\u201cWho, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Over the last two weeks, I\u2019ve followed the news about a U.S. House of Representatives effort to declare the deaths of about one million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire (carried out from the early days of World War I till the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923) to be genocide. The effort ultimately failed, as domestic politics (an Armenian-American voting block) conflicted with international relations (pissing off Turkey, who has a long history of denying the genocide) and the conduct of the Iraq war (Turkey threatened to stop allowing the use of its airbases if the resolution passed). The White House argued against the resolution, and Congress ultimately caved. Other than the political theater that passes for governance in our nation\u2019s capital, what is at stake here? After all, the proposed resolution was purely symbolic.<\/p>\n
Remembering history is more than symbolic \u2013 it has real-world consequences. If anyone should recognize this profound truth, it is our nation\u2019s leaders. One person who did recognize the importance of remembering (and forgetting) history was Adolf Hitler. While describing his decision to invade Poland and thus start of World War II, he said that German strength \u201cconsists in our speed and in our brutality.\u201d He wanted nothing to do with conventional methods of waging war, and instead ordered his troops, on penalty of death, \u201cto send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language.\u201d To justify this approach, he made a very simple statement: \u201cWho, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hitler was inspired to massive brutality – and a campaign of genocide of an almost unimaginable scale – by the world\u2019s response, or rather lack of response, to the Armenian genocide. Forgetting history has consequences. Those consequences can be horrific. It is amazing to see the \u201cleader of the free world\u201d display such ignorance of the long-term consequences of his actions in favor of today\u2019s expediency. Yet again, I have another reason to be ashamed of the actions of my country.<\/p>\n