Before the Holocaust: The Armenian Genocide of 1915

Target Curriculum: History and Social Science

Target Grade: 9

SOLs: HSS.10.11  
Time: 20 minutes

Objective:
To know the meaning of genocide, to understand that genocide is not an isolated phenomenon, but a method of oppressing human rights that occurs throughout history, and to identify some warning signals and attitudes that may lead to genocide.

Purpose:
The students will recognize the importance of the Armenian Genocide as:
- an example of unchecked human rights violations
- the first genocide of the 20th century
- the precursor to the Jewish Holocaust
- a model for subsequent 20th century genocides

Materials:
-Teacher's copy of study questions with answers for The Forgotten Genocide
-Copy of vocabulary with definitions
-Student's handout of questions for The Forgotten Genocide
-Television set with VCR
-Film: The Forgotten Genocide (5 minutes): ABC News with Peter
Jennings(web site: www.theforgotten.org/intro.html

Procedure:
- Locate Turkey on the map
- Distribute student handouts (vocabulary and questions) for The Forgotten Genocide*
- Go over definitions
- Go over questions before showing video. Direct students to look for answers to the questions while watching the film. Students can share answers with the class.

A variation to the above procedure would be to divide the class into three groups and give two questions to each group. Because of the extensive amount of information included in this five-minute film, it may be useful to view it a second time.

Observations:
This lesson was created with the help of the following teachers and librarians:

Grace Butler
Roxie Kricorian, email: roxkorian@juno.com
Anne Tootelian Norris, email: anorris@pen.k12.va.us

Extension:
For further study:

Bibliography

Books

Arlen, Michael J.
Passage to Ararat
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1975

Auro, Yair
The Banality of Indifference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide.
New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2000

Bagdasarian, Adam
Forgotten Fire
New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc.

Balakian, Peter
Black Dog of Fate: a Memoir
New York: Basic Books, 1997

Bardakjian, Kevork B.
Hitler and the Armenian Genocide
Cambridge, Mass.: Zoryan Institute, 1985

Chaliand, Gerald
The Armenians, from Genocide to Resistance
Zed Press; Totowa, NJ: U.S. Distribution, Biblio Distribution Center 1993

Charney, Israel W.
Encyclopedia of Genocide
Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, 1999

Dadrian, Vahakn N.
German Responsibility in the Armenian Genocide: A Review of the Historical Evidence of German Complicity
Watertown, Mass. :Blue Crane Books, 1999

Dadrian, Vahakn N.
The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucaus"
Providence, R. I. Berghahn Books 1995

Dadrian, Vahakn N.
Warrant for Genocide: Key Elements of Turko-Armenian Conflict
New Brunswick, (U.S.A,): Transaction Publishers, 1999

Fein, Helen,
A Formula for Genocide: A Comparison of Turkish genocide (1915) and the German Holocaust (1939-1945)
In Tomasson, Richard F. (Ed.), "Comparative Studies in Sociology. Volume I."
Greenwich, Co. JAI Press.

Graber, G.S.
Caravans to Oblivion: the Armenian Genocide, 1915.
New York: J. Wiley. C 1996

Goekjian, Vahram K.
The Turks before the court of History
Fair Lawn, NJ: Rosekeer Press, 1984

Hovannisian, Richard G. (Editor)
The Armenian Genocide: History, Politics, Ethics
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992

Hovannisian, Richard G.
Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide
Edited by Richard G. Hovannisian
Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1998

Kherdian, David
The Road from Home: The Story of an Armenian girl
New York: Greenwillow Books

Krikorian, Mesrob K.
Armenians in the Service of the Ottoman Empire 1860 - 1908
London; Boston: Routledger and Kegan Paul, 1977

Mazian, Florence
Why Genocide: The Armenian and Jewish Experience in Perspective
Ames: Iowa State University Press. 1990

Melson, Robert,
Revolution and Genocide: on the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust University of Chicago Press. 1992

Morgenthau, Henry
The Murder of a Nation
New York: Armenian General Benevolent Union of America. 1974

Parsegian, V.L. (Vazken L.)
Human Rights and Genocide, 1975: The Hope, the Reality, and Still the Hope; a Status Report.
New York, Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. 1975

Peroomian, Rubina
Literary Responses to Catastrophe: A comparison of the Armenian and Jewish Experience.
Atlanta, Ga. : Scholars Press, 1993

Soghoian, Florence M.
Portrait of a Survivor
Hanover, Mass.: Christopher Publishing House, 1997

Simpson, Christopher
The Splendid Blond Beast: Money, Law, and Genocide in the Twentieth Century
New York: Grove Press. 1993

Tcholakian. Arthur,
Armenia: State, People, Life
Paradon Publishing Co., 1975

Toynbee, Arnold Joseph
Armenian Atrocities: The Murder of a Nation
London; New York, Toronto: Hadder & Stoughton, 1915

Toynbee, Arnold Joseph,
The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916
Documents presented to Viscount Grey of 1916.
London: H.M. Stationery Office, Printed by St. Joseph Causton and Sons, 1916.

Vassilian, Hamo B.
The Armenian Genocide: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Library Resource Guide
Glendale, CA : Armenian Reference Books Co, 1992

Walker, Christopher J.
Armenia: The Survival of a Nation
New York: St. Martin's Press 1980

Web Sites

Ambassador Morgenthua's Story http://www.ukans.edu/~libsite/wwi_
www/morgenthau/MorgenTC.htm

The Armenian Genocide - CJB.Net
http://www7.ewebcity.com/Armgen/MainFrame.htm

The Armenian Genocide site http://www.armeniangenocide.com/

Armenian National Committee, San Francisco Bay Area
http://www.ancsf.org/armenia_genocide.htm

Armenian National Institute http://www.armenian-genocide.org/index.htm
http://www.armenian-genocide.org/sitemap.htm#resource - map of web page; Excellent resource for teachers and students

Books and Readings on Genocide
http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/book-reviews/h/Century_Genocide.html (must type exactly as written with capitals and lower case)

Center of Holocaust and Genocide Studies - resources http://chgs.hispeed.com

The Forgotten Org. - dedicated to the 1915 Armenian Genocide
http://www.theforgotten.org/intro.html Peter Jennings with ABC evening news- can download as audio or video to hard drive. Otherwise can watch on monitor, very small pictures.

Prevent Genocide International - has info available in all languages including Turkish but not in Armenian http://www.preventgenocide.org/

Survivors Memoirs online - bios. http://members.aol.com/Gaghjayan/margret.htm
http://cgi-user.brown.edu/Administration/George_Street_Journal/lastword28.html
http://cgi-user.brown.edu/Administration/George_Street_Journal/lastword28.gtm

20th Century History http://history1900s.about.com/cs/armeniangenocide/

One World: Net Guide to Genocide - good materials for class
http://www.oneworld.org/guides/genocide/index.html

Class Discussion Questions:
Questions and some suggested answers (teacher's copy)

View this film with the following questions in mind:

1. What examples of human rights abuses can you identify?
Physical, emotional, and spiritual abuses: forced deportations, rape, starvation, and widespread massacres
Victims did not have a legal justice system to protect them
Denied religious and cultural freedom; their homes, property and wealth were confiscated
2. In what way did the Forgotten (Armenian) Genocide help Hitler during World War II?
Hitler's reference to the Armenian Genocide, "Who remembers the Armenians…?" indicates his confidence that a Holocaust against Jews would be forgotten also.
3. How did the Young Turks "pan-Turkic" ideology affect the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire?
This racist attitude and intolerance to minorities was the foundation for a form of ethnic cleansing, and the Armenians were the main targets.
4. What were the Ottoman government's reasons for eliminating the Armenians?
By eliminating the Armenian Christian minority, they would be furthering their goal of establishing a pan-Turkic state-a "Turkey for Turks." They would also rid the country of those who were asking for reforms. In addition, there existed a paranoia that the Armenians would join the Russians to fight the Turks during this time.
5. What was the Ottoman government's plan for destroying the Armenian people?
To disarm Armenian soldiers in the Turkish Army, put them on hard work detail and eventually kill them; to eliminate the religious, economic, political, and cultural leaders in the Armenian communities; to confiscate weapons from the remaining Armenian population and force march them through the deserts to their deaths under the guise of "relocation."

6. Who was Armin Wegner? What was his role in bringing the Armenian Genocide to the world's attention and what were the risks to himself?
Germany and Turkey were allies during World War I. Wegner was a medic in the German army stationed in Turkey. His photographing the massacred Armenians was an act of treason, but his photographs were sent to Germany and the United States and alerted the world to what was taking place in Turkey. He was later arrested, and eventually sent back to Germany. He has provided definitive proof of what the Ottoman government tried to keep secret; his photographs provide today an irrefutable rebuttal to the continued denial by Turkey's present-day government.