We remember the Armenian Genocide

“One day the gendarmes [Ottoman military police] came, and chased us out of our house. They didn’t tell us where we were going, just to get out of the house,” recounted Yeranouhi Kazanjian Najarian, an Armenian Genocide survivor, in a recorded testimonial from the early 1980s. She and her two sisters were the sole survivors from her entire family—both her grandmothers were buried alive, her father imprisoned and never seen again. Her mother, brother, and sister were herded into the mountains with thousands of other Armenians and forced to walk hundreds of miles south towards concentration camps. During the deportation, her mother was left in the mountains to die and her brother beheaded. While it has been over thirty years since Yeranouhi recorded this testimonial, and only months short of a century since these events took place, Yeranouhi’s words will always be remembered.

The atrocities Yeranouhi described were part of a systematic extermination campaign by the Ottoman government against the Armenians. Up to 1.5 million Armenians perished as a result of outright killings or death marches through the Syrian Desert to concentration camps in Deir ez-Zor. The Armenian Genocide marked the first genocide of the 20th century. Ottoman success in eradicating the Armenians from their historic homeland and the lack of sufficient international outrage about these acts against humanity perpetuated genocide throughout the 20th century and 21st century in WWII Europe, Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia and Darfur. As means of justifying his horrific actions, Hitler asked “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

It is our duty to tell the story of the Armenians. It is our duty to remember each victim of genocide and to honor each survivor, for these acts of commemoration are crucial in preventing future acts of genocide and mass atrocities. The Coalition for Preserving Memory, an organization founded by Duke students, is dedicated to memorializing genocide victims from the 20th and 21st centuries in a way that will be meaningful and relevant to future generations. CPM unites our diverse Duke community to remember those who have unjustly perished. It is our responsibility to make the promise of “Never Again” a reality.

We invite you to join us in observing the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and commemorating its victims with an event entitled “Stories of Survival”. It will take place on Tuesday, March 3rd, at 6:30pm in Sanford School of Public Policy Room 05. At the event, we will hear panelists from the Duke and Triangle communities, including Yeranouhi’s grandson, Jeff Essen T’74, share their family narratives about the Armenian Genocide. With these harrowing descriptions of destruction and moving stories of survival, we will honor the memory of the genocide’s victims and survivors, remembering humanity at its worst to inspire humanity at its best.

Together We Remember.

Stephen Ghazikhanian is a Trinity junior.