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Armenian |
 Downers Grove • Illinois |
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November 08 Journal |
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"Who today remembers the extermination of the Armenians?" Adolph Hitler, 1939 This afternoon we were witnesses to a part of Armenian history that few outside this region emphasize. During World War I, the Ottoman Turks fought on the side of the Central Powers. The focus in our schools is usually on the trench warfare going on at the Western Front pitting the Germans against the France, and the British. The Eastern Front controlled by the Ottoman Turks was dealing with an agenda of it own. This was the elimination of the Armenians from homelands they had occupied for nearly three thousand years so Turkey could expand. This theme of removal of religious minority groups continues today in the Balkans and Middle East. According to the information we received, the extermination of the Armenians began on April 24, 1915 and continued well into 1917. At the end of this time period nearly 2 million Armenians were eliminated. This marks the first genocide of the Twentieth Century. The memorial consists of an outside monument and an adjacent museum. It was built by the Soviets to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. As you walk toward the outside memorial, you past a long wall engraved with names of all the cities, villages, and hamlets that lost Armenians in the genocide. There are also graves next to the wall of the current heroic dead of the Karabash conflict. Then you come upon a spire symbolizing the survival and spiritual rebirth of the Armenian people.
This spire is split vertically by a deep crevice to symbolize the tragic and violent dispersion of the Armenians and at the same time the unity of the Armenian people. At the center of the Monument stands the circular Memorial Sanctuary. Its unroofed walls consist of twelve inward-leaning walls forming a circle. The twelve walls represent the twelve areas around the region where Armenians were killed. The walls remind one of headstones.
You then walk down toward the eternal flame. To see the flame, you must bend forward and lower your head. We were told this was done on purpose, so that the people would bow their head in reverence to those were deceased.
The wind blew through giving the monument a hollow, lonely feeling. Next to the Spire there is a stairway leading into the museum. We were met by one of the guides. We were told that the English speaking guide was on vacation, so our host Ruben Gregoryan acted as translator.
After an initial introduction, no explanation was needed; the pictures spoke for themselves.
The impact of this museum was similar to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. Although the scale is different, it still reflects mans inhumanity to man. As we left the museum, we entered our thoughts into the guest register. As history teachers, we were struck again by the phrase, that if you do not study history; you are bound to repeat it! This will be our last journal entry from Armenia. Do to a combination of family concerns and an abrupt change in the weather, we were given permission by ACCELS to leave early. This journal will continue in America detailing the preparations for and the arrival of our Armenian guests. Signing off, |
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