The Chronicle: Quinnipiac University, Connecticut
 Tuesday


Herald House holds night of remembrance for victims of genocide

by Stephen MacLeod


Stephen MacLeod | The Quinnipiac ChronicleThe Peter C. Herald House
hosted remembrance services and a genocide awareness talk for the 78th
anniversary of Kristallnacht, also known as the start of the
Holocaust.

Rabbi Reena Judd held the event to bring awareness on genocide and the
dangers of allowing history to repeat itself.

"The Holocaust is something that has unfortunately been repeated,"
Judd said. "As a Jewish people, we tend to cling onto the Holocaust,
but we have to be aware of the horrible damages caused in other
cultures where they are not allowed to heal."

The night began with a short Jewish prayer ceremony. First, there was
a Schma, which is the strongest prayer in the Jewish faith, similar to
the Lord's Prayer in Christianity or the Salah in Islam.

A mourner's kaddish followed, which is a prayer in honor of the dead.
Participants prayed for specific lost friends and family, as well as
all victims of genocide over the years. A toast was raised in memory
of the lost.

Lastly, the Sabbath candles were lit as a way of remembering the day
of rest. Hallah, a loaf of bread, was passed around to help enhance
the prayer service.

"In Jewish prayer, we honor the Sabbath with prayer," Judd said. "We
welcome it with candles, sanctify it with the drinking of wine,
indulge in it with bread."

Judd invited Dr. Armen Marsoobian, chairperson of the Southern
Connecticut State University philosophy department and the child of
survivors of the Armenian genocide, to speak on his experiences.

The Armenian genocide was the Ottoman Turk's systematic extermination
of about 1.5 million Christian Armenians. Unlike the Holocaust or
other genocides in history, this genocide has never been officially
recognized by an international body or even the nation it took place
in.

To this day, the Turkish government claims that the killings do not
constitute genocide and that the death toll is greatly inflated.

"It's hard to heal (from genocide) as it is, but when you are ignored
or silenced it is even harder," Judd said. "As Jews, the world has
embraced our trauma and helped us heal with love. Even the Germans beg
for Jewish forgiveness and help heal. The Armenians do not have such a
lucky break."

Stephen MacLeod | The Quinnipiac ChronicleMarsoobian has spent the
past 10 years talking about his family's experience during the
Armenian genocide. His grandfather was able to survive due to his
skills as a photographer. The Turks offered Marsoobian's grandfather a
job as a propaganda photographer for World War I. He would be allowed
to survive if he and his family renounced their Christian faith and
converted to Islam.

They agreed, although they continued to practice their Christianity in
secret. While his grandfather spent the next two years in the army
taking photos, he also spent a lot of that time trying to hide other
Armenians. Over the course of the war, Marsoobian estimates they saved
between 25 and 30 people, as well as the 10 children in the family.
Amongst those 10 kids was Marsoobian's 4-year-old mother.

He encourages anyone interested in his family's story to read his
book, Fragments of the Lost Homeland. For more information on the
Armenian Genocide, he suggests the book Black Dog of Fate by Peter
Balakian.

Marsoobian passed out pamphlets from The Genocide Education Project.
The pamphlets gave 10 stages of genocide and how to recognize and stop
them in a society.

"Genocide begins with hate, regarding people as the other, and begin
the process of dehumanizing them," Marsoobian said. "When we see that
kind of bigotry go on, we need to say no. We get this feeling of how
evil people can be, but we also see these people that resisted and
said no. We have to be the people who say no to hatred."