Cultural Event Response 4

Prof Richard Hovannisian: Must We Still Remember? The Armenian Genocide as Prototype

Professor Hovannisian described the history and the context of the Armenian genocide in a clear and comprehensive way. Before comming to the lecture, I knew nothing about the Armenian genocide, and by the time I left, I knew when it was, where it was, and a general idea of why it occurred. Like one of the men on the film clip Hovannisian presented, it seems to me as if it was not a coincidence that this genocide happened in the midst of World War I. The Holocaust happened during World War II, suggesting that total wars create perfect contexts for genocides.

I was struck when Hovannisian predicted that the only genocide of the 20th century that will be remembered in the future is the Hollocaust, not the Armenian genocide, Rawanda, or Darfur. It has always been inconceivable to me that people can deny the existence of genocides despite cold hard facts and accounts by eye-witnesses and survivors. Hovannisian described the thought behind the denial: those who commited the killings were taught by the Turkish government and the political party that it was the right thing to do. For them, Hovannisian explained, it was not a matter of belief, it was a truth for them.