British Jews on the Armenian Genocide

A VERY JEWISH HUMANITARIAN ISSUE

“Important and precious as the development of our intellectual faculties is, the cultivation of a sensitive conscience is indispensable” Page 85 in Machzor Ruach Chadashah – reflections for Rosh Hashana.

Through listening to the testimony of a survivor, I first learnt with horror of the Armenian Genocide at a conference on “Genocide” at the Wiener Library on January 27^th 2001, which was the first National Holocaust Memorial Day. Cut to the quick by my ignorance and unwitting collusion with international denial of this precursor to the Holocaust, I set about informing myself. Two convictions arose out of my studies: firstly that the genocide against the Armenians in the Anatolian Peninsular between 1915 and 1923 is directly linked to the subsequent genocide against the Jews of Europe – the Holocaust. Secondly, as the Holocaust has been fully acknowledged and memorialised at the major killing sites, the Jewish Conscience cannot and should not rest until the same is achieved for the genocide of Armenians that preceded the Holocaust and is currently continuing in the last stage of denial (see Genocide Watch – eight stages of genocide).

As the above reflection reminds us, a sensitive conscience is indispensable to live up to our Jewish ‘raison d’etre – to be a light unto the nations’. To remain silent in the face of genocide denial under the delusion that silence is neutral, is, in fact, colluding with the perpetrators to become a perpetrator of denial. Denial prolongs the genocide so that the survivors and their offspring cannot come to a resolution of the trauma; in fact they experience their ancestors being murdered a second time, as denial is an attempt to wipe out the former existence of all those who were murdered.

At an International Conference on Genocide in Yerevan in 2005, I had a chance to voice my concern. This conference marked the 90^th anniversary of April 24^th 1915 when the intellectual leaders of the Armenian community were arrested and beheaded. (All males of fighting age had already been drafted into the Ottoman army, used as slave labour and then shot, leaving villages of defenceless women, children and elderly.). It was during the commemoration service at the Memorial Monument on Tsitsernakaberd Hill in Yerevan, that I noticed the absence of any British or Jewish tree among the hundred or more trees commemorating the genocide. To plant a British Jewish Tree in this garden became my burning passion. It took over two years to materialise:

On August 29th 2007 Danny Rich, Elsbeth and Baron de Menzes and I went to Armenia for a week on a humanitarian mission to plant a tree from British Liberal Judaism. Sadly, the Reform and US movements declined the invitation to join with us for a tree jointly from British Jewry. However, on August 31^st we planted the first British tree (other than one from Baroness Cox personally) and the first Jewish Tree (other than one from the Armenian Jewish Community and a personal one from Jonah Metzge, Chief Rabbi of Israel).

Countries already officially represented by trees from their presidents include Finland, Greece, Estonia, Cyprus, Lavtia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, France and Holland. Cities represented by trees from their mayors include Beirut, Lyon and Marseille. Some trees are sponsored by organisations such as the American Cultural Organisation, the German Red Cross and the International Weight Lifting Federation. Some American senators and other individuals, such as Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II, have planted personal trees. I hope there will soon be more British and Jewish Trees there.

Our little party from Liberal Judaism were quite overwhelmed by the warmth, friendliness and generosity of the Armenian people we met. With such a similar history of persecution and uprooting, it is not surprising to find a remarkable resonance between Jews and Armenians.Their appreciation of our mission was very moving. At very short notice, when Nellie (of Princess Maneh Tours), told the Metropol Hotel why we were coming, she got us some of the best rooms and a personal welcome by the manager. Nellie found all the tour buses already hired out and, determined to find us one, asked a Jewish Armenian businessman who put his minibus with driver at our disposal and would not even take our money. Nellie also found us a tour guide, Anna, who was not only a delightful person but spoke excellent English and was extremely knowledgeable. She and Armag, the driver, took us on three imaginatively thought-out tours of Yerevan and the most interesting and beautiful parts of the country.

I will attempt to comment on only some of the wonderfully varied highlights of our momentous week in Armenia. Most moving undoubtedly were our two visits to the Genocide Museum: first a guided tour by Hayk Demoyan the Director, as part of the tree-planting and reception, and then a second visit later as it is impossible to absorb all in one visit. Most striking is the majestic Mount Ararat, overlooking Yerevan, where Noah’s Ark came to rest in biblical times. It is an important cultural symbol going back to the vast Armenian Kingdom 2000 years ago, but now is cut off from Armenia incongruously inside Turkish territory. A striking memorial in one of Yerevan’s parks was placed there by the small Jewish Community of Yerevan. Not very large but impressively effective, it jointly commemorates the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. The stonemason has used an ancient Armenian pattern to make a menorah in two halves with a central sculpture that represents both the everlasting light and hands in prayer - very simple and moving. By chance we came upon a twentieth century wedding in a thirteenth century Armenian church far out in the mountains - quite an experience. We also visited a very ancient Jewish cemetery, rather hard to find in a mountain valley, the surprisingly vast Lake Severn with its bathing and boating beaches and we picnicked in the fruit orchards on the way. We visited the gallery of Marterios Saryan which houses most of his over 4000 paintings, very varied in style and rich in colour. We found the Lubavich synagogue in Yerevan and attended the Shabbat morning service, at which Danny and Baron read from the scroll. But we did not have time to make contact with the Liberal Jewish community in Yerevan, leaving us with the feeling that there is plenty more to see and do in another visit. So Danny is planning a larger group for 2009 to visit ‘Our Tree’.

My first visit to Armenia for the international conference was in April, the tail end of a bleak winter, and my impression was of a vital but desperately poor country struggling to find its feet as a republic only 14 years old. This time was in high summer with the countryside fertile and flourishing. An enormous amount of building is in progress and I got an impression of increased confidence and optimism in spite of Armenia’s continuing precarious economic situation.

Ruth Barnett September 2007