PRESS RELEASE
Professor of Comparative Religion and Armenian Studies
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
ContacT: Michael E. Stone
Fax: + 972 2 642 6631
Email: [email protected]
EDUCATION
INSPIRATION
BEARING COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY
NINETY YEARS AFTER THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
——JERUSALEM— Monday, May 2 was the first chilly evening of many
Jerusalem nights in recent weeks, a fitting backdrop for the Hebrew
University Armenian Studies Program’s Armenian Genocide memorial
event. In the crisp air, a sea of Armenian priests dressed in black
robes and members of the community joined with their Israeli friends at
the Givat Ram University Campus to commemorate — 90 years later — the
murder of one-and-a-half million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman
Turks, a holocaust still not officially recognized by the Jewish State.
There was laughter, there were tears, and through the pain the speakers
(who presented materials in English, Hebrew, Armenian and Russian),
offered sentiments of empowerment, outlooks of hope.
His Beatitude Patriarch Torkom II, the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem
was present. Steven Kaplan, Dean of the Department of Humanities
at the Hebrew University, attended, as well. Mr. Tsolag Momjian,
Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia, inspired the crowd with
his personal story. And leading scholars in the field of genocide,
including keynote speaker Professor Israel Charney and Armenian Studies
Program Director Professor Michael E. Stone, offered educational and
inspirational lectures on the importance of remembering the Armenian
genocide, but also the Nazi Holocaust and the massacres in Rwanda
and Sudan.
There was standing room only as during a musical interlude famous
Israeli/Armenian composer, Noubar A. Aslanyan, performed a special
song written in honor of the 90 year anniversary of the genocide.
Two Armenian deacons played traditional duduk music, and Father Kousan
Aljanian’s presentation of the song “Lord Be Merciful” begat an
ocean of tears.
This Hebrew University event is unique to the Armenian world.
On the official date for Armenian Genocide commemoration, April 24,
the date in 1915 on which 300 Armenian leaders and professionals
in Constantinople (Istanbul today) were deported and murdered, and
5,000 laymen were killed in the streets and in their homes, Armenians
across the world hold memorial events. But the HU event in Jerusalem,
pushed off this year due to the Passover holiday, is among the most
noteworthy, since it represents the uniting of the two populations
that suffered the most severe genocides of the twentieth centuries.
His Beatitude made a strong connection between the Jewish and Armenian
holocausts as he depicted his recent visit to the new Yad Vashem
Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem. “Our tour guide took
us through the various rooms depicting the stories of the Jewish
Holocaust. The museum illustrates Hitler’s plan from beginning to
end, and as I came to the final section I saw a picture of a young boy,
his hands in the air. He was asking, ‘What have I done?’ ‘Why
me?’ All of a sudden I realized, this museum is telling the story
of my people. You could replace those photos with shots of Armenian
women and children and you would have an Armenian Genocide memorial.”
His Beatitude’s equation was emphasized throughout the evening.
Said Abraham Chobyan, chair of the Armenian Association in Israel,
“Remembering the Armenian Genocide is not solely a question of paying
respects to the survivors or their children, but rather necessary to
ensure that future genocides do not occur. In 1915 nobody believed
there would be a holocaust in 1945. After the Holocaust, nobody
foresaw the current massacre in Sudan.
“If we don’t recognize one genocide, it will easy to ignore another
and then another.”
Adolf Hitler knew this fact. In one of his many speeches he drew
comparisons between the Armenian Genocide and the acts he plotted
to carry out, and used the Armenian tragedy as a means to encourage
his followers. He said, “I have issued the command – and I’ll
have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing
squad – that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines,
but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have
placed my death-head formations in readiness … with orders for them
to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women and
children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain
the living space … we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the
annihilation of the Armenians?”
Many people, to answer Hitler’s question, including Armenians,
historians, and scholars, especially Professor Michael E. Stone.
As head of one of the most important Armenian Studies programs in
the world – there are an estimated 15,000 Armenians living in Israel
– Stone has brought Armenian culture, art and genocide recognition
to the forefront, both in the academic and political realms. As a
Jew and as an Israeli, Stone has dedicated his more than 30 years of
professional academic experience to studying, preserving and teaching
the vast history and culture of the Armenian people, which the Ottoman
Turks attempted to eradicate. He organized Monday’s event, as he has
organized similar events in past years.
In his short but poignant remarks Monday night, Stone declared that
his work in general, and the memorial event in particular, is not
solely about remembering those needlessly murdered, but serve the
purpose of creating positive results from evils that have occurred.
“From evil, make good,” said Stone. And many participants said as
they left the event, this is exactly what the evening accomplished…
For further details contact the Armenian Studies Program: Phone:
+972-2-588-3651 Fax: +972-2-588-3658 E-mail: [email protected]
Website: