we dug canals and accelerate their integration into Islam. cesspools near the banks of the river. Al- Today, the famous Kalbian family exists ways, at the bottom of the cesspool, there because of a hip fracture, according to Dr. was heavy sediment of blood.” Vicken Kalbian, a prominent doctor in Win- I talked several times to Sarkis Khatchikian chester. He told me the following about his who worked for more than 50 years as type- father. “My father, Dr. Vahan Kalbian, gra- setter at the printing press of the Patriar­ duated as a doctor from the American Uni- chate. He was from Ordu, on the Black Sea, versity of Beirut in 1915. He went back to his parents who were deported hid Sarkis his birthplace, Diyarbakir, to celebrate the and his brother Diran in a Greek family. occasion with his family. The celebration, When searches by Turkish police intensified, like a wedding, lasted a week. The mother, looking for Armenians in hiding, they were while dancing, broke her hip. Dr. Vahan in- both placed in a Greek orphanage. When sisted that he would take her for surgery to the Turks later were to learn that there were Beirut. Along with her came five other rela- a few dozen of them in the Greek orpha- tives, including the grandfather of Dr. Harry nage, they resorted to a new method. Every Hagopian. Because of the hip incident, the few nights, boatmen would come and pro- five survived while the entire family perished pose to the boys a night sea ride. The boys in Diyarbakir. were excited and competed with each other Then there was Hovsep Der Vartanian, a to get on this boat ride. Sarkis noticed that teacher at the Araratian orphanage. He had no one of these boys came back and, one witnessed the massacre of 10,000 Armeni- day, he saw several corpses of his friends of ans from the labour battalion working on in times of genocide

the Bagdad line tunnels in the Taurus moun- they did not bother to attend the funeral of tains. By order of Enver, the defense minis- the loved ones. One night, her father pas- ter, they were massacred in a place called sed away, they wrapped him and placed him Baghtche. He authored a book called “The in front of the tent and in the morning they massacre of Intilly.” At a relatively young carried him away and dropped him in the age, he had a stroke and walked with a cane valley. None of the family attended the fu- as he was paralyzed on one side. I have ne- neral. And, one day, when her mother was ver seen him talking to anybody. away, a Turkish couple entered the tent Then there was Mihran Krikorian, a rug and convinced her to accompany them to mender working at my uncle’s shop. He had their home. In this way, she was adopted. a deep scar on his head after the Turks axed The mother of Beatrice had never to know the family. He was extremely moody and where she disappeared. She stayed two had sudden bursts of anger. After the killing, years with the Turkish family, they treated the Turks had dumped everybody in a well her well. After the armistice, the Americans 32 including him. During the day, he would picked her up and put her in the Near East wonder to find food while at night he would Relief orphanage,­ and there she was given hide in the well despite the decomposed bo- the name Beatrice. She was an avid reader dies and the terrible stench. of the Bible and this was the only book at Beatrice Kaplanian was a pious and quiet home. Despite the fact that she had lost all woman who lived till the age of 102. She her family, her name and her identity, she was from Nevshehir in Cappadocia. Noti- would insist that she harbours no hostile ces for deportation were served. According feelings towards the Turks. to her, the town-crier announced in the Ar- Once, I had a group a visitors from Cana­ menian Quarter that they were to leave in da. I learnt that one of the ladies was ori- two groups with a two-week interval. They ginally from Malatya where the massacres took the family donkey and three or four of were one of the most horrible. I asked her them took turns along the way. Their mot- about memories of her parents, she told me her would beg them so that she could rest the following story. At the time, her father but the children rode most of the time. Bea- was 8 years old. The authorities conducted trice remembers this with great pain. After mass arrests. As a child, he was wandering walking a month, there feet were swollen. about town. One afternoon, he overheard Then they reached Katma and Meskene from a group of henchmen mentioning na- (open air concentration camps), one of ten mes of some Armenian notables whom they camps, where tens of thousands were gathe- will drag to their death and the place of red before being sent to new destinations. their execution. They happened to mention These were tent-towns with no sanitary his father’s name. So, three in the morning, conditions, infested with epidemics. Hund- he was there. In moonlight he found two reds died daily. In front of the tent, one heaps. One of the naked headless bodies would find corpses wrapped in shrouds. and the other severed heads piled on each Special people came to dispose of the corp- other. He went through the heads one by ses. They would pick them up and throw one, hoping to find his father’s head. While them into a valley or a pit at the edge of doing it, he fainted and, later on, somebo- the camp. Sometimes, the family or relati- dy adopted him. In real life, at home, every ves were so exhausted and depressed that night he would scream and sob in his dream. from my courtyard. survivors of the armenian genocide.

The scene would repeat itself and the whole I wish to include briefly few more interviews family would wake up with him. which have provided me leads for deeper In 1980, I met in the Armenian Museum a research or furnished new dimensions or survivor from Mush who told me his chimney simply contributed for a better grasp of the story. He had witnessed how the Turks used situation and its emotional repercussions on a very effective method. In Mush, they went the survivor. from village to village and herded the residents I have conducted research with orphans in barns and set them on fire. He was the only who have graphically described their daily survivor from his village as he hid himself for routine. One such person was Mary Kevor- hours in the chimney. He lost seven brothers, kian who lived to be 100. A cheerful wo- in compensation he had seven children. man who until her last days used to do her Mrs. Bekian, a tiny woman living in a daily shopping. She was full of energy and Greek Convent near Casa Nova, told me the will to live. She told me, until her marriage story of her brother. When she felt that the she had no clue what it means to have re- Turks were taking away men to be butche- latives, she had never seen her parents, she 33 red, she paid two golden coins to a Turk to had no idea if she had any brothers or sis- use a bullet. After an hour, the Turk came ters, as she was picked up from the street as back and handed over the blood-soaked clo- an abandoned baby. Her icon was Maria Ja- thing of the brother indicating that they had cobson, her Director, the Danish missionary, cut his throat. In my interviews, this recur- who came all the way from Beirut to Jerusa- red a lot of times. Upon asking somebody lem, to check if she had a happy marriage. who knew about tribes, he indicated that Until today, she remembered her student this was a code of war, a concrete sign of number. Talking to orphans, one is struck victory on the enemy. by the number of institutions these people In my interviews I was often told how the had to change, back and forth, sometimes husband, when he felt that he was to be ta- moving from one country to another. ken away, would give to his wife the wed- Another episode I followed and wished ding ring and the family Bible to be kept for to hear first-hand was the fate of the city of posterity. The family Bible had great signifi- Izmir – a city of a million – very cosmopo- cance among some families. In a camp fire, litan, with a lot of culture and refinement. to which I was a witness in Beirut, when I Called the infidel city by the Turks, it was and others rushed to help, I saw an old man targeted and liquidated by Atatürk. The running up the stairs of his burning wooden event happened September 12–15, 1922, house. He emerged with a wrapped packa- Atatürk totally burnt the city. A fortnight ge. I said :”How do you feel ?”, he said “I before, a deal was reached between Western am OK, as long as I managed to salvage the countries – England, France and Italy – that family Bible.” their ships would evacuate only their na- My maternal uncle passed away in 1985, tionals and reject others (meaning Greeks in our house, due to a massive heart attack. and Armenians) and, to the disgrace of the The night before, as if by some presenti- West, the local nationals were rejected and ment, graphically, he described how he and not allowed to get on board Western ships the parish priest had buried the church trea- through the use of boiling water or boiling sure in Talas in the church wall. After less oil. I managed to interview 15 survivors of than 24 hours, he passed away. Izmir. The last one was about 18 years ago, in times of genocide

spending a whole evening while in Chicago saved thousands but most succumbed to visiting my brother. epidemics. I wish to end with an incident during the I did not have the patience to read Dante deportation of our family. One of the ma- but in the last half a century, I walked miles ternal uncles of my father, Sebouh Hintlian, on stones paving my hell. worked in the Bagdad line. So they had the I found compassion among my survivors, right to save one person. The choice fell on some liked the Turks and continued to listen my aunt Soultanik who was 7 then. As the to Turkish music, my father included. train reached Adana station, gendarmes I realized that, at the height of inhumanity, came in the train and asked for the Hintli- one can still feel the warmth of humanity in ans. My grandmother produced the choice. human forgiveness. Many of these victims My smaller uncle, Hagop, aged 4, ran af- were ready to forgive the Turks. And even ter the sister. The gendarmes said only girls, forgive God for his absence. And I, surroun- not boys. Even an ordinary gendarme knew ded by these 800 faces who have vanished 34 about the plan of extermination and the ne- from this world, await this year after a cen- cessity of wiping out all males. tury for a moment of humanity from the suc- cessors of the perpetrators – Modern Turkey. A Voyage Through Hell Despite a fact that a month ago an organiza- and a Glimpse of Humanism tion called Genç Atsızlar flooded Turkish ci- My curiosity voyage about human nature at ties with posters praising and thanking their work during execution of a genocide took ancestors for the ethnic cleansing. Still I be- me half a century. I wanted to investigate lieve it is not the end of times. And, at last, layer by layer, sometimes I also drowned in I thank my respondents who related to me the pool of blood, but that was a luxury. I about hell, and still went from this world had to transcend and could not indulge in with a smile and a hope of humanity to reign sentimentality, nor could I console myself in rather than the rule of the opposite. the good progress I was making in my nar- Yes, I grew up in a village of survivors. rative. I strove always to float to be able to They decided to keep their pain to them- reflect about humanity and inhumanity. selves. They showered us with warmth, joy I was in vain searching for a moment of and humour. The courtyards we played in humanity, for compassion. I constantly sear- were joyful ones and they wanted us to be ched and wondered if humanity and inhu- positive and self-giving. We are thankful to manity alternated in quick succession. After our parents for their generosity and, at this years of quest, I came across a gentleman moment, I’m thinking of that agonizing per- called Jemal pasha, known in official history sons in the valley while life is ebbing away as a monster. I found humanity in him, co- and only vultures are swooping on the corp- habiting with the evil. Despite his notoriety, ses with their gruesome noises. History and he saved tens of thousands of Armenians humanity is sending a message to you, re- by virtue of his high post in Greater Syria. pose in peace, your story is being told, and I discussed often the enigmatic personality to our Turkish brothers we have a message, of Jemal pasha with the late Archbishop rest assured that the abused victim has enor- Bogharian,­ an eminent scholar, whose clergy mous power given to him by God, the po- father buried 200–300 Armenians a day in wer to forgive. It is the mission of humanity Aleppo and Selimieh. He confirmed that he to liberate the Turk from his misery, to edu- from my courtyard. survivors of the armenian genocide. cate him not to draw pride in murder and roth, working on a dig in Turkey, once told blood. Our Turkish brothers, we are grate- me a story. One evening, the land shook ful to you, through your inhumanity, you around the archaeological site. Hütteroth have humanized us. asked his Turkish assistant: “Was it an Our ghosts are still hovering on our villa- earthquake?” He responded : “No. It is pro- ges and valleys daily. bably the ghosts of the Armenians who have A German archeologist, Professor Hütte- come back.”

35 The Year of the Sword in the Province of Diyarbakir

David Gaunt

When I was a teenager my family lived in genocide. He has described his life in The Hackensack, New Jersey. This is a place Treasure of Qumran: My Story of the Dead that New Yorkers make jokes about, but Sea Scrolls (published 1968 but written in they don’t know that it is a hub for the Sy- 1954). Very few people have read this book, 36 riac Orthodox Church in all of North Ame- and I have never seen it cited in works dea- rica. If I went out the door of our apart- ling with the Armenian Genocide. It is an ment building and turned right and went example of a Syriac source that provides ey- two blocks to Fairmont and then went two ewitness testimony about the conditions of blocks down to Grand Avenue, I would pass not just his own people but also of the Ar- a church. This was a rather plain Ameri- menians. can church but with signs in an unusual al- phabet and black clothed priests with unu- The Events in Helwa Village sual head-gear. I was usually in a hurry to Yeshua Samuel was born on Christmas day get downtown to the library or bookstore. in 1907 in a newly created village named But if I had stopped and looked closer, I Helwa that is now located inside Syria a might have seen Mar Athanasius Yeshua bit south of the border-towns of Qamisli in Samuel, the archbishop of the Syriac Ortho- Syria and Nusaybin in Turkey. This was a dox Church in USA and Canada. Even so, farm village in a well-watered region just I would then not have any idea of his im- south of the abrupt and hilly ending of the portance. Anatolian plateau towards the nearby de- Before he migrated to Hackensack he sert. His parents had moved to Helwa from had been the head of the Saint Mark’s Con- Tur Abdin, an area of considerable Syriac vent in Jerusalem where he did the work presence that is now in Turkey. His father that made him world famous. He was na- was from Midyat, the only large town with mely the foremost collector of the Dead a Syriac majority, his mother was from the Sea Scrolls of ancient biblical texts hidden large village of Basibrin. The farmers of in jars and placed centuries ago in caves in Helwa lived in a symbiosis with their Be- the wilderness. Also famously, he sold the douin neighbours and were bilingual in mo- scrolls through an advertisement in the Wall dern Syriac and Arabic. The Bedouins took Street Journal, enabling the scrolls to stay in care of the farmers’ sheep in the dry season Israel. and in return they got grain. On one oc- However, I will take up a different aspect casion eight year-old Yeshua was talking of Samuel’s life, namely his tragic childhood with the son of his family’s sheep-herder. in the Ottoman Empire during the time of The Arab said that during the whole winter the year of the sword in the province of diyarbakir

Turkey had been at war and the child pa- From the edge of the fields we watched them nicked, he had not heard a word of this be- pass. They were perhaps a hundred people, old fore and became very afraid. “Papa! There people mostly and only a few were men. They is a war now and the Turks are killing pe- hardly looked at us. When they did, no sign of ople.” His father tried to calm him: “Yes the recognition lighted their dark, vacant eyes /…/ Turks have been at war all winter long, but their faces were clouded in hopelessness. We not with poor farmers or little boys. There had heard rumours, and more rumours, and is nothing for you to worry about.” By the much propaganda as counterbalance. But now time the war is over, Yeshua’s father Soumay we had seen. is dead in a disease spread from the deporta- tion victims, his uncle Yusef has been shot The men who guarded the deportees said and killed in a battle, he has been separated that they were “colonists” underway to several years from his mother Khatoun, his prepare settlements south of Mosul. But in baby brother Malky has been killed thrown the night and close to the village, they were by a soldier into a burning building, he has shot. Only one of them survived and craw- 37 been left for dead along a road but mira- led to Helwa. He told that the story of a co- culously found and nursed back to health lony was a lie and that the guards had been and reunited with his mother after a year. criminals released from prison to escort the Of his family of five only two survive the Armenians to the desert. war. Many testimonies of survivors speak of Helwa was not close to the routes that criminals assigned to kill Armenian depor- Armenian deportation caravans normally tees. I was at first sceptical, until I found in took. But some caravans of Armenians from the Ottoman Archive in Istanbul a telegram further north passed by on their way to the sent by Minister of Interior Talaat Pasha desert. ordering the release of prisoners from the Siwerek prison. Also the governor of Diyar- They were far off – a thin, dark graph inching bakir province, Reshid Bey, made an agree­ across the shimmering white horizon. /…/ ment with a group of outlaws belonging to Who they were, where they were going, moving the Kurdish Rama tribe, whose base was so slowly into the desert, we did not know, but near Batman and the Tigris River. These often I and my playmates in the field surroun­ bandits, who had been banished for per- ding Helwa would look up from our games and sistent murder and robbery, were pardo- wonder. /…/ As the heat of the summer [of ned if they would participate in the killing 1915] blistered such ground as was not wate­ of Christians. They could also keep half of red and the sky turned copper around a bloody the wealth – money, jewels, watches and so sun, these ominous processions appeared more forth – the rest, according to the governor, frequently and we learned that they were Ar­ would go to the Red Crescent organisation. menians. The Rama tribe escorted Armenians on rafts from Diyarbakir down the Tigris River and On one occasion the deported were mar- slaughtered them on the way. Bodies and ched right by Yeshua’s village in order for parts of bodies could be seen floating all the the Turkish guards to demand a “donation” way to Mosul. The Rama also perpetrated of food for fellow Christians. attacks and massacres on places along or near the river. They were seen at the villa- in times of genocide

ges of Ayn-Wardo, Dufne, Habses, Ka’biye groups over small begrudging fires; men slept which were Syriac villages, the monastery of against the wall or stretched upon the ground, Dayro da Sliba and the town of Hasankeyf some still grasping rifles tightly in their muscled with a mixed Armenian and Syriac popula- hands. Our leaders paused, stunned at the sight tion. before them. /…/ The monks fulfilled their Let us return to the boy Yeshua Samuel’s Christian duty by granting sanctuary, but their experiences. The man who had survived the human natures could not entirely disregard the massacre told of what was happening to the fact that our presence could only serve to in­ Armenians far to the north. He told about crease the wrath of the enemy. the fighting in the city of Van, of the corp- ses of murdered Armenians floating in la- The situation was dire, except for the ani- kes and rivers, and of rape-killings of young mals there was little to eat, the men went women. These stories were a shock to the out in the day to raid other villages to plun- villagers. They were used to oppression in der grain and fruit. They had some old rif­ 38 the past but “they were not quite prepa- les, but ammunition was made of melted red to believe that such things could occur spoons, they were seldom successful and in the presumably civilized world of 1915. fewer returned as went out. One day uncle But they did. The people listened and lear- Yusef did not return. He had been shot and ned and wept.” The Armenian man died a killed. Yeshua was nine-years-old and re- few days later of a cholera-like disease and mained behind. he had infected many of the villagers and Yeshua’s father died in the epidemic. During the days, the women and children Conditions in Helwa do not improve and huddled tensely inside the monastery itself, lis­ the famers decide to vacate the village in tening to the whining bullets that assailed the 1916 and get to the more defendable places courtyard. At night, the monks led us in prayer in the hills to the north. Yeshua leaves with while some slipped off to bury our dead covert­ his uncle Yusef and most of the farm men. ly in the darkness. Malnutrition underwrote His mother remains with a group of women death’s invitation while diarrhoea, pneumonia, to finish threshing the grain after which the and infections passed from sheep to men, and women intend to get north – mother and untreatable battle wounds supplied the final re­ son never see each other for over a year. quirements. Yeshua follows the men with their flocks north to the hills, but that is also Kurdish The monastery proved a bad place to re- territory. After they approach the first cliff main at, it gave little shelter and the large they are shot at constantly until they arrived number of Christians attracted the enemy. at the ancient and fortress-like monastery In 1916 the Helwa villagers determined to of Saint Malky. It was also under constant trek further north to Basibrin. Yeshua was rifle-fire. Inside, many people had already then very ill and unconscious, believed to be sought protection. close to death. It was decided to leave him by the wayside to die. Luckily, he was found We entered to find the great courtyard of the by a family and nursed back to health. To monastery a panorama of disorder: dirty-faced make a long story short he was reunited children ran unrestricted amid muddled flocks with his mother after a year’s separation. of sheep and goats; dour women cooked in She had been searching for him. She told the year of the sword in the province of diyarbakir him what had happened to Helwa. Before Yeshua’s mother worked side-by-side with the women had finished threshing, the vil- them and just as hard, but she was spared lage had been sacked and burned by Turkish the vicious whip-lashings and verbal abuse soldiers and only a few were able to flee. that afflicted the Armenians. Ten-year-old Asked what happened to Yeshua’s younger Yeshua made friends among the children of brother she said: the workers who scavenged the rubbish out- side the military bivouacs in search of cast During the burning and the shooting, Malky away food. One scene particularly remained was separated from me and ran off in terror. in his memory. Somewhere, another woman trapped inside a building screamed for her own son. A Turkish Skinny, grimy children were pawing through soldier – so they told me, for I did not see it – the garbage near a German mess tent. Their fa­ picked him up by his tiny leg, shouted ‘Here is mished fingers scurried like bony moles among your little Christian lion, woman,’ and hurled the slops, and shot to their whimpering, drawn the baby against the burning wall. mouths with any morsel that those fingers 39 found. A few feet away, in crisp, resplendent Thus of the household of five, one had died glory a tall, burnished German officer watched of epidemic disease connected with the de- their miserable hunt as he fed his sleek stallion portations, one had been shot and killed by succulent mouthfuls of sweet, juicy raisins. a Kurdish rifleman, one had been murdered by a Turkish soldier. The oral histories col- Yeshua Samuel’s narrative is one of the few lected by Süleyman Hinno indicate that the written testimonies dealing with a single soldiers who destroyed Helwa were part of Syriac family’s tragic fate during the entire Nusaybin’s death squad commanded by a war. It is also unique in dealing with far- reserve officer identified as Kaddur Bey. mers, not with urban notables. Although the In the winter of 1917, his mother took village was located far distant from the regi- him to the town of Nusaybin where she ho- on of Armenian settlement, Yeshua’s family ped to find work. The German Berlin-to- was caught up in the chaos around the de- Baghdad railway was constructing a section portations and eventually the entire village there. The Syriacs assured her that there was was destroyed by one of the death squads. work to be had, but warned that she should Indeed all villages with a Syriac population prepare for hardship. were destroyed in the entire district south and east of Nusaybin. If you don’t mind labouring from dawn to When the war was over, the Syriac Ortho­ ­­­­ dusk for the price of a few olives and a piece dox Church enumerated its damage in a of bread, if you’re strong enough to cart heavy memorandum that was presented to the rails of iron and lengths of oaken log, if your British and French governments in 1919. It soft hands are capable of digging ditches till the listed the number of victims as 90,313 per- blisters break and bleed, and if your Christian sons killed, 156 churches and monasteries eyes can bear watching the Armenian prisoners that were in ruins, 154 priests and monks beaten to death by the Turks. that had been murdered as well as seven bishops. In the region of Nusaybin, where The Armenian workers were prisoners and Yeshua’s family lived, an estimated 7,000 quartered in a guarded area with tents. persons had been massacred along with 25 in times of genocide

priests. The Syriac Orthodox Church was dents could also see what was happening only one of several Oriental Christian chur- to the death-marches of deportees coming ches caught up in the Armenian Genocide. down from provinces further north that The others were the Syriac Catholic Church, were march­ed past the city on their way to the Church of the East (often called Nesto- Der Zor. The horrors that took place were rian), the Chaldean Church, and then an obser­ved by many – some perhaps enjoyed uncertain number of Protestant and Catho- them like the spectators of the Roman gla- lic converts. These churches combined, cal- diator fights, others saw this as the wrath of ling themselves the Assyro-Chaldeans, sent God punishing his people for some collecti- delegations to the Paris Peace conference ve sin, still others saw this as the murdering desiring support to get their own state. The of innocent citizens falsely accused of plot- maps they presented showed wide territo- ting revolt. A great number of observers saw rial claims from the city of Urfa in central the terror as a historical moment shattering Anatolia to the district of Urmia inside Iran. forever the traditional subtle balanced mul- 40 The Assyro-Chaldean delegation calculated ti-religious, multi-ethnic pattern of life that that 250,000 of their group had been killed had evolved in Mardin. Some called it nak- during the war, making up half of the origi­ ba, the Arabic word for catastrophe, some nal population. There is no way to check called it firman after the Turkish name of a these numbers today. royal order believing it was decreed by the Sultan, some called it qafle the Syriac word Events in the City of Mardin for massacre, but generally it is now known Helwa was an isolated ethnically and reli- as seyfo, (sword, an alternative spelling is giously relatively homogeneous village on seyfo), as in the phrase: “1915 the year of the edge of the desert. The city of Mardin, the sword”. by contrast, was an important multicultural We know of the chronicles, diaries, and multi-religious commercial centre situated annotations of many different people who on vital caravan routes. Mardin is an an- were residing in Mardin in 1914–1915 and cient and beautiful city, built by cramming who described the reign of terror that was together houses on the steep slope down instigated by the acting governor Bedri from a fortress on the top. Houses are li- Bey, police chief Memduh and others star- terally built on top of each other with one ting in June 1915. Some of the writers are family’s roof becoming another family’s ter- only known by their initials such as A.H.B., race. It is a very well ordered form of resi- A.Y.B. and P.V.M., others published their dential chaos that has evolved over the cen- books anonymously like the Syriac Catholic turies and withstands modernization. priest Ishaq Armale, who had fled to Leba- Because of this building pattern, Mardin non after the war was over. In some cases functions as an open-air theatre providing the writings lay unpublished for decades af- the people with an outstanding view of ma- ter they were first written down – like those jor events that ripped through this small of the three French Dominican monks Jac- city in World War I. Although Mardin was ques Rhétoré (whose manuscript was dis- far from the battle-front, large elements covered in Mosul after the first Gulf War), of its population were harassed, humilia- Hyacinthe Simone and Marie-Dominique ted, deported, imprisoned, tortured, para- Berré. A few like that of the diary of the ded through the streets, massacred. Resi- American Protestant missionary Alpheus the year of the sword in the province of diyarbakir

Andrus are still known only in manuscript. Where to? To the water well – just like during These writings are probably just the tip of the latest weeks! They take off their clothes, an iceberg and many other chronicles were pull out knives and attack them, stabbing them probably written, but have disappeared or and throwing them down headfirst in the well. lie undiscovered. One Mardin person that And so they go back (to the caravan). What an we know wrote a manuscript that is still un- atrocity! /…/ discovered is the Chaldean Catholic priest Joseph Tfinkji. This manuscript should con- They come nearer in groups like grasshoppers tain much information about the Armenians and they must be about eight thousand. How and Syriacs who were given asylum by the strange! A short while before they looked like Yezidis in the Sinjar Mountains – because ten thousand. Where are the others? Can these he served as the priest there. Thanks to the murderers have killed two thousand in three many written testimonies, Mardin is one hours? How many were they when they left of the rare places in the Ottoman Empire their homes? They must have been many more. in which we have a relatively complete day I heard a few days ago that they amounted to 41 by day description of the persecution of the 50,000. They come from Erzurum, Lice, Har­ resident Armenians, Chaldeans and both put and other Armenian cities. /…/ Ortho­dox and Catholic Syriacs. I shall now take a few observations from The [Muslim] leaders of Mardin with their these eyewitness accounts and analyse them. greying hair have arrived [to where I stand]. Most of this come from the very detailed They sit on horseback and watch how women descriptions of Armele and Rhétoré. Their and children rush about in panic. Their faces usual point of observation was from the ter- show amusement. In their heads are greed and race of the large building that now houses immoral thoughts. They spur on their horses the Mardin museum, but was then the Syri- and ride towards the water spring. Some get ac Catholic patriarchy where Armale served there first in order to steal and plunder. Watch as secretary to the archbishop. On July 4, out so they don’t attack me. I better hide under 1915, Armale was outside the city walls ta- a tree. king a morning walk on the small hills just beyond the western gate. He is broken off I see wealthy Muslims with their wives pushing from admiring the trees bearing wonderful their way through the weeping and sorrowful fruit by a calamitous scene: Christians. They are out to catch people. They chose and select among the women and child­ What is that I see over there at Ömer-Agha’s ren, especially among the girls. And they de­ water spring? A great caravan advances like a mand that they renounce their religion. /…/ herd of sheep or cows. I must take up my tele­ The wealthy Mardin women manage to get scope and look! An enormous army of close to hold of a large number of boys and girls, and ten thousand people! Most of them are women the soldiers don’t object: rather they invite it. I and children. There are some elderly too. I see see some persons return with their haul. Some soldiers who escort them but beat them and lead boys from their horses, others have caught kick them. They try to flee. Above them rifle girls whom they veil so that the kidnapper’s barrels appear. My ears hear shots. I see a group friends cannot see them and begin to quarrel. that is surrounded by some soldiers. I see them One man has filled his pockets with gold and brutally drive them toward a fort. Oh God! silver and returns laughing. /…/ Others con­ in times of genocide

verse happily on their way back and cannot its decisions to the letter of the law. Therefore, hide their joy over the goods they have gotten it has no reason to harass us and claim that we in such a short time. /…/ The soldiers have re­ are hostile and plot treason. /…/ But we got sumed their harassment of the Armenians and disappointed. The truest friend and the dea­ hit and kick them badly. They force their priso­ rest comrade has become the worst and most ners forward in the heat of the afternoon. distrustful enemy. The sheep became wolves and the doves became snakes. What Armale witnesses is the end result of the total brutalization of the Muslim civilian Here we can see a remarkable aspect of population after weeks of exhausted human most genocide, namely that people who caravans trudging past the city. He sees how are normally peaceful and trustworthy can the local people are being invited by the es- change into violent and brutal monsters if cort to steal and kidnap children. He sees the situation is prepared by the authorities. how many participate in the plunder, and They participate in actions they would be- 42 enjoy the humiliation of the victims. By then fore and even later consider immoral and the deportations and massacres had been impossible, and they might even deny ever going on for just over a month and had ob- having participated. viously made local people nearly immune An absolutely essential step in creating a to the fate of the Christians. This was a far climate that permits immoral acts has to do cry from the good neighbourliness that was with the activities of the leading persona- part of traditional Mardin life. Many of lities in the community. Some aspects have Mardin’s Armenians and Syriacs could never to do with hate-speech that dehumanizes imagine that their neighbours would ever the victims – describing them as dangerous turn on them. They expected instead to be creatures no longer human. The provincial protected – as had happened in 1895 when governor of Diyarbakir, Reshid Bey, who local urban Muslim clans beat off an exter- had trained as a physician did this by port- nal attack which aimed at a pogrom similar raying the Armenians as “bacteria” that to that which took place in Diyarbakir. needed to be eradicated. But other aspects Armale relates about the reactions to the have to do with bombarding the population first reliable information about plans to eli- through constant propaganda and disinfor- minate the Armenians: mation. And for this the propaganda must come from the level of authority. In Mardin Some leading Muslims employed Christian ser­ we can see a total shift among the political vants, who in hiding listened to what was said and administrative leadership because of ini- and told of the secrets. We did not believe them tial bureaucratic opposition to the plans to and said: Our friendship with the Muslims is eradicate the local Christians. Up until early purer than the eye of a rooster and stronger June the office of district governor of Mar- than iron. It would be impossible to turn such din was held by a humane official by the a friendship into hostility and mildness into name of Hilmi Bey. Hilmi went out of his harshness, because we have no conflicts with way to maintain balance among the Muslim each other. We added that in our area, there and Christian communities. He showed great were no hundred percent Armenians or oppo­ kindness towards the Armenian Catholic nents to the government. No we are, praise archbishop Ignace Maloyan and managed God, Catholics and loyal to the state and follow to persuade the Sultan to grant Maloyan a the year of the sword in the province of diyarbakir gold medal in April 1915. Even Hilmi’s pre- There was one very big problem that the decessor Shefik Bey took an honour in trea- organizers of the genocide had to confront. ting the Christians as full and loyal Ottoman Mardin’s Muslim leaders had a long-stan- citizens. Hilmi refused to follow provincial ding tradition of protecting the Christians. governor Reshid Bey’s secret orders to arrest During the Hamidiye massacres of 1895, the leading Christians. He is reported to have the Mandalkiye and Mishkiye tribes had replied: “I see no reason nor need to arrest banded together to protect the city from the Mardin’s Christians. So I cannot agree to attack by a well-coordinated assembly of your demand”. He refused an order to arrest enemies who sought to massacre the Arme- the Syriac Catholic archbishop Gabriel Tap- nians. Also nearby, the Milli Kurdish con- puni and sent him a message: federation under Ibrahim Pasha was pre- viously renowned for its protection of all I have some papers with an order to deport and Christians. Therefore the provincial govern- kill you. But I know they are falsified and have ment officials made great effort to convince no grounds. As proof of my friendship to you the Milli, the Mandalkiye, the Mishkiye and 43 I have written to the governor and sworn my other traditionally friendly tribes to break oath of your upright loyalty to the state. with their pro-Christian past and get invol- ved in the government plans. This step was Several other Ottoman officials also refu- completed by May 1915 that is just prior sed to arrest the Christians. For his dissent to the major arrests by night time meetings Hilmi was demoted and transferred to a post with fanatic anti-Christian propagandist far away in Iraq. He was lucky, some of the like Zeki Licevi and his brother Said. On the lesser officials in Diyarbakir province, the poli­tical level the Committee for Union and sub-district governors of Lice and Beshire, Progress (CUP) national assembly member were assassinated on the orders of the go- Feyzi arrived from Diyarbakir and accor- vernor, and the district governor of Midyat, ding to Armale stated: also outspoken pro-Christian, simply disap- peared. Instead new persons from the out- Let no Christian remain! He who does not do side replaced them and proceeded with the this duty is no longer a Muslim. deportations and massacres. Foremost were the previously named Bedri Bey who was On May 15 a large meeting was held under the vice governor of the province, Memduh the leadership of Feyzi with local members the provincial police chief, Tevfik the provin- of the CUP party club, some of the leading cial governor’s adjutant, the commander of bureaucrats, a doctor, a mufti, three sheiks, the provincial gendarmerie Harun. Many of as well as chiefs from the Dashkiye, Man- these new people were neither Turkish nor dalkiye, and Miskiye tribes. Feyzi according Kurdish, but rather ethnic Chechens just like to Rhétoré agitated those who expressed a governor Reshid. They found a few Mardin little interest in killing the Christians. residents who were willing to collaborate: fo- remost the criminal court judge Halil Adib. You surprise me. What is holding you back? Together they collected a volunteer militia, a Is it the fear of one day having to pay for this? death squad armed with army rifles and com- But what happened to those who killed Arme­ manded by reserve officers, that the locals nians in Abdul-Hamid’s time? Today Germany called Al Khamsin (Arabic for the fifty-men). is with us and our enemies are its enemies. This in times of genocide

will surely give us victory in this war and we and break the possibility of any resistance. won’t have to answer to anyone. Let us get rid The French monk Rhétoré, an elderly scho- of the Christians so we can be masters in our lar, made a count of men sent on a death- own house. This is what the government wants. march. Accor­ding to him they were 410 persons: 230 were Armenians and 180 were These men at the meeting were required to Syriacs or Chaldeans. Nearly all of them be- sign a document accusing the Christians of be- longed to various branches of the Roman ing traitors that had to be disposed of. Even Catholic faith. Among them were ten pro- those who were not enthusiastic signed in or- minent clergymen. Other observers supplied der not to stand out from the others. In this slightly different figures, for instance Armale way this group became the core of the decisi- says they were 417: on-making for the elimination of Mardin’s Christian residents, meeting repeatedly to At the fall of darkness Mardin residents could make plans. Through involvement in these see soldiers going up to the fort and then re­ 44 meetings, participation by the Christians’ turning to the prison. They carried iron rings, traditional protectors was secured. chains and thick ropes. They called out the na­ All of these preparations were necessary mes of the prisoners one by one and they tied for the implementation of a swift elimina- them with ropes so they could not flee. /…/ tion of the Armenians and Syriacs. Accor- Then those who were thought to be Armenians ding to Rhétoré, the city of Mardin had a were taken from the others. Rings were pres�­ Christian population of 6,500 Armenian sed around their necks and chains around their Catholics, of Chaldeans 1,100, of Catholic wrists. In this way they were bound, drawn and Syriacs 1,750, 7,000 Syriac Orthodox and chained for several hours: /…/ After having ar­ 125 Protestants. In the entire Mardin sub- ranged the men in rows they forced them out province there were nearly 75,000 Chris- through the prison gates. Above them weapons tians of all denominations and during the and swords shined. The prisoners were kept to­ massacres nearly 48,000 (64 percent) of tally silent. And a town crier cried out: ‘The them disappeared. Christian residents who leave their houses will Perhaps the most terrifying scene that be amputated and put together with their co- the Mardin residents could all witness was religionists’. Then they trudged along the main the sending away of the first transport street 417 priests and other men. Young and of Christ­ian prisoners on June 10, 1915. old, Armenians, [Catholic] Syriacs, Chaldeans Hundreds of Mardin’s leading Christian and Protestants. When they passed the Mus­ personalities had been imprisoned during lim quarter the women came out and taunted. the previous week – they amounted to more They insulted the prisoners. Children threw than four hundred adult men. They made stones. When the prisoners came to the Chris­ up Mardin’s Christian elite, most of them tian quarter, the residents could not go out to highly respected members of their commun­ talk or say farewell. Many stood by the railings ity. They had been arrested on trumped up on their roofs and wept, praying to God. /.../ charges of plotting a revolt, hiding weapons The Christians shuffled in silence like pupils on and concealing bombs. Many had been tor- the way to school. They made no sound. /…/ tured to give false confessions. But on the When they came to the western city gate, those night of June 10 a ghastly spectacle was monks that were still free and the American arranged intended to terrify the population missionaries went out on the roofs to see their the year of the sword in the province of diyarbakir

friends for the last time and give them a fare­ vious that the government through the pre- well. They found them in a tragic state, so that sence of the police chief and the soldiers had blood could clot in their veins and terror hold targeted the Christians. In Mardin’s case this them in its grip. There cannot have been any­ meant not just Armenians but also Syriacs, thing more difficult for the eye to see or more Catholics and Protestants were considered painful for the heart than to stand there and by the local authorities to be treated with look down on the many chained co-religionists. equal brutality. They had been handcuffed Every time anyone cast a glance at that street and chained like ordinary criminals. The he would be reminded of the noble archbishop Muslim residents were allowed by the escort [Maloyan], the venerable priests and the march to approach the prisoners and abuse them of the dear Christians. with hate-speech and even throw stones. Thus the local mob came to participate in a At the front marched the provincial police scene orchestrated by the authorities. This chief Memduh. Many of the four hundred created allies among the mob as they would prisoners bore the signs of torture and were in the future need to rationalize their action 45 very weak. Some had bleeding feet and fing- and judge its morale. They were no longer ers from nails that had been pulled off, bro- just bystanders, they were participants, al­ ken bones, cuts about the head. Some had though not the worst kind. The Christians to be supported by others in order to walk were confined to their houses and could do at all. Beards of the priests had been torn. nothing but wave and weep, in deep fear of The chains rattled accentuating the ghostly what would happen next. The procession silence. And at the end of the procession became a demonstration of absolute power came the Armenian archbishop Maloyan of some and absolute weakness of the targe- who was handcuffed, barefoot and limping ted victims. Knowledge of this death-march after his feet had been whipped in the tortu- spread quickly throughout the Ottoman re form known as bastinado. All of the men provinces. In Mosul the German diplomat in this first deportation from Mardin were Walter Holstein heard of it from the depo- killed at separate places in the night bet- sed official Hilmi. He alarmed his ambas- ween June 10 and 11. Some at Ömer-Agha sador in Istanbul of the on-going “general water spring, some were killed at the caves massacre” and he, in turn wrote to Berlin, and by the cult-place of Sheykhan, some at the the German government protested stron- ruins of the Zarzavan fort. Their families in gly to Talaat Pasha, who was then forced to Mardin were told that the prisoners had ar- send a reprimand to the governor of Diyar- rived safely at their destination. No one be- bakir province (who ignored it). lieved this. There were few Mardin families The witnesses interpreted the targeting of that did not lose a member on that night. As Mardin’s non-Muslims as an anti-Christian an announcement of the start of a coming act and the victims were perceived as mar- reign of terror, this death march through the tyrs to their faiths. There were several local centre of town including the Armenian arch­ reasons for this conclusion. Foremost was bishop could hardly have been improved. that the group constructed by the authori- The silent march in clanking chains on the ties included not just Armenians of the Ca- main street through the Muslim and then tholic church but also all other Catholics Christian quarters polarized the population – the Syriacs and the Chaldeans and even along religious grounds. To all it was ob- the Protestants. As all groups spoke the lo- in times of genocide

cal Arabic dialect and many had Arabic na- churchmen who were left in Mardin col- mes, the distinguishing feature of Armenian lected and spent large amounts of money to language was lacking. The various Catholic get Christian hostages released from priso- groups had very close relationships, parti­ ners or to buy back kidnapped children who cularly the priests and bishops met often were being sold in the market-place. across religious lines. Thus the target group Witnesses in Mardin describe the step was seen by the victims to be constructed by step process of harassment leading over on the grounds of common Christianity time from occasional brutal maltreatment and not on the grounds of Armenian ethnic to individual acts of murder, and finally to background. Second, the first wave of im- full-scale genocide. This process began with prisonment and the death march included the Turkish declaration of mobilization in many of the highest religious figures in the August 1914. But with the passing of each city. And they were given particularly bru- month the feeling of a coming catastrophe tal and humiliating treatment. Third, almost grew. Archbishop Maloyan predicted his 46 all of the witness testimony that was writ- coming murder weeks in advance. In an ten down came from the hands of persons open letter to his congregation written on who had religious education and they saw May 1, 1915, he spoke of measures taken the genocide of 1915 in the light of the mar- by the government which would lead either tyrdom of the early Christian Church in to “extermination or martyrdom”. Others Roman times. They make great issue of the probably shared the same fears. As far as choice given to the prisoners to convert to the evidence available shows there was little Islam or to die, and they praise those who – maybe only infinitesimal – political agita- chose death rather than convert. And the- tion that could be used by the government se scenes are told in great detail. Also they as a pretext for exterminating the Christi- give particular place in their chronicles to ans. On the contrary, many local officials the wrath of God by striking in 1916 the attested to their loyalty. New officials from Otto­man army with the epidemic disease of outside had to be handpicked for their bru- typhus. The biblical analogies go back to tality and groomed for the task of initia- visions of Apocalypse, the end of the world ting the genocide. Throughout the Chris- and the coming of the last judgment. This tian community fear and terror was widely interpretation makes it, however, difficult spread. After the first death marches (there to find alternative causes of the genocide in was a second with about 270 prisoners on these sources. Material, social and economic June 14) and deportations of families (on causes play very little role in the contem- July 2 of 600 persons, July 17 of 250 per- porary testimonies. With one exception – the sons, August 10 of 600 persons) continued report of Hyacinthe Simon. This gives a very all the way up to September 1915 when the- long list of the enormous sums of money re were very few “Armenians” left in place. that police chief Memduh and sub-province The instigators and perpetrators had grown governor Bedri extorted or stole from the very rich living on the bribes and confis- wealthy Christian families. That he could cated property of the victims. None of the complete this very long and detailed list in- perpetrators was ever tried. And there is as dicates that these stolen sums of money, je- yet no monument to those just officials who wellery and property were common know- tried to defend the Armenians. ledge in Mardin and discussed widely. Those the year of the sword in the province of diyarbakir

Let us finish with the words of Jacques Rhétoré was one of the last pockets of a widespread as to why he had written in such detail of resistance in what the Ottoman authorities the persecutions of 1915: called the Midyat rebellion, named after the main Christian town in the Tur Abdin region. The most important thing is not to let these Gene­ral Kamil Pasha argued for postponing memories be forgotten. I have written down as any further engagement until a more oppor- well as I could. I hope the reader will find what tune moment, stating that Minister of War I wished to convey, that is first of all the horror Enver Pasha himself could pick the date for over the terrible crimes that were committed, the “complete destruction of the rebellion”. with an appeal to God’s and people’s judgment Just the day before Enver Pasha issued an over those who so turned against their huma­ order that the rebels must be “suppressed nity by ordering and perpetrating them. After immediately and with the utmost severity”. that comes my admiration for the victims, who But the commander of the troops besieging in such high degree honoured humanity. the village dared to defy the Minister of War and pulled out. 47 Azakh – a Center of Resistance Conquering this village had become a The previous section dealt with an impor­ question of prestige for the highest mili- tant multi-religious city in which Christians tary authority, but inciting the local Mus- of all denominations were slaughtered and lims had been difficult and slow. Already deported in a systematic genocide. I will in April 1915 Diyarbakir’s CUP National now describe a completely different situa- Assembly­man Feyzi Bey (who had also agi- tion, namely that of a village that managed tated against the Christians of Mardin) had to defend itself against attacks throughout been sent by provincial governor Reshid Bey 1915. This is the large village of Azakh, to pressure local Kurdish tribes to attack the now renamed İdil, situated east of Mardin non-Muslim population. The composition and close to Turkey’s border with Syria. of the non-Muslim population was a mosaic This example shows the great concern at the of sects: the majority belonged to the Syriac highest Ottoman political and military level Orthodox Church, but there were sizeable dedicated to annihilating a militarily com- communities of Chaldeans, a few Protest­ pletely unimportant place, but populated ant communities, a sprinkle of Armenians with Christians who refused to die without and Yezidis, as well as Jewish communi- a battle. ties (the latter were the only non-Muslims Late in November 1915 Kamil Pasha, the spared). The local government knew very Commander of the Ottoman Third Army well that few of these Christians were Ar­ wrote to Enver Pasha, the Ottoman Minis- me­n­­ians and thus were not part of the cen- ter of War, that his troops had unfortunately tral government’s anti-Armenian program. been forced to abort their siege of the Sy- Therefore the start of the massacres of the riac and Chaldean village of Azakh. It had non-Armenian Christians should probably proved a military fiasco once the defenders be seen as a local initiative with local back- “Syriacs (Süryani) who are native to the ground. area, joined by a small number of Armeni- By May 1915 signs of a coming attack ans and Chaldeans who escaped from here were obvious and the Christian villagers and there” had caused many Ottoman ca­ prepared their defence and many farmers sualties through a surprise attack. Azakh from the outlying hamlets streamed into in times of genocide

Azakh, traditionally a place that was easiest Syriacs [that is Syriac Orthodox] in the districts to defend. Kurdish tribes and local militias of Midyat, Jezire, and Nisibin have been victim. began to conquer and destroy small Christ­ ian villages in June and continued to do so The first attack on Azakh came on August 18 into July. The easiest targets fell first and the with an assembly of Kurdish tribes, which extent of the destruction proceeded from the failed, as did all the following Kurdish at- north to the south. As one of the southern- tempts. After suffering heavy casualties the most defended villages Azakh was surroun- tribes withdrew in early September. The civil ded relatively late, in mid-August. By that authorities, however, did not abandon their time almost all neighbouring villages with a intention to eliminate the non-Armenian Christian population had been destroyed or Christians. They began to pressure the Otto- abandoned, the main Syriac town of Mid­ man army to destroy the resisting Christian yat had fallen after a week-long street-battle villages, which they deceitfully designated and the only other villages that still held out as populated by “rebellious Armenians”. 48 against the enemy was ‘Iwardo (now Gülgö- From this moment on, the suppression of ze) just north of Midyat, Hah (now Anıtlı) Azakh passed from the hands of the civil of- further north-east of Midyat, and Basibrin ficials to that of the military. General Halil, (now Haberli) between Midyat and Azakh. War Minister Enver Pasha’s uncle, was passing The killing of non-Armenian Christians through the area with an army division on its came to the attention of the German army way to Bagdad. Local authorities told Halil and the German diplomatic service and they that up to “one thousand armed Armenians­ informed Berlin of what they considered a had gathered lately and started an assault breach of the tacit agreement to only tar- destroying Muslim villages nearby and mas- get Armenians. The German consul in Mo- sacred their inhabitants”. Travelling in the sul, Walther Holstein, was well informed same direction was a secret Turkish-German and formulated the first of many German expeditionary force destined to infiltrate diplomatic protests. He wrote that what Iran. Head of the expeditionary force was the Otto­mans deemed was a rebellion was Ömer Naci Bey, until recently the CUP gene­ a “direct consequence of the extreme acti­ ral inspector for Anatolia and considered ons of the governor of Diyarbakir against one of the founding fathers of Turkey’s in- Christians­ in general.” He insisted that Syri- telligence agency. The German contingent acs and Chaldeans are only “trying to save was led by Max von Scheubner-Richter, their skins”. The German ambassador to once German vice-consul in Erzurum (and Turkey quickly informed the German Chan- in the early 1920s one of Adolf Hitler’s clo- cellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg of sest aides), assisted by Paul Leverkuehn who the new situation. wrote a biography of Scheubner and became Nazi Germany’s spy chief in Turkey during At the beginning of this month [July] the go­ the Second World War. This high-level expe- vernor of Diyarbakir, Reshid Bey, started a ditionary force of 650 cavalry and two pie- systematic extermination of the Christian po­ ces of field artillery was diverted to Azakh pulation of his jurisdiction, without difference with instructions to suppress the rebels to race or confession. Of these particularly the who were accused of “cruelly massacring Catholic Armenians of Mardin and Tel-Armen the Muslim people in the area.” To make a and the Chaldean Christians and non-Uniate quick end of it even more troops were amas- the year of the sword in the province of diyarbakir sed. On October 29, 1915, Naci requested mans further involved in the anti-Christian reinforcement with a battalion from the Fif- repression. ty-First Division, other troops were sent on After acquainting himself with the situa- their way from the Fourth Army. Minister tion and meeting leaders from Azakh, Naci of Interior Talaat Pasha ordered five hund- also began to have his doubts. The defen- red mujahideen (jihadists) warriors under ders were definitely not Armenians. How­ his command to assist Naci. ever, on the night between November 13 The German reaction to this intermezzo and 14, fighters from Azakh used a tunnel was negative and Scheubner-Richter would to make a surprise attack on the Turkish not permit any of his German staff to parti- soldiers as they were sleeping. A large but cipate. According to his biographer Lever- unspecified number of the soldiers and offi- kuehn, he was in no way convinced by the cers were killed and the Azakh warriors car- Turkish description. Rather, he had the view ried away many modern weapons. After this that this was not a real rebellion but concer- there was no way the Turks could win, and ned a not unjustified defence by people who time was running short for the secret mis- 49 feared meeting the same fate as most Arme­ sion to Iran. Naci began to negotiate a truce nians. If the Germans participated now, the in order to withdraw in some honour: the Turks would not shrink from intimating people of Azakh agreed to pay back taxes that it was they who had led the atrocities and give supplies and stolen weapons to the against the Christian Turkish subjects. army. Naci began to withdraw. Surprised The Germans discussed the issue at the by this turn of events General Kamil, his di- highest level: General Field Marshal Colmar rect commander, and Minister of War Enver von der Goltz, highest German military ad- Pasha ordered Naci to remain in place and visor in Turkey, and the ambassador in Con- continue the siege with the aim of crushing the stantinople Konstantin von Neurath consul- resistance. Naci defied these orders, which ted with Chancellor Bettmann-Hollweg on only he could do since he had such high cre- how to react to the dramatic expansion of the dentials within the CUP. Armenian issue by targeting other Christians I have here described three different lo- in Anatolia. Neurath wrote: cal parts of the Seyfo genocide. They come from just one province, Diyarbakir, but the- The request of the Field Marshal was caused by re are many more examples that there was the expedition against a number of Christians no place for here. Worth further interest are of Syriac confession that had been planned for the genocidal activities at the city of Siirt in a long time. They are allied with the Armenians Bitlis province, the violent ethnic cleansing and have fortified themselves in difficult terrain of the Assyrians from the Hakkari Moun- between Mardin and Midyat in order to get tains, the slaughter of Armenian and Assyri- away from the massacres that the governor of an farmers in the Iranian district of Urmia. Diyarbakir has organized. Conclusion General von der Goltz refused all participa- Is there a pattern to be found? First, the sack- tion of German military. Later on, Scheub- ing of Helwa and the neighbouring Syriac ner-Richter reflected that the Turkish pressu- farm villages combined with the considerable­ re for German participation in the attack on military resources dedicated to destro­ y­ ing­­ Azakh was probably a trap to get the Ger- Azakh, indicate that the government inten- in times of genocide

ded to fully eradicate the Christian popula- sinated in order to make way for persons tion of the countryside, leaving only Mus- whose commitment to genocide was solid. lims. From the evidence presented here it Second, those Turkish officials who oppo- should be clear that the Armenian Genocide sed the eradication of the Christians proba- was more than just Armenian, but included bly were loyal to the idea of a multi-ethnic all Oriental Christians. I think we can see Ottoman Empire or had morals that prohi- this as part of a radical political idea to to- bited killing innocent people even if of a dif- tally change the social and economic struc- ferent religion. These officials were removed ture of Anatolia by eradicating the old Otto- from their posts and some were even assas­ man society in a spirit of revolution.

50 Further Reading

Armale, Ishak, Osmanernas och ung-turkarnas folkmord i norra Mesopotamien 1895/1914–1918; Södertälje: Nisibin 2005. Beth-Zabday, Azech: Vad hände 1915?; Norrköping: Azret Azech 2009. Gaunt, David, Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I; Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press 2006. Hinno, Süleyman, Massakern på syrianerna i Turabdin 1914–1915; Örebro 1998. Rhétoré, Jacques, ‘Les Chrétiens aux bêtes’: Souvenirs de la guerre sainte proclamée par les Turcs con- tre les chrétiens en 1915; Paris: Cerf 2005. Samuel, Athanasius Yeshua, Treasure of Qumran: My Story of the Dead Sea Scrolls; London: Hodder & Stoughton 1968. The Swedish Mayrik Saving Armenian Mothers and Orphans 1902–1941

Maria Småberg

The Swedish missionary Alma Johansson risk of rape and other violations when leav­ was one of a remarkable number of Scan- ing home in order to take care of their fa- dinavian single women, educated as nurses milies make them especially vulnerable in 51 or teachers, who volunteered as relief wor- violent conflicts. Since the mothers sustain kers during the Armenian refugee crisis.1 whole communities, targeting civilian women These women missionaries were often seen is also an efficient way to destroy a local so- as mothers, “mayriks” in Armenian, who ciety. Saving mothers and children in huma- were “saving a whole generation”.2 Alma nitarian crises is therefore in the spotlight to- Johansson was sent out by the organization day as never before.3 These maternal aspects Kvinnliga Missionsarbetare (Women Mis- has, however, to only a lesser degree been the sionary Workers), K.M.A., in 1902 to work focus for research on the Armenian Geno- among Armenian women and orphans in cide and its aftermath, although the majority the aftermath of the massacres in the 1890’s. of the survivors were women and children. She then cared for mothers and children in Hence it is important to highlight mothers various ways. She worked in different or­ and mothering within humanitarian work phanages in Mezreh and Mush until 1915. from this specific historical context. As a nurse she also saw the special needs The witness narratives of Alma Johansson of women and therefore decided to become shed light on the values and practices of a midwife. After the war she worked with mothering within humanitarian work. She Armenian refugees in Constantinople and was perceived as a “mayrik”, but I am also Thessaloniki where she started schools for interested in her concern for Armenian mo­ children. In her work in the refugee camps thers and how she created bonds of solidari- she also focused on self-help projects for ty between Swedish and Armenian mothers. Armenian women, so they could become Thus, from the case of Alma Johansson, I bread-winners and take care of their child- will discuss and analyse mothering in a hu- ren themselves. Thus, Alma Johansson be- manitarian setting and connect it with mo- came an external mother for many of the ral cosmopolitanism – the awareness that all Arme­nian orphans and a support to Arme- humans belong to a single community based nian mothers. on relationships of mutual respect and re- In humanitarian settings, mothers are sponsibility. exposed to specific challenges as mothers. Mothers are often connected to biology, Child birth, breast feeding, diseases and the family and nation.4 However, in this article in times of genocide

I want to broaden these connotations and on wider tasks and develop other skills than explore how mothering is also a social prac- what she had primarily been sent out for. tice performed in both the private and public At the time of the genocide, the children of realms as well as in a global context. I am in the orphanage were trapped and locked into particular interested in such mothering that a house, which was set on fire. Devastated crosses boundaries of care in spite of diffe- from not having been able to protect “her” rences of nationality, culture and religion. children, Johansson set out on a dangerous trip through a war-torn Turkey in order to Alma Johansson – a Cosmopolitan reach Constantinople and make her report. When Alma Johansson (1881–1974) left Her testimony to Western diplomats was home to become a missionary, she did so soon published, together with other reports. with a Christian universal ideal of helping a She also published her story as a book and people in need regardless of their nationali- wrote many articles.5 ty. We can also see how she cooperated with After some years in Sweden, recovering 52 various missionary and secular humanitari- from her traumatic experiences during the an organizations from different countries. She genocide, Johansson returned to Turkey learned to speak German, English, French, in 1920 together with the Danish missio- and Armenian on top of the Scandinavian nary Wilhelmine Grünhagen. They hoped languages. She also took lessons in Turkish. to reach Cilicia, but the missionaries were In many senses she became a cosmopolitan. forbidden to go there. She then remained in Johansson grew up under poor conditions Constantinople, working with the American as a farmer’s daughter. At the age of 19 she Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- received her missionary calling when she sions among Armenian refugees on the out- heard the news about the sufferings of the skirts of the city. Armenians. Johansson enlisted for K.M.A., When coming into contact with the secular a Protestant organization formed in 1894 by American organization Near East Relief, Swedish women for work among women in NER, Alma Johansson got the opportunity foreign countries. She then started out with to begin relief and missionary work in Thes- one year of training at a German Missiona­ saloniki, Greece, where the Americans had a ry school. In Turkey, she first worked at a station. NER withdrew from there in 1924, Danish orphanage and later at a German after which K.M.A. continued the work in- orphanage in Mezreh 1902–1907. The or­ dependently. Johansson worked in company phanages were related to the German orga- with her Armenian assistants Sefora6 and nization Deutscher Hülfsbund für Christ- Asnif,7 the British Jewish missionary doctor liches Liebeswerk im Orient. After her John Goldstein and for shorter periods with training in Stockholm and Geneva to be- the Swedish K.M.A. sisters Mathilda Anders- come a mid­wife, she travelled east again to son and Beatrice Jönsson.8 She was also in work in Mush together with the Norwegian close contact with the Danish industrial mis- missionary and nurse Bodil Biørn in 1910– sion in Thessaloniki and with German mis- 1915. They became heads of another orpha- sionaries, whom she for example visited and nage established­ by Deutscher Hülfsbund. travelled with on vacations.9 Like many foreign missionaries and dip- Through her work, Johansson was thus lomats, Johansson was caught in the middle part of a transnational humanitarian net- of the violence and was then forced to take work that worked among Armenian refu- the swedish mayrik saving armenian mothers and orphans 1902–1941 gees in the Middle East. The relief work has fering people.12 The campaign was unique been called the first humanitarian interven- in its use of media outlets and support from tion in modern times. What, then, was the celebrity spokespeople and citizen volunte- background of this grand endeavour? ers alike. This effort grew and gave birth to what is now known as “citizen philanthro- The Humanitarian Protection of Armenian py”, appealing directly to the public to sup- Mothers and Children port humanitarian work overseas – a model Between one and two million Armenians today being used by a majority of non-profit were killed in the Ottoman Empire in 1915– organizations around the world. Armenian 1917. Stereotyping and prejudice against the mothers and children were in focus of these Christian communities developed and for- outlets. med fierce identity politics. Katharine Der- The League of Nations formed a commis­ derian argues that not only nationalist iden- sion in 1921 for the liberation of women tity politics, but also gender was central in and children in the Near East (the Fifth the Armenian Genocide. We find a very ear- Committee on the Deportation of Women 53 ly differentiation between men and women and Children in Turkey, Asia Minor and in Ottoman policy. Most of the men were the Neighbouring Territories).13 Danish aid arrested and executed at an early stage as a worker Karen Jeppe was elected commissio- systematic elimination of the Armenian mi- ner and about 1,900 women and girls out litary-aged male population, while women of 90,000 were rescued or rescued themsel- were forced out on death marches in the ves from Arab, Kurdish and Turkish house- deserts. Many women, children and elderly holds. Feminist organizations, including the died in the deserts from starvation, disease­ Women’s International League for Peace and or suicide. Women and girls were also ra- Freedom, were also engaged. ped, kidnapped, and forced into marriage There was also a strong sense of belief in and sex slavery. When there were no men to Britain in the Armenian cause, which sha- protect them or no organized female resis- ped British foreign and military policy in tance, women and children became defence- the Near East; they shared a distant religi- less targets to the persecutions.10 ous and cultural past. The Eastern Christ­ From witness reports we know of the bru- ians were oppressed and persecuted mi- tality that both women and children faced norities worthy of sympathy and material during the death marches. For example, sol- support. Moreover, British humanitarianism diers cut up the stomach of many pregnant had already been gendered in the 19th cen- women in order to stop new Armenian ba- tury. British women activists urged women bies from being born. Many Armenian wo- to participate in helping their persecuted men gave birth during the marches but were Arme­nian sisters.14 forced to continue the walk soon after the Women in Scandinavia were also moved delivery. Several mothers were also forced to by the fate of their Armenian sisters. Apart see their children die or to give them away from Alma Johansson, for example Maria or sell them in order to survive.11 Jacobsen, Amalia Lange, Karen Marie Pe- NER, one of the main actors, was for- tersen, Jenny Jensen and Hansine Marcher med in 1915 to act for the Armenians and from Denmark, and Bodil Biørn and Thora was the first broad national appeal to solicit von Wedel-Jarlsberg from Norway also par- funds from the American public for a suf- ticipated in the K.M.A. work among the in times of genocide

Armenians. It is worth noting that these “mothers of a nation” when “saving the care-giving women never received the same remnants of the Armenian nation”.17 Many recognition as the men, who instead worked of the missionaries also adopted Armenian with a more abstract approach to the huma- children as their own.18 nitarian issues. Woodrow Wilson, Hjalmar However, Okkenhaug also finds contra- Branting and Fridtjof Nansen were even dictions in the images of the mothers. In awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.15 It is there­ inter­views with Armenian children brought fore important to recognize and upgrade up in Maria Jacobsen’s orphanage The the role of missionary women as internatio- Bird’s Nest in Beirut, it is obvious that al­ nal actors within historiography. Working though she was called “Mama”, she did not practically with mothering and care in a lo- give priority to mothering. “Maria Jacob- cal context did not mean that they were not sen was busy administrating and could not able to also put their work within a wider be a ‘mayrik’. She was the captain.”19 In cosmopolitan setting. fact Jacobsen was head of the largest orpha- 54 The missionaries mothered Armenian nage in the Middle East, which was a very children, empowered Armenian mothers, demanding job. Bodil Biørn, on the other and turned Scandinavian women into fos- hand, was more of a mother, according to ter mothers. They saved lives during the war Okkenhaug. Biørn was in charge of a smal- through nourishing and nursing, negotia- ler opera­tion and had therefore more time ting with officials and hiding the perse­cuted. to build personal relationships with the They tried to make the genocide known children. At the same time, a small boy in through writing articles and giving lectu- the orphanage saw Biørn as something diffe- res. After the war they helped refugees to rent from a regular mother when calling her find their way in a new situation through “baron mayrig” (Mr. Mother). Thus, Okken- estab­lishing health institutions, schools, in- haug concludes that Western women being dustrial missions and agricultural colonies in charge were not only seen as mothers, but – so that the survivors could build a new also as having male roles.20 life and a future for themselves and their In order to understand the mothering of children. Back home, Scandinavian women Alma Johansson, I will take departure in the read about the work in witness accounts by thinking of Sara Ruddick who discusses th- the missionaries and they themselves helped ree basic activities of mothering which are by donating money, collecting clothes and necessary for a child to survive and deve- buying Armenian needlework.16 We will lop: preservation (looking after basic needs), now look closer into the narratives of Alma growth (fostering and educating) and Johans­son and in what ways this work can accep­tability (responding to a child in his/ be perceived with a mothering lens. her terms). Above all, mothering is about building the relationship with the child on Mothering Armenian Orphans attentive love and trust.21 However, mot- Inger Marie Okkenhaug argues that the hering is not necessarily part of female es- Arme­nian Genocide led to a “tremendous sentialism, but rather a socially-constructed need for external ‘mothers’ – to feed, shel- relationship that can be performed by other ter and bring up the many young children women and men as well. without guardians.” She means that the women missionaries are often portrayed as the swedish mayrik saving armenian mothers and orphans 1902–1941 preservation managed to give bread to each mother who Within K.M.A., it was important to descri- have asked for bread for their little ones.27 be Alma Johansson in maternal terms. The K.M.A co-founder and co-worker, baroness From the opening of the first K.M.A. school Sigrid Kurck writes that Johansson “after in Thessaloniki in 1927, Johansson decided to a while became ‘mayrik’ for a crowd of se- serve food every day and she writes how the venty boys aged 1,5–8 years old.” Alma Jo- school children then became much healthier.28 hansson herself notes: education and growth It was a happy time. It was certainly tense, both The fostering and education of Armenian day and night, and I often made the night beco­ children was a task of priority within the me day, but I never found the work difficult.22 missionary work. Both in the orphanages in Turkey and in the K.M.A. schools in the Johansson often expressed her love for refu­gee camps in Thessaloniki it was especi- children when describing them as “sweet” ally important to give the children a Christ­ 55 and “precious”.23 She also had a foster ian education. In Johansson’s eyes, it was a child, Dufwa, in Mezreh. However, when way of preventing immorality: she went back to Stockholm for studies in 1907, she left the girl behind in the orpha- It is hopeless to see the children without a nage.24 Thus, there were certain limits to an school. They become so wild. /…/ Again and external mother. again we see how important it is to take good Both in the orphanages in Turkey as well care of the children. /…/ It is all too painful to as in her work in the refugee camps, Johans- see how children of a Christian people return to son provided children with food, health a natural state.29 care, clothes, and protection. For example, Alma Johansson describes how she, when For a missionary, it was not enough to pro- the violence reached Mush during the geno- vide the children with material and physical cide, tried to protect the orphanage as much aid, they also needed moral and spiritual as she could. It was a difficult task. She wri- support. tes about how she closed the gate together Within the work of Johansson was also with two other women. They then were shot a great emphasis on saving a nation and its at and the other women were hit. One of cultural heritage through education. This them died immediately, the other was badly becomes especially evident in her reports on injured and died later among her friends in- the education in the K.M.A. schools after side the orphanage.25 the war. Johansson writes in 1922: She also writes about the hard conditions in the refugee camps. How the refugees It is marvellous indeed that Armenians are so were lacking food and clothing. Children eager to learn. /…/ But if the Armenians are died of diseases such as fevers and typhus going to take their place among the nations, from starvation and there was a constant they must be made capable of that.30 need for medicines and health care.26 In the K.M.A. schools in Thessaloniki, the Mothers have sunk under the great demands. children learned Greek and Armenian.31 In the brother country – Greece – one has not Even if the refugees now lived in Greece, in times of genocide

and they themselves spoke Turkish from the hard-tested people, worthy of our compassion time when they lived in Turkey, they gave and our help as they are sharing the same preci­ priority to an education in Armenian for ous faith.35 their children. When Alma Johansson promoted an The moral and respectable life is put at Arme­nian education, she respected in this danger among the youth, but they should be way the right to a particular cultural attach- met with sympathy and mercy, not morali- ment. She was not there to give them edu- zing. After all, they were fellow Christians. cation on Swedish standards. She wanted Alma Johansson also helped the children them to keep their Armenian identity and to become independent and to take care of at the same time be able to get along in a themselves. During the German occupation new home country. Johansson’s work was of Greece during the Second World War, in line with Armenian community activists Arme­nians were sent to work in German in several countries as well as the League of factories. Alma reported in her letters to the 56 Nations and NER that set up orphanages in Swedish readers that the Armenians were various cities of the Middle East in order to doing well there, that they were appreciated preserve the Armenian national identity.32 and well regarded workers.36 Wehanusch, one of the young women, started to work acceptability in a factory in Württemberg. She wrote to For Johansson, it was also important to re- Johans­son in 1943 and describes their dif- spond to the children in their own terms. ficulties in life, but also how most of them Attentiveness and trust was a basic element have found a way to make a living and how for this. When working at the orphanage in they are capable of helping each other. She Mush, she writes: also remembers the time with Alma Johans- son in Thessaloniki: I truly feel how much I love them. They come to me in the evenings to say good night and Soon it is Christmas again. ‘Wondering what I then they expect Mayrik to have some spare get for Christmas by Majrig this year’, we used time for them. We then have both funny and to say at this time of the year. Yes, it was a hap­ serious conversations. Yes, there are many hap­ py time we had together. Now I am a stranger py moments in work! 33 again. I often sing ‘I am a pilgrim’. Yes, Majrig, I still love to sing ‘Jerusalem’, but always with Johansson often comes back in her writ- tears, because the memories overwhelm me. ings to the many traumas of the youth from How we sang that song at your place.37 the days of the genocide.34 She also writes about their hopeless situation and how hard Here, Wehanusch expresses gratitude to Jo- it is to find a job. hansson for providing her and her friends with a kind of shelter or haven during No wonder they become lazy? The best time of the hard conditions in the refugee camps these young men and young women is wasted, in Thessaloniki. She also calls Johansson and there is a real risk that they enter into bad “Majrig”. This care work performed in clo- paths in life. /…/ The Armenians are no saints, se relations seemed to have helped them to although they have suffered a lot for their faith stand on their own feet. – they have many shortcomings, but they are a the swedish mayrik saving armenian mothers and orphans 1902–1941

Long-distance Mothering saloniki. But Johansson also mentions how Mothering in a public sense was at the cent­ she sent Armenian needle work, such as re for philanthropists who tried to promote blankets to baby strollers, to be sold in Swe- morality and create better homes and stable den. There was in this sense an exchange of families in Sweden during the 19th century baby items. and at the beginning of the 20th.38 Philan- In order to reach out to Swedish women, thropic organizations educated poor mot- K.M.A. had its own publishing company hers, but also offered concrete help in nur- and chronicle.44 Through so-called book series and with breast-feeding. Unmarried stations in over 100 places all over the women could practice mothering as “social country, they spread literature and booklets. mothers” in schools, hospitals and prisons. They also arranged meetings for women, Social mothers should also promote peace. youth and children. For example they For these reasons, the society needed good gave lantern lectures and organized sewing mothering.39 Mothering also functioned as groups and other events. Every year they ar- a glue for an international identity which, ranged a so called “Day of privation” (För- 57 among others, the international women’s sakelsedagen), usually on All Saints’ Day, peace movements tried to create.40 for the Armenian cause. It was a day of in- Within K.M.A. we can find a transnatio­ formation, fundraising and prayer. So called nal link between Swedish and Armenian Golden Rule dinners with just a simple dish mothers and children through material and served as a concrete way to show solidarity. emotional support and exchanges. Christ­ Many Swedish families also had Armenian ian mission movements involved themselves “foster children” whom they supported eco- not only in activities on the field, but also at nomically. The exchange of letters was com- home.41 Alma Johansson’s books and many mon.45 articles in the K.M.A. magazine När & In some articles Swedish mothers are as- Fjärran are examples of such contributions. ked as mothers to engage for a child or to So are all the lecture tours she made when support an Armenian mother financially. Jo- being on vacation at home. When Swedish hansson writes: women read about her work and the many Armenian life-stories, they themselves took All happy mothers, think of the many mothers action. The Swedish K.M.A. sent clothes, here who almost succumb, but all the same are food and money to Johansson in the field, driven by the wish to foster their children to who, together with her local assistants, dis­ Christian and capable persons.46 tributed the material support among Ar­­­me­n­­ ians in need.42 They organized a system where The Swedish mother is also asked to foster they gave tickets to the people in need, so her own children to engage for others less the distribution in this way could be as fortunate.47 fair and reach as many as possible. Johans- The transmission of moral and material son writes how she could “feel the love” support over national and cultural borders within each package sent from Sweden and between K.M.A. in Sweden and its local how the Swedish goods were well received branch in Thessaloniki was also comple- and appreciated.43 The aid had personal mented with actions taken on an internatio- touches. It was also directed to children. nal level. K.M.A sent a joint petition from Swedish K.M.A sent baby clothes to Thes- all the Scandinavian branches to the League in times of genocide

of Nations in 1921 “on help and protection rant attitude towards a mother with a child to the unhappy people of Armenia”.48 Alma born to a Muslim father. Even if the child Johansson was in close contact with Sigrid was born out of a forced marriage or rape, Kurck, who was also the head of the Swe- it was often rejected by the mother’s fami- dish Armenian Committee and a delegate ly and even in orphanages and shelters.51 of the International Near East Association Many Armenian women therefore stayed in (I.N.E.A.) in Geneva, which was founded in their new Muslim families to the effect that 1922 in order to, among other things, lobby many Turks today actually have Armenian in the League of Nations.49 Thus, we can grandmothers. see a link to the international arena. Alma Johansson describes how the violen- ce during the genocide was directed against Empowering Armenian Mothers women and how they were victims of rape, The ideology of “national reconstruction” prostitution and forced marriages.52 After was strong within the Armenian communi- the war she also writes about how survi- 58 ties in the Middle East as a response to the ving Armenian women continued their lives genocide. The efforts were focused on or­ and made a living for themselves and their phans and women without a family. There families. Their situation was not easy at all was a strong inclination both in speeches since most of them came to live under extre- by the responsible leaders of the time and in mely difficult and poor conditions in refu- the Armenian press to rebuild the Armen­ gee camps far away. As refugees they were ian nation. During this national regenera- uprooted from their homes and livelihoods, tion, defending, caring for and educating the often separated from their families. Johans- orphans and women in an Armenian envi- son writes: ronment became an act of “cleansing” from the “turkification” they had been subjected Many mothers are real heroines. What do we to.50 know of their tears, prayers and anguish! /…/ The rehabilitation attempts of Armen­ They have been living in an abnormal situation ian women were however haunted with for 18 years now. If you and I were one of them, contra­dictions. The Armenian women were how would we be?53 in one way conceived as national mothers in natio­nal rhetoric. As mothers and wives In another article she describes how a mo­ they were expected to preserve and restore ther who is ill in tuberculosis in desperation the national existence through their purity tries to strangle her two little boys.54 More- – clinging to religion, language, family and over, Johansson writes about a woman who morale – and fertility, giving birth to more breast-feeds a two-year-old child: “When we children. At the same time the Armenian have nothing to eat, it calms the little one socie­ty was uncertain about the possibility somehow”. to “cleanse” the women abducted to rape When describing the surviving Armenian and prostitution. The community also igno- women refugees, she continues to represent red the socio-psychological aspects which them as pitiful victims who lacked hope. led many Armenian girls and women to iso- However, empathic listening, education and late themselves from or abandon their na- handicraft enterprises could bring hope and tional community for fear of stigmatization. emancipation to them – they were in fact Especially, there was a severe and intole- not helpless! Thus, after the genocide we the swedish mayrik saving armenian mothers and orphans 1902–1941 find a shift in the images of the Armenian stressed. In 1927 Johansson writes about women where their strength is emphasized. the teacher Mary Mordjickian and how the For example, after an encounter with wo- children liked her “maternal character”.59 men who had been through the desert mar- In fact, Armenian women could also be­ ches, Johansson nevertheless sees signs of come social mothers. hope: Johansson stressed the point that the industry mission made women bread- I think it is God’s great mercy that they do not winners.60 Johansson finds it difficult to become dull and emotionless. When they hear understand the Greek restrictions that pre- that I also had to share a little of their suffering, vented Armenians to find a work.61 The and feel that I have deep compassion for them, Arme­nian women had a great potential then we are not strangers to each other.56 in the eyes of Johansson, but were restric- ted by their status as stateless. At the end, Empathic listening could help these women migration turned out to be the solution for to find new courage in life, in Johansson’s them. At first, members of families sent mo- 59 view. When listening to another life-story of ney home from their work in for example suffering, she writes that she “feels like stan- Germa­ny and France. After the war, though, ding on a tear stained hallowed ground.”57 there was no other way than to leave Thes- She also describes significant emotional saloniki for good. Johansson’s assistant attach­ments between herself as care giver Sefo­ra and her family were among the last and the Armenian care receivers. They are to leave in 1947 for Soviet Armenia. Almost not distant strangers to each other. no Armenians stayed behind.62 Education and help to self-help in order Medina Haeri and Nadine Puechguirbal to manage on one’s own were important hold that the images used by many huma- aims within the relief work among Armen­ nitarian actors to describe women’s war- ian refugees. Johansson writes for example time experiences are constituted by a homo­ about a young and sick widow with her litt- genous group, who along with children and le 7-year-old son who sews handkerchiefs: the elderly, are the most vulnerable and helpl­ess victims of armed conflicts. In reali- It is a pleasure to receive her work, because it ty, it is important to remember how women is so clean and well made. Sometimes she does show remarkable courage and resilience not have the strength to do more than two in coping with their serious challenges of handkerchiefs a week and they cannot live on trauma and survival. They take care of their that. So I give them a bit extra. She is such a children and serve as anchors for their fami- sweet and fine woman and she raises her son so lies. They also find ways to help each other well, it is a delight to see him.58 and find strength together.63 Both the speci- fic challenges and vulnerabilities of women, Alma Johansson started meetings for mot- but also their perseverance and capacity to hers each Monday where they were taught confront and surmount the hardships of war to read and founded an industry mission and genocide must be acknowledged. for women. In these projects she collabo- rated with local people and organizations. From National to Cosmopolitan Mothers A mothering attitude among the Armenian Humanitarianism is always ambivalent. Fo- teachers in the schools was for example reign missionaries and aid workers helped in times of genocide

hundreds of thousands of Armenians to sur- The example of Alma Johansson shows vive and make a living, “saving an entire that it is possible to perceive care-givers – generation”. At the same time we see how exter­nal mothers – as cosmopolitan actors. paternalism, turning the Armenians into ob- Johans­son did not stay within the private jects of rescue and help from experts from sphere of personal relationships in a local the outside, was part of the humanitarian context. She crossed national, cultural and work. religious boundaries of care and searched Humanitarianism also involves maternal for these close relations with concrete others aspects which are important to recognize. in an international context. She also wan- In this article I have emphasized mothering ted to make the sufferings of the Armenians as a social practice in a global setting. For known to the public, to create compassion Alma Johansson it was important to appear and make people act. The close relation­ as an external mother, but also to appeal to ships became a foundation for Armenians both Armenian and Swedish mothers alike. to help themselves, which made for sustain­ 60 In her mothering we can find ambivalence, a­bility. though, of closeness and distance. She em­ At the same time, Alma Johansson has phasized the importance of context, inter­ been perceived as a national mother by dependence, relationships and responsibili- many Armenians. It has been difficult for ties to concrete others. At the same time she certain groups to view their own Armenian describes the Armenian mothers and child- women as national mothers because they ren as deserving poor, worthy of help since had been raped and defiled. Maybe it is ea- they are Christians. The assumption that sier to describe an external mother as Alma women have distinct nurturing skills prima- Johansson as a national mother? However, it rily associated with mothering experiences is a sign of cosmopolitanism within Armen­ can also be contested, but was part of the ian circles when embracing a Swedish mis- contemporary discourse. sionary as their national mother.

References

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62 Endnotes

1 The Genocide Museum Institute in Yerevan, Armenia, for example, has highlighted the Scandi- navian response to the Armenian Genocide in exhibitions, books and memorial ceremonies. See www.genocide-museum.am/eng/21.04.2011.php. 2 Okkenhaug, “Scandinavian Missionaries”, 88–91. 3 State of the World’s Mothers report 2014. 4 Yuval-Davis, Gender & Nation. 5 When Alma Johansson wrote about her field work, she had mainly a Swedish readership of K.M.A. donors in view, as her articles were published in När & Fjärran(Close & Far). Her books Ett folk i landsflykt (A people in exile, 1930) and Armeniskt flyktingliv (Life of Armenian Refu- gees, 1931), were also published by K.M.A. in Stockholm. Johansson’s reports to diplomats were, on the other hand, published internationally in the collection of the German theologian Johan- nes Lepsius and in the 1916 British report The Treatments of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-16, also known as The Blue Book, by the British historian Arnold Toynbee and the politi- cian Lord James Bryce. 6 Sefora at first took care of Johansson’s household and later became a so-called Bible woman, ma- king visits to Armenian homes in the barracks. 7 Asnif was the head of the industrial mission. 8 Mathilda Andersson worked with Johansson for three months in 1926 and Beatrice Jönsson bet- ween 1930 and 1932. Both had real problems adjusting to the harsh conditions in the refugee camps and became ill and depressed. See K.M.A. collection, National Archives, C0443, F3a:1. 9 See Bjørnlund & Hendel Philipsen, “Sorrow is Turned to Joy”, on the work of the Danish indu- strial mission Industrimissionen i Armenien (IM). 10 Derderian, Common Fate, Different Experience, 2–6. 11 Karlsson, De som är oskyldiga idag …, 125–130. 12 Near East Relief was promoted by President Woodrow Wilson and funded by the American state, turning former missionary work into secular NGOs. See Tejirian,”Faith of Our Fathers”. 13 Watenpaugh, “The League of Nations’ Rescue”. the swedish mayrik saving armenian mothers and orphans 1902–1941

14 Tusan, Smyrna’s Ashes, 35–39. 15 Woodrow Wilson initiated the Near East Relief. Swedish Social-Democratic leader Hjalmar Bran- ting, later Prime Minister of Sweden, participated in the Swedish debate on the fate of the Armen­ ians and was among the first to use the term genocide in 1917. Norwegian explorer, diplomat and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen helped many Armenian refugees with the so called “Nansen passports” and he was also engaged for an independent Armenian national home. 16 See Kurck in Johansson, Ett folk i landsflykt, 5–6. 17 Danish Maria Jacobsen is called “the Mother of thousands of orphans” and “Mama Jacobsen”. Similarly, Danish Karen Jeppe was after her death described as mother in obituaries by Armeni- ans. Okkenhaug, “Scandinavian Missionaries”, 88–91 18 Okkenhaug, “Scandinavian Missionaries”, 88–91. 19 Okkenhaug, “Scandinavian Missionaries”, 90–91. 20 Okkenhaug, “a humble, quiet and serious operation” (forthcoming). Okkenhaug also compares Biørn’s work to that of NER and shows that she wanted to establish “a small, personal and un- hurried recovery for the weakest children”, in contrast to NER’s “extremely large, highly efficient 63 and ground-breaking refugee work”. See Okkenhaug, “Refugees, relief and the restoration of a nation”, 225. 21 Ruddick, Maternal thinking. 22 Kurck, “Martyrfolket”, 40–41. 23 När & Fjärran, 1907, 11. 24 Carlsson, Tiga kan jag inte. 25 Johansson, Ett folk i landsflykt, 25–30. I analyse this incident more in Småberg, “Witnessing the Unbearable” and develop the theme of protection in Småberg, The Vulnerable Guardian. 26 När & Fjärran, 1924, 99–101; 1924, 146–147. 27 När & Fjärran, 1924, 146–147. 28 Johansson, Armeniskt flyktingliv, 12. See also När & Fjärran, 1933, 89–90. 29 När & Fjärran, 1928, 66. 30 När & Fjärran, 1922, 61–62. 31 När & Fjärran, 1933, 73–74. 32 Üngör, “Orphans, converts and prostitutes”, 175–181. See also Watenpaugh, “Are there Any Children for Sale?” 33 När & Fjärran, 1913, 6–7. 34 När & Fjärran, 1922, 26–28, 47–49, 61–62, 136–137, 1924, 111–114; 1926, 114–117; 1927, 103, 1938, 29; 1945, 133. 35 När & Fjärran, 1922, 103–104. 36 När & Fjärran 1942, 136. 37 När & Fjärran, 1943, 5–6. 38 Taussi Sjöberg & Vammen (eds), På tröskeln till välfärden. 39 Swedish author Ellen Key promoted social mothering in Barnets århundrade (1900). See also Tornbjer, Den nationella modern; Wikander (ed.), Det evigt kvinnliga. in times of genocide

40 Rupp, “Constructing Internationalism”, 1582–1586. 41 När & Fjärran, November 1925, 130–131. 42 In När & Fjärran were detailed reports published on how the clothes were collected and packed in Stockholm and sent to Thessaloniki on Swedish boats. In its enterprise, K.M.A received help and 64 sponsoring from various Swedish companies. See När & Fjärran, November 1925, 130–131. 43 När & Fjärran, 1925, 39–40; 1930, 27–28. 44 K.M.A. had a mission column in YWCA’s chronicle Hemåt before it started its own chronicle När & Fjärran in 1904. 45 See Trons framsynthet, 14–15. Children’s books were also spread. 46 När & Fjärran, 1935, 146–147. 47 När & Fjärran, 1921, 5–6. 48 När & Fjärran, 1921, 89–90. 49 När & Fjärran, 1923, 120–121. I develop the topic of discursive spaces in Småberg, “Witness Narratives”. 50 Tachjian, “Gender, nationalism, exclusion”. 51 Tachjian, “Gender, nationalism, exclusion”, 67–75. See also Derderian, “Common fate”. 52 I develop this theme in Småberg, “Witnessing the Unbearable”. 53 När & Fjärran, 1934, 9. 54 När & Fjärran, 1924, 26–27. 55 När & Fjärran, 1925, 56. 56 När & Fjärran, 1921, 19–21. 57 När & Fjärran, 1932, 120. 58 När & Fjärran, 1927, 56–58. 59 När & Fjärran, 1927, 141. See also Johansson, “I tjänst bland de förtryckta”, 68, where she wri- tes about the fortune to have “kind teachers who took care of the children as mothers”. 60 Johansson, Armeniskt flyktingliv, 13. 61 Johansson, Armeniskt flyktingliv, 8. 62 När & Fjärran, 1947, 7; 158. 63 Haeri & Puechguirbal, “From helplessness to agency”, 104–106. Making the Unfathomable Known

Göran Gunner

About thirty years ago, I made a couple of mories of what happened in the past give trips to Armenia, Anatolia and Eastern Tur- a sense of meaning for the children and key with the explicit purpose of examining grand-children of the survivors as well as what still remained of the more than 2,000 for the rest of the world trying to grasp the Armenian churches and monasteries that first genocide in the twentieth century. 65 existed­ in 1915, in what is present day Turkey. The headline “Terrible massacres in Ar­ Except for a few churches that were still menia”­ opened an early report in a Swedish in use – as in Mardin and Diyarbakir – and daily about what the paper called “ongoing a few remaining as historical monuments – mass murders of Armenians”. The locations as in the ruined city of Ani and the church mentioned in the short article are places in on the island Aghdamar – the findings were the eastern Ottoman Empire, such as “Erzu­ discouraging. Apart from these few excep- rum, Dertsjun, Egin, Bitlis, Mush, Sassun, tions, churches and monasteries had either and other places”.1 The report was publi­ been completely wiped away, or were ex- shed at the end of May 1915 while the actu- isting as a few left-behind stones, or as ru- al event started in the middle of April 1915, ins still telling that at one point in time this one hundred years back in time. had been a church. Let me, as a few ex- This means that no survivor with memo­ amples, mention a ruin in the middle of the ries is still alive. But during the years, eye­ plain outside Kars, walls in villages outside witness accounts have been available through Kharpet, or on the far away islands Ktuts diplomatic archives, books, interviews, news- (Çarpanak) and Lim (Adır) in Lake Van papers and so on. Longer stori­­­es,­ smaller still visible remains of Armenian monaste- fragments and memories from a historic ries. Some ornamented khatchkar – typical event create a possibility a hundred years Arme­nian cross-stones – still embedded in later for historians and other researchers to a wall or standing in the open, just a few of present a systematic and coherent account, all the thousands of cross-stones chiselled and explain what actually happened. This out as signs of belonging and faith. also gives a kind of meaning for the survi- Rather few buildings and cross-stones are vors’ descendants when trying to fathom still to be seen today after what came to be stories of atrocities and violence, stories in- known as the Armenian Genocide – The herited in the family as well as told in chur- Year of the Sword, for the Syrians. But the ches and associations. The accounts and stories from the past continue to live, stories memories give the Armenians, Syrians, and told by survivors and eyewitnesses, passed Assyrians living today a sense of proximity on from generation to generation. The me- to what happened one hundred years ago in times of genocide

and empathy for the individuals, families Tiflis, Schemacha, Schuscha, Baku, Kara­ and the whole collective on whom this be- kala, Erivan [Yerevan], Etchmiadzin, Kör- fell, but fosters also disappointment when peli, Gulutjan and Tabris in Persia. In 1915, this history is not recognized. Certainly, there the Swedish missionaries were E.J. Larsson, are Armenian voices saying that it’s better to Olga Moberg, Elin Sundvall, L.E. Högberg, leave history behind and focus on the present and the Sarwe family. Local pastors inclu- and the future. But among Armenians in ded S. Levonian (Kars, Karakala), S. Sarkis- Sweden and elsewhere in the Diaspora, the sian (Erivan [Yerevan]), Etchmiadzin, Kur- consciousness of what happened is still pre- palo, Hadjikara), Ter Asaturiants and K.I. sent as a vivid reality. Tämros (Tiflis), I. Turmanjanz (Ashkhabad), In contemporary accounts told in Sweden and P. Tarajanz and Abr. Djehanjanz (Baku). about what happened the Armenians and A couple of years later the only Swede still other minorities in the Ottoman Empire, at in place was Elin Sundvall. Several of these first words like “massacre”, “blood bath” missionaries were involved in refugee work 66 and “mass murder” were used. But very taking care of survivors escaping over the soon the term “genocide” [folkmord] came border into Russia. In articles and books, into use. they also conveyed the stories told by the Of course, Alma Johansson stands out as survivors. a Swedish eyewitness. But since her story is One of the missionaries, Olga Moberg, told in another chapter in this book, I will had been working both in northern Persia not dwell on it here but present some other and in the Armenian part of Russia with, Swedes of importance. Even if they were not among others, Yazidies and Armenians. She actually eyewitnesses to the very killings, became well known for the Swedish broa- they lived close to what happened through der public when bringing the fate of the Ar- their work and made public the eyewitness menian people to the public eye. She took reports they received, or took part in refu- the initiative of publishing a book written gee work among the survivors.2 by an Armenian, M. Piranjan, who worked on behalf of the Zürich relief committee for The Missionary Olga Moberg Arme­nians. Moberg translated the book – an Important Voice in Sweden into Swedish and convinced the publishing In the year 1881, the Mission Covenant house of the Mission Covenant Church of Church of Sweden [Svenska Missionsför- Sweden to print it, titled Blod och tårar. Ar- bundet] started a missionary work in the meniernas lidanden i Turkiet [Blood and Te- Caucasus. The NAFTA Production Socie- ars. The Sufferings of the Armenians in Tur- ty, run by the Nobel brothers, employed a key]. The book was published already in the few hundred Swedes in Baku. The Mission beginning of 1917. Olga Moberg wrote an Cove­nant Church of Sweden was asked to introduction and another missionary, L.E. send people to care for the employees’ spiri­ Högberg, provided a preface dated Decem- tual welfare. Soon the work was extended ber 1916. into activities which, inter alia, included Ar- Olga Moberg writes in her introduction menians. The Armenian Evangelical Mission about “horrible atrocities” against Armeni- Alliance was organized in 1887 with Sar- ans and the “veritable extermination of the kis Hambarsumjanz as the chairperson and Armenians in Turkey” in 1915.3 In his short with about 1,300 members in places like preface, Högberg makes an important point, making the unfathomable known stating that comprehensive, correct informa- with the actual extermination of Armenians, tion about what has happened to the Arme- which recently took place.7 nians will not be available until the war is over but it is already a fact that what is going Hjalmar Branting, chairman of the Social- on in Turkey is an effort to “exterminate an Democratic Party (and Minster for Foreign entire nation”, that this “extermination” is Affairs 1921–23), spoke in favour of a Swe- already taking place and that the Armenians dish protest against the massacres in Arme- are being subjected to “unmentionable suffe- nia.8 Four days later, a public meeting in ring and horrible torment”. He also vouches favour of the Armenian cause was arranged for the narrators in the book since he knows in the Auditorium in Stockholm, chaired by several of them personally, guaranteeing Carl Lindhagen. Among the speakers were them having “impartially put forward the Hjalmar Branting and Marika Stiernstedt. truth”.4 The number of persons present was estima- Newspaper advertisements for the book ted to a total of 1,800. In his speech, Hjalmar labelled it “The news media about Blood Branting stated: 67 and Tears”.5 The book was included in “youth libraries” in churches around Sweden The documents make clear that this is not and a second edition was printed already the about assaults done by minor officials, but same year. about an organized and systematic genocide The mayor of Stockholm and a member [folkmord], worse than has ever been seen in of parliament, Carl Lindhagen, read the Europe. It is a matter of the entire population book Blood and Tears and took the infor- of huge regions being massacred, forcing the mation to the media, and to the Parliament. survivors into the desert, hoping they would It looks like he discussed the matter with the not endure but their bones would wither in the author Marika Stiernstedt, who urged him sand. in a letter to raise the issue of Armenia in the parliament: “One word said in the Swe- This genocide is unique among all the atroci­ dish parliament, however small its effect, is ties of the war when it comes to the number of bound to make many happy and help buil- victims and the systematic savagery with which ding up awareness.”6 In a debate in the Se- it has been carried out. When we read about it, cond chamber [approx. House of commons] our hearts have turned ice-cold; truly in all seri­ in the Swedish parliament on March 23, ousness, it puts our hearts on ice.9 1917, Lindhagen proclaimed: So, it is fair to say that a missionary, Olga Meanwhile, the common men, women and Moberg, who lived among Armenian sur- children of the Armenian people, victims of vivors, greatly contributed to raise the poli­tical conditions but without guilt, have lite­ awareness of the situation of the Armen­ rally waded in their own blood. Many impartial ian people, making the genocide part of reports are available and recently the Swedish the political agenda. But it was not until general public has, through a small book named 2010 that the Swedish parliament voted in 10 Blood and Tears, been able to get an insight into favour of recognizing the genocide. Un- things that are even more dreadful than we der the heading “Decisions in Brief”, the have got used to during the world war. Earlier parliament’s web site states: atrocities in Armenia are fading in comparison in times of genocide

The Parliament [Riksdagen] approved a multi­ ganize colonies in their native country in, for party motion which among other things inclu­ example Cilicia or Syria, all under interna- ded a request that Sweden should recognize the tional control. The Copenhagen conference genocide [folkmord] of Armenians, Assyrians/ urged countries to form national committees. Syrians/Chaldeans and Pontiac Greeks. Thus, Beskow acted on behalf of Sweden, and The the Parliament requests the Government to Swedish Committee for Armenia was establi­ recog­ nize the genocide.11 shed at a conference in Stockholm in February 1921. The Educator Natanael Beskow The Swedish Committee for Armenia – a Man of Action recei­ved regular messages from the Danish Natanael Beskow, dean of Birkagården folk missionary Karen Jeppe, who was appoin- high school, preacher, and a hymnal lyricist, ted Commissioner by the League of Nations was instrumental in setting up The Swedish and stationed in Aleppo. She estimated that Committee for Armenia in 1921. He wrote the Armenian population had been “almost 68 several books in Swedish, among them A completely exterminated” in the Armenian Martyred People in the Twentieth Century provinces and that in the mid-1920s, app­ (1921), A Swedish Farming Colony for Ar- roximately 100,000 refugees were in Syria, menian Refugees (1927) and The Armenian many of them living under miserable condi- Colonisation in the Region of Euphrates tions.14 The Swedish Committee for Arme- (1930).12 The publishing house run by the nia aimed at making an active contribution folk high school also published books in to solve the refugee question by establishing 1921 by the Germans Johannes Lepsius and agriculture colonies north of the Euphrates Martin Niepage. The pamphlets ended with in Syria, and Karen Jeppe was instrumental a three-page petition “Save Armenia” signed in this work. Two villages, Tel Samen (But- by the board of the Swedish Committee for ter Hill) and Tel Armen (Armenian Hill) Armenia. The petition in turn ends with an were established with approximately 300 appeal for financial support for the Arme- persons on the River Bahlik, and later a nian people. “Hereby, the Swedish Commit­ third colony, Charb-Bedros, with 40 Armen­ tee would like to send a warm appeal to ian and 40 Arabic families. Natanael Beskow the Swedish people to act so the abandoned wrote: Armenian­ people may know that here in the North they have friends who in human soli- We are the pioneers. We have broken the ice. darity will stand by their side.” Now, it is about sticking to it and pursuing our Together with Hagbard Isberg, Natanael cause. The entire herd follows the head ram; Beskow took part in a conference in Copen- no-one needs to worry about that. We are al­ hagen 1920 organized by The Movement ready overburdened with offers from land­ for a Christian International. One item on owners who want to have Armenians, and by the agenda was to find a solution for about Arme­nians who want to be out there. But I am 100,000 Armenian orphans who were said still very reserved and careful. Above all not to to be “to a great degree abandoned to mi- take any step that would endanger the entire 13 sery”. The conference put forward three project.15 alternatives: 1) transfer the children to neu- tral countries, 2) transfer them to colonies In 1930, 800 farmers were working in the in the vicinity of Constantinople, and 3) or- colonies. Yet another step was taken when making the unfathomable known half of the village of Tiene was rented and who had collected 12.50 kronor. One can- 60 more Armenian families arrived, an not be certain but there is a possibility that Arme­nian school was established and doc- these are the two missionaries who had tors were appointed. worked so actively with Armenians: Olga Natanael Beskow was so convinced by co- Moberg from the Mission Covenant Church lonization as a road forward for the Arme- of Sweden and Alma Johansson from Wo- nians that the Association, through the Mo- men Missionary Workers. A third per- vement for a Christian International, sent son known to us is Natanael Beskow, who a direct request to the League of Nations. reportedly­ collected 294 kronor and 77 öre Written by Natanael Beskow, the request in Örebro.17 An anonymous person had gi- proposed that the League of Nations should ven 1,000 Swedish kronor, and money came draw a plan for “peaceful colonization” by from all over Sweden (Gothenburg, Uppsa- settling European and American colonists la, Karlskrona, Kalmar, Fellingsbro, Väster- in order to safeguard Armenian settlements götland, Norrköping, Nora, just to mention in their “former places of residence”.16 The a few) as well as from England and the Uni- 69 letter was, however, never discussed or ack- ted States. nowledged by neither the General Assembly, Obviously, a lot of people in Sweden nor any of the Commissions. knew about what happened to the Armeni- ans thanks to stories published in books and The Extermination of a Nation articles. Here, just a few of the reporting In Sweden, funds were regularly collected persons have been mentioned. I could also on behalf of the Armenian colonies and the have told the story of the Swedish ambas- survivors. The names of contributors and sador to Constantinople, Cosswa Anckar­ the amounts collected were on regular ba- svärd, or the Swedish military attaché af sis published­ in Kristet samhällsliv [Chris- Wirsén, both of whom however are being tian Social Life], a publication with the presented elsewhere in this book. These per- Association for Christian Social Life. The sons were close to what happened, listened list of contributors published in November to survivors and read the reports, and they 1926 included three interesting names: O. were all convinced that this was an extermi- Moberg, who contributed 50 kronor from nation of an entire nation. a collection in Klinten, and A. Johansson,

Endnotes

1 “Fruktansvärda massakrer i Armenien” in Svenska Morgonbladet, May 26, 1915. 2 These persons have also been accounted for in my book Genocide of Armenians Through Swe- dish Eyes (2013) Yerevan: The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and in an article published in Swedish “Det armeniska folkmordet och Svenska vittnen” (2009) in Innanför och utanför. Arv, identitet och nyorientering hos armenier och kopter i Sverige. Tro & Liv Skriftserie nr 6. 3 Moberg, Olga in Piranjan, M., Blod och Tårar. Armeniernas lidanden i Turkiet. Stockholm: Svens- ka Missionsförbundets Förlag, 1917, p. 9 cont. 4 Ibid, p. 3 cont. in times of genocide

5 See for example in Social-Demokraten, March 20, 1917. 6 The City Archive of Stockholm, Carl Lindhagen’s Archive, The Collection of letters, volume 43. 7 Riksdagen’s protocol. 1917. Second Chamber. Nr 35. March 23, 1917 – my translation. 70 8 Riksdagen’s protocol. 1917. Second Chamber. Nr 36. March 24, 1917 – my translation. 9 “Armeniernas fruktansvärda ställning. Ett opinionsmöte på tisdagen” in Social-Demokraten. March 28, 1917; see also “Protestmöte för armenierna” in Svenska Dagbladet, March 28, 1917 – my translation. 10 Minutes 2009/10:86. 11 See the Swedish version of the web site: http://www.riksdagen.se/Webbnav/index. aspx?nid=7160&datum=3/11/2010 – my translation. 12 Ett martyrfolk i det tjugonde århundradet, Stockholm: Birkagårdens förlag, 1921; En svensk jord- brukskoloni för armeniska flyktingar. Stockholm: Birkagårdens förlag, 1927; Den armeniska kolo- nisationen i Eufrat-trakten. Stockholm: R.W. Statlanders boktryckeri, 1930. 13 Beskow, Natanael, PM Konferensen för Armenien i Köpenhamn den 14–17 december 1920, Riks- arkivet F3B:1. 14 Jeppe, Karen, Den armeniska kolonisationen i Eufrat-trakten. Stockholm: R.W. Statlanders Bok- tryckeri, 1930, p. 3–5. 15 Natanael Beskow, “Internationella Försoningsförbundets Armenienkoloni” in Kristet samhällsliv. No. 7–9 1924, p. 10–11 – my translation. 16 “Skrivelse i armeniska frågan till Nationernas förbund” in Kristet samhällsliv. No. 8–9 1922, p. 2–3. 17 Gerda von Friesen, “Den svenska kommittén för Internationella Försoningsförbundets Armenien- koloni har från 1 april – 1 oktober 1926 mottagit följande bidrag:” in Kristet samhällsliv. No. 10 1926, p. 84. Knowing and Doing The Armenian Genocide in Official Swedish Reports

Vahagn Avedian

Objectivity as Creditable Factor of neutrality in regard to its foreign policy. Objectivity, or rather the lack of it, is one of Nonetheless, Sweden was considered Ger­ the main arguments in the Armenian Geno- manophile while conducting strict neutrality 71 cide denial. Our knowledge of the Armenian towards other warring states.1 The Swedish Genocide is nowadays based on rich witness anxiousness for neutrality can be observed accounts and archive sources from the Major in an appeal by the Foreign Ministry to the Powers involved in the First World War – Publishers’ Club during early stages of the WWI – namely Great Britain, France, USA war. The Swedish Press was encouraged to but also Germany, Austria and Turkey. Not- report “fully objective and without taking withstanding, in substantiation of the Arme­ sides for or against any of the warring par- nian Genocide denial, it is often argued that ties as well as avoiding any perceived offen­ the underlying information found in Entente sive judgment.”2 The trade and industry archives and media were unreliable since they actors were also active in this regard, ur- were rather war propaganda, exaggerated ging major newspapers to display restraint and even untrue. The numerous witness ac- in their foreign reporting. “If the Swedish counts and reports by missionary workers, press would act inappropriate, Swedish eco- e.g. the Swedish Alma Johansson, have been nomic relations with the insulted state could dismissed due to their religious compassion be harmed for years to come, thereby dama- for the Christian victims. It is in the light of ging the country’s economy at large.”3 The similar accusations, although mostly unfoun- realpolitik interests were already at work. ded and misleading, the diplomatic and mi- The Swedish Press was, however, not im- litary reports of neutral Sweden emerge as mune to external encroachment. Among highly interesting and important source to others, a special bureau was created to pro- the events of WWI. This provided Sweden vide the Swedish countryside papers with with a wide network of intelligence gathe- articles from the German press. “About 50 ring, diplomatic as well as military, not only papers were among the receivers, mostly from the Ottoman Turkey and its allied Ger- conservative organs, but also a number of many, but also from other neutral states, the liberal papers.”4 In order to further influ- Entente powers as well as the representatives ence Swedish opinion, Germany secretly of the affected minorities in the Empire. purchased the majority of the shares in the Up to 1920 and its entry into the League newspapers Aftonbladet and Dagen. Having of Nations, Sweden adhered to a strict rule a total of 92,000 in circulation, this meant in times of genocide

that the newspapers equalled the circulation a member of the Swedish military mission of the Entente-friendly Dagens Nyheter and invited to improve Persia’s gendarmerie and Social-Demokraten.5 In spite of the fact that police operations. Upon his return to Swe- such a large number of newspapers were un- den he published an article (April 23, 1917) der German influence, which could have af- in Nya Dagligt Allehanda,8 denouncing the fected the reporting of events in Turkey, the reports about an ongoing annihilation of reports about the ongoing massacres and the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. His deportations were many in Swedish press. remarks were based on his observations In the light of this information, the diplo­ during the journey by car (with a Turkish matic dispatches from the Swedish Embassy chauffeur assigned by the Turkish govern- in Constantinople gain even more credibility ment) from Constantinople to the Persian and value. Almost overwhelmingly marked border. Pravitz admitted that he had seen as “Confidential” or “Strictly Confidential,” dead bodies and dying people begging for the reports were meant for the Foreign Mi- a piece of bread, but, with the exception of 72 nistry only. This implied that the author en- one case, he did not see the alleged violence joyed the liberty of informing Stockholm used against the Armenian “emigrants.”9 about the non-censured or sugar-coated ver- He also mentions meeting an Armenian in a sion of the events in the Ottoman Empire. concentration camp (koncentrationsläger), Up to their entry into the war, the Ame- itself an interesting choice of word in the rican presence in Turkey was probably the context of this study.10 How­ever, in order foremost source for reports about the Ar­ to be able to put Pravitz’s observations and me­nian fate. The reports by US diplomats, interpretation into perspective, it is neces- teachers and medical personnel through­ sary to also reflect upon his personal view out the Ottoman Empire account for an in regard to the Armenian people as such. impor­tant part of our knowledge about In his book,11 Pravitz renders his views re- the Armenian Genocide.6 However, once garding Persia, the Persians and the minori- USA abandoned its neutrality in the spring ties living in the country. His de­scription of of 1917, joining the Entente Powers against the Armenian element was hardly flattering the Ottoman­ Empire, this source of informa- and Jews and Armenians were described as tion ceased. As a matter of fact, the Swedish “lying merchants” and Armenians as “highly Embassy­ in Constantinople was entrusted un­trustworthy.”12 In general, the “bloody” with the task of handling American interests measures of the Turkish Government­ towards in the Ottoman Empire in the absence of the “disloyal” Armenians were quite justified, American envoys. To this end, the Swedish even though innocent people had suffered, legation expanded its staff with an additional too.13 chargé d ’affairs, Envoy G. Ahlgren.7 Unlike Pravitz, there was another Swe- dish military witness on site, namely Cap- Military Reports tain (later Major) Einar af Wirsén, the Mi- That the neutrality of Sweden matters in this litary Attaché at the Swedish Embassy. He context is evident in the often cited Swedish arrived to Constantinople in late 1915 and military testimony by Major Gustav Hjal- stayed in Turkey until 1920. As an offi- mar Pravitz, even though it is used by the cer of neut­ral Sweden he was able to travel genocide deniers. He was actually statio- around in Turkey, visit different fronts and ned in Persia, not in the Ottoman Empire, be informed about both Turkish and Ger- knowing and doing the armenian genocide in official swedish reports man military intelligence and data. In one vention, arguing that the deportations were of his earliest reports, af Wirsén described rather “relocations” and for the sake of the the situation­ in Turkey and the spreading Armenian population’s safety. However, as of epidemics,­ mainly typhus, and remarked Taner Akçam points out, the issue of intent that the “Arme­nian persecutions have high- to kill becomes evident once we consider the ly contributed to the spreading of the disea­ implemented deportations were done in spi- se since those deported have died in hund- te of the total lack of necessary preparations reds of thousands due to hunger and other and resources for such an operation.19 The hardships along the roads.”14 Even though deportations were simply equal to death. he mentioned the treatment of the Armen­ af Wirsén estimated that around one mil- ian population in several of his reports lion Armenians were murdered or perished to the General Staff in Stockholm, it is in due to “authority measures.” Keeping this his memoirs we find the most illuminative number in mind, one could conclude that at depic­tion of the Armenian Genocide. In this least half the Ottoman Armenians lost their book, Memories from Peace and War (1942) lives, while if the Turkish claims about the 73 af Wirsén dedicated an entire chapter to the pre-WWI Armenian population being less Armenian Genocide, entitled The Murder than two million are true, then the losses of a Nation. 15 He wrote: ”During the first were even greater proportionally. af Wirsén year of my stay in Turkey an incredible tra- concludes his chapter with the following gedy occurred which belongs to one of the words: most horrible events which has taken place during the world history. I refer to the de- The annihilation of the Armenian nation in struction of the Armenians.”16 The subse- Asia Minor must revolt all human feelings. It quent deportations were nothing but a cover belongs without a doubt to the greatest crimes for the extermination: “Officially, these had committed during the recent centuries. The the goal to move the entire Armenian popu- manner by which the Armenian problem was lation to the steppe regions of Northern Me- solved was hair-raising. I can still see in front of sopotamia and Syria, but in reality they ai- me Talaat’s cynical expression, when he empha­ med to exterminate [utrota] the Armenians, sized that the Armenian Question was solved. whereby the pure Turkish element in Asia And I concur with the words of the German Minor would achieve a dominating posi- Military Plenipotentiary in Constantin­ople, tion.”17 af Wirsén points out that the orders General von Lossow, who, even though to were given with utter cunning. The com- some degree defended the Turkish measures, munications were generally given verbally uttered to me in private: “The Armenian mas­ and in extreme secrecy in order to give the sacres are the greatest bestiality in world his­ government a free hand in the implementa- tory.”20 tion of the massacres.18 af Wirsén continued “Those who were not murdered, perished An Ongoing Annihilation: due to intentionally evoked hardships un- The Diplomatic Reports 1914–1920 der the most revolting circumstances.” af The Swedish Ambassador in Constantin­ ­ Wirsén’s observation is especially important ople at this time was the career diplomat Per in regard to the Turkish denial of intent, a Gustaf August Cosswa Anckarsvärd, who central issue in regard to the applicability had been in office since 1908 and would re- of the definition of the UN Genocide Con- main there until 1920, when he was trans- in times of genocide

ferred to Warsaw as the new ambassador to Security for life and property, access to civilian Poland.21 His numerous reports during this and military offices, yes, even to the govern­ period unambiguously confirmed the geno­ ment. Such equality would undeniably entail cidal nature of the massacres and deporta- the destruction of the Turkish element’s supre­ tions sanctioned by the Ottoman govern- macy, which supported itself on neither supe­ ment. rior quantity nor intelligence, but has rather Anckarsvärd’s reporting about the omi- came about as the right of the victor.23 nous development in the Ottoman Empire started already in December 1914, when he The rulers soon realized that the only solu- dispatched a note stating that ”the Turkish tion for maintaining the Turkish hegemony Parliament has as today been reduced to was to attain not only qualitative suprema- simply and alone approve the decisions of cy, but also a quantitative: the ruling party.”22 This was an ill-boding premonition of what was about to happen, They attempted to make the Turks qualitatively 74 since the Union and Progress Party (Turkish superior by implementing the provisions of the İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti), better known new constitution regarding the civil rights only in West as Young Turks, was in total con- for themselves and by favouring their intellec­ trol over the Empire. The power had in the tual education through all means, while the 1913 coup d’état been concentrated in the other nationalities were held at bay as much as hands of a very small clique within the par- possible. They tried to make them quantitati­ ty, led by the triumvirate consisting of Inter­ vely superior by assimilating other nationalities ior Minister­ Talaat Pasha, the War Minister and, once it failed, soon enough through politi­ Enver Pasha, and the Marine Minister and cal persecutions and extermination. It is against Gover­nor of Aleppo Cemal Pasha. The pro- this background that one might view the mea­ cess, as described in the Swedish reports, re- sures against the Armenians and potentially minds strongly of how the Nazis consolida- simi­lar actions against the Greeks.24 ted their power during the 1930s. This was evident in a lengthy report that envoy G. The similarities with Nazi Germany are stri- Ahlgren sent on September 10, 1917. In this king in regard to the Young Turk’s seizure detailed report, Ahlgren analysed the poli­ of power by establishing a reign of terror in cy of the İttihatists and the means for the which there was no room for neither oppo- consolidation of the power. Initially, they sition, nor questioning government actions. had attempted the policy of “Ottomaniza- Since the coup d’état in 1913, the İttihatists tion” of the Empire’s population in order to were ruling the empire with a rod of iron: homogenize what was left of the Ottoman the political opposition was suffocated and Empire when the Christian nations on the numerous “inconvenient” individuals were Balkan had emancipated themselves from apprehended, jailed and “disappeared in Turkish rule and gained their independen- one way or another.” The result was the ce. The reform was welcomed by all inhabi- transfer of Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s unrestric- tants, but the İttihatists soon discovered the ted power to the İttihatists. Talaat Pasha poten­tially dangerous aspects of the reform supervised the entire composition of the since the minorities started demanding same parliament and the appointment of key ad- rights as the Turks, among others ministrative positions by “loyal followers.” The police corps and the army were reorga- knowing and doing the armenian genocide in official swedish reports nized, becoming secure tools in the hands of sonally responsible, as well as those who have the government. Ahlgren concluded: participated in these massacres.29

An unrestricted power rests now in the hands This very first usage of the term “crimes of a few persons, who are ruthlessly abusing it against humanity” in history and its related for implementing their plans and for their own prosecution within international law would gain, their friends’ and their protégés’. The come to be enforced in the 1920 Sèvres Tre- 30 ruthlessness is exercised primarily against the aty. non-Turkish elements of the population.25 On July 6, 1915, Anckarsvärd sent the first of his six reports that year entitled The stage was set to get rid of the inconve- “The Persecutions of the Armenians.” He nient Armenian Question, emerged at the wrote: San Stefano Conference in 1878.26 There was, however, one major obstacle left, The persecutions of the Armenians have namely­ the danger of foreign military inter- reached hair-raising proportions and every­ 75 vention, i.e. similar to those which had ear- thing points to the fact that the Young Turks lier resulted in the independence of Serbia, want to seize the opportunity, since due to dif­ Bulgaria and Romania. The golden oppor- ferent reasons there is no effective external tunity would present itself in the shape of pressure to be feared, to once and for all put an World War I. end to the Armenian Question. The means for One of earliest reports by Anckarsvärd on this are quite simple and consist of the exter­ the subject dates to April 30, 1915, in which mination [utrotandet] of the Armenian nation. he talks about the so-called Hamidian Mas- /…/ It does not seem to be the Turkish popula­ sacres during 1894–9627 and the 1909 Ada- tion which acts on its own accord, but the enti­ na massacre, but also the arrest of nume­ re movement originates from the government rous Armenian journalists, doctors and institutions and the Young Turks’ Committee lawyers who had been sent to Angora awaiting which stands behind them and now displays trial.28 What he described was the initial what kind of ideas they harbour. /…/ The Ger­ phase of the genocide when around 250 Ar- man Ambassador has in writing appealed to the menian leaders and intellectuals were ar- Porte, but what can Germany or any other of rested on the night towards April 24 (thus, the Major Powers do as long as the war conti­ the annual commemoration day), sent to the nues? That the Central Powers would threaten interior of the Empire where the majority of Turkey is for the time being unthinkable, and them were executed within 72 hours. Turkey is already at war with the majority of About one month later Anckarsvärd re- the remaining Major Powers.31 ported about the delivered joint ultimatum by Britain, France and Russia (May 24, This report alone confirmed three central is- 1915) to the Turkish Government, stating sues in the Armenian Genocide. First and that: foremost, the massacres were planned and sanctioned by the central authorities and In regard to this new crime against humanity not a question about a civil war between and civilisation, the allied governments declare Muslims and Christians. Secondly, in regard openly to the Sublime Porte that they will hold to the essential issue of intent, the ultimate each member of the Turkish government per­ aim was the “extermination of the Armen­ in times of genocide

ian nation”. And finally, the factor of the Germany can no longer remain a silent witness ongoing war, presenting the splendid op­ to how Turkey, through the Armenian perse­ portunity to get rid of “the Armenian Ques- cutions, was going downhill, morally and eco­ tion” without fearing external intervention. nomically. Furthermore, they protested against Allied Germany was, however, not enti- the Porte’s course of actions, based on which rely indifferent, even though their protests her ally Germany becomes suspected of appro­ seemed rather a precaution against poten- ving these and, finally, Germany renounces any tial accusations about German complicity. responsibility for the consequences.35 On July 14, Anckarsvärd notified about the German official note to the Ottoman Some weeks later Anckarsvärd noted that the Govern­ment in which the German Ambas- German protests have had little effect and sador protested against the “persecutions they have only served the purpose of “de- of the Armenians.” Even though the actions creasing the accusations towards Germany’s might be justified from military point of part in the responsibility.” He continued: 76 view, the extent and the unnecessary exces- sive violence would put Turkey in an unfa- It is considered here that more than half a mil­ vourable light and open up the opportunity lion Armenians have disappeared, killed or died for European intervention in Turkey’s inter- as a result of diseases and hunger after the de­ nal affairs as soon as the war ended.32 Ger- portations. /…/ It is evident that the Turks are many, however, did hardly anything to stop taking the opportunity to, now during the war, the massacres other than issuing protest no- annihilate [utplåna] the Armenian nation so tes. that when peace comes the Armenian Question A new report one day later, on July 15, no longer exists. /…/ It is noteworthy that the cited the Armenian Patriarch’s appeal to the persecutions of Armenians have been done at Turkish government that the instigation of the Turkish Government and are primarily not a spontaneous eruption of [I]f the aim is to annihilate the Armenian nation, Turkish fanaticism, even though this fanaticism in which case he would be ready to initiate a is used and plays a role. The tendency to make movement to organize a mass exodus to e.g. Turkey inhabited only by Turks could in due South America. In this way the Turks would get time come to appear in a horrifying manner 36 rid of the Armenians and they would suffer less also towards the Greeks and other Christians. than now.33 Thus, Anckarsvärd repeated his earlier con- One week later Anckarsvärd dispatched viction that the measures were centrally a new report fearing that the annihilation planned and implemented with the intent to poli­cy towards the Armenians would also be annihilate. This was a genocidal campaign. implemented towards the Greek population In his last report during 1915 entitled of the Empire.34 “The Armenian Persecutions” Anckarsvärd The massacres had reached their peak confirmed the estimation of the Armenian during the summer of 1915, forcing the Patriarch about the disappearance of half of German Embassy to yet again openly pro- the Armenian population, even though he test the treatment of the Armenians. The questioned the Patriarch’s mentioned two tone was sharper this time. The German million.37 Ambassador made it clear that knowing and doing the armenian genocide in official swedish reports

During the spring of 1916, Anckarsvärd Thus, until 1920, the reports by the Swe- reported about the potential Arab revolt dish diplomatic and military presence spoke within the Empire and the fear of the im- clearly and unanimously about the fate of plementation of the measures against the the Armenian nation: it was an extermina- Arme­nians: tion campaign, a genocide. The Turkish Go- vernment had taken the opportunity given Only thanks to the war could such an ultra- by the cover of the war to once and for all terroristic dominion such as the present one solve the Armenian Question through phy- be able to sustain. This dominion’s true nature sical extermination. Once the war was over, has surfaced in such a pregnant manner in and the international community should inter- through the Armenian persecutions. That the vene and punish the perpetrators and for a same violent methods are still being used is evi­ short while it seemed that justice would pre- dent by the latest intelligence reports about the vail as stated in the Sèvres Treaty: punish- measures to suppress the threatening fermenta­ ment of war crimes and the creation of an tion among the Arabs.38 independent and united Armenia. 77

Only foreign intervention could have pre­ Realpolitik Interests and Denial ven­­­ted the ongoing annihilation and the war However, the tone of the Swedish diploma- had given the most excellent opportunity to tic reports changed diametrically in 1920 implement the governmental plan, inconcei- once the new envoy Gustaf Oskar Wallen­ vable during peace time. berg arrived in Constantinople. He was the In January 1917, reporting on the gene- former Swedish envoy to Japan, half-bro­ ral situation in Turkey, Anckarsvärd made ther to the former Foreign Minister K.A. the following remark in regard to prevailing Wallenberg. Gustaf Wallenberg differed distress and shortage of provisions: “Worse from the traditional diplomatic corps: he than this is, however, the extermination of was not a career diplomat, but a business- the Armenians, which could have been pre- man, a trademark of his entire family back- vented if German advisers had in time been ground, one of the wealthiest in Sweden. granted power over the civilian administra- Despite his wealthy background, he was not tion as the German officers in fact enjoy an aristocrat which was otherwise the nor- over army and navy.”39 Half a year later, mal for Swedish diplomats.41 Beginning his envoy Ahlgren sent a detailed report about diplomatic career in Tokyo during 1906 (later a war-torn Turkey. His thorough rendering being accredited to Beijing as well), he was a of the strained economic situation and the strenuous advocate of Swedish trade inte­r­­­­­­ests, prevailing high prices are explained by the within existing markets but especial­ly in following: emerging ones.42 This would become abun- dantly evident in his reporting from Turkey. “[o]bstacles for domestic trade, the almost total Wallenberg’s arrival to Constantinople paralysing of the foreign trade and finally the coincided with the peace negotiations be­ strong decreasing of labour power, caused part­ tween Turkey and the Entente and the con- ly by the mobilisation but partly also by the ex­ cluding of the Sèvres Treaty which also en- termination of the Armenian race [utrotandet visioned a united independent Armenia. To af den armeniska rasen].40 this end, the League of Nations wanted a mandate power for ensuring the security of in times of genocide

Armenia, entailing the deployment of pea- also risk damaging Sweden’s prospects of ce-keeping forces. However, both France establishing contacts with Armenia’s neigh- and Great Britain declined such a responsi- bours. It was pure business and realpolitik. bility with reference to their already accep- This complete turnaround would prevail ted mandates in the Middle East and North during the entire period until the disappea- Africa. The League then turned to the three rance of the Armenian Question from the in- neutral states of Netherlands, Sweden and ternational agenda once the Lausanne Treaty Norway, hoping that one of them would ac- was signed in 1923.45 Wallenberg contin­ cept the responsibility for the operative part, ued his negative and partly derogatory tone while USA would finance the operation.43 towards Armenia with the obvious ambi- But, by this time the Kemalist (after the fu- tion of defusing any attempt of support for ture founder and president Mustafa Kemal Armenia.­ Instead, he was highly praiseful of “Atatürk”) Nationalistic Movement had Mustafa Kemal and his movement. Indeed, gained momentum in Turkey and the Enten­ for a brief period of time before Anckarsvärd 78 te powers would soon engage frenetically moved to Poland, there were totally contra- in securing their own interests in the new dictory accounts about Armenians and oth- emerging Turkish Republic, abandoning all er minorities in Turkey: while Anckarsvärd previous calls for punishment of war crimes reported­ of renewed massacres, now by the as well as support for Armenia. hand of the Nationalists, Wallenberg refu- Sweden was no exception in this regard. ted any such occurrences, dismissing them as Wallenberg’s very first dispatch from Tur- propaganda, instead praising Mustafa Kemal key was his recommendation that Sweden as the saviour of Turkey and its minorities.46 should not accept the mandate of Armenia. Wallenberg continued this negative atti­ He stated most clearly that Armenia had no- tude in his coming reports as well. On thing to offer Sweden and went on quite far March 17, 1921, he compared the Armen­ in smearing Armenians and their cause. Not ian nationalists in the “diaspora” with the only was the “Armenian national character Zionists as a “rather rootless phenomenon, highly unreliable, which, by the way is no at least mainly subsidized by individuals surprise regarding a people whose politics who themselves would not for a moment has since centuries been limited to the fields reflect upon settling in the dreamed ‘father- of intrigue,” but the Armenians would al- land.’”47 Furthermore, according to Wallen­ ways blame the mandate power for any pos- berg, Armenians as a nation had barely any sible scandal in the future. More impor­tant, future. Those inside Turkey were rather if Sweden should ever accept such a role, Christian Turks who spoke Turkish as their Armenia was the least interesting subject mother tongue, while those in the Soviet in the entire region compared to Anatolia,­ Union would be Russified. The only Armen­ Azerbaijan and Georgia. “Since we Swedes ians aspiring for an independent Armenia would scarcely be regarded to have any spe- were those among the Western Diaspora.48 cific moral responsibility towards any of the The Armenians in Turkey, in spite of the Black Sea nations, there is hardly any reason “unfairly treatment,” would prefer a Tur- for us to specialize on those who are least kish government before the colonial rule of interesting from our own perspective.”44 foreign powers. “We are Turks, and would Not only did Armenia offer nothing to Swe- like to remain so,” he quoted approvingly a dish interests, but siding with Armen­ ia­­ would prominent Armenian lawyer he had encoun- knowing and doing the armenian genocide in official swedish reports tered in Constantinople. However, the most This indeed implied the forced Turkification conspicuous remark in his report was the of all non-Turkish minorities, as a conse- following: quence of the Nationalistic slogan “Turkey for Turks.” It is noteworthy how Wallen­ The blame for the unfortunate events of 1915 – berg puts “Armenians” and “Greeks” with­ the evacuation of the ‘suspect elements’ behind in quotation marks as if they are nothing the Caucasus front and the subsequent long but artificial denominations, constructed by death marches to Mesopotamia and Syria – external actors for agitation through the re- seems generally amongst the local Armenians to spective church. be put less on their Mussulmen countrymen (ex­ Wallenberg’s negative reporting conti- cept of course the scapegoats Enver and Tal’at, nued well into 1922, until the Sovietization who are otherwise not specially great repute of Arme­nia and the subsequent treaties be­ with Angora) than on the Entente and those tween Kemalist Ankara and Bolshevik Mos- under the agitation of the diaspora Armenians, cow put an end to the Armenian Question; who intimidated the Turkish authorities and for the time being.52 While Anckarsvärd 79 infu­riated them.49 hardly made any direct recommendation for Swedish involvement or reaction regarding This was not only contrary to the situation the treatment of the Armenians (although depicted by Anckarsvärd, Ahlgren and af alluding to such needs in the future, once Wirsén, but it also alluded to the very argu- the war was over), Wallenberg was more ments used by the Turkish Republic to deny than clear on deterring Stockholm from any the genocide. The Armenians, according such commitment. Armenia was simply not to Wallenberg, regarded Mustafa Kemal as worth it. Once the trade and economic as- their “time’s greatest man.”50 The denial of pects were weighed in, the issue of human the Armenian Genocide had begun in ear- rights and committed “crimes against huma- nest. nity” faded in comparison, especially since In his report on April 21, 1921, Wallen- Turkey and other neighbouring countries berg claimed that the Christian minorities offered so much more potential profit for have manifestly started to Sweden. It should be added that Wallenberg and [a] large extent realize that there is indeed little Sweden were far from alone. The Swedish motivation for calling themselves Armenians reaction was in fact well aligned with the or Greek, just because they were Christians of international community at large and the Armenian or Greek rites, when they otherwise Major Powers in particular. Among others, have the same language and same fatherland as the US High Commissioner in Turkey, Ad- their Mussulmen countrymen. Ever since the miral Mark L. Bristol, argued that “The Ar- ‘Armenians’ in Anatolia have already during the menians are a race like the Jews – they have past year freed themselves from the Armenian little or no national spirit and poor moral Patriarch’s influence, who is under foreign poli­ character.” Bristol called Turkey “a virgin tical influence, the ‘Greeks’ here have also star­ field for American business and American ted to show tendencies to separate themselves financial exploitation.”53 In contrast, Bristol from the Ecumenical Patriarch.51 referred to Armenia as a “lemon” – a land with no natural resources or even seaports. Accor­ding to Bristol, the Armenians and the in times of genocide

Greeks “have many flaws and deficiencies tions stood on the shore around the drowning of character that do not fit them for self- people, each and every one with its lifeline in government.”54 The sooner U.S. dropped its hand. But no-one wanted or dared to throw it, support for Armenia in order to improve its fearing they would themselves be drawn into relations with Turkey in order to get access the water.55 to the Ottoman oilfields, the better. Few statements have described the aban- The Armenian fate was sealed in the Lau- donment of the Armenians and the perplexi­ty sanne Treaty which replaced the Sèvres of the international community in a clearer treaty. The Turkish delegation leader, Ismet way than the remarks by the Swedish Social- Inönü, made it abundantly clear that any Demokraten correspondent in Gene­va, attempt to discuss the Armenian Question repor­ting from the session of the League of would lead to the termination of the nego- Nations in regard to the support for Armenia: tiations. US Ambassador Grew noted that “there is no subject upon which the Turks 80 The civilized nations looked at each other, a are more fixed in obstinacy than the Armen­ 56 bit ashamed indeed and each and every one ian Question.” The Entente powers gave whispered their answer to the Council: ‘Su­ in to this threat and the Turkish victory at rely Armenia must be aided. It is a responsi­ Lausanne was total. Winston Churchill wro- bility towards all humanity to aid Armenia. It te: “In the Lausanne Treaty, which establi­ must not happen that Armenia is not aided. shed a new peace between the allies and But why should I do it? Why should I? Why Turkey, history will search in vain for the 57 should I?’ was sounded from every direction. name Armenia.” ‘Why should exactly I expose myself to the risk The Armenian Genocide has justly been and the incon­venience of putting my nose in called “a successful genocide.” this robber’s den?’ And so, all the civilized na­

Endnotes

1 H. Carlbäck-Isotalo, Sweden and Russia in Dissolution 1918–1919. Some Political and Econo- mical Aspects of the Swedish Government Policies towards the Baltic Provinces, the Ukraine and Other New States, in Aleksander Loit, (red.), The Baltic in International Relations Between the Two World Wars (Stockholm, 1988), p. 218; W. M. Carlgren, Ministären Hammarskjöld: Till- komst – Söndring – Fall, Studier i svensk politik 1914–1917 (Stockholm, 1967), p. 78, 101; Tom- my Hansson, Neutralitetsmyten: En granskning av svensk utrikespolitik (Stockholm, 1991), p. 7; Herbert Tingsten, The Debate on the Foreign Policy of Sweden, 1918-1939 (Oxford, 1949), p. 11–12; Per Ahlin, Folkrätten i svensk säkerhetspolitik (Stockholm, 1993), p. 46. 2 Gunilla Lundström, Per Rydén, Elisabeth Sandlund, Den svenska pressens historia, Det moderna Sveriges spegel (1897-1945), Vol. 3 (Stockholm: Ekerlid, 2001), p. 124. 3 Lundström, Rydén, Sandlund, 2001, p. 125. 4 Lundström, Rydén, Sandlund, 2001, p. 124. 5 Tommy Hansson, Neutralitetsmyten: En granskning av svensk utrikespolitik (Stockholm: Contra, 1991), p. 20. knowing and doing the armenian genocide in official swedish reports

6 Among numerous photos and testimonies by Americans, perhaps the most famous belongs to the American Ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau’s story, New York, 1918. 7 Colonel G. Ahlgren’s accreditation in this matter is mentioned in a communique between the American and the Swedish legations. See Riksarkivet, Utrikesdepartementet, 1902 års dossiersys- tem, vol. 370, Konstantinopel, 8 september 1917. 8 Nya Dagligt Allehanda’s German affiliation would grow into full sympathy for National-Socialism during the 1930s. See Lundström, Rydén, and Sandlund, 2001, p. 258; Britt Sturve, Reider Sun- nerstam, Ebon Sönnergren, Armenienfrågan i svensk press under första världskriget, in Göran Gunner and Erik Lindberg (eds.), Längtan till Ararat, En bok om Armenien och armenisk identitet (Göteborg: Gothia, 1985), p. 215. 9 Nya Dagligt Allehanda, Stockholm, April 23, 1917. 10 Ibid. 11 Gustaf Hjalmar Pravitz, Från Persien i stiltje och storm (Stockholm: Dahlberg, 1918). 12 Pravitz, 1918, p. 22, 226–227. 81 13 Pravitz, 1918, p. 219, 221–223. 14 Krigsarkivet, Generalstaben, Meddelande 8, 13 maj 1916. 15 Einar af Wirsén, Minnen från fred och krig (Stockholm, 1942), p. 220–226. 16 af Wirsén, 1942, p. 220. 17 af Wirsén, 1942, p. 223. 18 af Wirsén, 1942, p. 226. For this aspect of secrecy see also Vahakn N. Dadrian, The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus (Providence: Berghahn, 2004), p. 289, 384–385. 19 Dadrian, p. 243. 20 af Wirsén, 1942, p. 226. 21 The information is found among the legation’s documents about personal files. Riksarkivet (RA), Utrikesdepartementet, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 370, 1890–1920, RA, Stockholm. 22 Riksarkivet (RA), Utrikesdepartementet (UD), 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1148, nr. 241, 15 de- cember 1914: Turkiska parlamentets öppnande, Anckarsvärd till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg. 23 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1149b, Nr. 260, Inrikespolitik i Turkiet. De maktägande, Ahlgren till utrikesminister A. Lindman, 10 september 1917. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. 26 The first occasion where the “Armenian Question” was raised internationally as part of the “Eas- tern Question,” encompassing the diplomatic and political problems posed by the decaying Otto- man Empire, earning it the title of the “Sick man of Europe.” For the San Stefano Treaty see Mi- chael Hurst, Key Treaties of the Great Powers, 1814–1914, Vol. 2, Oxford, 1972, p. 528–548. 27 Between 1894 and 1896 around 150,000 Armenians were massacred while 40,000 were forcibly converted to Islam and another 150,000 fled to Caucasus, Europe or USA. See Kristian Gerner and Klas-Göran Karlsson, Folkmordens historia, Perspektiv på det moderna samhällets skuggsida (Stockholm: Atlantis, 2005), p. 120; Hrant Pasdermadjian, Histoire de l’Arménie depuis les origi- nes jusqu’au traité de Lausanne (Paris, 1949), p. 412. in times of genocide

28 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1148, Nr. 99, Den armeniska upprorsrörelsen och dess se- naste yttringar, Anckarsvärd till K. Wallenberg, 30 april 1915. 29 The Porte or Sublime Porte is a metonym for the Government of the Ottoman Empire, by refe- rence to the gate of the building from which orders and decrees were announced. RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1148, Nr. 117, Händelserna i Armenien, Anckarsvärd till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg, 7 juni 1915. For the excerpt of the ultimatum see Richard G. Hovannisian, Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918 (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1967), p. 52. 30 For the provisions of the treaty see World War I Document Archive, Peace Treaty of Sèvres, Brig- ham Young University Library, Utah; wwi.lib.byu.edu. 31 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1148, Nr. 137, Förföljelser mot armenierna, Anckarsvärd till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg, 6 juli 1915. 32 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1148, Nr. 142, Förföljelserna mot armenierna, Anckarsvärd till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg, 14 juli 1915. 33 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1148, Nr. 145, Förföljelserna mot armenierna, Anckarsvärd 82 till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg, 15 juli 1915. 34 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1148, Nr. 155, Förföljelserna mot Turkiets undersåtar af grekisk nationalitet, Anckarsvärd till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg, 22 juli 1915. 35 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1148, Nr. 170, Förföljelserna mot armenierna, Anckarsvärd till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg, 18 augusti 1915. 36 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1148, Nr. 182, Förföljelserna mot armenierna, Anckarsvärd till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg, 2 september 1915. 37 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1148, Nr. 183, Förföljelserna mot armenierna, Anckarsvärd till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg, 4 september 1915. 38 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1149a, Nr. 80, De beramade öfverenskommelserna mellan Turkiet och Tyskland, Anckarsvärd till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg, 20 maj 1916. 39 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, vol. 1149a, Nr. 9, Uttalanden om situationen i Turkiet, Anck- arsvärd till utrikesminister K. Wallenberg, 5 januari 1917. 40 RA, UD, 1902 års dossiersystem, Vol. 1149b, Nr. 232, Det allmänna läget i Turkiet vid fjärde krigsårets början, Ahlgren till utrikesminister A. Lindman, 20 augusti 1917. 41 Bert Edström, Storsvensken i yttersta östern: G. O. Wallenberg som svenskt sändebud i Japan, 1906–1918 (Stockholm, 1999), p. 6. 42 Edström, p. 13–16. 43 RA, UD, 1920 års dossiersystem, vol. HP 904, Telegram, Paris 0305/23 40W 23 18 40, Cabinet Stockholm, 24 april 1920. 44 RA, UD, 1920 års dossiersystem, vol. HP 904, o Nr. 74, Uttalande ang. ett eventuellt mandatär- uppdrag i Armenien, G. Wallenberg till utrikesminister E. Palmstierna, 26 april 1920. 45 World War I Document Archive, Peace Treaty of Lausanne, Brigham Young University Library, Utah, 2007; http://wwi.lib.byu.edu. 46 For reports on renewed Armenians massacres see RA, UD, 1920 års dossiersystem, vol. HP 1474, Nr. 46, Rykten om nya massakrer mot armenier, Anckarsvärd till utrikesminister J. Hellner, 5 mars 1920. 47 RA, UD, 1920 års dossiersystem, vol. HP 1474, Nr. 69, Situationen i Armenien: En orientering, Wallenberg till utrikesminister H. Wrangel, 17 mars 1921. knowing and doing the armenian genocide in official swedish reports

48 Ibid. 49 Ibid. 50 Ibid. 51 RA, UD, 1920 års dossiersystem, vol. HP 566B, Nr. 91, Situationen i Orienten under Ista kvarta- let 1921, Wallenberg till utrikesminister H. Wrangel, 19 april 1921. 52 Among others see RA, UD, 1920 års dossiersystem, vol. HP 1474, Nr. 234, Neutralitetsskydd för den armeniska befolkningen i Cilicien, Wallenberg till utrikesminister H. Wrangel, 19 oktober 1921. RA, UD, 1920 års dossiersystem, vol. HP 566B, Nr. 116, Den anatoliska kyrkoschismen, Wallenberg till utrikesminister H. Wrangel, Maj 9 1921; Nr. 267, Situationen i Orienten under 3dje kvartalet 1921, Wallenberg till utrikesminister H. Wrangel, November 15, 1921; Nr. 115, Ang den af engelska regeringen påyrkade undersökningen af turkiska öfvergrepp mot minoriteter- na i Mindre Asien, Wallenberg till utrikesminister H. Branting, 6 juni 1922; Nr. 146a, rapporten ang. orientsituationen, Wallenberg till utrikesminister H. Branting, 23 november 1922. 53 Peter Balakian, The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response (New York: HarperCollins, 2003), p. 366. 83 54 Balakian, p. 367. 55 Written on November 24 and published in Social-Demokraten, Stockholm, November 29, 1920. 56 Balakian, p. 370. 57 Winston Churchill, The World Crisis, Vol. V (London: Thornton Butterworth, 1929), p. 408. Under the Lid: Women, Silenced Memories and the Armenian Genocide Introduction to the film Grandma’s Tattoos

Suzanne Khardalian

I have a tree, my own tree in Stockholm. A And what about selective amnesia? Why do dead oak tree. Majestic from a distance. Yet we decide to remember certain stories about it holds as its secret the big hole inside its the Armenian Genocide, but have difficulty 84 trunk. You will not see it unless you climb even mentioning some others? I’ve been down and examine it closely. This magnifi- grappling with these questions for more cent oak has still kept its form. The beauti- than two decades now. They are at the core ful woody branches still rise to the sky. But of my films. the tree is dead; it has been dead for more than a decade. It is a monument to things Silence and Memory: Armenian Women gone. And it is mute; you will not hear its and the Trauma of Genocide leaves murmur. I am surprised no one has “In the beginning was the Word, and the decided to cut it down. Word was with God, and the Word was The tree has lost its roots, just like me. It God.” Those words, long familiar to Christ­ is standing with no roots. Living, yet dead. ians, introduce the Gospel of John. The Just like my culture, my mother tongue. Word of God is the Saviour, the promise of I am full of dying or dead words. A life- life. The Gospel of John is a celebration of less existence. On my way to being extinct. this saviour as The Life Giving Word. Why am I writing about my tree? The oak Yet this film and the process of remembe­ evokes in me a world that is disappearing. ring begins, however, not with word, but But what fascinates me is this unique state with silence. So, in the beginning is silen- of being half dead, half alive. What does a ce. This silence is not empty, but pregnant dead tree have to offer? Not life! Herein are with meaning; it is filled with yearning. This the origins of my interest in memory and its silen­ce screams words of pain, of ignorance, reflections in my work. of evil unacknowledged, and of desire unful­ Why do we remember things? What is filled. These words have been denied or re­ memory? What is it that we choose to re- jec­ted; they have been rendered mute. The member, and what do we decide to forget? silencing is of those who have been victimi- Do we even decide? How much can we in- zed in history. Their silence contains thou- fluence the process of memory-making? sands of words, a host of memories, that we And why do we remember genocide? Why have yet to hear and receive. We are called do we want to remember the pain? Why do to enter this silence as witnesses. We are as- we want to pass it on? Is there anything at ked to listen attentively to the words of tho- all to learn from genocide? se who have not yet been fully heard. under the lid: women, silenced memories and the armenian genocide

And so this film is about the silence and tion of memory as a direct link to an essen- the listening and the invitation to speak. It tial truth escapes us. is about a memory lost, a taboo, memories that are deliberately erased or mutated, me- Landscape As Site of Memory mories that are not supposed to be remem- Landscape has always been important for my bered. work, again as an important element of story- It begins by attending to those who have telling. Why did I bring up the issue of lands- not always named their word, whose word cape? Because landscapes are important has not been heard or has been suppressed sites of memory. Memory as a projection and ignored. Those words issue forth as onto the places and sites of the landscapes is memo­ries, submerged and unclaimed, which a key component of storytelling. For man- now come to the surface and call for rescue. kind, geographical locales are overlaid with As we hear and remember anew, salvation mythology and the human imagination, to will take on a new form. become personified memory. Memory fragments in the form of visual 85 Dealing With Silence and Acts of Memory tableaus are animated through archival film, However, why do we want to remember? family photographs, and sound-scapes and Often because we have a lesson to learn. recently filmed landscapes and objects. All Why do you tell stories? Because by telling this in order to express moments of epipha- the story we transmit the lesson learned to ny – moments of recollection and revelation coming generations. that have become embedded in the memory Now the lessons we decide to storage is against the background of family or collec- very selective. Often the memory is about tive or nation fictions. As such, the Past that something we have lost. It is about acknow- was buried in the imagination is refracted ledging a defeat, a loss. through the families memory, and the film What happens to storytelling when the becomes kind of an archaeological investiga- subject is genocide. tion. In the process of observing the past, is- Is there a lesson in genocide? What does sues of family dysfunction, the split between the experience of genocide offer to huma- the observed self, the familial other self and nity? the remembered self are brought into sharp What happens when the storyteller is of- focus. In illuminating the past as personal fering you short sentences, sharp and stiff? ethnography, the film plays with identity What happens when the words used have positions, questions of power relations and new, unknown meanings to you? even re-arranges family hierarchies. What happens when the silence in the sto- Grandma’s Tattoos draws on personal ries you are told is as striking as the words ethnography to navigate the territory of me- used? mory through the media of authentication What happens when people are telling not (photographs and home movies) and perso- with words, but against words, when ins- nal remembering. Personal remembering is tead of transmitting the story they transmit part of a collective remembering. their helplessness? What happens when the My own childhood memory fragments scene stage is impossible to construct? What mix the found and the fictional to form happens when all you have are fragments of audio-­visual scenes as sites of exploration. stories with breaks of total silence? This no- Taking the example of the family photos, in times of genocide

looking for an answer to my questions, the Grandma’s Tattoos: secret in the family is illustrative the way the Film Itself as a Memory Space they appear in the film. For my father the In Grandma’s Tattoos, the compositioning is photographs erased the past, monumenta­ used to resurrect personal recollections from lized and stabilized the family for the future, the purely testimonial “That has been”, to “these were happy days”. Grandma was not produce a tableau of multiple subjectivities. in the photos. We were happy without her. The multi-layering techniques evoke the So what have I done? I came in and by messiness of memories – intense moments producing, re-organizing and re-looking at of recollection. In making the scenes, I put the images of the past, I subject memory to toge­ther formerly disconnected pieces of interpretation and thus memory acquires material from the family photos and the multiple meanings. The past becomes a con- archives, the landscape, with graphic re- tested zone with each reviewing and family construc­tions, sound-scapes recorded at the narration. Throughout the film there are location and recent interviews. 86 multiple “single moments” which remain In the reconstructions, I place myself in isolated. As separate moments they have no the foreground and create another story in centre, they occupy empty space. They re- the background unsettling any unified fami- quire a narrative to re-construct them. The ly narrative. film becomes the battleground for control of By using technology of memory, we start a family narrative. First my father’s photos of out on a journey with a sense of loss in or- “happy moments”. Then comes my mother der to seek for traces of memory. At the with a narrative, and aunt Lucia negates it, heart of these photographs is ultimately ab- the 104-years-old survivor living in Yerevan, sence, absence of the past, absence of a sing- Maria Vardanyan, brings another aspect, ular autobiography or unified family story. the sisters claim silence. In response to this absence, this film dis- The film and the issue of the silence ulti­ mantles further the family’s fragmented nar- mately point to loss rather than reminding rative in order to reconstruct the memoirs us of presence. My attempt has been to set into “moments of being” through the media up questions of memory, to situate frag- of photographs, home movies and family re- ments and photographs as material for in- collections. These memory fragments restore terpretation and evidence – to concur or dis- the stage scene as a space of the past. prove of personal recollections. For what is What is created in the place of a tidy tes- remembered of the self when the observed is timonial are the rituals of memory and the there as masked performance? construction of a personal mythology. In so In the film the images function as a trace, doing, another memory space is established as a code or a clue to a meaning that is lo- – one that is deliberately reflective and self- cated elsewhere “like a riddle read and de- conscious about its process. coded”. The process involves a search for The interplay between imagination, me- a self that has been erased. It is an attempt mory and the autobiographical becomes a to reconstitute an absent self in defence of map for navigation. In this way, the viewer what is invisible, what has been hidden by becomes engaged in a process of memory the masked performance. creation and a debate about ways that films function as a medium of memory and the film itself becomes a memory space. under the lid: women, silenced memories and the armenian genocide

Armenian Women Survivors identity, the discussion of the different as- and Transmission of Silence pects of the genocide has been limited. Vi- The silence that enshrouds the memories of tal questions have been either ignored or the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, of marginalized not only by me but also by the abused women, the persecuted men and Armenian communities. The psychological the oppressed children is not accidental or effects of the genocide have never been dis­ chosen; it is a silencing by a world with a cussed pub­licly. We do not know how the draft to exclude. These threatened memories continuing denial has compounded the ef- and people are in reality themselves threats fects of the original trauma. How did sexual to socio-political narratives which reflect violence, the rape and abduction of Armenian and produce particular arrangements of po- women and girls impact conceptions of and wer, serving certain interests. “Truth” is po- the practice of sexuality among subsequent litically produced through the shaping of Arme­nian generations? Is gender at all im- meaning. The “word” which we know be- plicated in the constructions of Armenian gins as an empty sign, flexible, malleable to concepts of the nation and Diaspora identi- 87 the play of power in the world. Attending to ties? the silence includes being attuned to silen- My neglect of these issues has been anot­ cing that results from oppression or denial. her kind of denial with serious consequen­ It requires a critical consciousness of such ces. Much later did I realize that the discus­ dynamics and forces, a sharpening of the ear sion about the effect of the treatment of to hear those sounds not found in the scales women and girls of the genocide has been we have practiced. These sounds will lead to missing from both scholarly research and more complex understandings of word and community. That is changing. We now world. know that the genocide was very gendered. The silent and silenced ones stand, how­ Men were killed, and women and children ever, as challenge to Christianity’s claim were sent on forced marches. Women and to effective redemptive power. Their suf- girls were raped and abducted, some were fering testifies to the unrealized promise. forced into prostitution, both during the If the promise of Christianity’s redemptive genocide and in its aftermath, as a way to Word is to be kept for those who suffer, survive. These aspects of the genocide were then that Word must include their words recognized by contemporary observers. The and their memories in a way that actively Armenian press from the period after the ge- shapes redee­ming truth. Indeed, we must be- nocide, has consecrated long columns about gin with listening to and receiving these me- the reintegration of the Armenian women mories. and their children, who were fathered by As an Armenian-Swede, as the child of an Turkish men. It was the topic of a heated immigrant from Lebanon with roots exten- debate. That debate was central to recon- ding to Turkey, as a writer and film direc- structing the nation and Armenian identity. tor I have thought, filmed and written about Yet the stories of the women survivors have identity construction in the context of the been silenced in the form of either complete Armenian Genocide, however my latest film erasure or banalization. Silence as erasure Grandma’s Tattoos puts emphasis on gender. did occur in the moment of making history, While the Armenian Genocide and its even though early narratives about women denial have been central to my work and and children were not silenced or erased. in times of genocide

Conclusion is how Back to Ararat and I Hate Dogs were Women survivors and their stories pose ma- made. But this time the resistance was in- jor challenges to historians and filmmakers comprehensible, irrational. Already from as well, because we are dealing with mas- the beginning, while researching, I was told, culinised memory, humiliation is presented “Fate of the women? That is a strange way as understood by men, and even hope is to approach the genocide.” mascu­linised. One commissioner could allow himself to Researching the genocide, one can reco- say, “But what is the big deal with rape?” ver the stories of many women survivors And sexual violence is almost taken for and perceive the dichotomy between positi­ granted. But that is not surprising. After all, ve attitudes towards orphans on the one history is written by men; so it is with geno- hand and, on the other hand, the uneasiness cide. Women as casualties is only now beco- or unconcealed negativity towards women ming an international security issue. and girls who had become prostitutes, who There was another challenge with Grand­ 88 had lived in Turkish households and whose ma’s Tattoos: How could you tell the story children had been fathered by Turkish men. of thousands of victims while making it in­ But women, although silenced, come te­resting, touching, and comprehensible at across as key actors in the process of trans- the same time? The victims, these women, mission, even if transmission occurs through had long passed away. silence. Perhaps the biggest challenge, however, As a film maker I believe we need to was fighting my own blindness, my belief know these stories as much as the stories that I knew it all, that I had seen all the of those lost or silenced women who survi- photos and read all the books. I was shock- ved the genocide. They are also victims and ed when I found out that my own grandma survivors who ought to be honoured, and had been a victim. And I was shocked by researching them from a feminist perspecti­ my family’s choice in dealing with the pro- ve can provide vital insights into how post- blem – selective amnesia. genocide efforts to rebuild the nation and It took me three years of research and of Armenian identity were gendered and how fighting opposition to the project, but the those conceptions continue to shape both reception to Grandma’s Tattoos was over- our ethnic and gender identities. whelming. We were all discovering oursel- Usually, a film on genocide is viewed as a ves. Women were mostly touched by it. Men bad idea, as commercially non-viable. Yet I were angry. But in the end, the anger was fought, and persistence yielded results. That only a sign of desperation.

References

Films discussed in the text Khardalian, Suzanne. Grandma’s Tattoos. Documentary 59 min. Sweden, 2011. Khardalian Suzanne, Holmquist, PeÅ. Documentary I Hate Dogs, 30 min. Sweden 2006. Khardalian Suzanne, Holmquist, PeÅ. Documentary Back to Ararat, 90 min, Sweden, 1988. under the lid: women, silenced memories and the armenian genocide

Books and articles Altınay, Ayşe Gül. “In Search of Silenced Grandparents: Ottoman Armenian Survivors and Their (Muslim) Grandchildren.” In Der Völkermord an den Armeniern, die Turkei und Europa / The Armenian Genocide, Turkey and Europe, edited by Hans-Lukas Kieser and Elmar Plozza, 117–32. Zürich: Chronos, 2006. Bjørnlund, Matthias. “‘A Fate Worse Than Dying’: Sexual Violence During the Armenian Genocide.” In Brutality and Desire: War and Sexuality in Europe’s Twentieth Century, edited by D. Herzog, 16–58. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Boyajian, Levon, and Haigaz Grigorian. “Psychosocial Sequelae of the Armenian Genocide.” In The Armenian Genocide in Perspective, edited by Richard Hovanessian. New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1987. Card, Claudia. “Genocide and Social Death”, in Robin May Schott (ed.) Feminist Philosophy, and the Problem of Evil. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007. Cetin, Fethiye, and Ayşe Gül Altınay. Torunlar. İstanbul: Metis, 2009. Cetin, Fethiye, and Maureen Freely. My Grandmother: A Memoir. Translated by Maureen Freely. 89 London: Verso, 2008. Dadrian, Vahakn. “Children as Victims of Genocide: The Armenian Case,” in Journal of Genocide Research 5 (2003): 421–38. Derderian, Katherine. “Common Fate, Different Experiences: Gender Specific Aspects of the Armeni- an Genocide, 1915–1917.” Holocaust and Genocide Studies 19, no. 1 (2005): 1–25. Ekmekcioglu, Lerna. “A Climate for Abduction, A Climate for Redemption: The Politics of Inclusion during and after the Armenian Genocide.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 55, no. 3 (2013): 522–53. See more at: http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2014/06/armenian-widows- orphans-istanbul.html#sthash.bd4MTWbT.dpuf Enloe, Cynthia. Bananas, Beaches and Bases. Making Feminist Sense of International Politics. Berke- ley: University of California Press. 1989. Khardalian, Suzanne. Berättandets Befrielse, Dramatiska Institutet, Stockholm. 2009. Maksudyan, Nazan “Foster-Daughter or Servant, Charity or Abuse: Beslemes in the Late Ottoman Empire”, Journal of Historical Sociology, vol. 21, no. 4, December 2008, pp. 488–512. – See more at: http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2014/03/children-childhood-ottoman-em- pire-turkey.html#sthash.OAaFvE7F.dpuf – See also Orphans and Destitute Children in Late Ottoman Empire. Syracuse: Syracuse Univer- sity Press, 2014. Sarafian, Ara. “The Absorption of Armenian Women and Children into Muslim Households as a Structu- ral Component of the Armenian Genocide,” in Omer Bartov and Phyllis Mack, eds., In God’s Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century, New York: Berghahn Books, 2001, 209–21. Schott, Robin May. War rape, Natality and Genocide, Journal of genocide research (2011), 13 (1–2) March-June 2011, 5–21. Shemmassian, Vahram. “The League of Nations and the Reclamation of Armenian Genocide Survi- vors,” in Richard Hovannisian, ed., Looking Backward, Moving Forward: Confronting the Ar­ menian Genocide New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2003, 94. Tachjian, Vahé. “Gender, Nationalism, Exclusion: The Reintegration Process of Female Survivors of the Armenian Genocide,” Nations and Nationalism 15, 1 (2009): 60–80. – see also “Recovering Women and Children Enslaved by Palestinian Bedouins,” in Uğur Ümit in times of genocide

Üngör, “Orphans, Converts, and Prostitutes: Social Consequences of War and Persecution in the Ottoman Empire, 1914–1923,” War in History 19, 2 (2012): 173–92. Watenpaugh, Keith David “The League of Nations’ Rescue of Armenian Genocide Survivors and the Making of Modern Humanitarianism, 1920–1927,” in American Historical Review 115, 5 90 (2010): 1315–39, here 1315. Zahra, Tara. The Lost Children: Reconstructing Europe’s Families after World War II. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011. “The Alleged ‘Genocide’ of 1915”: The Structure of Genocide Denial

Maria Karlsson

Introduction been described as “the final stage” of geno- Roupen, an Armenian refugee of the Sas- cide – it is silence and denial. soun region in the north-eastern corner of This essay will be focused on the structure Asia Minor, commented in Viscount James of this “final stage”, and the proposed non- Bryce’s and the, then young, historian Ar- existence, of genocide. Instead of arguing 91 nold Toynbee’s collection of testimonies and narrating within a scholarly set of rules from the Ottoman genocide of 1915: and conventions, genocide denial attempts to turn what has been into what never was, When a detailed account of the horrors which and argue that what you think was, was in accompanied these massacres is fully disclosed fact something else. In accordance with the to the world, it will stand out in all history as logic of denial, the horrors of the concentra- the greatest masterpiece of brutality ever com­ tion camp gas chambers during the Second mitted.1 World War, the atrocities of the death mar- ches of the First World War, and the general His conjecture, shared by many of his con- dehumanization and massacre that is geno- temporaries who experienced the unrestrai- cide are turned into non-events or trivialized ned violence and massacre, held true during beyond recognition. The deniers of genocide the course of the First World War, including maintain that gas chambers were solely built a few months post-war. After that, interest as a means of delousing German enemies, in the “Armenian Question”, as it was tra- organizing death marches was a benevolent ditionally referred to, waned and new con- act of evacuation, and what has been termed flicts and topics rose to the top of the inter- the genocides of the Jews and the Armenians national agenda. Though lamentable, this is were, in fact, the genocides of Germans and not an uncommon development. The Holo- Ottoman Muslims.2 caust met, for example, a similar fate in the In spite of genocide denial being a recur- aftermath of the Second World War. Initial rent phenomenon of modern history, it has interest and repulsion at the horrific images received fairly little attention from scholars. from the liberation of the Western-most Whether this is the result of an established concentration camps was soon overshado- custom, ideological barriers or out of fear of wed by the rebuilding of societies and the legitimizing denial is difficult to say, but the developing conflict between East and West. result has mainly been attempts to “com- The sombre conclusion of the dark twen- bat” denial, to refute their arguments, rather tieth century is therefore: it is generally not than to try to understand and grasp how ge- acknowledgement and recognition that has nocide denial works and what it contains. in times of genocide

This essay is, though brief, an attempt to While the denial of the Holocaust or the do the latter.3 By comparing the cultures of genocide­ of 1915 often depict each case as denial that developed after the genocide of simply “a myth”, “a legend” or “a hoax”, 1915 and the Holocaust, this essay will dis- other examples show that the reality of geno- cuss the basic patterns of denial, the rhetori- cide and mass murder is regularly also nega- cal devices, the arguments and the repeated ted without the explicit detour to myth and phrases that make up a larger phenomenon legend. Following a common denialist pat- of genocide denial. While the individuals in- tern, the aforementioned Weems consistent- volved in denying either the Holocaust or ly refers to the Armenian Genocide within the Armenian Genocide might not belong to quotation marks, indicating the non-reality the same circles, share ideological affinities and incredibility of the event rather than ful- or world views, they seemingly work and filling any form of grammatical function. express themselves within a transnational While Samuel Weems is a prime example in denialist pattern, or genre, that overwrites the Armenian case, this type of hard denial 92 linguistic, political or cultural differences.4 remains a standard technique within Holo- caust denialism as well. The American Holo- Hard Denial caust “revisionist” Arthur Butz begins the There was no genocide as they claim.5 2003 edition of his book The Hoax of the Twentieth Century by referring to his investi- Arguments that in every respect deny and gations of the “Jewish ‘Holocaust’”.6 Austin refute the reality of genocide and mass mur- App, one of the earliest deniers of the Holo- der, such as the conclusion drawn by Samuel caust, uses them to underline the incredulity Weems above, should be categorized argu- of the “gassed six million Jews”, and Richard ments of hard, or absolute, denial. Similar Harwood, the British Holocaust denier, fre- arguments have by other scholars been filed quently questions the “myth” – likewise his as “blatant denial”, but regardless of what preferred designation of the Holocaust – and we choose to call it, this basic argumenta- “’the Six Million’” through the use of quota- tive pattern requires little explanation. It is tion marks.7 simply based on the assumption that there Similarly, both cultures of denial tend to was no genocide; there were no death mar- describe the Holocaust or the Armenian ches, no gas chambers, and no holocausts. Geno­cide through the combination of a few In contrast to “softer” arguments of denial, standard expressions. Commonly, the Ar- versions of hard denial do not argue in terms menian Genocide is presented as “the al- of a lack of intention, of provocation, of ter- leged genocide of 1915”,8 and Weems dra- minological disagreements, or of numbers. matically refers to the events of that year as It is simply concluded that nothing happe- the “greatest tall tale being told by Armeni- ned, and that any proclamations of genocide ans today”.9 By comparison, the culture of and mass murder are solely figments of the Holocaust denial has an even larger collec- imagination. They are, the argument goes, tion of recurrent expressions that emphasi- fables told by Jewish and Armenian propa- zes the Holocaust as “atrocity propaganda”, gandists after each World War as a means of “the six million swindle”, “the fervently gaining public attention, sympathy, political propagandized myth”, and so on.10 support, and economic advantages. In addition to these rather blatant examp- les of genocide denial, it is also a recurrent “the alleged ‘genocide’ of 1915”: the structure of genocide denial

pattern of both Holocaust and Armenian minority in particular had been an unruly Genocide denial to focus on symbolically and revolution prone group. To McCar- important details as a means of rejecting thy, the events of 1915 are best described the reality of the entire historical event. In as “The Armenian Revolution”,16 and the the case of the Holocaust the topic of never- lack of death marches disqualify, much like ending denialist scrutiny has been the exis- Harwood’s negation of the gas chambers, tence, probability and use of gas chambers. any notion of genocide. Arguments claiming the non-existence of gas chambers usually question the scientific pos- Soft Denial sibility of gassing large amounts of people, As opposed to the absolutist nature of hard as well as the logic behind such actions. It is denial, soft denial is characterized by nuan­ determined, for instance, that no Jews were ce and a relative degree of refinement. While gassed and that the gas chambers found hard denial refutes the very existence of the post-war were in fact built by Allied forces Holocaust or the Armenian Genocide, the in an attempt to disgrace the Germans.11 Si- softer arguments tend to rationalize, trivia­ 93 milarly, Harwood has stated that the Holo- lize and relativize acts of genocide in a num- caust is nothing but a Jewish myth, and he ber of ways. Over time, soft arguments of feverously maintained that Germany fought denial have increased in frequency and in a costly war and the gas chambers would authority among Holocaust deniers and simply have been counterproductive as Ger- deniers of the Armenian Genocide alike. many did not afford to exterminate large This development has naturally resulted in portions of the work force. His eventual a high number of different soft patterns of conclusion stated that the famous concen- denial, of which all cannot be discussed in tration camps and their gas chambers were, this essay. Instead, I will focus on a handful in fact, nothing but industrial complexes.12 of recurring patterns that show the major The inmates of these complexes, he argues, similarities between modern denial of the were in fact well looked after, received Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. In medi­cal care, and were given a daily ration particular, this essay will discuss the ques- “which was more than double the average tion of genocidal intention, the so-called civilian ration in occupied Germany in the provocation thesis, the “numbers game”, years after 1945”.13 the imitation of scholarly methodology, and In denialist discussions of the Armenian the, at first glance reasonable, notion that Genocide, similar disclaimers have been “there are two sides to every story”. direc­ted at the, equally symbolic, death mar- ches. Justin McCarthy has, for example, on intention treated the forced marches through the Ana- What has to be absolutely established before tolian deserts as either completely normal anything else is that the Nazis had no plan and or an unfortunate necessity. Deportations no wish to exterminate all Jews. To say that as such are, he writes, “a classic Middle Eas- they had is a lie.17 tern and Balkan method to neutralize one’s enemies”, and that the ones of 1915 were in The central formulation of the United Na- essence peaceful.14 They were, McCarthy ex- tions’ Convention on Genocide, adopted plains, the logical answer to “the lessons of in 1948, seems, in hindsight, to be the de- Ottoman history”15 in which the Armenian finition that “genocide means any of the in times of genocide

follo­wing acts committed with intent to de- that the intention behind the so-called death stroy”.18 The definition effectively separates marches was benevolent evacuation, not ex- genocide from natural disasters, epidemics, termination. Justin McCarthy has, for ex- and other catastrophes out of human cont­ ample, argued: rol from events caused by human intention and planning. To those of us studying geno- On 26 of May 1915, the government gave or­ cide, intention is often a troublesome con- ders to relocate Armenians from potential cept as it is decidedly hard to come by past war zones. /…/ The intent, a common one in documents that state an explicit intent “to govern­ments fighting guerrilla wars, was to de­ destroy” an entire category of people. No- prive the rebels of the support they needed to netheless, the fact that genocides are plan- carry on their battles.21 ned and organized is an inescapable and fundamental part of what we today regard According to McCarthy, the deportation as constituting genocide. As a result, the de- orders were simply the adequate response 94 nial or rationalization of genocidal inten- to a threatening situation of Armenian up- tions has become an effective way of under- heaval. Confidently, he contends that “[t]he mining the reality and importance of both intentions of Istanbul were clear – to move the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. and resettle Armenians peacefully”.22 Here, The quotation above, stating that there genocide­ by deportation becomes a matter of was no Nazi intention to murder the Europe- internal security, and the intention to mur- an Jews, summarizes much of what is written der becomes the intention to “relocate”, within the cultures of Holocaust denial. The in turn rationalizing the entire Armenian Jews that died did so, it is maintained, as a Genocide.­ Weems claims similarly that result of disease and “a total loss of control, not a deliberate policy”.19 Among Holocaust [t]here is no genuine proof the Ottomans desi­ deniers, arguments that disassociate Hitler red to do anything but remove this very real th­ from the Holocaust have been particularly reat to their army and this is why the Armenians important, stating that his intention had al- were removed”.23 ways been expulsion rather than extermina- tion. In a similar way, rebuilding the reputa- The deportations were, according to Weems, tion of Talaat Pasha, Ottoman Minister of based on sound military consideration, and Interior and the one to sign the deportation he comments further that the “Armenians orders in 1915, has been an important pat- have produced fake documents in an at- tern within the cultures of Armenian Geno- tempt to prove otherwise”.24 Here and el- cide denial. The American Heath Lowry has, sewhere, the deportations are turned into a for example, referred to Talaat as an indivi- necessity, a common method of neutralizing dual who has been unfairly slandered by his- troublemakers, a considerate program of tory. Talaat was, Lowry stated, a level-head- evacuation, and a temporary measure from ed man that helped the people around him which the deportees were to return home sa- and performed acts of “gracious kindness”.20 fely. In all, the result is the trivialization and In addition, just like Holocaust denial em- rationalization of the reality of the deporta­ phasizes that the intention behind the Holo- tions, and the dismissing of the intent to caust was expulsion and not extermination, commit genocide. denial of the events of 1915 tends to argue “the alleged ‘genocide’ of 1915”: the structure of genocide denial

the provocation thesis torical context of persecutions and violen­ce The internal threat was a massive Armenian re­ directed at the Armenians has been remo­ved volt in eastern Anatolia.25 from the “revisionist” version, and Armen­ ian­­ revolutionaries are portrayed as the instiga- In the late spring of 1915 events unfolded tors and perpetrators of an actual internal in the Ottoman city of Van, located in the threat. Armenians were terrorists, and the north-eastern corner of Asia Minor, which revolt taking place was “massive”, trans- would prove significant in terms of the deve­ forming the Armenian Genocide into a ci- loping Armenian Genocide, and in terms of vil war fought between two sides of equal its subsequent denial. The Ottoman lead- strength. Hence, the provocation thesis also ers had entered the First World War in late disregards the apparent differences between 1914, and was the following spring fighting an armed and trained army, and a scattered, the Russian Army at the eastern borderlands defenceless minority people. separating the two empires. Following some As opposed to denialist treatment of the initial Ottoman success, the fortunes of war Van incident, the few instances of Jewish 95 changed and the Russians were able to ad- resistance have remained rather invisible in vance into Ottoman lands. The city of Van, the denialist literature.30 In general, other holding a great Armenian majority, reacted arguments are utilized. Fairly widespread to the widespread violence and persecutions are, however, arguments that transform the directed at Armenians all across the empire, German Jews into a hostile faction of the and the city of Van became one of few in- war. Richard Harwood writes, for example, stances of outright resistance to the persecu­ that tions and harsh war requisitions, aimed espe- cially at the Christian minorities. When the [i]t is widely known that world Jewry decla­ Russian Army was pushed back, however, red itself to be a belligerent part in the Second the Armenians of Van were left at the mercy World War, and there was therefore ample basis of the Ottomans. The American ambassador under international law for the Germans to in­ Henry Morgenthau noted in his memoirs tern the Jewish population as a hostile force.31 that While not explicitly provocative, the Jews, [i]nstead of following the retreating foe /…/ according to Harwood, behaved in a way the Turks’ Army turned aside and invaded their that rationalized the Nazi treatment of them. own territory of Van. Instead of fighting the Hence, much like the Armenians of Van are trained Russian Army of men, they turned their depicted as rebels and instigators of conflict, rifles, machine guns, and other weapons upon Jews are, in much Holocaust denial, regarded the Armenian women, children and old men.26 as a fifth column and a threatening German enemy during the Second World War. In both The denialist narratives, however, tend to la- cases, the acts of genocide are rationalized bel the events at Van as a “large scale rebel- and described as adept ways of dealing with lion”,27 and as an “open Armenian revolt internal threats. against the sultan”.28 McCarthy describes, for instance, the state of eastern Anatolia in the numbers game 1915 as a two-dimensional conflict of both Armenians claim that as many as 2 million were Russian invasion and civil war.29 The his- massacred, but no counts of the dead were ever in times of genocide

taken, and the actual total can only be infer­ ler and the Third Reich had no plan or desire to red. These claims are based on the supposition exterminate all Jews. They had plenty of time that the pre-war Armenian population /…/ was to have executed these 500,000!33 2.5 million. According to the Ottoman census in 1914, however, it was at the most 1.5 million. Among deniers of both the Holocaust and /…/ One can conclude that about 300,000 died the Armenian Genocide, discussing demo- if one accepts the Ottoman census reports, or 1.3 graphics is not only utilized in order to dis- million if the Armenian figures are utilized.32 cuss “hard facts” (especially popular among those engaged in denial as they more often Most deniers of genocide play the “numbers than not share a view where history can be game” in an attempt to trivialize and ratio- measured and tested, and where events of ge- nalize cases of genocide. The fewer the vic- nocide should be treated only by crime scene tims, deniers seem to argue, the less valid analysts, but also in order to effectively­ cloud are claims of genocide. The underlying un- the issue. The numbers and demographics of 96 derstanding of genocide displayed in these past atrocities are, as the genocide scholar cases is therefore one where genocide is a and sociologist Helen Fein has emphasized, measure of how many people died. In con­ notoriously difficult to take in and discuss.34 trast, the scholarly use of the term is rather The numbers stated by various deniers of ge- as a concept focused on in what manner nocide are usually either exaggerated or ex- they died (were they killed with an “intent cessively lowered, unsourced­­ or depending to destroy” or not?). on other denialist material,­ and presented Even the, at first glance, most sensible type in a manner intended to confuse the reader. of demographic discussions abide by an idea The Armenian-American historian Richard where the amount of victims determines the Hovannisian has, accurately, noted that the definition of genocide. In the quote above deniers playing the numbers game consistent- both the Armenian pre-war population, and ly “[pretend] to engage in academic inquiry, the final death count are questioned. The tra- deniers make quantitative­ comparisons to ditional numbers are contended by claiming obscure qualitative comparisons”.35 that Ottoman source material reduces the Part of this game is also the juxtaposing number of Armenians present and the num- of different death counts. Within the sphere ber of total victims considerably. A number of Holocaust denial, for example, it is often somewhere in between the two extremes is stated that the entire European continent suf- never suggested, and relying solely on the sta- fered during the Second World War, and the tistics of the perpetrator government in order axis powers most of all. In comparison, it is to deduce the numbers is never questioned. said, the deaths among the European Jews As is usually the case of denialist argumenta- is only a minor detail. Similarly, the death of tion, source criticism is only applied when it Ottoman Muslims, it is argued, cancels out serves the proper purpose. the death of the Ottoman Christian minori­ ty. Everybody, it is repeated, suffers in war- ‘About 500,000 of Israel’s 2.6 million Jews had time.36 The primary flaw of the argumenta- been in a Nazi concentration camp.’ But if half tion, as emphasized by Fein, is generally an a million Jews now in Israel survived Nazi con­ inability to see the whole picture. Fein has centration camps, then the Nazis evidently had explained the mechanisms of the game in the no orders to ‘gas’ them! Obviously, then, Hit­ following way: “the alleged ‘genocide’ of 1915”: the structure of genocide denial

[I]f 8,000 members of a victimized group of istent. Those dying carrying arms in battle 10,000 persons were killed intentionally, 80 and those dying unarmed, persecuted, and percent would be victims. But if 10,000 mem­ as a result of a planned, systematic process bers of a victimizer group out of 100,000 were of mass murder are, in accordance with the killed randomly, 10 percent would be dead. The argument, equally tragic casualties. The ge- apologists for the victimizers could truthfully nocide scholar Roger Smith has accounted say that their 10,000 dead exceeded the 8,000 for these types of arguments as belonging of the other group.37 within a “flawed moral discourse”,40 where originally sound, empathetic, scholarly, and what about “the other side”? common-sense statements are proposed in The ‘traditional’ view of the history of the Bal­ an off-context, in turn denying, trivializing, kans, the Caucasus, and Anatolia is less than and rationalizing genocide. complete, if not misleading, because the histories In McCarthy’s discussion on the need for of the Ottoman minority groups are taken out of revising Ottoman history above, the huma- context. A major part of that context is the suf­ nistic appeal appears in the first couple of 97 fering­ of Muslims, which took place in the same sentences, where he maintains, as he does regions and at the same time as the sufferings of throughout his books, that the sufferings of Christians, and often transcended them. The few one group have been overshadowed by the who have attempted to alter the traditional view sufferings of another – and that the truly have been derided as ‘revisionists’, as if revision human thing to do would be to lay political were an academic sin and contextual historical considerations and controversial terms such accuracy irrelevant. In fact, revisiting one-sided as “genocide” aside, and view the event for history and changing deficient traditional wis­ what he claims it to have been, namely a ci- dom is the business of the historian, and in few vil war in which all people suffered.41 In the areas of history is revision so needed as in the same way, the events of 1915 have been de- history of the Ottoman peoples.38 scribed as “a general tragedy that engulfed all the people of the Empire”42. Here, too, A common denialist strategy, seemingly denial of the Armenian Genocide is descri- effec­tive when appealing to the consent of bed as a humanistic concern and as a way to students and the general public in particular, move beyond controversial categories such is to present the denialist narrative and per- as “victim” and “perpetrator”. As a result, spective as taking an ethical, objective and those not agreeing with McCarthy are por­ fair stance. Within this context, deniers of trayed as disagreeing with the apparent tru- genocide have often described their position ism that attests that all suffering is bad, and and arguments as combating political cor- that you avoid the “racism”43 displayed by rectness, and as a struggle for freedom of those who define the treatment of the Ar­ speech. The basic logic behind these types menians and the other Christian minorities of arguments involve ideas appearing to be as genocide. Attempts at humanistic concern of humanistic concern, where denying geno­ are made within the context of Holocaust cide is said to mean that you recognize the denial as well. Harwood concludes, for ex- suffering of all humans involved, instead of ample, in his Did Six Million Really Die? the sufferings of one particular group, be that “[d]oubtless, several thousand Jewish it Jews or Armenians.39 The roles of vic- persons did die in the course of the Second tim and perpetrator are as a result non-ex- World War, but this must be seen in the con- in times of genocide

text of a war that cost many millions of in- nial, but these types are decided rather by nocent victims on all sides”.44 how genocide is being denied than by which The second ethical stand taken by genocide is being denied. McCarthy at the top of this section, and by Today, a combination of a number of deniers in general, concerns the topic of sci- soft arguments of denial is by far the most entific and scholarly methodology. McCar- popu­lar and most successful way to deny thy writes above of those few, the “revisio- and trivialize the realities of genocide. From nists”, who have questioned the “traditional the 1970s onward, denial of both the Holo- view” of the many, and consequently have caust and the Armenian Genocide has been been shunned by much of the academic increa­singly professionalized and refined. community. However, McCarthy claims, as The general development has been one most deniers do, that he is only attempting where the increased overall interest in, and to show “the other side” of the “debate”. scholarly study of, all genocides have called Founded in the scientifically sound notion for a type of denialism that clouds an issue 98 of seeing every side of an issue, of remaining by relying on common sense rhetoric, see­m­ unbiased, McCarthy and other deniers ap- ingly scholarly sounding arguments and by peal for scholarly legitimacy, stretching the directing emphasis away from the helpless- saying “there are two sides to every story” ness of the victims. to its utmost. McCarthy, Lowry, Shaw, and For the foreseeable future, the develop- Weems all present themselves as neutral ment and continuation of Holocaust and seekers of fact, as “warriors for truth” and Armenian Genocide denial seems fairly un- as genuine revisionists dealing with a tradi- affected by the passage of time. If anything, tionally one-sided history. Similarly, deni- the fairly anonymous and unrestrained on­ ers of the Holocaust present themselves as line presence of most denialist texts and the “revisionist” side of a historical debate, argu­ments suggests the coexistence of hard refer­ring to the “others” as “the ‘extermina- and soft, crude and refined, overtly racist tion’ writers” and to their position as “the and seemingly scholarly types of genocide ‘extermination’ thesis”. deni­al. Here, the most accurate description of the mechanisms and structures of genoci- Conclusion de denialism is an old Freudian joke relating In the light of these different hard and soft what is usually known as “kettle logic”. In patterns of denial, it does not seem far-fet- his Jokes and their Relation to the Uncons- ched to claim that genocide denial, whether cious from 1905, Freud told a story where directed at refuting the reality of the Holo- person A had borrowed a kettle from per- caust or the genocide of 1915, form an over­ son B. Upon the kettle’s return, B finds it to arching structure. Naturally, each and every have a large hole in the bottom. Being con- individual, group or organization engaged in fronted with this, A exclaims that first of all, denialist enterprises utilizes the different pat- he returned the kettle undamaged; secondly, terns in a number of different ways. Studying the hole was there when he borrowed it; genocide denial closely, it becomes evident thirdly, he never borrowed the kettle. that there are different types of genocide de- “the alleged ‘genocide’ of 1915”: the structure of genocide denial

Endnotes

1 Roupen, interview dated 6th November 1915, in Bryce & Toynbee, The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915–1916: Documents Presented to Viscount Gray of Falloden by Vis- count Bryce, uncensored edition, Ara Sarafian (ed.), Princeton: Gomidas Institute 2000 (1916), document no. 22 , p. 119. 2 For these specific denialist arguments, see, for instance, Arthur Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry, Chicago: Theses & Dissertations Press 2003 , p. 21; Stanford Shaw & Ezel Kural Shaw, History of the Ottoman Em- pire and Modern Turkey: Volume II: Reform, Revolution and Republic: The Rise of Modern Tur- key 1808–1975, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1997, p. 315; Austin App, The Six Mil- lion Swindle, retrieved at http://www.vho.org/aaargh/fran/livres9/ APP6million.pdf (16 January 2010), 1973 , p. 3; and Samuel A. Weems, Armenia: Secrets of a “Christian” Terrorist State: The Armenian Great Deception Series – Volume I, Dallas: St. John Press 2002 , p. 5. 3 For a more thorough study of the topic, see Maria Karlsson Cultures of Denial: Comparing Holo- 99 caust and Armenian Genocide Denial, Dissertation: Lund University, 2015. 4 Please note that this essay will use the phrases “the genocide of 1915” and “the Armenian Ge- nocide” interchangeably. This is partly due to the Armenians being the most numerous and most explicitly victimized group at the time, and partly because the post-genocide denial speaks almost exclusively about the Armenians. Comparably, denial of the Holocaust refers almost exclusively to the Jewish victims, and very rarely mentions the Roma victims, Jehovah’s witnesses or those mur- dered as part of the Nazi euthanasia program. 5 Samuel Weems, Armenia: Secrets of a “Christian” Terrorist State: The Armenian Great Deception Series – Volume I, Dallas: St. John Press 2002, p. xvii. 6 Arthur Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry, Chicago: Theses & Dissertations Press, 2003 (1976), p. 8. 7 Austin App, The Six Million Swindle, 1973, [http://www.vho.org/aaargh/fran/livres9/APP6million. pdf] (16 January, 2010), p. 2; Richard Harwood, 1974. 8 Weems, 2002, p. xi; Guenter Lewy, The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Ge- nocide, Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press 2005, p. 262. 9 Weems, 2002, p. 38. 10 App, 1973, p. 6;2, 3 etc.; 2. 11 App, 1973, p. 18; 23. 12 Harwood, 1974, p. 8. 13 Harwood, 1974, p. 43-45. 14 Justin McCarthy, Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821–1922, Prin- ceton: The Darwin Press 1995, p. 288. 15 McCarthy, 1995, p. 335. 16 McCarthy, 1995, p. 185. 17 App, 1973, p. 8. 18 The United Nations, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948. Emphasis added. in times of genocide

19 Butz, 2003, p. 55. 20 Heath Lowry, The Story behind Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, Istanbul: The Isis Press 1990, p. 39. 21 Justin McCarthy, The Ottoman Peoples and the End of Empire, London: Arnold 2001, p. 110. 22 McCarthy, 1995, p. 193. 23 Weems, 2002, p. 58–59. 24 Weems, 2002, p. 59. 25 McCarthy, 2001, p. 106. 26 Henry S. Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, New York: Doubleday, Page & Compa- ny 1918, p. 205. 27 McCarthy, 2001, p. 106. Indeed, the sections discussing the Armenians in McCarthy’s books are entitled: The Armenian Revolution (1995), and Armenian revolt (2001). 28 Stanford Shaw & Ezel Kural Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey: Volume 100 II: Reform, Revolution and Republic: The Rise of Modern Turkey 1808–1975, Cambridge: Cam- bridge University Press 1997, p. 315. 29 Justin McCarthy, Muslims and Minorities: The Population of Ottoman Anatolia and the End of Empire, New York & London: New York University Press 1983, p. 118. 30 The 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is, for instance, barely mentioned in any of the Holocaust de- nial narratives, and in no instance is it referred to in an attempt to prove Jewish provocation. Har- wood does write about the “terrorists in the Ghetto uprising”, but he does not, however, draw any distinctive conclusions out of the attempted resistance. See Harwood, 1974, p. 27. 31 Harwood, 1974, p. 6. 32 Shaw & Shaw, 1997, p. 315–316. 33 App, 1973, p. 3. 34 Helen Fein, Denying Genocide: From Armenia to Bosnia: A Lecture Delivered at the London School of Economics and Political Science on 22 January 2001, Occasional Papers in Comparative and International Politics 1, The London School of Economics and Political Science n.d. 35 Richard Hovannisian, “Denial of the Armenian Genocide in Comparison with Holocaust Denial” in Hovannisian, Richard G. (ed.), Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide, Detroit: Wayne State University Press 1999, p. 212. 36 See, for example, Weems, 2002, p. 139. 37 Fein, n.d., p. 7. 38 McCarthy, 1995, p. 2–3. 39 See, for example, Weems, 2002, p. 113. 40 Roger Smith, “The Armenian Genocide: Memory, Politics, and the Future” in Hovannisian, Ric- hard G. (ed.), The Armenian Genocide: History, Politics, Ethics, Houndmills: Macmillan 1992, p. 4. 41 McCarthy, 2001, p. 109. 42 Shaw & Shaw, 1997, p. x. 43 McCarthy, 1995, p. 3. 44 Harwood, 1974, p. 45. 101 102 103 104 In Times of Genocide 1915—2015

Report from a conference on the Armenian Genocide and Syriac Seyfo

During January 14–15, 2015, Studieförbundet Bilda arranged a con- ference at the Swedish Christian Study Centre in Jerusalem. The title was In Times of Genocide 1915–2015, and the topic was the Armenian Genocide and the Syraic Seyfo in the Ottoman Empire one hundred years ago. With this book, Bilda is happy to present all the lectures to a broader audience. The lectureres – and thereby authors – are mostly Swedish academic scholars who have specialized in different aspects of these unspeakable horrors. Professor Klas-Göran Karlsson presents this genocide as the arche- type of all genocides; the Armenian Jerusalemite, archivist Kevork Hintlian, gives the victims names and faces when his passes on a handful of all the stories told by the victims and eye-witnesses he has in- terviewed over the years; Professor David Gaunt shares his research on the Syriac Seyfo in particular; Maria Småberg and Göran Gunner write in their articles about some of the Scandinavian missionaries and their organizations who became some of the most accurate eye-witnesses to the genocide; Vahagn Avedian gives an account of the official reports dispatched by the Swedish envoys to the Swedish Foreign Office; Film- maker Suzanne Khardalian discusses in her article memory and amnesia among the survivors and their children; in the closing article, Maria Karlsson establishes that the final stage of genocides tends to be not recognition, but denial using some well-established patterns.