FILM AND SYMPOSIUM EXPLORE MODERN-DAY GENOCIDES
By Barbara Taormina/[email protected]
Salem Gazette
tainment/arts/x398368862/Film-and-symposium-explor e-modern-day-genocides
Thu Oct 16, 2008, 09:15 PM EDT
USA
Salem – About four minutes into Apo Torosyan’s new film, "The
Morgenthau Story," New York County D.A. Robert Morgenthau calmly
offers a bone-chilling comment.
"If the world had reacted to the genocide of the Armenians, Hitler
would have been reluctant to go out and kill Jews in a wholesale
fashion," says Morgenthau, who at 89 can bring the heft of a historical
perspective to his opinions.
But the world didn’t react. No one listened to Morgenthau’s
grandfather, Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. ambassador to Constantinople
in 1915, who tried to warn the West that the Turkish government was
systematically killing the 1.5 million men, women and children who
made up the country’s Armenian minority population.
And because no one listened, because no one chose to remember,
the world seems to have been, as philosopher George Santayana says,
condemned to repeat history — in Germany, Cambodia, Bosnia and now,
in Darfur.
"How as humans we don’t learn from our mistakes I don’t know," says
Torosyan. "But, I always believe in hope."
And it’s hope that has inspired the Peabody artist to create a body of
work that’s both testament and tribute to the victims of the Armenian
genocide. During the ’90s, Torosyan created a series of paintings
around the central image of bread, the simple and basic element of
life that that Armenians, including his grandparents, were denied
during the genocide. More recently, Torosyan has focused on film as
a medium to tell his story.
"The Morgenthau Story," Torosyan’s fourth film, weaves together
words and images to offer a safe window to the horror of the Armenian
genocide and the inexplicable indifference of the rest of the world.
Torosyan will visit Salem on Monday for a screening and a human rights
symposium. (See details on a screening and a human-rights symposium
at the end of the article.)
Torosyan’s previous films have centered on the painful first-person
accounts of survivors and their families, but this time around, he
focuses on Henry Morgenthau, an American of German-Jewish ancestry,
who tried to rally the world and stop the killing. The film is
built around interviews with three of Morgenthau’s grandchildren,
who provide both personal and public portraits of the diplomat and
the times in which he lived.
Torosyan splices together those recollections with historical photos
and film footage that document the genocide and offer evidence to
skeptics and deniers who continue to insist it never happened.
"Henry Morgenthau collected all a lot of evidence — 30,000 pages
— all proof of what happened," says Torosyan. "Anyone who wants to
argue about the Armenian genocide can go to the library of Congress
and look through these pages."
The film is particularly poignant in light of the recent controversy
involving the Anti-Defamation League and its refusal to support a
congressional resolution that would formally recognize the Armenian
Genocide. ADL leaders say that what happened to the Armenians is
"tantamount to genocide" but the organization also believes formal
recognition would be counterproductive, since it would offend Turkey,
a moderate Muslim nation and one of Israel’s few allies in the
Muslim world.
Not long after the ADL released a public statement outlining
that position, a dozen Massachusetts cities and towns, including
Newburyport, withdrew from the ADL’s "No Place for Hate" program
which was created to challenge anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia and
all forms of bigotry on a local level.
Last February, Newburyport Mayor John Moak sent a letter to ADL
officials informing them of his city’s decision to sever its ties
with the organization.
"In the wake of last fall’s national spotlight on the ADL and its
failure to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide between 1915 and 1923
as anything other than ‘tantamount to genocide,’ and in support of
the approximate 5,000 Armenian residents in Merrimack Valley, the
prudent course of action is to withdraw our membership," wrote Moak.
Failure to recognize Like other Armenians, Torosyan is disappointed
by the U.S. government’s failure to recognize the Armenian genocide
because of Turkey’s strategic political and economic position in world
politics, and "The Morgenthau Story" is a fact-heavy film that seems
to speak directly to that lack of moral conviction.
But Torosyan does not blame the Turkish people for trying to twist
history and deny the Armenians an accurate account of the past. He
hopes that there will be Turks in the audience during the film’s
upcoming screenings at various organizations and schools, and he
hopes he will have the chance to debate the facts.
"I believe the Turkish people today are not responsible for what
happened in the past," says Torosyan, who adds that the younger
generations of Turks know little about what happened other than what
they learn in state-issued history books which are heavily censored.
"They can’t believe that their ancestors are murderers," he says.
While "The Morgenthau Story" attempts to set straight the historical
record, it also suggests what needs to happen in order for this
episode on history to end with some sense of justice.
One of Morgenthau’s three grandchildren who agreed to be interviewed
for the film, Dr. Pamela Steiner, admits early on she did not know
her grandfather well. She does tell a story of how he once gave her
a Japanese doll that she admired in his study. She took it home and,
like a lot of children might have done, and gradually undressed and
unraveled it until there was nothing left. And while there is some
hesitation and regret in her voice while she tells that story, there
is nothing but conviction and resolve when Steiner, who has degrees
from Harvard in both government and counseling, suggests the next
necessary step for Armenians and Turks.
According to Steiner, in order for there to be any type of genuine
reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia, the truth about the past has
to be clearly stated and acknowledged. Steiner also believes that there
needs to be reparations, restitution and memorials to the victims.
Finally, Steiner says Turkey must pledge that nothing like the Armenian
genocide will ever happen again and the government must correct its
history books and tell the truth.
Torosyan says "The Morgenthau Story" is a documentary and that one of
the nice things about doing such a film is that he isn’t obligated
to offer opinions. Still, the film goes further than his previous
work in suggesting a concrete resolution to an episode in history
that many would prefer to simply sweep under a rug.
But Torosyan insists that’s not going to happen, and he will continue
to tell the story of the Armenian genocide through films and through
paintings.
"When you have a little stone in your shoe it becomes more and more
uncomfortable to walk," he says. "For the deniers, we’re that little
stone."
And Torosayn says nothing, not even a formal recognition of the past,
will stop him from trying to preserve the history of Armenia.
"For the rest of my life, I will talk about how my grandparents were
murdered and how so many people died," he says. "My job isn’t talking
about anybody; it’s talking for humanity."
Screening and human rights symposium There will be a screening of
Apo Torosyan’s new film, "The Morgenthau Story," a documentary on
the life and times of Henry Morgenthau Sr., at Salem State College on
Oct. 20. The screening is sponsored by the Holocaust Center, Boston
North Inc. For more information, contact Professor Robert McAndrews
at 978-542-6815.
Salem State College Graduate School and the Holocaust Center, Boston
North, will also hold a symposium, "Human Rights and the Danger
of Genocide," that evening. Torosyan will be present to engage in
conversation with those attending the event.
Events will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Martin Luther King
Room of the Ellison Campus Center, located on Salem State’s North
Campus on Lafayette Street. Admission is free.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
