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The Armenian Genocide In European And Israeli Media
In recent months several influential media outlets in Europe and Israel have provided new forums for the discussion of the World War I Armenian Genocide. Professor Vahakn Dadrian's two respective books on the subject continue to trigger renewed interest in the circumstances of the Armenian tragedy. But mainly his title, "German Responsibility in the Armenian Genocide," has been the focal point of a number of debates and reviews in a variety of venues, including newspapers, radio, and television broadcasts.
On September 22, "Deutschland Radio," Germany's nation-wide radio station, in its 7-8 p.m. "Political Themes" segment has reviewed this book. Despite the delicate character of the main theme of the book-as far as German responsibility is concerned-the reviewer, a specialist in Turkish studies, expresses appreciation of the care with which Prof. Dadrian has documented a very difficult case of complicity in organized mass murder.
She affirms Dadrian's main argument that Germany's responsibility had very little to do with that country's inability to intervene, or with cowardice.
The reviewer embraces Dadrian's assertion that the deportations did not evolve out of a political or military vacuum. Germany was not only a political and military ally of Turkey, but above all Germany was the dominant partner in the alliance. The destruction of the Armenian population was the result of conjointly conducted deliberations and conjointly reached decisions. As she declares, "The frightful dimension of German complicity involved wide-ranging connivance and, in some cases, active participation. The terms 'suggestion' ("Anregung") and 'consent' ("Zusage") describe the modalities of Germany's role." Repeating again Dadrian's principal argument regarding German responsibility, the reviewer declares: "The intent of an act can not be separated from the consequences of the act." Even if the Germans only suggested deportations, they are responsible for the consequences, namely, massacres and extermination.
In her conclusion the German specialist describes the book as "an expertly ("sachkundig") handled book that is based on precise source research ("präzise Quellenarbeit")," and acclaims the author, Prof. Dadrian as "the pre-eminent authority on the subject of the Armenian Genocide." She ends her extensive review by emphasizing the acute need for translating and publishing it in German. The leading Swiss daily, "Neue Zürcher Zeitung," the "London Times" of Switzerland, in its October 22 weekend edition, in three long columns, has published a review of the same book. Under the headline "Germany and the Genocide Against the Armenians: The Hitherto Undetermined Responsibility of the Decision Makers," the reviewer restates and summarizes Dadrian's findings. "In three years the three thousand year old presence of the Armenian people in their historic homeland was mostly destroyed. The Turkish authorities still persist in disclaiming responsibility for that genocide and to date Germany's role remains unclear. Vahakn Dadrian's latest book is the first systematic attempt to explore this complex problem."
The review focuses on the foreknowledge of the German military about the exterminatory aspects of the wartime Armenian deportations. Their participation in decision making regarding the deportations, therefore, implicates them. Equally significant, argues the reviewer, is the fact that a number of high-ranking German military officers participated in the development of ideology and doctrines which paved the way for the liquidation of the Armenians of Ottoman Turkey. The fact that these Germans acted as the representatives of the German State is a reality, maintains the reviewer, that is the main source of Germany's liability. Finally the reviewer underscores a particular aspect of the documentary body of the book. In order to avoid Turkish charges of bias, Dadrian limits his research to data that either originate from Turkish official sources or from similar sources available in the depositories of Austria and Germany, Turkey's principal wartime allies.
The review concludes with the assertion that the book in question has a contemporary political relevance, namely, "Should Germany, sooner or later, officially acknowledge that indirectly she is co-responsible for the genocide against the Armenians, then Turkey will have new difficulties in continuing to sustain her decades of denial. Germany can hereby teach Turkey a lesson: how to face and cope with the difficult, shameful, and gloomy aspects of a nation's past."
Another prominent newspaper, Israeli daily "Ha'aretz," the "New York Times "of Israel, in its November 12, edition has published a review of Dadrian's "German Responsibility in the Armenian Genocide," under the heading "The Holocaust ("Shoa") of the Armenians: Accomplices to the Crime." The four-column review begins with the assertion of the fact that since the occurrence of the Armenian Genocide, successive Turkish governments have denied it. Germany has benefited through such denial, since that denial has helped obscure and cover up Germany's role. The review recapitulates chapter by chapter the findings of Prof. Dadrian, emphasizing the fact that Germany was not incapable but rather unwilling to stop the mass murder of the Armenian population.
The reviewer then underscores the argument advanced by Dadrian that the limited number of official German protests against the massacres were strictly for the purpose of creating post-war alibis inasmuch as German authorities were anticipating post-war charges of German complicity.
Moreover, the Kaiser's government in Berlin did everything it could to suppress the spread of all news regarding the Turkish crime of mass murder.
The reviewer also dwells on the barbarities with which tens of thousands of disarmed Armenian labor battalion soldiers were killed off, mostly by slashing their throats or bludgeoning them to death. Finally, the reviewer points out the importance of the book's Appendix C in which Prof. Dadrian thoroughly analyzes the circumstances through which the two other major non-Muslim nationalities, the Greeks and the Jews, escaped a similar fate of mass murder, and he concludes by saying that Dadrian's volume is based on "path-breaking research."
Blue Crane Books is proud to record and to convey to the Armenian community these accolades about the value of our publication. We are all indebted to Prof. Dadrian who on October 21, 1997 was further acclaimed by Dutch National Television through a one-hour prime-time documentary featuring his work on the subject of the Armenian Genocide.
Blue Crane Books
PO Box 291
Cambridge, MA 02238
(617) 926-8989, Fax (617) 926-0982
arrow@channel1.com
Source: V.G. Ghahraman
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