THE FORGOTTEN GENOCIDE
Robert Berridge
The Hamburg Express
July 28 2008
Germany
Germany was very late in officially recognising the Armenian
Genocide. At the beginning of 2001 the Central Committee of Armenians
in Germany formally appealed to the Bundestag to recognise the
Genocide. This appeal was rejected by a combination of Social
Democrats, Christian Democrats and other minority parties. Only the
Linke supported this appeal.
The Government admitted that they had been influenced by the
Turkish Governments request not to debate the subject of Genocide
in Parliament.
The German Government justified its decision by stressing that Turkey
and Armenia had established a Committee for Reconciliation to reach
an agreement to the Genocide question.
It was clear that Germany did not want to damage the satisfactory
relationship with Turkey.
2005, the oppositional CDU /CSU surprisingly raised a question in the
Bundestag in remembrance of the victims of the Armenian genocide. The
then SPD and Green governing parties ere thereby put in a difficult
position. They could not simply ignore the raising of this question
by such an important party as the political and moral damage for the
two governing parties would have been too severe.
The resolution formulated by the CDU led to a debate in the Bundestag
concerning the Armenian Genocide just a few days before the 24th of
April. Members of parliament from all factions condemned the crimes of
the then ruling Young Turk Government and demanded from the present
Turkish Government a confrontation with their historical past. After
the debate is was agreed that a resolution should be formulated and
agreed upon by all factions.
This resolution was titled. â~@~^ In Memory of the Expelled and
Massacred
Armenians of 1915 – Germany must contribute to the reconciliation of
Turkey and Armenia", and was presented to Parliament in June 2005
The crimes committed were not clearly defined as Genocide in the
resolution. The Bundestag condemned the "Young Turk government of the
Ottoman Empire, whose actions almost led to the complete annihilation
of the Armenians in Anatolia." and criticised openly the "infamous role
of the German Empire, which despite the array of information sources
pointing to an organised and systematic expulsion and annihilation
of Armenians, did not once attempt to prevent this cruelty."
.
In the resolution the German Theology Professor Dr Johannes Lepsius
was expressly mentioned as he had with "vigour and efficiently fought
for the survival of the Armenian people"
Lepsius had already taken interest in the fate of the Armenians during
the Armenian massacres between 1892 -1894 and had since this date
contributed richly in informing the German public of the persecution
of the Armenians and of Christians in the Ottoman Empire. In the
middle of the war he published a detailed work titled "A Report of
the Condition of Armenians in Turkey".
After the war, Lepsius published his book "Germany and Armenia
1914-1918: a Collection of Diplomatic Correspondence" Until a few
years ago this was the most important source of historical German
material regarding the Armenian genocide.
After the opening of the German Archives relating to this period
more and more details of the Genocide became known. These details
confirmed and made clear the extent to which Germany was partly to
blame for the tragic and criminal events.
As the debate took place in Berlin in April 2005, the Speaker for
the Greens admitted that "we not only knew, but also carry some of
the blame. I would like to on behalf of my faction, and I believe for
all in this Parliament, today 90 years after these terrible events,
offer my apologises to the Armenian people for our complicity."
The speaker for the SPD supported the demands of his Green colleague
and insisted that an apology to the Armenian people must be part of the
resolution. Two months later as the common resolution was accepted by
Parliament there was no mention of the German apology to the Armenian
people and no outcry to its absence.
Two years have passed since this Resolution went through the German
Parliament and in the meantime has been long forgotten. Nothing more
has been undertaken, since that emotional outburst of guilt in April
2005, to promote the discussion around the Armenian Genocide and
its recognition.
The Resolution of June 2005 was merely a German attempt to fulfil its
moral duty to the Armenian people, but nothing more. Only one of the
demands contained in the Resolution of June 2005 was implemented. In
honour of Johannes Lepsius, a new tourist was created in Potsdam
a small city outside Berlin, whereby his home was designated as a
Memorial to his Life and Works. It will be opened this December to
mark his 150th Birthday. As an ally of the Armenian people, Lepsius
contributed to the Armenian cause as much as any German was in the
position to and more than any other German of the time.
But only slowly is the truth behind Germanys historical role in the
Ottoman drama coming to light, as the most sensitive documents had
only been evaluated by a very select few.
Also Lepsius´s political aspirations, as a friend of Armenia, are
coming under scrutiny which should provoke thought within the German
political scene. Especially as the man who fought for the rights
of Armenians and for whom a memorial is being erected in Potsdam
held many undemocratic positions. He was a supporter of the German
expansionist policy and an admirer of the German Emperor. Although
he was certainly against the annihilation of the Armenians by the
Young Turk regime, he was not opposed to their expulsion. What the
German Government protested about was the manner and the murder
of the deportees. Nevertheless, the diplomats were aware that the
Turkish regime had no interest in allowing the Armenians to resettle
in Mesopotamia: the Young Turks wanted to annihilate them.
The Links Party raised a question in the Bundestag which warned
against making a memorial of Lepsius´s home in Potsdam. To honour
someone in Germany who held strong nationalistic, anti-Semitic and
was a dedicated supporter of Emperor Wilhelm II is a dangerous act.
The hopes raised by the Resolution of June 2005, that such a Memorial
would serve in the "sense of furthering the relationship between
Armenians and Turks" is now hardly realistic.
The attempt by the Christian Democrats and Church circles in Germany
to resurrect Johannes Lepsius as exemplary for German humanistic
thought will not succeed. Lepsius was certainly not an enemy of the
Armenians but he was also not the model of the "Good German" which
the authorities wish to portray him as.
A memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide is the proper thing
to do, but to have it in the home of a German who admired the German
Kaiser and his expansionist policies and moreover did not oppose the
expulsion of the Armenians is surely the wrong place.
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