Berlin to host `I’m not a killer’ documentary performance

27.02.2010 16:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On March 5, within the framework of `100 Grad’
festival, `I’m not a killer’ film produced in documentary theatrical
style will be presented in Berlin’s Hebbel am Ufer theatre. The film
is a story telling about Armenian Genocide. Opening night of a play
was held in Berlin’s Heimathafen theatre on February 12, second
performance was on February 19.

5 actors and a musician (Armenian, Turkish, French and German origin
performers) will be citing extracts from shorthanded entries of
Soghomon Tehlirian’s trial, held in Berlin Criminal Court in 1921.

For the first time, the entries were published by `Berlin Publishing
Society for Politicians W8’in 1921. Afterwards, second edition of the
minutes was published by Tessa Hofmann, specializing in Armenian
studies, in 1980-1985.

`Every time, right before the performance, Tessa Hofmann, briefly
tells about the historical events. Afterwards, we (five actors) embody
all the characters, by citing records of the trial. The performance
aims to promote reconciliation and better understanding among nations
and countries involved in the process,’ performance actor Stepan
Gantralyan told a PanARMENIAN.NET reporter.

According to him, mostly Armenian audience attended the first
performance. Yet, during the second one, Germans, Turks and Kurds were
also present.

`All the tickets for performances were sold. About 80 to 100 people
were present,’ Stepan Gantralyan said.

Soghomon Tehlirian was a native of Erzinjan, an Armenian Evangelical
(Protestant) and Armenian Genocide survivor. During the Genocide he
watched his sisters raped and family butchered by Turks while on the
extermination marches, and although he too was injured and believed
dead, he escaped and recovered. With the organization and direction of
Shahan Natalie, Tehlirian assassinated the former Turkish Grand Vizir
Talat Pasha in Berlin, Germany in broad daylight and in the presence
of many witnesses on March 15, 1921 as an act of vengeance for his
role in orchestrating the Armenian Genocide.

Tehlirian was tried for murder, but was eventually acquitted by the
German court. The trial of Tehlirian was a rather sensationalized
event at the time, with Tehlirian being defended by three defense
attorneys, including Dr. Theodor Niemeyer, professor of Law at Kiel
University.
The trial examined not only Tehlirian’s actions but also Tehlirian’s
conviction that Talat Pasha was the main author of the Armenian
Genocide. The defense attorneys made no attempt to deny the fact that
Tehlirian had killed a man, and instead focused on the influence of
the Armenian Genocide on Tehlirian’s mental state. It took the jury
slightly over an hour to render a verdict of "not guilty" on grounds
of temporary insanity.

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic
destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during
and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and
deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to
lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths
reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the
Genocide survivors.

To date, twenty countries and 44 U.S. states have officially
recognized the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide
scholars and historians accept this view.