From AlertNet, A Thomson Reuters Foundation Service
-
-
Volatile mix of Roma, vigilantes faces Hungary town
-
-
Hungary, March 30 (Reuters) - In the past three years Hungary's Roma, or gypsies, have been shot dead in their homes, killed by hand grenades and attacked with petrol bombs. Now they are going to be policed by right-wing vigilantes.
-
Next month, the far-right Jobbik party, which gained its first toehold in parliament last year on a right-wing tidal wave that put the Fidesz party in power, will field 200 vigilantes in the hardluck northeastern town of Hajduhadhaz.
-
"This will be a kind of demonstration," said Gergely Rubi, a Jobbik MP and the local leader of the Brighter Future Vigilante Association.
-
"The government likes to sweep gypsy crime under the rug but that leads nowhere," Rubi said. "If the government can't guarantee our safety they shouldn't wonder we organise our own defence."
-
Hajduhadhaz, a town of 13,000, some 30 percent of whom are Roma, was once a prosperous agricultural centre with a wood-products factory but is pretty much a perfect breeding ground for trouble today.
-
Unemployment is 40 percent, many households survive on $150 month and on a recent visit there was little activity beyond a handful of publicly employed gardeners tending the main square.
-
"The lack of order and security in Hajduhadhaz is horrid," said Marika Ferenczi, a 65-year-old retired railway worker. "A lot of people dare not sleep, fearing who might lurk outside."
-
She is not a Roma, but she does not think vigilante justice is the way to go.
-
"For (vigilantes) to insult and provoke everyone on the streets, I'm against that... All this is tied to extremists.
-
"Should I name them? Jobbik."
-
Mayor Denes Csafordi said the police would not stop the vigilantes from patrolling, as long as they break no laws, but predicted they would not cure the town's ills.
-
"I find it deeply unsettling that self-styled arbiters of truth should descend upon this town and try to tell us how to get our house in order. They come here for a week or two... They will not solve anything, only generate more problems," he said.
-
STRUGGLE FOR INTEGRATION
-
Hungary has long struggled to reintegrate its Roma, who lost their jobs en masse when communism collapsed. A Roma generation has grown up since then with few memories of regular work, many of them living on welfare and a revolving door to jail.
-
Friction between Roma and the rest of population is endemic. In 2008, two Roma were shot dead in their home in northeastern Hungary, firebombs were lobbed into three Roma homes west of Budapest and shots were fired at three homes nearer the capital.
-
A group of men accused in those killings, and woundings of dozens of Roma, went on trial in Budapest last week, but the effort to solve the crimes does little to ease the tensions, which are compounded by recent economic woes.
-
The centre-right government, which parted ways with the IMF last year and needs market trust to roll over the highest debt burden in the region, recently bowed to market pressure to trim social spending.
-
Unemployment benefits will be cut to three months from nine and public employment -- often the only type of job going in places like Hajduhadhaz -- is capped at four hours a day, with a monthly pay of $150 per month.
-
"The $150 doesn't pay our bills, let alone cover our living costs," Balint Bernath, a local Roma leader, said.
-
"We voted for this government because they promised hundreds of thousands of jobs. It's been nearly a year. We can't see them."
-
"They want us to stop crime," he added. "If it goes on like this, they take the jobs and they take the aid, then crime will rise in Hajduhadhaz, and all over the country, I assure you."
-
FAR RIGHT RIDES IN
-
While Jobbik got into parliament on rhetoric vilifying the Roma, Fidesz grabbed a two-thirds majority on promises of a million new jobs in 10 years and a return of public safety in two weeks.
-
However, Fidesz has struggled to boost the economy and has yet to bring unemployment lower.
-
Meanwhile, Jobbik continues playing the Roma card. Its vigilantes held a rally in a conflict-ridden village in northern Hungary earlier this month where 2,000 people, many in black uniform, marched through the Roma settlement on the outskirts.
-
"Had we not ordered police to critical scenes in significant numbers, ugly things could have happened," Prime Minister Viktor Orban said afterwards.
-
In Hajduhadhaz, Roma say the vigilantes only add oil to the flames, and promised they would not back down.
-
"They have not dared come to these areas yet," Bernath said, speaking near a litter-strewn shanty town where a few brick houses stood among a scattering of adobe shacks and makeshift huts with walls made of blankets cast on wooden poles.
-
"If the vigilantes don't escalate this, we won't either. If they declare war on us, I will declare war on them, too."
-
Csafordi, elected mayor in October, said the local Roma were isolated, impoverished and that unemployment will take years to erase.
-
"I believe the country, like our town, cannot afford pseudo measures any more," he said. "We need to do more than trying to be popular. We need to dig down to the root of the problem."
-
CIVIL UNREST
-
The government says it plans to boost public employment again, but welfare benefits will be linked to work.
-
"The only way to get welfare will be through work," Mihaly Varga, state secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, told state radio.
-
Peter Kreko, an analyst for the research firm Political Capital, rejected this approach.
-
"There is no way public works projects alone can employ all these people," he said.
-
He warned that in a worst-case scenario, Hungary's Roma could end up in revolt, much like Slovakia's Roma revolted in 2004 when government measures stripped them of aid with few alternatives and they broke into stores in search for food.
-
"Of course, it's not automatic, it needs an ideological catalyst, which is a given now because of Jobbik," Kreko said.
-
"All we need then is a spark for the mix to explode."
-
-
Source
-
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/feature-volatile-mix-of-roma-vigilantes-faces-hungary-town
Helsinki Youth Department...
... Just Missing Arm Bands.
-
-
When it came to organizing the populous against a targeted community Hitler and Stalin knew exactly how to do it. Command the youth and strangle the elderly. The children of the nation can alter the fate of a people. That is why Hitler's most indelible legacy of Socialist order was his "Hitler Youth" program.
-
In Finland this mission is accomplished with the Youth Departments. These help lead action against Europe's least desirable minority (their largest minority), the Romani.
-
Today the Helsinki Youth Department will be using force to remove Roma from a camp that their government had set up. To make their actions legitimate they have asked the local authorities to "help" them destroy the Roma camp. A method that has worked in places like Italy (where the police actively attack and beat Roma when offered the chance to "help").
-
The camp is an abandoned civic building in the Kalasatama area. It has running water, electricity, and a reputation that keeps the local authorities out. In other words it is perfect for a people who want to be left alone.
-
The local government has offered the Roma another camp, a temporary one, in the Hietaniemi service center. The Roma have declined.
-
”They would rather stay in a place where they would have water, electricity, and where the authorities would not disturb them. Moreover, they would not like to take up space needed by homeless Finns”, Keiju Oksanen reported Wednesday.
-
And this is a fact that the Youth Department does not want to realize. In putting the Roma into a "homeless shelter" they force them into competition with homeless Finns. Thus creating an even harsher environment than the local homeless already have to live with.
-
Jarmo Räihä, a chairman with the Roma working group with the City of Helsinki Social Services Department, reported that other reasons for the Romas' declining of the offer was the fact that the service center had little parking and no cooking space. It also was much more "guarded" with many more police and government officials around. In short, the service center looks and feels to much like a government camp being offered to concentrate them in one area... under watching eyes.
-
-
Source Documents
-
Helsingin Sanomat
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Helsinki+Youth+Department+urges+police+to+empty+Roma+camp/1135265059254
-
Helsinki Times
http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/domestic-news/general/14827-helsinki-city-council-evicts-kalasatamas-roma-beggars-.html
-
-
-
When it came to organizing the populous against a targeted community Hitler and Stalin knew exactly how to do it. Command the youth and strangle the elderly. The children of the nation can alter the fate of a people. That is why Hitler's most indelible legacy of Socialist order was his "Hitler Youth" program.
-
In Finland this mission is accomplished with the Youth Departments. These help lead action against Europe's least desirable minority (their largest minority), the Romani.
-
Today the Helsinki Youth Department will be using force to remove Roma from a camp that their government had set up. To make their actions legitimate they have asked the local authorities to "help" them destroy the Roma camp. A method that has worked in places like Italy (where the police actively attack and beat Roma when offered the chance to "help").
-
The camp is an abandoned civic building in the Kalasatama area. It has running water, electricity, and a reputation that keeps the local authorities out. In other words it is perfect for a people who want to be left alone.
-
The local government has offered the Roma another camp, a temporary one, in the Hietaniemi service center. The Roma have declined.
-
”They would rather stay in a place where they would have water, electricity, and where the authorities would not disturb them. Moreover, they would not like to take up space needed by homeless Finns”, Keiju Oksanen reported Wednesday.
-
And this is a fact that the Youth Department does not want to realize. In putting the Roma into a "homeless shelter" they force them into competition with homeless Finns. Thus creating an even harsher environment than the local homeless already have to live with.
-
Jarmo Räihä, a chairman with the Roma working group with the City of Helsinki Social Services Department, reported that other reasons for the Romas' declining of the offer was the fact that the service center had little parking and no cooking space. It also was much more "guarded" with many more police and government officials around. In short, the service center looks and feels to much like a government camp being offered to concentrate them in one area... under watching eyes.
-
-
Source Documents
-
Helsingin Sanomat
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Helsinki+Youth+Department+urges+police+to+empty+Roma+camp/1135265059254
-
Helsinki Times
http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/domestic-news/general/14827-helsinki-city-council-evicts-kalasatamas-roma-beggars-.html
-
March 26, 2011
Hungary Hungry for Pogroms
Fuel for the Fire
-
-
With the rise of the far-right taking Europe like wild fire the eastern parts of Europe are falling fast. Hungary has long been a flirt when it comes to the Nazi style politics spreading westward. Worst yet, Hungary has a long past as a fascist conspirator (hence their arrow flag and arm bands). And that history just doesn't seem to want to go away.
-
Hajduhadhaz, a small town of around 13,000 people is just the next battle field for the far-right in Hungary. With the government's recent law linking welfare (a source of income that many Hungarians rely upon) payments to the cleanliness of your home and property. This fascist inspired law was directed by the far-right to target the Romani living in places like Hajduhadhaz.
-
One Rom, Balint Bernath claims that the government makes it a habit to come into their homes and check their bathrooms and toilets. He also claims that a neighbor lost his welfare payments because a snooping official found a single spot of dog excrement in his yard. It isn't clear if the government is enforcing this law on all Hungarians or only the Roma minority.
-
It is clear however that in places like Hajduhadhaz the far-right political party Jobbik is calling the shots. The parliamentary deputy, 32 year-old Gergely Rubi, for example. People like him claim that the Roma, and the Roma alone, are the cause for all ills that have befallen Hungary. He claims that the Roma are thieves, rapist, violent criminals, and just plain plunderers and pillagers.
-
Mr. Rubi does not however admit that the policies his party is pushing have suppressed the local economies by restricting the ability of the common man to start up business or engage in business of his own choosing. Instead his party has sought to restore their mythically pure Magyar race back to its position of authority in Hungary. So like the Nazi's Aryans, the Jobbik party is attempting to divide the races and conquer the minorities.
-
One portion of the Jobbik argument claims that the Roma are outsiders in the belief that they are "pagans", "Muslims", or even "witches". However in Hajduhadhaz the Roma are seemingly flocking the new Pentecostal Church. They are "finding religion" in the depths of economic repression. And this in a way feeds the Jobbik belief that the Roma are outsiders. The Jobbik party flocks to the old Calvinist Church.
-
As of late the differences between the two not so different ethnic groups (most Roma are not nomadic anymore due the old policies of the Communist Eastern Block). Jobbik has set up programmes through out the Hungarian countryside. Their goal is clear, if only to them, to restore "law and order". To the outsiders (us and the Roma) their goal is even more clear... to defeat and destroy an entire ethnic group... genocide.
-
Unlike the good old days of Hungarian socialism and even communism these days at least some of the criminals are being brought to justice (or a version of it). Trials of Hungarian murders are scheduled to begin soon. However these small steps are most likely just to appease the EU and UN. It is unclear as of now if the Hungarian government will actually make any real strides in stopping the Jobbik party and its plans for more pogroms. Or if Hungary will simply respond to the crimes after the fact.
-
"They now face sentences between 15 years and life in prison, depending on their degree of culpability. The case greatly exacerbated the atmosphere at the time, Roma people even prepared to emigrate en masse," said Attila Petöfi of the Hungarian National Bureau of Investigation.
-
Kill and maim people based on race and hatred for an entire people in Hungary and you might get off with just 15 years. A portion of that might not even be served in prison either. This is why I am sceptical about Hungarian commitment to stopping the Jobbik fascist and their demented minions.
-
-
Source Documents
-
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9435803.stm
-
Romea.cz
http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2290
-
AP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCz5qY2k_d0HERoJBBkszj0UwlGQ?docId=c3e91b5a8d184e48a1b45bf69d1d5a89
-
Caboodle.Hu
http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=8899
-
-
With the rise of the far-right taking Europe like wild fire the eastern parts of Europe are falling fast. Hungary has long been a flirt when it comes to the Nazi style politics spreading westward. Worst yet, Hungary has a long past as a fascist conspirator (hence their arrow flag and arm bands). And that history just doesn't seem to want to go away.
-
Hajduhadhaz, a small town of around 13,000 people is just the next battle field for the far-right in Hungary. With the government's recent law linking welfare (a source of income that many Hungarians rely upon) payments to the cleanliness of your home and property. This fascist inspired law was directed by the far-right to target the Romani living in places like Hajduhadhaz.
-
One Rom, Balint Bernath claims that the government makes it a habit to come into their homes and check their bathrooms and toilets. He also claims that a neighbor lost his welfare payments because a snooping official found a single spot of dog excrement in his yard. It isn't clear if the government is enforcing this law on all Hungarians or only the Roma minority.
-
It is clear however that in places like Hajduhadhaz the far-right political party Jobbik is calling the shots. The parliamentary deputy, 32 year-old Gergely Rubi, for example. People like him claim that the Roma, and the Roma alone, are the cause for all ills that have befallen Hungary. He claims that the Roma are thieves, rapist, violent criminals, and just plain plunderers and pillagers.
-
Mr. Rubi does not however admit that the policies his party is pushing have suppressed the local economies by restricting the ability of the common man to start up business or engage in business of his own choosing. Instead his party has sought to restore their mythically pure Magyar race back to its position of authority in Hungary. So like the Nazi's Aryans, the Jobbik party is attempting to divide the races and conquer the minorities.
-
One portion of the Jobbik argument claims that the Roma are outsiders in the belief that they are "pagans", "Muslims", or even "witches". However in Hajduhadhaz the Roma are seemingly flocking the new Pentecostal Church. They are "finding religion" in the depths of economic repression. And this in a way feeds the Jobbik belief that the Roma are outsiders. The Jobbik party flocks to the old Calvinist Church.
-
As of late the differences between the two not so different ethnic groups (most Roma are not nomadic anymore due the old policies of the Communist Eastern Block). Jobbik has set up programmes through out the Hungarian countryside. Their goal is clear, if only to them, to restore "law and order". To the outsiders (us and the Roma) their goal is even more clear... to defeat and destroy an entire ethnic group... genocide.
-
Unlike the good old days of Hungarian socialism and even communism these days at least some of the criminals are being brought to justice (or a version of it). Trials of Hungarian murders are scheduled to begin soon. However these small steps are most likely just to appease the EU and UN. It is unclear as of now if the Hungarian government will actually make any real strides in stopping the Jobbik party and its plans for more pogroms. Or if Hungary will simply respond to the crimes after the fact.
-
"They now face sentences between 15 years and life in prison, depending on their degree of culpability. The case greatly exacerbated the atmosphere at the time, Roma people even prepared to emigrate en masse," said Attila Petöfi of the Hungarian National Bureau of Investigation.
-
Kill and maim people based on race and hatred for an entire people in Hungary and you might get off with just 15 years. A portion of that might not even be served in prison either. This is why I am sceptical about Hungarian commitment to stopping the Jobbik fascist and their demented minions.
-
-
Source Documents
-
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9435803.stm
-
Romea.cz
http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2290
-
AP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCz5qY2k_d0HERoJBBkszj0UwlGQ?docId=c3e91b5a8d184e48a1b45bf69d1d5a89
-
Caboodle.Hu
http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=8899
March 16, 2011
Romea.cz - Stehliková: Human rights trampled under the hooves of horses
Romea.cz - Stehliková: Human rights trampled under the hooves of horses
-
Was yesterday's police intervention against the Roma people and others demonstrating against the neo-Nazis proportionate?
-
This story started long before groups of right-wing extremists decided to meet on the morning of Saturday, 12 March and march through the Roma quarter of Nový Bydžov in order to terrorize the residents. It started long before the 51 mayors met in Nový Bydžov to discuss tactics for "how to take on the socially inadaptable" (to use the term introduced by former Mayor of Chomutov Ivana Řápková (Civic Democrats - ODS) instead of the more correct term of "the socially excluded"). The mayors agreed on a "Mayoral Declaration", the content of which was a proposal for repressive measures that would intrude into the private lives of all citizens, not just the socially excluded.
-
Our story started when the Mayor of Nový Bydžov, Pavel Louda (ODS), decided to bank solely on denouncing and repressing the socially deprived instead of guiding the town toward integration of the socially excluded. Instead of applying for assistance from the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion in Roma Localities, he found a quick shortcut to the rapid scoring of political points.
-
When a recidivist who is reportedly "half-Roma" allegedly raped a 21-year-old girl in Nový Bydžov last November, the mayor's issued a statement labeling "Gypsies" as the culprits for this brutal crime. In that statement, the mayor does not distinguish between the "orderly" families of longtime Roma residents and the newly-arrived "problematic" families, but tars all Roma people with the same brush, even though escalating hatred against a particular group because of its alleged criminality in the town is no solution. The mayor's statement divided locals even more and strengthened the anti-Roma mood.
-
It is therefore not surprising that right-wing extremists are welcome in Nový Bydžov. Ever since the conflict at the Janov housing estate in Litvínov, we have seen that the extremists' tactic is to seek the support and sympathy of local populations in problematic localities.
-
These extremists, aided by their marches through excluded localities predominantly inhabited by Roma people, are promoting themselves in public life and striving to enter politics. Perhaps the most active and best-known of these groups is the extreme-right Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS), the successor to the banned Workers' Party (Dělnická strana - DS). This is the party that convened the demonstration in Nový Bydžov on Saturday, 12 March 2011, allegedly at the request of local residents and despite a call from the mayor not to come to the town.
-
The illegal Movement of Autonomous Nationalists then affiliated itself with the demonstration. According to Green Party chair Ondřej Liška, who was present at Saturday's events, other neo-Nazi and ultra-right groups including the National Resistance also joined the call for the DSSS demonstration through their web pages. Such extremely unconstitutional activities and relationships were one of the reasons the Workers' Party was banned in the first place.
-
Liška says these relationships were sufficient reason either to ban yesterday's gathering before it even began, or to disperse it once it had begun. The town hall leadership, however, did none of this. It permitted the radical right-wing march and did not disperse the gathering even after it took an illegal turn and Ondřej Liška filed criminal charges against the organizers at the local department of the Police of the Czech Republic. For their part, the police intervened very harshly against the group of Roma and other people counter-demonstrating against the neo-Nazis and attempting to block the extremist march.
-
Let's look at the events in Nový Bydžov in chronological order. In addition to the right-wing radicals, Roma people and others also announced a gathering for 12 March and the "Nový Bydžov is not alone!" Initiative was created. This call was endorsed by NGOs including the Romea civic association, human rights activists, politicians, members of the Green Party, guests from abroad and other sympathizers.
-
As many as 300 people total met in the town who were united in the opinion that a "protest against neo-Nazism and racism is a natural position to hold in society and the obligation of every respectable person". The recently appointed Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner, Monika Šimůnková, was also invited to attend.
-
The Workers' Social Justice Party had planned to march through streets where many Roma families live, such as Na Šarlejích street, where the entire drama later culminated in a police intervention in which riot police, on horseback and carrying shields, dispersed the counter-demonstrators with nightsticks and firecrackers. The majority of Roma families in that locality, out of concern there would be a pogrom, had already sent their children, the elderly and the women out of town to stay with relatives. The tension in the town was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.
-
On Saturday 12 March, police checkpoints were set up in the morning for those driving into Nový Bydžov. Police stopped the buses that the Green Party had organized for their supporters and the car being driven by former Czech Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb. That morning some of the retailers in town had closed their shops and boarded up their display windows. There were only a few shops where visitors, including the skinheads, were welcome. The streets of the town of 7 000 were empty.
-
Roma and other citizens supporting the Nový Bydžov is not alone! Initiative gathered for their march by the football pitch. Those in attendance included former Czech Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb, the actor Achab Heidler, the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu) Čeněk Růžička, the German journalist and sociologist Markus Pape, members of the Green Party, members of the Czech Pirate Party, and many others.
-
The organizers of the event, Miroslav Brož and Drahomír Radek Horváth, announced just before 11:00 that the planned march had been canceled and that there would be a religious gathering instead. Such a gathering would not be subject to reporting requirements, which meant the procession could travel anywhere it wanted.
-
The group was led by a clergywoman from the Czechoslovak Hussite Church, Mgr. Michaela Kajlíková. She led the march into the center of town to the nearby Catholic church of St. Lawrence (sv. Vavřinec).
-
After advancing 200 meters, the peaceful procession was stopped by police to verify whether it could be allowed to continue on as a religious gathering. Michaela Kajlíková began a common prayer, after which the marchers linked arms and created a human chain to symbolize their union and common resistance to evil. Negotiations with the secretary of the town hall took an hour, but were successful.
-
At around noon the procession arrived at the church and started to pray. In the interim, the first small groups of right-wing radicals carrying DSSS flags began heading for the main square, which is near the church of St. Lawrence (sv. Vavřinec). Standing several meters away from the religious gathering, the neo-Nazis followed it and yelled insults at specific people. Police officers formed a barrier between those who were praying and the extremists.
-
Shortly after noon, Michaela Kajlíková concluded the religious gathering, announced that fact to the town hall, and led the procession back to its original gathering place. Most of the demonstrators decided to stay in Na Šarlejích street, which is predominantly inhabited by Roma families, to blockade the extremists' march. Those who remained with the Roma included both former Human Rights Ministers and the chairs of the Green Party and the Pirate Party and their supporters. Radical representatives of the anti-fascist group Antifa joined the gathering as well.
-
DSSS party chair Tomáš Vandas began speaking on the main square. Police asked the DSSS to change the route of their march so as to avoid Na Šarlejích street, which was being blocked by the counter-demonstrators. Vandas refused this request and insisted on the original route.
-
The Roma counter-demonstrators were determined not to let the extremists march beneath the windows of their homes. One of the organizers, Drahomír Radek Horváth, declared he would remain there even at the price of committing civil disobedience.
-
For almost one hour, the peaceful crowd created a blockade with their own bodies. "Black people, white people, join forces," chanted the group of roughly 200.
-
The police anti-conflict teams attempted to convince the demonstrators to let the DSSS march through. A few steps away on the square, anti-Roma and racist slogans were being chanted which were criminal violations of the Constitution, so the people forming the blockade were willing to commit the misdemeanor of standing their ground.
-
Green Party chair Ondřej Liška then announced to Mayor Pavel Louda that he had information according to which the illegal National Resistance movement was participating in the DSSS gathering, as was obvious from the content of their web page. In his view, this meant the DSSS gathering was unconstitutional as it was inciting racial intolerance and violence against a particular group. Liška asked the mayor to disperse the gathering. The mayor referred to the discipline of those participating in the permitted gathering on the square and said he saw nothing in the content of their speeches or the purpose of the march that would lead him to ban it. The Green Party head did not give up and set off to negotiate with the commander of the police intervention, Petr Krása.
-
It seemed the commander of the intervention had more understanding for our arguments. He suggested filing official charges at the local police department. He told us that this would create an opportunity for dispersing the DSSS march, which had not yet left the square. Ondřej Liška, Michael Kocáb and Džamila Stehlíková immediately set off for the closest police department to file charges.
-
Mere minutes after Liška and the two former ministers had entered the police building to file their motion to have the DSSS march dismissed, the police intervened in a flash against the counter-demonstrators and very harshly dispersed them. After calling once for those assembled to disperse, the police officers spurred their horses to a gallop and charged the demonstrators. Officers on horseback delivered blows to the demonstrators with long nightsticks.
-
Riot police set off firecrackers and then randomly arrested the confused and startled counter-demonstrators. Eyewitnesses say the brutality and rapidity of the intervention confounded everyone. At least 10 demonstrators report having been struck with a night stick or an "encounter with a horse", as we might euphemistically describe the situation in which a rider charges at a person sitting on the ground who does not have enough time to get up and run. At least three people were treated for injuries caused by the horses.
-
Those of us at the police station received word of this unexpectedly brutal intervention and immediately headed back to Na Šarlejích street. We were too late - the street was empty. The demonstrators had been pushed into the next street, Havlíčkova, to make room for the DSSS march. We managed to hand a copy of the charges to Petr Krása. He promised to see what could be done and disappeared in the direction of the square. We never saw him again.
-
After several minutes, the streets leading away from the square were full of DSSS marchers chanting the slogans "Bohemia for the Czechs" and "Stop Black Racism". The march was protected by many riot police, far more than had protected the counter-demonstration march by the Roma and their supporters.
-
The Mayor of Nový Bydžov later praised the course of the police interventions on the town hall website: "The Police of the Czech Republic demonstrated perfect preparedness and accompanied the march of the properly announced DSSS gathering. Thanks to a deployment of large numbers of men and equipment, public order was protected in the town during the gathering and immediately after it ended."
-
Ondřej Liška and Drahomír Radek Horváth consider the police intervention to have been brutal and disproportionate. Horváth is preparing to file a motion for the intervention to be investigated.
-
A sad ending to this Saturday was a clash during which 13 DSSS supporters attacked three Roma men. One of the Roma victims, after being kicked and receiving blows to the head, fell unconscious and was hospitalized with a concussion. DSSS chair Tomáš Vandas announced that he was satisfied with his party's action.
-
-
Was yesterday's police intervention against the Roma people and others demonstrating against the neo-Nazis proportionate?
-
This story started long before groups of right-wing extremists decided to meet on the morning of Saturday, 12 March and march through the Roma quarter of Nový Bydžov in order to terrorize the residents. It started long before the 51 mayors met in Nový Bydžov to discuss tactics for "how to take on the socially inadaptable" (to use the term introduced by former Mayor of Chomutov Ivana Řápková (Civic Democrats - ODS) instead of the more correct term of "the socially excluded"). The mayors agreed on a "Mayoral Declaration", the content of which was a proposal for repressive measures that would intrude into the private lives of all citizens, not just the socially excluded.
-
Our story started when the Mayor of Nový Bydžov, Pavel Louda (ODS), decided to bank solely on denouncing and repressing the socially deprived instead of guiding the town toward integration of the socially excluded. Instead of applying for assistance from the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion in Roma Localities, he found a quick shortcut to the rapid scoring of political points.
-
When a recidivist who is reportedly "half-Roma" allegedly raped a 21-year-old girl in Nový Bydžov last November, the mayor's issued a statement labeling "Gypsies" as the culprits for this brutal crime. In that statement, the mayor does not distinguish between the "orderly" families of longtime Roma residents and the newly-arrived "problematic" families, but tars all Roma people with the same brush, even though escalating hatred against a particular group because of its alleged criminality in the town is no solution. The mayor's statement divided locals even more and strengthened the anti-Roma mood.
-
It is therefore not surprising that right-wing extremists are welcome in Nový Bydžov. Ever since the conflict at the Janov housing estate in Litvínov, we have seen that the extremists' tactic is to seek the support and sympathy of local populations in problematic localities.
-
These extremists, aided by their marches through excluded localities predominantly inhabited by Roma people, are promoting themselves in public life and striving to enter politics. Perhaps the most active and best-known of these groups is the extreme-right Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS), the successor to the banned Workers' Party (Dělnická strana - DS). This is the party that convened the demonstration in Nový Bydžov on Saturday, 12 March 2011, allegedly at the request of local residents and despite a call from the mayor not to come to the town.
-
The illegal Movement of Autonomous Nationalists then affiliated itself with the demonstration. According to Green Party chair Ondřej Liška, who was present at Saturday's events, other neo-Nazi and ultra-right groups including the National Resistance also joined the call for the DSSS demonstration through their web pages. Such extremely unconstitutional activities and relationships were one of the reasons the Workers' Party was banned in the first place.
-
Liška says these relationships were sufficient reason either to ban yesterday's gathering before it even began, or to disperse it once it had begun. The town hall leadership, however, did none of this. It permitted the radical right-wing march and did not disperse the gathering even after it took an illegal turn and Ondřej Liška filed criminal charges against the organizers at the local department of the Police of the Czech Republic. For their part, the police intervened very harshly against the group of Roma and other people counter-demonstrating against the neo-Nazis and attempting to block the extremist march.
-
Let's look at the events in Nový Bydžov in chronological order. In addition to the right-wing radicals, Roma people and others also announced a gathering for 12 March and the "Nový Bydžov is not alone!" Initiative was created. This call was endorsed by NGOs including the Romea civic association, human rights activists, politicians, members of the Green Party, guests from abroad and other sympathizers.
-
As many as 300 people total met in the town who were united in the opinion that a "protest against neo-Nazism and racism is a natural position to hold in society and the obligation of every respectable person". The recently appointed Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner, Monika Šimůnková, was also invited to attend.
-
The Workers' Social Justice Party had planned to march through streets where many Roma families live, such as Na Šarlejích street, where the entire drama later culminated in a police intervention in which riot police, on horseback and carrying shields, dispersed the counter-demonstrators with nightsticks and firecrackers. The majority of Roma families in that locality, out of concern there would be a pogrom, had already sent their children, the elderly and the women out of town to stay with relatives. The tension in the town was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.
-
On Saturday 12 March, police checkpoints were set up in the morning for those driving into Nový Bydžov. Police stopped the buses that the Green Party had organized for their supporters and the car being driven by former Czech Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb. That morning some of the retailers in town had closed their shops and boarded up their display windows. There were only a few shops where visitors, including the skinheads, were welcome. The streets of the town of 7 000 were empty.
-
Roma and other citizens supporting the Nový Bydžov is not alone! Initiative gathered for their march by the football pitch. Those in attendance included former Czech Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb, the actor Achab Heidler, the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu) Čeněk Růžička, the German journalist and sociologist Markus Pape, members of the Green Party, members of the Czech Pirate Party, and many others.
-
The organizers of the event, Miroslav Brož and Drahomír Radek Horváth, announced just before 11:00 that the planned march had been canceled and that there would be a religious gathering instead. Such a gathering would not be subject to reporting requirements, which meant the procession could travel anywhere it wanted.
-
The group was led by a clergywoman from the Czechoslovak Hussite Church, Mgr. Michaela Kajlíková. She led the march into the center of town to the nearby Catholic church of St. Lawrence (sv. Vavřinec).
-
After advancing 200 meters, the peaceful procession was stopped by police to verify whether it could be allowed to continue on as a religious gathering. Michaela Kajlíková began a common prayer, after which the marchers linked arms and created a human chain to symbolize their union and common resistance to evil. Negotiations with the secretary of the town hall took an hour, but were successful.
-
At around noon the procession arrived at the church and started to pray. In the interim, the first small groups of right-wing radicals carrying DSSS flags began heading for the main square, which is near the church of St. Lawrence (sv. Vavřinec). Standing several meters away from the religious gathering, the neo-Nazis followed it and yelled insults at specific people. Police officers formed a barrier between those who were praying and the extremists.
-
Shortly after noon, Michaela Kajlíková concluded the religious gathering, announced that fact to the town hall, and led the procession back to its original gathering place. Most of the demonstrators decided to stay in Na Šarlejích street, which is predominantly inhabited by Roma families, to blockade the extremists' march. Those who remained with the Roma included both former Human Rights Ministers and the chairs of the Green Party and the Pirate Party and their supporters. Radical representatives of the anti-fascist group Antifa joined the gathering as well.
-
DSSS party chair Tomáš Vandas began speaking on the main square. Police asked the DSSS to change the route of their march so as to avoid Na Šarlejích street, which was being blocked by the counter-demonstrators. Vandas refused this request and insisted on the original route.
-
The Roma counter-demonstrators were determined not to let the extremists march beneath the windows of their homes. One of the organizers, Drahomír Radek Horváth, declared he would remain there even at the price of committing civil disobedience.
-
For almost one hour, the peaceful crowd created a blockade with their own bodies. "Black people, white people, join forces," chanted the group of roughly 200.
-
The police anti-conflict teams attempted to convince the demonstrators to let the DSSS march through. A few steps away on the square, anti-Roma and racist slogans were being chanted which were criminal violations of the Constitution, so the people forming the blockade were willing to commit the misdemeanor of standing their ground.
-
Green Party chair Ondřej Liška then announced to Mayor Pavel Louda that he had information according to which the illegal National Resistance movement was participating in the DSSS gathering, as was obvious from the content of their web page. In his view, this meant the DSSS gathering was unconstitutional as it was inciting racial intolerance and violence against a particular group. Liška asked the mayor to disperse the gathering. The mayor referred to the discipline of those participating in the permitted gathering on the square and said he saw nothing in the content of their speeches or the purpose of the march that would lead him to ban it. The Green Party head did not give up and set off to negotiate with the commander of the police intervention, Petr Krása.
-
It seemed the commander of the intervention had more understanding for our arguments. He suggested filing official charges at the local police department. He told us that this would create an opportunity for dispersing the DSSS march, which had not yet left the square. Ondřej Liška, Michael Kocáb and Džamila Stehlíková immediately set off for the closest police department to file charges.
-
Mere minutes after Liška and the two former ministers had entered the police building to file their motion to have the DSSS march dismissed, the police intervened in a flash against the counter-demonstrators and very harshly dispersed them. After calling once for those assembled to disperse, the police officers spurred their horses to a gallop and charged the demonstrators. Officers on horseback delivered blows to the demonstrators with long nightsticks.
-
Riot police set off firecrackers and then randomly arrested the confused and startled counter-demonstrators. Eyewitnesses say the brutality and rapidity of the intervention confounded everyone. At least 10 demonstrators report having been struck with a night stick or an "encounter with a horse", as we might euphemistically describe the situation in which a rider charges at a person sitting on the ground who does not have enough time to get up and run. At least three people were treated for injuries caused by the horses.
-
Those of us at the police station received word of this unexpectedly brutal intervention and immediately headed back to Na Šarlejích street. We were too late - the street was empty. The demonstrators had been pushed into the next street, Havlíčkova, to make room for the DSSS march. We managed to hand a copy of the charges to Petr Krása. He promised to see what could be done and disappeared in the direction of the square. We never saw him again.
-
After several minutes, the streets leading away from the square were full of DSSS marchers chanting the slogans "Bohemia for the Czechs" and "Stop Black Racism". The march was protected by many riot police, far more than had protected the counter-demonstration march by the Roma and their supporters.
-
The Mayor of Nový Bydžov later praised the course of the police interventions on the town hall website: "The Police of the Czech Republic demonstrated perfect preparedness and accompanied the march of the properly announced DSSS gathering. Thanks to a deployment of large numbers of men and equipment, public order was protected in the town during the gathering and immediately after it ended."
-
Ondřej Liška and Drahomír Radek Horváth consider the police intervention to have been brutal and disproportionate. Horváth is preparing to file a motion for the intervention to be investigated.
-
A sad ending to this Saturday was a clash during which 13 DSSS supporters attacked three Roma men. One of the Roma victims, after being kicked and receiving blows to the head, fell unconscious and was hospitalized with a concussion. DSSS chair Tomáš Vandas announced that he was satisfied with his party's action.
-
March 11, 2011
"Special Education"
Czech Republic Still Segregating Schools
-
-
For decades now the Eastern Bloc has used its public schools as a tool to economically and socially segregate Roma from the rest of society. By placing Rom children in "practical schools" for the mentally handicapped they deny the Romani population a chance at an education. The excuses provided range from the fact that a handful of Roma don't speak the same language, some Roma don't stay in school past elementary levels, and many aren't simply up to social standards. None of the excuses provided however prove that any of the Roma have a "mental handicap".
-
The leading watchdog in Europe for human-rights, Thomas Hammarberg (the commissioner of the Council of Europe), publicly rebuked the Czech Republic this week for this exact reason. He states that if the Czech Republic does not move forward with integration of its Roma students than thousands of Roma will be sent to "special education" classes this September. And once again they will receive an education greatly inferior to their peers in the rest of the Czech public schools.
-
Three years ago the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgement that condemned this behavior in any European country as being "discriminatory". This practice of segregation was thus ordered to be put to an end. And yet now three years later no real progress has been achieved in the Czech Republic. And no reasonable action has been taken by the European Union to see that this practice be stopped. Instead Roma children still remain 27 times more likely to be sent to "practical schools" for the mentally handicapped.
-
To date the Czech government has received money to desegregate their schools and yet has spent absolutely nothing to do so. Around 10% of the money received from the EU to implement the National Action Plan for Inclusive Education has been spent on projects not related to the designated project. The remainder of the money has simply set idle and is now in danger of being handed back to the EU having spent absolutely nothing on the Romas' education.
-
Actions actually taken by the Czech (right leaning) government on the issue have been quite the opposite of what the National Plan stated. The Czechs have instead dismantled any part of the Education Ministry that actually has attempted to implement the National Plan. All the while the EU has done nothing to stop the Czech government from setting up roadblocks to prevent the EU funds from working.
-
So now the Czech's (nonbinding) National Plan is not expected to begin being implemented till at least late 2014. And even then that all depends on the given political climate and economic situations facing the Czech Republic. It is more likely that the liberals in the EU will loose interest and the Czech Republic will be allowed to sway even further toward its Nazi past.
-
-
Source Documents for this Post.
-
European Voice, Author James A. Goldston
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/another-intake-of-second-class-children/70520.aspx
-
Prague Daily Monitor
http://praguemonitor.com/2011/03/09/european-centre-criticises-prague-over-romani-kids-education
-
Romea.cz
http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2228
-
-
-
For decades now the Eastern Bloc has used its public schools as a tool to economically and socially segregate Roma from the rest of society. By placing Rom children in "practical schools" for the mentally handicapped they deny the Romani population a chance at an education. The excuses provided range from the fact that a handful of Roma don't speak the same language, some Roma don't stay in school past elementary levels, and many aren't simply up to social standards. None of the excuses provided however prove that any of the Roma have a "mental handicap".
-
The leading watchdog in Europe for human-rights, Thomas Hammarberg (the commissioner of the Council of Europe), publicly rebuked the Czech Republic this week for this exact reason. He states that if the Czech Republic does not move forward with integration of its Roma students than thousands of Roma will be sent to "special education" classes this September. And once again they will receive an education greatly inferior to their peers in the rest of the Czech public schools.
-
Three years ago the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgement that condemned this behavior in any European country as being "discriminatory". This practice of segregation was thus ordered to be put to an end. And yet now three years later no real progress has been achieved in the Czech Republic. And no reasonable action has been taken by the European Union to see that this practice be stopped. Instead Roma children still remain 27 times more likely to be sent to "practical schools" for the mentally handicapped.
-
To date the Czech government has received money to desegregate their schools and yet has spent absolutely nothing to do so. Around 10% of the money received from the EU to implement the National Action Plan for Inclusive Education has been spent on projects not related to the designated project. The remainder of the money has simply set idle and is now in danger of being handed back to the EU having spent absolutely nothing on the Romas' education.
-
Actions actually taken by the Czech (right leaning) government on the issue have been quite the opposite of what the National Plan stated. The Czechs have instead dismantled any part of the Education Ministry that actually has attempted to implement the National Plan. All the while the EU has done nothing to stop the Czech government from setting up roadblocks to prevent the EU funds from working.
-
So now the Czech's (nonbinding) National Plan is not expected to begin being implemented till at least late 2014. And even then that all depends on the given political climate and economic situations facing the Czech Republic. It is more likely that the liberals in the EU will loose interest and the Czech Republic will be allowed to sway even further toward its Nazi past.
-
-
Source Documents for this Post.
-
European Voice, Author James A. Goldston
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/another-intake-of-second-class-children/70520.aspx
-
Prague Daily Monitor
http://praguemonitor.com/2011/03/09/european-centre-criticises-prague-over-romani-kids-education
-
Romea.cz
http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2228
-
March 9, 2011
"Who Alive Today...
... Remembers the Armenians?"
-
(The Armenian Genocide From 1914-1915)
-
The lack of an international outcry against the Turkish slaughter of unarmed Armenians led Adolf Hitler to say the quote above. This was his justification for the slaughter of an estimated 6 million Jews (the number is most likely much higher). The horrific events that became the hallmarks of the Holocaust were inspired by the lack of condemnation for the Ottomans' genocidal slaughtering of Christians.
-
On February 21St of 1914 the Ottomans began their planned attacks on the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. This initial assault came not with arms or ammunition but the forced boycott of Armenian businesses. Economics, just as Hitler would do to Germany's Jews, became the initial bulwark of Turkish frustrations with the helpless Armenians.
-
On August 18Th of 1914 however the public humiliation and economic boycotts would take the next step toward the goals of the Young Turk's planned genocide. In the provinces of Sivas and Diyarbekir looting and vandalism are used to destroy the remaining Armenian businesses. Violence against Armenians is reported and yet goes unpunished. 1,080 shops and businesses owned by Armenians in Diyarbekir are burnt to the ground by the end of the day.
-
As the war in Europe gets underway the Turkish Army conscripts all Armenian men between the ages of 20 and 45. These young men will not however be sent to battle. These men are to be used as forced labor in the initial killing phase of the Armenian Genocide. The date of their conscription is August 22Nd of 1914.
-
By the end of 1914 the Young Turks will have done everything Hitler did in Germany in the 1930s. However the Young Turks will have gone much farther. In September of 1914 the Young Turks had already denied the commercial and legal rights of Europeans and Americans in the Ottoman Empire. That same month the Young Turks close the Dardanelles Straits to foreign shipping and commerce. By October the Ottomans had cut off all foreign mail services within their empire. That same month the Young Turks would arrest as many Armenian teachers, politicians, religious leaders, and philosophers. These steps would set the Young Turks up for a genocide that even Hitler could not replicate.
-
As the year came to a close the Young Turks began using chete forces (irregular soldiers given 'freedoms' the regular soldiers are not) to carry out attacks against Armenian villages along the borders of the Ottoman Empire. These attacks were carried out against towns and villages that were claimed to be "conspiring with our Russian enemies". It is important to note that these are villagers who had already be stripped of any weapons (including cooking knives) and were unable to flee due to a lack of transportation. It is also important to recall that the Armenian men in these villages had already been taken off to be used as forced labor. So those left were often raped and then killed by the chete forces.
-
These chete forces in November would get a boost from Halil Pasha who decided it would be useful to release prisoners to inflate their numbers. These "Special Organizations" were then provided arms from the Ottoman War Ministry. They were now ready to step up their attacks against the Armenians.
-
On November 30Th the commands come down from Constantinople to provide the "Special Organizations" or chete bands with vehicles, money, and other military equipment... mainly more expensive arms than just the standard rifles.
-
By the end of the year the Young Turks would even be able to drive the foreign missionaries out of the heart of the Ottoman Empire. They outside world was now watching as their enemy's (Germany's) ally continued to carry out a campaign aimed at the destruction of Armenian society in Turkish territories.
-
On the very first day of the new year, 1915, the Turkish Army in Van Provence were given orders to kill all Armenian "soldiers" (slaves) in the Turkish Army. The orders are taken a little less seriously as "reports" are received by the Turkish Army in Sivas that the Armenian bakers in their ranks are "poisoning the bread". These bakers are beaten and some killed. But unlike the slaves in the Van Provence army not all are killed.
-
The goal of the lies circulating in the Turkish Army are proof that at the very least the Young Turks were attempting to amp up the attacks on Armenians by inciting massacres of Armenians by the regular army. This goal was achieved by January of 1915 to an extent due to the fact that the regular soldiers had already helped force Armenian civilians into slavery to the Turkish Army. During the previous winter they had forced Armenian civilians to be "porters" during the worst part of the winter with the soul purpose of causing death due to exposure.
-
On January 8Th the chetes (Turkish and Kurdish) descend upon Assyrian and Armenian villages in Northwest Persia. Attacking Tavriz and Urmia the chete forces maintain their assault from the 8Th till the 29Th of January. In Urmia the Turkish forces are able to drive out 18,000 Armenians. These 18,000 Armenians are forced to flee into the Caucasus.
-
On January 12Th the Young Turks order the destruction of Tavra-Koy and other villages around Sivas. They then take over strategic buildings within Sivas. These attacks are used to turn the strategic village of Sivas into a virtual concentration camp.
-
On January 19Th of 1915 the Young Turks actively begin to strip the Germans of their right (granted by the Ottomans' pledge of allegiance to the German Army) to give orders to the Turkish regular army. This move now gives the Young Turks the ability to actively use the actual Turkish Army to attack the Armenian population. The Minister of War, Enver, gave the order first in Sivas.
-
On January 22Nd Enver would arrive in Constantinople to give a speech congratulating the Armenians still remaining in the Turkish Army. This speech however was obvious to the Turks as a ploy to appease the large number of Europeans still remaining in the city. By the next day Enver had given the order to shoot "all those still opposing my orders".
-
As January 1915 came to a close the German-Turkish tensions began to mount. The German ambassadors to the Ottoman Empire were now sending messages back to Germany about the "crimes against humanity" being committed and carried out by the orders of Talaat (the Ottoman leader). Americans in Constantinople were doing the same, but they weren't allied with the Ottomans.
-
On February 2Nd of 1915 Talaat reveals his own Final Solution to the German Ambassador Count Hans von Wangenheim. Talaat puts it rather bluntly. In Talaat's opinion the war was the only opportune moment to finally deal with the "Armenian Question". This was the same sort of phrase that Hitler would use for Germany's Jews.
-
The reassurances of Talaat would go in one ear and out the other due to the blatant murder of Pasdermadjian (February 10Th 1915) directly in front of German Major-General Posseldt. The German General reported that no investigation was ever done to find the guilty party. Nor was the obvious murder even apprehended.
-
February 14Th 1915, Tahir Jevdet claims that the Turkish Army (now liberated from German command) should do anything it can to "cleanse Van Provence" of all remaining Armenians. This outcry from provincial leaders is quickly becoming a regular thing as February of 1915 drags on and on.
-
On February 19Th 1915, the Turks begin to realize the war with the allies could slow their slaughter of the Armenians down. Talaat orders the distribution of kerosene and explosives to all the police forces in Constantinople. The orders given are to "burn the city to the ground" in the event that allied warships press their way up the Dardanelles. All Christian inhabitants and European citizens are to be "butchered" at once if the city must be razed.
-
On the 27Th of February 1915 the Turkish army steps up its attacks in Sivas Provence. The attacks are marked by rapes, pillaging, and the murdering of entire villages. At the same time the village of Chomaklu, in the Kayseri Provence, is stripped of its remaining weapons (even kitchen knives) ahead of the coming massacres.
-
March 1St, the Armenians in the Turkish Army in Marash are stripped of their weapons and uniforms. These are some of the last Armenians still serving their nation.
-
By March 5Th of 1915 the chetes are reported to be attacking villages in Van Provence once again. This time however the rate of killing is stepped up as the chetes are reinforced by Turkish regulars. The attacks are the most "efficient" thus far in the genocide.
-
On March 9Th the chetes and Turkish regulars attack Zeitun. The Armenians there are able to fight back for a short time before the village is overrun. The bloodbath that followed as once again carried out by chetes forces.
-
On March 12Th of 1915 the chetes begin more advanced attacks on Armenian villages in Alashkert District. Rapes, robberies, and mass executions are carried out in the targeted villages. These Armenians are unable to defend themselves due to the fact that the Young Turks had already "repossessed" their privately owned weapons. Meanwhile in Dortyol the Young Turks carry out mass arrest of Armenians, mainly men they consider to be "able bodied". These Armenians are sent out to the wasteland near Aleppo and are never heard from again.
-
By the end of March the Armenian population in Sivas Province was declared "unarmed". As a result the chete attacks were stepped up and Turkish regulars began mass executions on a regular schedule. The fear of resistance was now completely gone in Sivas.
-
On March 18Th the allied forces begin to attack the Dardanelles. Constantinople is not razed.
-
As April of 1915 approached the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire had already been stripped of their arms, suffered regular beatings and torture at the hands of chete forces, been forced into death marches, and had their homes burned or bombed out in; Zeitun, Aleppo, Papert, Terchan, and Adana.
-
On March 31St the deportations of Armenians in Zeitun began. These Armenians would still be marching into the Konia Desert on April 1St. Their march into the wasteland would lead to most of their deaths. Rape, beatings, and beheading would kill even more of them. This was the Final Solution for the Armenian Question being carried out at the direct orders of the Young Turk leadership.
-
As of April Fools Day 1915 the bad joke handed down to the Armenians was the sudden mass arrest in Sivas Provence. These arrest would allow the Ottomans to bring the majority of Armenians to a central location. It allowed the Turks to build concentration camps for their new "prisoners".
-
On April 2Nd of 1915 mass arrest in Bitlis and Erzerum Provinces would step up the collection of Armenians in those regions. At the same time Turkish soldiers in Sivas were helping chete forces to destroy Armenian villages that had either been left untouched thus far or suffered "less harassment" than the others. The brutality unleashed in these targeted villages showed the increasing hatred for Armenians amongst Turks.
-
On April 3Rd (the beginning of Easter week) the Turkish Army began its attempts to collect all weapons from Armenians in Marash and Hadjin. Brutal rapes were reported even by Turkish soldiers during the attacks.
-
On April 5Th the Turkish Army "claimed" 5,000 mules from Armenians in Marash. Part of this was to make a gesture of symbolism to Jesus and the fact that the Turks believed the Armenians would need these mules for food.
-
On April 8Th the famous monastery in Zeitun is burnt to the ground by Turkish regulars.
-
On April 11Th Talaat tells Armenians in Parliament that there will be no massacres (no further massacres).
-
April 12Th, widespread massacres of Armenians are reported from Bitlis and Erzerum Provinces.
-
April 15Th of 1915, Armenian refugees arrive in the city of Van. They inform the Armenian inhabitants there that around 80 Armenian villages around Van had already been razed. They claim that around 24,000 Armenians had been killed in just the last three days alone.
-
On April 17Th the Armenians of Van city mount an advanced defense of their city. The attack by Turkish regulars (with support of artillery units) begins. The Armenian civilians of Van are able to hold out till May 23Rd of 1915 when a Russian Army unit (composed of Armenian volunteers) arrives to save them.
-
On April 19Th the Armenians in Diyarbekir suffer as the Turkish regulars search and destroy their homes. An unknown number of Armenians are killed and raped.
-
By April 20Th of 1915 the deportations of Armenians in Zeitun is completed. It is believed that most had been sent into the desert to die. Meanwhile in Diyarbekir the first mass arrest are carried out by the Turkish Army. At the same time in Constantinople the remaining Armenian politicians are brought to the Central Prison for a mock trial... they will be hanged on June 2Nd of 1915.
-
On April 24Th 250 Armenian community leaders and intellectuals are gathered up in Constantinople are gathered up and then slain.
-
April 26Th three Armenians are hanged in Mush without trial. This marks the public will to follow and help the Young Turks in their goal of "purging the enemy within" or the destruction of the Armenian society.
-
On April 29Th Armenian citizens in Constantinople who are of Russian origin are arrested and beaten to death.
-
May 1St of 1915 the Armenian professors of the American Euphrates College are arrested in Kharput. This even marks the ending of Armenian intellectual presence in the Ottoman Empire.
-
On May 2Nd the Turkish Army suffers massive defeats against the Russian forces in the Caucasus and Northern Iran. The Turkish regulars retreated to Van, Bitlis, and Mush where they retaliated for their humiliating defeats by slaughtering the local Armenian populations.
-
That same day 3,000 Engish and French citizens are arrested in Constantinople.
-
On May 3Rd the mass deportations of Armenians in Erzerum begins. These Armenians are once again being sent to areas where no water or food can be found. No shelter is provided and death by starvation or exposure to the elements is intended.
-
The next day, May 4Th of 1915 200 Armenian leaders in Erzerum are arrested.
-
On May 5Th the arrest and killings of Armenians in Kharput begins.
-
The next day allied nationals in Beyrut are deported to Damascus where they will be sent to their home countries from there. That same day, on May 6Th, the New York Times reports that the Turks have adopted a campaign of annihilation against the Armenians... nobody back home in the United States really cares.
-
On May 10Th of 1915 950 Armenians in Diyarbekir are arrested. Most will never be heard from again. Meanwhile in Marash the Armenian refugees from Zeitun are deported to the Syrian Desert. The aim is once again to let the natural surrounding kill the Armenians and to preserve bullets for the invading Russian Army.
-
May 14Th, 38 Armenian community leaders in Chomaklu are arrested and then killed. That same day the English and French prisoners are deported.
-
May 15Th of 1915, Armenian community leaders in Bayburt are arrested and then murdered. Meanwhile Armenians in Erzerum Provence are deported with the intent of letting them die in the wilderness.
-
On May 19Th the Russian Army (an advance unit of it consisting of Armenian volunteers) reach Van city in the Van Provence. They are able to lift the siege of the town and defeat the chete forces who are still harassing the city.
-
On May 21St the Regular Russian Army arrives in Van. The cremations of the dead begin as the Russians identify the 55,000 dead as being Armenians.
-
May 24Th of 1915, the Allied forces finally send a letter to the Turks that holds the Young Turks responsible for the slaughtering of the Armenians. However this letter is not perceived to be of any legal concern.
-
May 27Th, The Temporary Law of Deopration is enacted officially. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians have already been deported by this time. Yet that same day 2,000 Armenians are deported from Marash and are forced to march into the nearby desert. At the same time 300 Armenians that had been arrested in Diyarbekir are killed.
-
On May 29Th 630 Armenians who had been arrested in Diyarbekir are slain in village of Bisheri. Their corpses are thrown into the Tigris River.
-
On May 31St the German Ambassador to Turkey advises Germany not to get in the way of the Turkish deportations of Armenians. His is oddly silent on the massacres of the Armenians still trapped inside the Ottoman Empire.
-
June 7Th of 1915, the first forced march of Armenians from Erzinjan leave on their way into the Syrian Desert. That same day the Armenians who had been arrested in Sivas on April 1St are marched into the woods of Meshedler-Yeri, they are all murdered there.
-
On June 8Th the second group of Armenians leave Erzinjan for the Syrian Desert.
-
The next day, June 9Th, the third Armenian death march leaves Erzinjan for the Syrian Desert.
-
From June 10Th to June 13Th Armenians from Erzerum Provence are butchered at Kematch. These massacres are so large that they take four days to complete. Turkish regulars and chete are used to complete this massive campaign.
-
On June 13Th the War Commission demands that all animals (and other food sources) be taken from all remaining Armenians in the Ottoman empire. This same day (the fourth day of the slaughter at Kematch) 25,000 Armenians die at the hands of the 86Th Cavalry Brigade and the 2Nd Reserve Cavalry Division.
-
On June 14Th another 300 Armenian community leaders are arrested in Shabin-Karahisar. They are to be killed just like other Armenian community leaders captured by the Young Turks.
-
The next day, June 15Th, 12 Armenian leaders are publicly hung in Sivas.
-
By June 17Th Talaat is publicly proclaiming that he and his Young Turks are on a mission to "uproot" and destroy the "enemy within"
-
On June 18Th 160 Armenian families are deported from Erzinjan.
-
On June 19Th 300 Armenian families are deported from Erzinjan.
-
June 23Rd the first mass execution of Armenian men takes place in Kharput. That same day the remaining Armenians around Bitlis are gathered up for execution.
-
On June 25Th the Armenians gathered up around Bitlis are massacred.
-
June 26Th the remaining Armenian men in Sivas are arrested so as to be executed.
-
On June 25Th and 26Th Armenians in Trebizond, Erzerum, and Samsun are ordered to leave within 5 days.
-
June 28Th, Armenian teachers and educators in Kharput are sent to the central prison and executed.
-
On June 30Th of 1915, 3,000 Armenians are killed while being deported from Erzerum. At the same time 6,000 Armenians arrived in the Konia Desert where they will starve or die from malaria.
-
As the summer of 1915 dragged on the deaths continued to stack up. On July 1St 2,000 Armenian soldiers in the Turkish army who had been used as forced labor were killed outside the city of Kharput. That same day the first convoy of Armenian deportees leaves Trebizond.
-
As of July 2Nd of 1915 the chete forces around Erzinjan begin attacking the Armenian deportees being forced to march into the Southern wastelands. That same day the deportations in the city of Mush begin.
-
On July 4Th the Turkish Army leaves Sivas with three regiments of artillery to subdue the Armenians resisting arrest and deportation in Shabin-Karahiser.
-
On July 5Th the first convoys of Armenians are forced into the Syrian Desert from Sivas. 400 families are forced out on the first day. A total of 48,000 Armenians will be deported from Sivas by July 20Th. The majority will be killed on their way into the Syrian Desert.
-
July 6Th, a 1,000 families of Armenians have left Trebizond for the south.
-
July 7Th 1915, 800 Armenian men are slaughtered in Kharput. Their families are left defenseless.
-
July 10Th, 2,700 Armenians are massacred in Mardin. This is the second massacre in Mardin.
-
July 11Th, this is the first day of a four day massacre in the city of Mush. This same day the Ministry or the Interior orders that any remaining Armenian villages be settled with Muslims and the remaining Armenians vacate the areas.
-
July 12Th, the Ottoman Empire orders that Armenian orphans be given to Muslim families to be raised as Muslims instead of Christians like their parents.
-
July 13Th, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins. During this holy month the massacres and deprotations are increased both by the passion the holy month brought with it and the government's exploitation of it.
-
July 13Th, the last of the Armenians in Kharput leave for the Syrian Desert.
-
July 14Th, the leader of the Turkish district of Aleppo's Fourth Army Corps protest that the dead bodies of Armenians are choking the Euphrates River. During the period of June 22Nd to July 17Th of 1915 the Euphrates River is clogged with dead Armenians bodies.
-
July 16Th, German officers in Jerablus identify the bodies of dead Armenians from the Ottoman cities of Kharput and Erzerum... the bodies arrive in Jerablus by floating down the Euphrates.
-
On July 18Th the Turkish Army massacres 3,000 Armenians in the Dersim region. The Kurdish population there refuses to participate in the slaughter. Many even shelter fleeing Armenians. For this the Turkish Army retaliates against all "enemies within".
-
July 21St, the Turkish Army begins its attack on Musa Dagh.
-
On July 23Rd an Italian consulet reports the attacks he has witnessed thus far in Trebizond. This is the same day the restoration of the Ottoman Constitution is celebrated.
-
As of July 24Th Talaat decides to give the order to bury the Armenians who have "died while being deported" or have been slain along the roadside. This order is given to help stop the tainting of the water and clogging the ditches and rivers.
-
From July 24Th to August 1St the Armenians in Sivas are rounded up and classified with the central authorities. This is done in preperation of the coming massacres and deportations.
-
July 28Th, deportations begin in the Turkish cities of Aintab, Kilis, and Adiaman.
-
On July 30Th the mass arrest of Armenians in the city of Angora is carried out. An unknown number of Armenians are then marched out of the city and massacred six hours from Angora. At the same time the Russian Army begins to withdraw from the Turkish city of Van.
-
July 31St, the mass murder of Armenian community leaders is carried out in Constantinople, Ayash, and Chankri.
-
August 1St 1915, 25,000 Armenians are deported from the city of Adabazar (near Constantinople. 20,000 deported Armenians arrive in Aleppo, from there they will be sent into the Syrian Desert to die. Meanwhile the mass torture is inflicted upon the 500 Armenians being held in Adabazar prisons.
-
August 2Nd, from this night on for six nights Armenian community leaders and intellectuals are taken out of the prisons in Sivas and murdered.
-
On August 3Rd of 1915, 150,000 Armenians arrive in Aleppo from unknown regions of the Ottoman Empire. That same day 4,500 Armenians arrive in Aleppo from Seghert and an additional 2,000 arrive from Mezre.
-
August 3Rd, 15,000 Armenians arrive in Der-el-Zor.
-
Late August 3Rd, 60,000 more Armenians arrive in Aleppo from unknown regions of the empire.
-
On August 6Th of 1915, 18 Armenians are publicly hung in the Turkish city of Everek.
-
August 7Th, all the Armenians in Mersin are deported.
-
August 8Th through the 12Th, Armenian intellectuals are taken out of the prisons of Sivas and murdered. There are now 36 execution centers in and around Sivas. 5,000 Armenians are taken to these killing zones and massacred in these five days alone.
-
August 11Th, any Armenian women married to Turkish men are now officially deprived the right to inheritance.
-
August 12Th, the three day holiday of Bairam begins. No massacres are supposed to be carried out during this time. That same day 200,000 Armenians are sent out of Aleppo into the Syrian Desert. These Armenians are harrased and killed on their way into the desert. Those who survive are meant to die from exposure to the elements and lack of water.
-
August 13Th, deportations of Armenians begin in Izmid, Baghchejik, Bursa, and Adabazar. Those deported are harrased and killed on the highways despite Talaats orders to "rape and kill" victims in the bush and not in sight of the roadways.
-
From August 13Th to the 17Th 15,000 Armenians are massacred in Siva's 36 killing zones. The 13Th and 14Th are still considered part of Bairam (so is the morning of the 15Th... till sunrise... if you are really picky).
-
August 16Th, 50,000 Armenian deportees are harrased on the road from Bozanti to Aleppo.
-
On August 18Th the New York Times reports that the Ottomans plan to destroy the entire Armenian Nation (or population). Not many Americans seem to be concerned.
-
August 19Th, the Turkish army kills 250 Armenians in the city of Urfa. The locals and the Armenians in Urfa begin the defense of their city from Turkish Army attacks.
-
On August 23Rd a second massacre in the city of Urfa is organized. Nobody knows how many were killed in the second attempt to "uproot" the Armenians in Urfa.
-
August 26Th, 60,000 Armenians in Aleppo (a Turkish area of modern day Syria) are ordered to leave for the Hawran district. Hawran is an Arab district in modern day Jordan. That same day the Armeians in Angora are arrested.
-
September 2Nd 1915, 4,750 Armenians are murdered in Jezire.
-
September 3Rd, 10,000 survivors of the Armenian deportations of Bursa and Izmid arrive in Konia. 15,000 deported Armenians are reported at Eskishehir, 5,000 at Alayund, and 2,000 at Chai.
-
September 7Th, massacres of Armenians are carried out in Yozgat.
-
September 8Th, 5,000 Armenian deportees reported from Bozanti.
-
September 10Th, on the 53Rd day of the Armenian defense of the city of Musa Dagh a recorded 4,058 Armenians are rescued by three English and one French warships. They are taken to the Egyptian port of Said.
-
September 11Th, 6,000 Armenians are forced to leave Adana and head for Der-el-Zor Desert.
-
September 16Th, Talaat sends out a letter explaining that the reason for sending Armenians into the Der-el-Zor Desert is to let them die from exposure and lack of water.
-
September 23Rd, 300 Armenians are massacred in Urfa. That same day 11,000 Armenians are deported to Afiyon-Karahisar.
-
On September 25Th the Sanitation Department of the War Ministry take all medical supplies away from the Armenians. That same day 24 Armenian schools in Kayseri are requisitioned.
-
By September 29Th of 1915 the deportees at Afiyon-Karahisar number 10,000 Armenians, 50,000 had arrived at Konia, 10,000 had arrived at Intille, and 150,000 at Katma.
-
On September 30Th of 1915 the deportees from Yalova, Angora, and Kastomuni number as high as 250,000.
-
October of 1915, on the first day of October 600 orphaned Armenian boys are considered to be "Turkified" in the Ottoman city of Herek.
-
By October 7Th the number of Armenian deportees still in the Ottoman Empire is estimated to be around 360,000. The number of Armenians dead is estimated to be around 800,000... this number is a low estimate.
-
Under political pressure Talaat orders that all Turkish governors deliver documents proving "Armenian treason" so as to justify the massacres. This demand goes out on October 8Th.
-
October 10Th, 46 Armenians are arrested in Edirne. A total of 1,600 would be deported.
-
October 12Th, the Ottomans pass a law that officially forbids the marriages with Armenian women. This means that any Turk still married to an Armenian is now free to turn her in so that she might be deported.
-
October 15Th a remaining 16,000 Armenians are reported at Afiyon-Karahisar and 80,000 at Konia.
-
On October 15Th a group of 6,000 Turkish soldier stage their last attack on Urfa. 400 of the Turkish soldiers are killed in the attack. The Armenians in Urfa defend to the very last man.
-
October 16Th, Talaat assures all those committing attacks and massacres of Armenians in Der-el-Zoir that they will not be brought to justice.
-
October 16Th, 20,000 deportees are murdered while passing Urfa.
-
October 27Th, 20,000 deportees are reported in Konia.
-
October 31St of 1915, orders are handed down to arrest and prosecute any Armenian who is caught discussing the deportations or massacres with outsiders (or the "West").
-
November 3Rd, German Doctor Schacht reports to his military commander that he had counted around 7,000 Armenians heads in the Sebgha District. Many were just the skulls.
-
November 5Th, 10,000 Armenians deportees are reported in Bozanti, 20,000 deportees in Tarsus, 40,000 deportees in Islahiye, and 50,000 Armenians in Katma. While 150,000 Armenians are reported crossing the Amanos Mountain Range near Adana and Aleppo. With a remaining 20,000 Armenians remaining in Adana alone.
-
On November 8Th the Turkish Government begins to deport 200,000 Armenians from Constantinople.
-
On November 13Th a reported 20,000 Armenian deportees are reported in Hawran. Of these only about 450 will be alive by November 15Th.
-
On November 16Th a report arives in Constantinople that thousands of Armenian bodies are littering the fields in the Bakche District.
-
By November 25Th and estimated 500,000 Armenian deportees are estimated to have passed through the villages northwest of Adana.
-
November 26Th, 1,010 Armenians are deported from the village of Mamure (in the Adana district).
-
December 1St of 1915, the fields north of Mamure are reported to be filled with thousands of Armenian bodies.
-
December 4Th, 10,000 Armenian men are deported from Constantinople. A list of 70,000 more Armenians is prepared, all are to be deported.
-
December 9Th, 400 Armenian orphans are deported from Aleppo. Their parents have already been murdered or deported.
-
December 12Th, 180,000 Armenians arrive in Tbilisi. All are reported to be starved or diseased.
-
December 14Th, orders are given to the chete forces and Turkish Regulars to kill any remaining Armenian priest.
-
December 16Th, orders are given to keep up the deportations and massacres despite the coming winter.
-
December 25Th, the Ottoman Empire gives Armenian children (many orphans) a Christmas gift... they are all to be deported or killed unless they "forget" their parents.
-
December 29Th of 1915, of the 210,000 Armenians who had reached the Caucasus only an estimated 173,000 are reported to still be alive. An estimated 40,000 have been reported to have died from starvation and disease alone. Of those still alive 105,000
were from Van, 48,000 were from Bayazid, and 20,038 were known to be from Mush.
-
On the last day of 1915 a letter went out to all Armenians that declared that if they wished to convert to Islam they would have to convert from their "final destination". This letter put it rather bluntly that they would have to die before being permitted to enter into the common faith of the Ottoman Empire. The Young Turks were ready to kill the "infidels" before allowing the to practice Islam.
-
-
Much of this post has been taken from the website www.armenian-genocide.org . This post only covers the first two years of the Armenian Genocide. We will be exploring the rest of the genocide in peices so that those interested can read and study the Armenian Genocide in more digestable pieces.
-
Thank you for your support and you can follow us on Facebook by searching "Alder's Ledge" and joining our Facebook group.
-
-
(The Armenian Genocide From 1914-1915)
-
The lack of an international outcry against the Turkish slaughter of unarmed Armenians led Adolf Hitler to say the quote above. This was his justification for the slaughter of an estimated 6 million Jews (the number is most likely much higher). The horrific events that became the hallmarks of the Holocaust were inspired by the lack of condemnation for the Ottomans' genocidal slaughtering of Christians.
-
On February 21St of 1914 the Ottomans began their planned attacks on the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. This initial assault came not with arms or ammunition but the forced boycott of Armenian businesses. Economics, just as Hitler would do to Germany's Jews, became the initial bulwark of Turkish frustrations with the helpless Armenians.
-
On August 18Th of 1914 however the public humiliation and economic boycotts would take the next step toward the goals of the Young Turk's planned genocide. In the provinces of Sivas and Diyarbekir looting and vandalism are used to destroy the remaining Armenian businesses. Violence against Armenians is reported and yet goes unpunished. 1,080 shops and businesses owned by Armenians in Diyarbekir are burnt to the ground by the end of the day.
-
As the war in Europe gets underway the Turkish Army conscripts all Armenian men between the ages of 20 and 45. These young men will not however be sent to battle. These men are to be used as forced labor in the initial killing phase of the Armenian Genocide. The date of their conscription is August 22Nd of 1914.
-
By the end of 1914 the Young Turks will have done everything Hitler did in Germany in the 1930s. However the Young Turks will have gone much farther. In September of 1914 the Young Turks had already denied the commercial and legal rights of Europeans and Americans in the Ottoman Empire. That same month the Young Turks close the Dardanelles Straits to foreign shipping and commerce. By October the Ottomans had cut off all foreign mail services within their empire. That same month the Young Turks would arrest as many Armenian teachers, politicians, religious leaders, and philosophers. These steps would set the Young Turks up for a genocide that even Hitler could not replicate.
-
As the year came to a close the Young Turks began using chete forces (irregular soldiers given 'freedoms' the regular soldiers are not) to carry out attacks against Armenian villages along the borders of the Ottoman Empire. These attacks were carried out against towns and villages that were claimed to be "conspiring with our Russian enemies". It is important to note that these are villagers who had already be stripped of any weapons (including cooking knives) and were unable to flee due to a lack of transportation. It is also important to recall that the Armenian men in these villages had already been taken off to be used as forced labor. So those left were often raped and then killed by the chete forces.
-
These chete forces in November would get a boost from Halil Pasha who decided it would be useful to release prisoners to inflate their numbers. These "Special Organizations" were then provided arms from the Ottoman War Ministry. They were now ready to step up their attacks against the Armenians.
-
On November 30Th the commands come down from Constantinople to provide the "Special Organizations" or chete bands with vehicles, money, and other military equipment... mainly more expensive arms than just the standard rifles.
-
By the end of the year the Young Turks would even be able to drive the foreign missionaries out of the heart of the Ottoman Empire. They outside world was now watching as their enemy's (Germany's) ally continued to carry out a campaign aimed at the destruction of Armenian society in Turkish territories.
-
On the very first day of the new year, 1915, the Turkish Army in Van Provence were given orders to kill all Armenian "soldiers" (slaves) in the Turkish Army. The orders are taken a little less seriously as "reports" are received by the Turkish Army in Sivas that the Armenian bakers in their ranks are "poisoning the bread". These bakers are beaten and some killed. But unlike the slaves in the Van Provence army not all are killed.
-
The goal of the lies circulating in the Turkish Army are proof that at the very least the Young Turks were attempting to amp up the attacks on Armenians by inciting massacres of Armenians by the regular army. This goal was achieved by January of 1915 to an extent due to the fact that the regular soldiers had already helped force Armenian civilians into slavery to the Turkish Army. During the previous winter they had forced Armenian civilians to be "porters" during the worst part of the winter with the soul purpose of causing death due to exposure.
-
On January 8Th the chetes (Turkish and Kurdish) descend upon Assyrian and Armenian villages in Northwest Persia. Attacking Tavriz and Urmia the chete forces maintain their assault from the 8Th till the 29Th of January. In Urmia the Turkish forces are able to drive out 18,000 Armenians. These 18,000 Armenians are forced to flee into the Caucasus.
-
On January 12Th the Young Turks order the destruction of Tavra-Koy and other villages around Sivas. They then take over strategic buildings within Sivas. These attacks are used to turn the strategic village of Sivas into a virtual concentration camp.
-
On January 19Th of 1915 the Young Turks actively begin to strip the Germans of their right (granted by the Ottomans' pledge of allegiance to the German Army) to give orders to the Turkish regular army. This move now gives the Young Turks the ability to actively use the actual Turkish Army to attack the Armenian population. The Minister of War, Enver, gave the order first in Sivas.
-
On January 22Nd Enver would arrive in Constantinople to give a speech congratulating the Armenians still remaining in the Turkish Army. This speech however was obvious to the Turks as a ploy to appease the large number of Europeans still remaining in the city. By the next day Enver had given the order to shoot "all those still opposing my orders".
-
As January 1915 came to a close the German-Turkish tensions began to mount. The German ambassadors to the Ottoman Empire were now sending messages back to Germany about the "crimes against humanity" being committed and carried out by the orders of Talaat (the Ottoman leader). Americans in Constantinople were doing the same, but they weren't allied with the Ottomans.
-
On February 2Nd of 1915 Talaat reveals his own Final Solution to the German Ambassador Count Hans von Wangenheim. Talaat puts it rather bluntly. In Talaat's opinion the war was the only opportune moment to finally deal with the "Armenian Question". This was the same sort of phrase that Hitler would use for Germany's Jews.
-
The reassurances of Talaat would go in one ear and out the other due to the blatant murder of Pasdermadjian (February 10Th 1915) directly in front of German Major-General Posseldt. The German General reported that no investigation was ever done to find the guilty party. Nor was the obvious murder even apprehended.
-
February 14Th 1915, Tahir Jevdet claims that the Turkish Army (now liberated from German command) should do anything it can to "cleanse Van Provence" of all remaining Armenians. This outcry from provincial leaders is quickly becoming a regular thing as February of 1915 drags on and on.
-
On February 19Th 1915, the Turks begin to realize the war with the allies could slow their slaughter of the Armenians down. Talaat orders the distribution of kerosene and explosives to all the police forces in Constantinople. The orders given are to "burn the city to the ground" in the event that allied warships press their way up the Dardanelles. All Christian inhabitants and European citizens are to be "butchered" at once if the city must be razed.
-
On the 27Th of February 1915 the Turkish army steps up its attacks in Sivas Provence. The attacks are marked by rapes, pillaging, and the murdering of entire villages. At the same time the village of Chomaklu, in the Kayseri Provence, is stripped of its remaining weapons (even kitchen knives) ahead of the coming massacres.
-
March 1St, the Armenians in the Turkish Army in Marash are stripped of their weapons and uniforms. These are some of the last Armenians still serving their nation.
-
By March 5Th of 1915 the chetes are reported to be attacking villages in Van Provence once again. This time however the rate of killing is stepped up as the chetes are reinforced by Turkish regulars. The attacks are the most "efficient" thus far in the genocide.
-
On March 9Th the chetes and Turkish regulars attack Zeitun. The Armenians there are able to fight back for a short time before the village is overrun. The bloodbath that followed as once again carried out by chetes forces.
-
On March 12Th of 1915 the chetes begin more advanced attacks on Armenian villages in Alashkert District. Rapes, robberies, and mass executions are carried out in the targeted villages. These Armenians are unable to defend themselves due to the fact that the Young Turks had already "repossessed" their privately owned weapons. Meanwhile in Dortyol the Young Turks carry out mass arrest of Armenians, mainly men they consider to be "able bodied". These Armenians are sent out to the wasteland near Aleppo and are never heard from again.
-
By the end of March the Armenian population in Sivas Province was declared "unarmed". As a result the chete attacks were stepped up and Turkish regulars began mass executions on a regular schedule. The fear of resistance was now completely gone in Sivas.
-
On March 18Th the allied forces begin to attack the Dardanelles. Constantinople is not razed.
-
As April of 1915 approached the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire had already been stripped of their arms, suffered regular beatings and torture at the hands of chete forces, been forced into death marches, and had their homes burned or bombed out in; Zeitun, Aleppo, Papert, Terchan, and Adana.
-
On March 31St the deportations of Armenians in Zeitun began. These Armenians would still be marching into the Konia Desert on April 1St. Their march into the wasteland would lead to most of their deaths. Rape, beatings, and beheading would kill even more of them. This was the Final Solution for the Armenian Question being carried out at the direct orders of the Young Turk leadership.
-
As of April Fools Day 1915 the bad joke handed down to the Armenians was the sudden mass arrest in Sivas Provence. These arrest would allow the Ottomans to bring the majority of Armenians to a central location. It allowed the Turks to build concentration camps for their new "prisoners".
-
On April 2Nd of 1915 mass arrest in Bitlis and Erzerum Provinces would step up the collection of Armenians in those regions. At the same time Turkish soldiers in Sivas were helping chete forces to destroy Armenian villages that had either been left untouched thus far or suffered "less harassment" than the others. The brutality unleashed in these targeted villages showed the increasing hatred for Armenians amongst Turks.
-
On April 3Rd (the beginning of Easter week) the Turkish Army began its attempts to collect all weapons from Armenians in Marash and Hadjin. Brutal rapes were reported even by Turkish soldiers during the attacks.
-
On April 5Th the Turkish Army "claimed" 5,000 mules from Armenians in Marash. Part of this was to make a gesture of symbolism to Jesus and the fact that the Turks believed the Armenians would need these mules for food.
-
On April 8Th the famous monastery in Zeitun is burnt to the ground by Turkish regulars.
-
On April 11Th Talaat tells Armenians in Parliament that there will be no massacres (no further massacres).
-
April 12Th, widespread massacres of Armenians are reported from Bitlis and Erzerum Provinces.
-
April 15Th of 1915, Armenian refugees arrive in the city of Van. They inform the Armenian inhabitants there that around 80 Armenian villages around Van had already been razed. They claim that around 24,000 Armenians had been killed in just the last three days alone.
-
On April 17Th the Armenians of Van city mount an advanced defense of their city. The attack by Turkish regulars (with support of artillery units) begins. The Armenian civilians of Van are able to hold out till May 23Rd of 1915 when a Russian Army unit (composed of Armenian volunteers) arrives to save them.
-
On April 19Th the Armenians in Diyarbekir suffer as the Turkish regulars search and destroy their homes. An unknown number of Armenians are killed and raped.
-
By April 20Th of 1915 the deportations of Armenians in Zeitun is completed. It is believed that most had been sent into the desert to die. Meanwhile in Diyarbekir the first mass arrest are carried out by the Turkish Army. At the same time in Constantinople the remaining Armenian politicians are brought to the Central Prison for a mock trial... they will be hanged on June 2Nd of 1915.
-
On April 24Th 250 Armenian community leaders and intellectuals are gathered up in Constantinople are gathered up and then slain.
-
April 26Th three Armenians are hanged in Mush without trial. This marks the public will to follow and help the Young Turks in their goal of "purging the enemy within" or the destruction of the Armenian society.
-
On April 29Th Armenian citizens in Constantinople who are of Russian origin are arrested and beaten to death.
-
May 1St of 1915 the Armenian professors of the American Euphrates College are arrested in Kharput. This even marks the ending of Armenian intellectual presence in the Ottoman Empire.
-
On May 2Nd the Turkish Army suffers massive defeats against the Russian forces in the Caucasus and Northern Iran. The Turkish regulars retreated to Van, Bitlis, and Mush where they retaliated for their humiliating defeats by slaughtering the local Armenian populations.
-
That same day 3,000 Engish and French citizens are arrested in Constantinople.
-
On May 3Rd the mass deportations of Armenians in Erzerum begins. These Armenians are once again being sent to areas where no water or food can be found. No shelter is provided and death by starvation or exposure to the elements is intended.
-
The next day, May 4Th of 1915 200 Armenian leaders in Erzerum are arrested.
-
On May 5Th the arrest and killings of Armenians in Kharput begins.
-
The next day allied nationals in Beyrut are deported to Damascus where they will be sent to their home countries from there. That same day, on May 6Th, the New York Times reports that the Turks have adopted a campaign of annihilation against the Armenians... nobody back home in the United States really cares.
-
On May 10Th of 1915 950 Armenians in Diyarbekir are arrested. Most will never be heard from again. Meanwhile in Marash the Armenian refugees from Zeitun are deported to the Syrian Desert. The aim is once again to let the natural surrounding kill the Armenians and to preserve bullets for the invading Russian Army.
-
May 14Th, 38 Armenian community leaders in Chomaklu are arrested and then killed. That same day the English and French prisoners are deported.
-
May 15Th of 1915, Armenian community leaders in Bayburt are arrested and then murdered. Meanwhile Armenians in Erzerum Provence are deported with the intent of letting them die in the wilderness.
-
On May 19Th the Russian Army (an advance unit of it consisting of Armenian volunteers) reach Van city in the Van Provence. They are able to lift the siege of the town and defeat the chete forces who are still harassing the city.
-
On May 21St the Regular Russian Army arrives in Van. The cremations of the dead begin as the Russians identify the 55,000 dead as being Armenians.
-
May 24Th of 1915, the Allied forces finally send a letter to the Turks that holds the Young Turks responsible for the slaughtering of the Armenians. However this letter is not perceived to be of any legal concern.
-
May 27Th, The Temporary Law of Deopration is enacted officially. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians have already been deported by this time. Yet that same day 2,000 Armenians are deported from Marash and are forced to march into the nearby desert. At the same time 300 Armenians that had been arrested in Diyarbekir are killed.
-
On May 29Th 630 Armenians who had been arrested in Diyarbekir are slain in village of Bisheri. Their corpses are thrown into the Tigris River.
-
On May 31St the German Ambassador to Turkey advises Germany not to get in the way of the Turkish deportations of Armenians. His is oddly silent on the massacres of the Armenians still trapped inside the Ottoman Empire.
-
June 7Th of 1915, the first forced march of Armenians from Erzinjan leave on their way into the Syrian Desert. That same day the Armenians who had been arrested in Sivas on April 1St are marched into the woods of Meshedler-Yeri, they are all murdered there.
-
On June 8Th the second group of Armenians leave Erzinjan for the Syrian Desert.
-
The next day, June 9Th, the third Armenian death march leaves Erzinjan for the Syrian Desert.
-
From June 10Th to June 13Th Armenians from Erzerum Provence are butchered at Kematch. These massacres are so large that they take four days to complete. Turkish regulars and chete are used to complete this massive campaign.
-
On June 13Th the War Commission demands that all animals (and other food sources) be taken from all remaining Armenians in the Ottoman empire. This same day (the fourth day of the slaughter at Kematch) 25,000 Armenians die at the hands of the 86Th Cavalry Brigade and the 2Nd Reserve Cavalry Division.
-
On June 14Th another 300 Armenian community leaders are arrested in Shabin-Karahisar. They are to be killed just like other Armenian community leaders captured by the Young Turks.
-
The next day, June 15Th, 12 Armenian leaders are publicly hung in Sivas.
-
By June 17Th Talaat is publicly proclaiming that he and his Young Turks are on a mission to "uproot" and destroy the "enemy within"
-
On June 18Th 160 Armenian families are deported from Erzinjan.
-
On June 19Th 300 Armenian families are deported from Erzinjan.
-
June 23Rd the first mass execution of Armenian men takes place in Kharput. That same day the remaining Armenians around Bitlis are gathered up for execution.
-
On June 25Th the Armenians gathered up around Bitlis are massacred.
-
June 26Th the remaining Armenian men in Sivas are arrested so as to be executed.
-
On June 25Th and 26Th Armenians in Trebizond, Erzerum, and Samsun are ordered to leave within 5 days.
-
June 28Th, Armenian teachers and educators in Kharput are sent to the central prison and executed.
-
On June 30Th of 1915, 3,000 Armenians are killed while being deported from Erzerum. At the same time 6,000 Armenians arrived in the Konia Desert where they will starve or die from malaria.
-
As the summer of 1915 dragged on the deaths continued to stack up. On July 1St 2,000 Armenian soldiers in the Turkish army who had been used as forced labor were killed outside the city of Kharput. That same day the first convoy of Armenian deportees leaves Trebizond.
-
As of July 2Nd of 1915 the chete forces around Erzinjan begin attacking the Armenian deportees being forced to march into the Southern wastelands. That same day the deportations in the city of Mush begin.
-
On July 4Th the Turkish Army leaves Sivas with three regiments of artillery to subdue the Armenians resisting arrest and deportation in Shabin-Karahiser.
-
On July 5Th the first convoys of Armenians are forced into the Syrian Desert from Sivas. 400 families are forced out on the first day. A total of 48,000 Armenians will be deported from Sivas by July 20Th. The majority will be killed on their way into the Syrian Desert.
-
July 6Th, a 1,000 families of Armenians have left Trebizond for the south.
-
July 7Th 1915, 800 Armenian men are slaughtered in Kharput. Their families are left defenseless.
-
July 10Th, 2,700 Armenians are massacred in Mardin. This is the second massacre in Mardin.
-
July 11Th, this is the first day of a four day massacre in the city of Mush. This same day the Ministry or the Interior orders that any remaining Armenian villages be settled with Muslims and the remaining Armenians vacate the areas.
-
July 12Th, the Ottoman Empire orders that Armenian orphans be given to Muslim families to be raised as Muslims instead of Christians like their parents.
-
July 13Th, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins. During this holy month the massacres and deprotations are increased both by the passion the holy month brought with it and the government's exploitation of it.
-
July 13Th, the last of the Armenians in Kharput leave for the Syrian Desert.
-
July 14Th, the leader of the Turkish district of Aleppo's Fourth Army Corps protest that the dead bodies of Armenians are choking the Euphrates River. During the period of June 22Nd to July 17Th of 1915 the Euphrates River is clogged with dead Armenians bodies.
-
July 16Th, German officers in Jerablus identify the bodies of dead Armenians from the Ottoman cities of Kharput and Erzerum... the bodies arrive in Jerablus by floating down the Euphrates.
-
On July 18Th the Turkish Army massacres 3,000 Armenians in the Dersim region. The Kurdish population there refuses to participate in the slaughter. Many even shelter fleeing Armenians. For this the Turkish Army retaliates against all "enemies within".
-
July 21St, the Turkish Army begins its attack on Musa Dagh.
-
On July 23Rd an Italian consulet reports the attacks he has witnessed thus far in Trebizond. This is the same day the restoration of the Ottoman Constitution is celebrated.
-
As of July 24Th Talaat decides to give the order to bury the Armenians who have "died while being deported" or have been slain along the roadside. This order is given to help stop the tainting of the water and clogging the ditches and rivers.
-
From July 24Th to August 1St the Armenians in Sivas are rounded up and classified with the central authorities. This is done in preperation of the coming massacres and deportations.
-
July 28Th, deportations begin in the Turkish cities of Aintab, Kilis, and Adiaman.
-
On July 30Th the mass arrest of Armenians in the city of Angora is carried out. An unknown number of Armenians are then marched out of the city and massacred six hours from Angora. At the same time the Russian Army begins to withdraw from the Turkish city of Van.
-
July 31St, the mass murder of Armenian community leaders is carried out in Constantinople, Ayash, and Chankri.
-
August 1St 1915, 25,000 Armenians are deported from the city of Adabazar (near Constantinople. 20,000 deported Armenians arrive in Aleppo, from there they will be sent into the Syrian Desert to die. Meanwhile the mass torture is inflicted upon the 500 Armenians being held in Adabazar prisons.
-
August 2Nd, from this night on for six nights Armenian community leaders and intellectuals are taken out of the prisons in Sivas and murdered.
-
On August 3Rd of 1915, 150,000 Armenians arrive in Aleppo from unknown regions of the Ottoman Empire. That same day 4,500 Armenians arrive in Aleppo from Seghert and an additional 2,000 arrive from Mezre.
-
August 3Rd, 15,000 Armenians arrive in Der-el-Zor.
-
Late August 3Rd, 60,000 more Armenians arrive in Aleppo from unknown regions of the empire.
-
On August 6Th of 1915, 18 Armenians are publicly hung in the Turkish city of Everek.
-
August 7Th, all the Armenians in Mersin are deported.
-
August 8Th through the 12Th, Armenian intellectuals are taken out of the prisons of Sivas and murdered. There are now 36 execution centers in and around Sivas. 5,000 Armenians are taken to these killing zones and massacred in these five days alone.
-
August 11Th, any Armenian women married to Turkish men are now officially deprived the right to inheritance.
-
August 12Th, the three day holiday of Bairam begins. No massacres are supposed to be carried out during this time. That same day 200,000 Armenians are sent out of Aleppo into the Syrian Desert. These Armenians are harrased and killed on their way into the desert. Those who survive are meant to die from exposure to the elements and lack of water.
-
August 13Th, deportations of Armenians begin in Izmid, Baghchejik, Bursa, and Adabazar. Those deported are harrased and killed on the highways despite Talaats orders to "rape and kill" victims in the bush and not in sight of the roadways.
-
From August 13Th to the 17Th 15,000 Armenians are massacred in Siva's 36 killing zones. The 13Th and 14Th are still considered part of Bairam (so is the morning of the 15Th... till sunrise... if you are really picky).
-
August 16Th, 50,000 Armenian deportees are harrased on the road from Bozanti to Aleppo.
-
On August 18Th the New York Times reports that the Ottomans plan to destroy the entire Armenian Nation (or population). Not many Americans seem to be concerned.
-
August 19Th, the Turkish army kills 250 Armenians in the city of Urfa. The locals and the Armenians in Urfa begin the defense of their city from Turkish Army attacks.
-
On August 23Rd a second massacre in the city of Urfa is organized. Nobody knows how many were killed in the second attempt to "uproot" the Armenians in Urfa.
-
August 26Th, 60,000 Armenians in Aleppo (a Turkish area of modern day Syria) are ordered to leave for the Hawran district. Hawran is an Arab district in modern day Jordan. That same day the Armeians in Angora are arrested.
-
September 2Nd 1915, 4,750 Armenians are murdered in Jezire.
-
September 3Rd, 10,000 survivors of the Armenian deportations of Bursa and Izmid arrive in Konia. 15,000 deported Armenians are reported at Eskishehir, 5,000 at Alayund, and 2,000 at Chai.
-
September 7Th, massacres of Armenians are carried out in Yozgat.
-
September 8Th, 5,000 Armenian deportees reported from Bozanti.
-
September 10Th, on the 53Rd day of the Armenian defense of the city of Musa Dagh a recorded 4,058 Armenians are rescued by three English and one French warships. They are taken to the Egyptian port of Said.
-
September 11Th, 6,000 Armenians are forced to leave Adana and head for Der-el-Zor Desert.
-
September 16Th, Talaat sends out a letter explaining that the reason for sending Armenians into the Der-el-Zor Desert is to let them die from exposure and lack of water.
-
September 23Rd, 300 Armenians are massacred in Urfa. That same day 11,000 Armenians are deported to Afiyon-Karahisar.
-
On September 25Th the Sanitation Department of the War Ministry take all medical supplies away from the Armenians. That same day 24 Armenian schools in Kayseri are requisitioned.
-
By September 29Th of 1915 the deportees at Afiyon-Karahisar number 10,000 Armenians, 50,000 had arrived at Konia, 10,000 had arrived at Intille, and 150,000 at Katma.
-
On September 30Th of 1915 the deportees from Yalova, Angora, and Kastomuni number as high as 250,000.
-
October of 1915, on the first day of October 600 orphaned Armenian boys are considered to be "Turkified" in the Ottoman city of Herek.
-
By October 7Th the number of Armenian deportees still in the Ottoman Empire is estimated to be around 360,000. The number of Armenians dead is estimated to be around 800,000... this number is a low estimate.
-
Under political pressure Talaat orders that all Turkish governors deliver documents proving "Armenian treason" so as to justify the massacres. This demand goes out on October 8Th.
-
October 10Th, 46 Armenians are arrested in Edirne. A total of 1,600 would be deported.
-
October 12Th, the Ottomans pass a law that officially forbids the marriages with Armenian women. This means that any Turk still married to an Armenian is now free to turn her in so that she might be deported.
-
October 15Th a remaining 16,000 Armenians are reported at Afiyon-Karahisar and 80,000 at Konia.
-
On October 15Th a group of 6,000 Turkish soldier stage their last attack on Urfa. 400 of the Turkish soldiers are killed in the attack. The Armenians in Urfa defend to the very last man.
-
October 16Th, Talaat assures all those committing attacks and massacres of Armenians in Der-el-Zoir that they will not be brought to justice.
-
October 16Th, 20,000 deportees are murdered while passing Urfa.
-
October 27Th, 20,000 deportees are reported in Konia.
-
October 31St of 1915, orders are handed down to arrest and prosecute any Armenian who is caught discussing the deportations or massacres with outsiders (or the "West").
-
November 3Rd, German Doctor Schacht reports to his military commander that he had counted around 7,000 Armenians heads in the Sebgha District. Many were just the skulls.
-
November 5Th, 10,000 Armenians deportees are reported in Bozanti, 20,000 deportees in Tarsus, 40,000 deportees in Islahiye, and 50,000 Armenians in Katma. While 150,000 Armenians are reported crossing the Amanos Mountain Range near Adana and Aleppo. With a remaining 20,000 Armenians remaining in Adana alone.
-
On November 8Th the Turkish Government begins to deport 200,000 Armenians from Constantinople.
-
On November 13Th a reported 20,000 Armenian deportees are reported in Hawran. Of these only about 450 will be alive by November 15Th.
-
On November 16Th a report arives in Constantinople that thousands of Armenian bodies are littering the fields in the Bakche District.
-
By November 25Th and estimated 500,000 Armenian deportees are estimated to have passed through the villages northwest of Adana.
-
November 26Th, 1,010 Armenians are deported from the village of Mamure (in the Adana district).
-
December 1St of 1915, the fields north of Mamure are reported to be filled with thousands of Armenian bodies.
-
December 4Th, 10,000 Armenian men are deported from Constantinople. A list of 70,000 more Armenians is prepared, all are to be deported.
-
December 9Th, 400 Armenian orphans are deported from Aleppo. Their parents have already been murdered or deported.
-
December 12Th, 180,000 Armenians arrive in Tbilisi. All are reported to be starved or diseased.
-
December 14Th, orders are given to the chete forces and Turkish Regulars to kill any remaining Armenian priest.
-
December 16Th, orders are given to keep up the deportations and massacres despite the coming winter.
-
December 25Th, the Ottoman Empire gives Armenian children (many orphans) a Christmas gift... they are all to be deported or killed unless they "forget" their parents.
-
December 29Th of 1915, of the 210,000 Armenians who had reached the Caucasus only an estimated 173,000 are reported to still be alive. An estimated 40,000 have been reported to have died from starvation and disease alone. Of those still alive 105,000
were from Van, 48,000 were from Bayazid, and 20,038 were known to be from Mush.
-
On the last day of 1915 a letter went out to all Armenians that declared that if they wished to convert to Islam they would have to convert from their "final destination". This letter put it rather bluntly that they would have to die before being permitted to enter into the common faith of the Ottoman Empire. The Young Turks were ready to kill the "infidels" before allowing the to practice Islam.
-
-
Much of this post has been taken from the website www.armenian-genocide.org . This post only covers the first two years of the Armenian Genocide. We will be exploring the rest of the genocide in peices so that those interested can read and study the Armenian Genocide in more digestable pieces.
-
Thank you for your support and you can follow us on Facebook by searching "Alder's Ledge" and joining our Facebook group.
-
March 8, 2011
The Greeks' Last Stand
Not Exactly Spartans
When the Spartans faced off with the invading armies of Middle East they died as warriors. When the Greeks of Asia Minor were forced to stand against the Ottomans they died in much the same fashion. This time however the enemy would not allow a brave last stand. This time the enemy was in a position to commit genocide.
During the summer of 1914 the Ottomans' Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa (Special Organization) began its campaign to eliminate the Greeks by enlisting all young male Greeks into forced labor details. Most would die under the conditions imposed upon them. Others would die from disease. But this was just the beginning.
Having shipped the young male Greeks into the barren countryside of Anatolia the Turks began to slaughter their captive workers. When the numbers of young male Greeks in Asia Minor began to drop at alarming rates the Ottomans began to target the rest of the Greek population.
On the 12Th of June, 1914, the Turkish army surrounded the Anatolian town of Phocaea and began butchering its Greek residents. This strategy would continue for the rest of the summer. And its methods would be perfected as the Young Turks continued to produce their propaganda.
As the summer of 1914 fell into the history books the year of 1915 would see a rise in the intensity of Turkish "white massacres" (deaths from starvation, forced labor, or poor conditions found in Ottoman concentration camps). The bloody butchering of Greeks by the Turkish Army would be stepped up as well as the spring of 1915 approached.
Over the years leading up to the Greco-Turkish War (1914-1919) the Ottomans would use concentration camps, mass rapes, deportations, mass executions, starvation, death marches, forced labor, and the razing of Greek villages to destroy Greek society in Asia Minor. The United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau witnessed the actions from 1913-1916. The things he saw led him to claim that the Turkish government was committing acts of "outrageous terrorizing, cruel torturing, driving of women into harems, debauchery of innocent girls, the sale of many of them at 80 cents each, the murdering of hundreds of thousands and the deportation to and starvation in the desert of other hundreds of thousands, [and] the destruction of hundreds of villages and many cities". He then followed by stating that the Ottoman Empire had a "scheme to annihilate the Armenian, Greek and Syrian Christians of Turkey."
By the beginning of the Greco-Turkish War around 1,500,000 Greeks had either been deported or killed. It is estimated that about half of those were killed. The beginning of the war would in effect be the Greeks' stand against the Turkish oppressors. However it is the very fact that the Greeks stood up and fought that has led to limited recognition of their genocide at the hands of the crumbling Ottoman Empire.
When the Spartans faced off with the invading armies of Middle East they died as warriors. When the Greeks of Asia Minor were forced to stand against the Ottomans they died in much the same fashion. This time however the enemy would not allow a brave last stand. This time the enemy was in a position to commit genocide.
During the summer of 1914 the Ottomans' Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa (Special Organization) began its campaign to eliminate the Greeks by enlisting all young male Greeks into forced labor details. Most would die under the conditions imposed upon them. Others would die from disease. But this was just the beginning.
Having shipped the young male Greeks into the barren countryside of Anatolia the Turks began to slaughter their captive workers. When the numbers of young male Greeks in Asia Minor began to drop at alarming rates the Ottomans began to target the rest of the Greek population.
On the 12Th of June, 1914, the Turkish army surrounded the Anatolian town of Phocaea and began butchering its Greek residents. This strategy would continue for the rest of the summer. And its methods would be perfected as the Young Turks continued to produce their propaganda.
As the summer of 1914 fell into the history books the year of 1915 would see a rise in the intensity of Turkish "white massacres" (deaths from starvation, forced labor, or poor conditions found in Ottoman concentration camps). The bloody butchering of Greeks by the Turkish Army would be stepped up as well as the spring of 1915 approached.
Over the years leading up to the Greco-Turkish War (1914-1919) the Ottomans would use concentration camps, mass rapes, deportations, mass executions, starvation, death marches, forced labor, and the razing of Greek villages to destroy Greek society in Asia Minor. The United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau witnessed the actions from 1913-1916. The things he saw led him to claim that the Turkish government was committing acts of "outrageous terrorizing, cruel torturing, driving of women into harems, debauchery of innocent girls, the sale of many of them at 80 cents each, the murdering of hundreds of thousands and the deportation to and starvation in the desert of other hundreds of thousands, [and] the destruction of hundreds of villages and many cities". He then followed by stating that the Ottoman Empire had a "scheme to annihilate the Armenian, Greek and Syrian Christians of Turkey."
By the beginning of the Greco-Turkish War around 1,500,000 Greeks had either been deported or killed. It is estimated that about half of those were killed. The beginning of the war would in effect be the Greeks' stand against the Turkish oppressors. However it is the very fact that the Greeks stood up and fought that has led to limited recognition of their genocide at the hands of the crumbling Ottoman Empire.
March 7, 2011
How Attached to Your Balls Are You? Part Two
Indiana and Eugenics
Before the Nazis started using the "science" of eugenics Hoosiers had begun perfecting it. Indiana after all was the first state in the country (or the world for that matter) to pass a eugenic bases forced sterilization law in 1907. However even before the law was passed the Hoosier state had already begun forcibly neutering its "undesirables".
Much like Hitler's Nazis, the Hoosier State used its first sterilization law to target the socially undesirable. Among the list were "confirmed criminal", "idiots", "compulsive masturbaters", "imbeciles", and "rapist". The mentally ill or handicapped were the main targets however.
And like all things eugenic, the Hoosier law was designed to weed out the "2 percent of Indianans" who were "mentally defective". In other words, those the law deemed unfit to reproduce on the grounds that they were a burden to society would be fixed. The aim was to create a state that was free of the "undue burdens" that were holding Indiana's economy and society back.
Now to be fair 22 other states would follow Indiana's lead by implementing similar laws. However Indiana stands out for the fact that it struck down the first law in 1921 only to re institute it in 1925. And the second of the Hoosier eugenic laws would last till 1974 when it was finally repealed.
In all the sterilizations would amount to 2,424 people being sterilized under the guise of Eugenic "Science". Out of those 2,424 people there would be 1,167 males sterilized and 1,257 females sterilized. Of these 1,751 had been sterilized under the ruling that they had been found "mentally deficient while the remaining 667 were found to be "mentally ill". Dr. Harry Sharp however had done several hundred forced sterilizations before the law had passed so it is difficult to say how many people had been sterilized in Indiana for certain (Dr. Sharp was a eugenic believer and was estimated to have sterilized around 800 people before the law passed in 1907).
Of the people sterilized it is believed that poor whites from Kentucky and Tennessee were targeted due to their "social backwardness" and lack of ability to adapt to a modernized world. This tendency to target the "mentally deficient" allowed followers of the "Eugenic Science" to throw a wide net around any group they deemed "deficient" due to their economic standings. After all, eugenics teaches that the poorer classes are economically lacking simply due to their genetic inefficiencies.
This part of the history of Eugenics is not really talked about much or even studied in Indiana. Once can guess why. However in 2007 a marker was erected on the east lawn of the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis Indiana to commemorate those who were forcibly sterilized under the Indiana Sterilization Act. It reads:
"By late 1800s, Indiana authorities believed criminality, mental problems, and pauperism were hereditary. Various laws were enacted based on this belief. In 1907, Governor J. Frank Hanly approved first state eugenics law making sterilization mandatory for certain individuals in state custody. Sterilizations halted 1909 by Governor Thomas R. Marshall."
Continued on the reverse side:
Indiana Supreme Court ruled 1907 law unconstitutional 1921, citing denial of due process under Fourteenth Amendment. A 1927 law provided for appeals in the courts. Approximately 2,500 people in state custody were sterilized. Governor Otis R. Bowen approved repeal of all sterilization laws 1974; by 1977, related restrictive marriage laws repealed."
The related restrictive marriage law had forbid the marriages of people deemed to be "mentally deficient", those with a "transmissible disease", or the "habitual drunkard". This too had been enacted under the influence of eugenics (naively believing that only married people have sex).
Before the Nazis started using the "science" of eugenics Hoosiers had begun perfecting it. Indiana after all was the first state in the country (or the world for that matter) to pass a eugenic bases forced sterilization law in 1907. However even before the law was passed the Hoosier state had already begun forcibly neutering its "undesirables".
Much like Hitler's Nazis, the Hoosier State used its first sterilization law to target the socially undesirable. Among the list were "confirmed criminal", "idiots", "compulsive masturbaters", "imbeciles", and "rapist". The mentally ill or handicapped were the main targets however.
And like all things eugenic, the Hoosier law was designed to weed out the "2 percent of Indianans" who were "mentally defective". In other words, those the law deemed unfit to reproduce on the grounds that they were a burden to society would be fixed. The aim was to create a state that was free of the "undue burdens" that were holding Indiana's economy and society back.
Now to be fair 22 other states would follow Indiana's lead by implementing similar laws. However Indiana stands out for the fact that it struck down the first law in 1921 only to re institute it in 1925. And the second of the Hoosier eugenic laws would last till 1974 when it was finally repealed.
In all the sterilizations would amount to 2,424 people being sterilized under the guise of Eugenic "Science". Out of those 2,424 people there would be 1,167 males sterilized and 1,257 females sterilized. Of these 1,751 had been sterilized under the ruling that they had been found "mentally deficient while the remaining 667 were found to be "mentally ill". Dr. Harry Sharp however had done several hundred forced sterilizations before the law had passed so it is difficult to say how many people had been sterilized in Indiana for certain (Dr. Sharp was a eugenic believer and was estimated to have sterilized around 800 people before the law passed in 1907).
Of the people sterilized it is believed that poor whites from Kentucky and Tennessee were targeted due to their "social backwardness" and lack of ability to adapt to a modernized world. This tendency to target the "mentally deficient" allowed followers of the "Eugenic Science" to throw a wide net around any group they deemed "deficient" due to their economic standings. After all, eugenics teaches that the poorer classes are economically lacking simply due to their genetic inefficiencies.
This part of the history of Eugenics is not really talked about much or even studied in Indiana. Once can guess why. However in 2007 a marker was erected on the east lawn of the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis Indiana to commemorate those who were forcibly sterilized under the Indiana Sterilization Act. It reads:
"By late 1800s, Indiana authorities believed criminality, mental problems, and pauperism were hereditary. Various laws were enacted based on this belief. In 1907, Governor J. Frank Hanly approved first state eugenics law making sterilization mandatory for certain individuals in state custody. Sterilizations halted 1909 by Governor Thomas R. Marshall."
Continued on the reverse side:
Indiana Supreme Court ruled 1907 law unconstitutional 1921, citing denial of due process under Fourteenth Amendment. A 1927 law provided for appeals in the courts. Approximately 2,500 people in state custody were sterilized. Governor Otis R. Bowen approved repeal of all sterilization laws 1974; by 1977, related restrictive marriage laws repealed."
The related restrictive marriage law had forbid the marriages of people deemed to be "mentally deficient", those with a "transmissible disease", or the "habitual drunkard". This too had been enacted under the influence of eugenics (naively believing that only married people have sex).
Destruction by Fire
All Consuming...
The term Holocaust refers directly to the destruction by fire. For those who went to the crematoriums in Auschwitz this name fit. For those who died in Jasenovac concentration camp in Croatia the means of "destruction" was often a machine gun. And their killers, unlike in Auschwitz, were not SS guards.
When Hitler's horde rushed over the border into the former Yugoslavia they brought with them the ideals of fascism and Nazism. The government in what is now Croatia would never again be totally free from this poisonous ideology. Instead they would embrace it with a rather bizarre level of enthusiasm.
Like many countries the Nazis took control of during World War Two Croatia fell under the rule of a puppet government. Under the Nazi backed (NDH) Independent State of Croatia the Croatian people would submit to Hitler's will. Their country was now set to implement the "Final Solution".
On July 21St of 1941 Hitler gave a speech to the Croatian "government" officials. In it he gave the marching orders that would lead to a fully operational Jasenovac camps.
"The Jews are the bane of mankind. If the Jews will be allowed to do as they will, like they are permitted in their Soviet heaven, then they will fulfill their most insane plans. And thus Russia became the center to the world's illness... if for any reason, one nation would endure the existence of a single Jewish family, that family would eventually become the center of a new plot. If there are no more Jews in Europe, nothing will hold the unification of the European nations... this sort of people cannot be integrated in the social order or into an organized nation. They are parasites on the body of a healthy society, that live off of expulsion of decent people. One cannot expect them to fit into a state that requires order and discipline. There is only one thing to be done with them: To exterminate them. The state holds this right since, while precious men die on the battlefront, it would be nothing less than criminal to spare these bastards. They must be expelled, or – if they pose no threat to the public – to be imprisoned inside concentration camps and never be released." - from Hitler's speech to Slavko Kvaternik.
In August of 1941 the Croatians began to build and operate the first two camps that would form the Jasenovac concentration camp complex. These two camps, Krapje and Brocica, would be closed by November but the next three would be open and running. The final three camps Ciglana, Kozara, and Stara Gradiska would be operational till the end of the war in Europe.
The use of forced labor, starvation, exploitation of disease, daily beatings, and machine guns would drive the death toll up in Jasenovac. Their victims were always Serbs, Jews, and Roma. And the goal was always the same... extermination.
At times the camps would rely on the use of local police units, national military battalions, domobrani units, Muslim auxiliary units, and Hungarian or German Nazi support units. However it was most often, and they were always present, the Ustaška Narodna Služba (Ustaše People's Service) gestapo that served as camp guards. It was the UNS that participated in Nazi "competitions" that would encourage them to invent new methods of torture and maltreatment of the Jewish prisoners.
As with other Nazi operated camps Jasenovac guards greeted new arrivals with tattoos and Nazi camp badges. These colored clothing markers allowed camp guards to easily identify camp inmates by the shape and color of the badge. Serbs were given blue triangles, Communist were given red triangles (non-Serbian resistance fighters), Jews were given the yellow Star of David, while Roma were given no badge. By the end of the war however this practice was abandoned while tattoos remained till the end of the war.
Nearly all the prisoners who identified themselves, or were sent to Jasenovac for being identified as such, as Serbs were immediately sent to execution sites near the camps (Granik and Gradina were the most commonly used). Other prisoners however were often worked to death. Only prisoners who happened to be from valued professions were kept alive for an extended period of time (doctors, electricians, and shoemakers for example).
As far as the living conditions in Jasenovac... living was not the aim of the camps. Bodies were removed from the prisoners' living quarters at the leisure of the camp guards. Food consisted of what Nazis called "soup" but was simply hot water with a couple beans or a sliver of potato in it. A piece of bread may at times have been given to prisoners if the guards allowed it. But by the end of the war the prisoners were given what the guards called "turnip soup"... water the turnips were boiled in.
Sanitation was an issue that was once again designed to kill the prisoners. Toilets were holes that the prisoners were expected to "keep up" themselves. However the prisoners were not given tools to clean or even dig new holes. So often the "work" involved was designed to spread disease.
The water the prisoners were given was straight from the Sava river. This water was again given to the prisoners to kill them. The reason... it was contaminated with "ren" (a local horseradish). And thus the prisoners were once again drinking water that could spread disease amongst them.
Jasenovac however was a special camp in the Nazi program in one respect. In Jasenovac the camp guards helped introduce the practice of forcing its forced labor to work among the dead. This was achieved by hanging the corpses of the deceased from the rafters or along the walls of "workshops" in the camps. Then there was the lack of removing corpses from the barracks were prisoners had to sleep. All these methods helped to enforce the inherent fear of death amongst those not yet dead in the Jasenovac camps.
Jasenovac was also special to the Nazis for the simple fact that death was a reality from the first day a prisoner walked into the camp. The guards had already introduced the Nazi supervisors to the "Serb Cutter" or the srbosjek (a knife strapped to the guards wrist... used in mass beatings or new arrivals, mainly Serbs). The Croatian guards then implemented the use of gassing prisoners in "green Thomas" (vans with their exhaust being forced into the cargo compartment). The UNS would finally implement the stationary gas chambers in such a way as to rival Auschwitz.
By the end of the war these methods all combined would lead to Jasenovac being a leader in the Balkans camps. When liberated the camp had already killed 10% of all those who died in the Yugoslavia during World War Two. Nearly half of all the Serbs killed in the Balkans during World War Two died in Jasenovac. Nearly all the Jews that had lived in Yugoslavia at the beginning of the war were now dead at the hands of Jasenovac camp guards. And the entire Roma population of Yugoslavia were now deported or dead upon having been sent to Jasenovac.
As for the figures, Jasenovac led to the deaths of an estimated 52,000 to 70,000 Serbs, an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 Jews, an estimated 50,000 Roma, and an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 communist and other minority ethnic groups (Ukrainians, Romanians,Slovenes and Montenegrians).
But what makes this camp unique to me is the fact that at no time in its history was it run by the Nazi SS. It was a camp run by and operated by the Croatian people. Its goals and history cannot be ignored. And yet the history of this camp is not taught in most of our history books... let alone in the country that founded such a Hellish place of torment and death.
The term Holocaust refers directly to the destruction by fire. For those who went to the crematoriums in Auschwitz this name fit. For those who died in Jasenovac concentration camp in Croatia the means of "destruction" was often a machine gun. And their killers, unlike in Auschwitz, were not SS guards.
When Hitler's horde rushed over the border into the former Yugoslavia they brought with them the ideals of fascism and Nazism. The government in what is now Croatia would never again be totally free from this poisonous ideology. Instead they would embrace it with a rather bizarre level of enthusiasm.
Like many countries the Nazis took control of during World War Two Croatia fell under the rule of a puppet government. Under the Nazi backed (NDH) Independent State of Croatia the Croatian people would submit to Hitler's will. Their country was now set to implement the "Final Solution".
On July 21St of 1941 Hitler gave a speech to the Croatian "government" officials. In it he gave the marching orders that would lead to a fully operational Jasenovac camps.
"The Jews are the bane of mankind. If the Jews will be allowed to do as they will, like they are permitted in their Soviet heaven, then they will fulfill their most insane plans. And thus Russia became the center to the world's illness... if for any reason, one nation would endure the existence of a single Jewish family, that family would eventually become the center of a new plot. If there are no more Jews in Europe, nothing will hold the unification of the European nations... this sort of people cannot be integrated in the social order or into an organized nation. They are parasites on the body of a healthy society, that live off of expulsion of decent people. One cannot expect them to fit into a state that requires order and discipline. There is only one thing to be done with them: To exterminate them. The state holds this right since, while precious men die on the battlefront, it would be nothing less than criminal to spare these bastards. They must be expelled, or – if they pose no threat to the public – to be imprisoned inside concentration camps and never be released." - from Hitler's speech to Slavko Kvaternik.
In August of 1941 the Croatians began to build and operate the first two camps that would form the Jasenovac concentration camp complex. These two camps, Krapje and Brocica, would be closed by November but the next three would be open and running. The final three camps Ciglana, Kozara, and Stara Gradiska would be operational till the end of the war in Europe.
The use of forced labor, starvation, exploitation of disease, daily beatings, and machine guns would drive the death toll up in Jasenovac. Their victims were always Serbs, Jews, and Roma. And the goal was always the same... extermination.
At times the camps would rely on the use of local police units, national military battalions, domobrani units, Muslim auxiliary units, and Hungarian or German Nazi support units. However it was most often, and they were always present, the Ustaška Narodna Služba (Ustaše People's Service) gestapo that served as camp guards. It was the UNS that participated in Nazi "competitions" that would encourage them to invent new methods of torture and maltreatment of the Jewish prisoners.
As with other Nazi operated camps Jasenovac guards greeted new arrivals with tattoos and Nazi camp badges. These colored clothing markers allowed camp guards to easily identify camp inmates by the shape and color of the badge. Serbs were given blue triangles, Communist were given red triangles (non-Serbian resistance fighters), Jews were given the yellow Star of David, while Roma were given no badge. By the end of the war however this practice was abandoned while tattoos remained till the end of the war.
Nearly all the prisoners who identified themselves, or were sent to Jasenovac for being identified as such, as Serbs were immediately sent to execution sites near the camps (Granik and Gradina were the most commonly used). Other prisoners however were often worked to death. Only prisoners who happened to be from valued professions were kept alive for an extended period of time (doctors, electricians, and shoemakers for example).
As far as the living conditions in Jasenovac... living was not the aim of the camps. Bodies were removed from the prisoners' living quarters at the leisure of the camp guards. Food consisted of what Nazis called "soup" but was simply hot water with a couple beans or a sliver of potato in it. A piece of bread may at times have been given to prisoners if the guards allowed it. But by the end of the war the prisoners were given what the guards called "turnip soup"... water the turnips were boiled in.
Sanitation was an issue that was once again designed to kill the prisoners. Toilets were holes that the prisoners were expected to "keep up" themselves. However the prisoners were not given tools to clean or even dig new holes. So often the "work" involved was designed to spread disease.
The water the prisoners were given was straight from the Sava river. This water was again given to the prisoners to kill them. The reason... it was contaminated with "ren" (a local horseradish). And thus the prisoners were once again drinking water that could spread disease amongst them.
Jasenovac however was a special camp in the Nazi program in one respect. In Jasenovac the camp guards helped introduce the practice of forcing its forced labor to work among the dead. This was achieved by hanging the corpses of the deceased from the rafters or along the walls of "workshops" in the camps. Then there was the lack of removing corpses from the barracks were prisoners had to sleep. All these methods helped to enforce the inherent fear of death amongst those not yet dead in the Jasenovac camps.
Jasenovac was also special to the Nazis for the simple fact that death was a reality from the first day a prisoner walked into the camp. The guards had already introduced the Nazi supervisors to the "Serb Cutter" or the srbosjek (a knife strapped to the guards wrist... used in mass beatings or new arrivals, mainly Serbs). The Croatian guards then implemented the use of gassing prisoners in "green Thomas" (vans with their exhaust being forced into the cargo compartment). The UNS would finally implement the stationary gas chambers in such a way as to rival Auschwitz.
By the end of the war these methods all combined would lead to Jasenovac being a leader in the Balkans camps. When liberated the camp had already killed 10% of all those who died in the Yugoslavia during World War Two. Nearly half of all the Serbs killed in the Balkans during World War Two died in Jasenovac. Nearly all the Jews that had lived in Yugoslavia at the beginning of the war were now dead at the hands of Jasenovac camp guards. And the entire Roma population of Yugoslavia were now deported or dead upon having been sent to Jasenovac.
As for the figures, Jasenovac led to the deaths of an estimated 52,000 to 70,000 Serbs, an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 Jews, an estimated 50,000 Roma, and an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 communist and other minority ethnic groups (Ukrainians, Romanians,Slovenes and Montenegrians).
But what makes this camp unique to me is the fact that at no time in its history was it run by the Nazi SS. It was a camp run by and operated by the Croatian people. Its goals and history cannot be ignored. And yet the history of this camp is not taught in most of our history books... let alone in the country that founded such a Hellish place of torment and death.
Want to contact Alder's Ledge?
Follow us on Twitter: @alders_ledge
March 4, 2011
Killing by Hunger
The Holodomor.
Joseph Stalin was the kind of dictator who saw enemies everywhere. From the rise of fascism in the west to the rise of imperialism in Japan, Stalin was surrounded by enemies. But his list of enemies in his mind didn't stop with just the outside forces. Stalin's most punished foes were those trapped in his Soviet Union.
During the forced famine, the Soviet Famine of 1932-1933, the Ukraine became one of Stalin's main targets. The commands that come down the line were orders that incited the 20Th century's first peacetime genocide.
To begin the genocide Stalin gave the order to punish the "peasant" class in the Ukraine. The order was evident from the very beginning seeing as how the famine suddenly stopped at the border between Russia and the Ukraine. Yet the leaders of the Ukraine SSR were still forced to refuse food aid and ship all food grown to their Russian leaders.
Starved Ukrainians were then often shot if they were found with food or attempting to steal food from the fields protected by Soviet soldiers. Others would by the end of the famine resort to cannibalism to survive. By the end of 1933 there would be millions dead from starvation and 2,500 people convicted for cannibalism.
Many historians have picked over the suspected reasons for the forced famine in the Ukraine. Some have even claimed that the Holodomor was not a genocide since other parts of the Soviet Union also suffered smaller famines (much smaller). As for Alder's Ledge, the famine in the Ukraine was nothing more than an attempt to subdue an imagined enemy... an enemy that Stalin had a long history of targeting, the Ukrainians themselves.
No major rebellions were yet recorded within the Soviet Union's Ukraine SSR state. The "peasant" class had done nothing to stop the "collectivization" in the Ukraine. They hadn't even impeded the tyranny that Stalin's Soviets used to bring the Ukraine in line with Russia's policies. Yet Stalin still saw his "enemy within" when he looked toward the large landmass to the west. This socialist republic after all was his "buffer" between Russia and the West.
However, despite any rational explanation for the famine... if there is any... the fact remains that it did happen. And during its nearly two year reign nearly 10 million ethnic Ukrainians would die. Their skeletal frames would simply be walking one moment and then stacked in heaps at the edge of their villages or towns the next. Men, women, and children were all the targets of Stalin's forced famine. Everything that needed food to survive were victims of the Soviets' master plan.
In the spring of 1932 the Soviets initiated their policy of starvation by beginning the exportation of all food substances from the Ukraine. The grains that had over wintered in the fields were now cut down and sent to Russia. Many fields that were now ready to plant were left barren while those planted out for the fall harvest were suddenly being patrolled by Soviet guards. The famine had begun.
As hunger sat in the Soviets began distributing Agitprop movies in the urban areas of the Ukraine to support the "cause"... to support collectivization. These movies all portrayed the peasants as greedy "rats" that were hiding wheat and potatoes while the urban workers were dieing. These videos did not however point out the fact that the rations from Moscow were now dwindling with each passing day. They were simply movies to incite class warfare and as the movies pointed out (due to a law passed in August of 1932 that stated all food was "state property") food was a weapon.
As rations in the cities suddenly came to an abrupt stop in the winter of 1932 the number of dead spiked. To force the numbers even higher the Soviets would also cut power and heat from time to time. The famine's own killing power never seemed to suffice Stalin's rage... or paranoia.
In the winter of 1932 and at the start of 1933 the Soviets began to print posters that read "To eat your own children is a barbarian act." The will to survive was now driving more and more people to unthinkable acts. This was the time period that the number of convictions for cannibalism rose the most.
To make things worse, from November of 1932 to the following December the Soviets had taken all forms of livestock to the Russian border. They had claimed that this was because the peasant class had not met their "grain quota" for the fall of 1932. In reality it was to hurry up the number of deaths by depriving the Ukrainians of any protein (it was clear that the Soviets would have taken the rats if they could).
By December of 1932 the peasants farms were put onto "blacklist" of the Soviets. This meant that if the farms could not meet their unrealistic quotas they would now be ordered to hand over 15 times the previous quota. In reality this meant that Russia wanted to take everything down to the last bread crumb.
The blacklisted farms would now become death zones. The peasants who had been portrayed as "greedy hoarders" were now the most punished. Blacklisted farms could no longer legally receive rations or trade in any manner with other farms or villagers. Blacklisting was a way to hand out death sentences.
As for the rest of the Ukraine, that same month they would all be required to hand over any grains or food sources they had on hand to meet the Russians' demands. They had been required in November to provide a third of all the Soviets grain harvest for 1932. Now they would be required to hand over anything they had left. To deny the Soviets their demands was considered treason and punishable by death.
As January approached it became clear to the Russians that the Ukrainian borders had to be sealed. Thousands of ethnic Ukrainians were fleeing all through the winter and the numbers were sure to rise as spring approached. So by the end of February 1933 an estimated 190,000 "peasants" were turned around at the borders and forced to return to their villages to die.
The main "enforcers" of the genocide however were not Soviet soldiers. Instead Stalin implemented his policy of "give me a child of 8 years old and I can make it into anything I wish". Taking the youth of the Ukraine, mainly the urban teenagers, under his wing Stalin formed his version of a Hitler Youth program.
These brainwashed enforcers were upholders of the Soviet law that stated that all food was property of the state. These youthful socialist thus fanned out across the country to find and "prosecute" all those who would dare to commit theft against their beloved "state". They did it with such enthusiasm so as to construct watch towers all around the country.
Like many gangs of young vigilantes these youth brigades didn't stop at just attacking peasants who happened to have their rations of food. Instead these brigades of rowdy teens were often known to force peasants to box one another for the children's entertainment. They would then make the peasants get on all fours and bark like dogs. Then if the peasants were lucky the youth brigades would simply kill them. Women who happened to outlive their male "comrades" were often the targets of rape by the same brigades of vigilantes.
For those who happened to survived the famine the lingering memory of hunger and cannibalism would stick for generations. In the years that have passed since the genocide's end many governments have recognized the event for what it was. Others, like Russia, still do not admit nor allow the event to be taught in their public schools. However for Ukrainians it will forever be remembered as Holodomor... killing by hunger.
Some historians claim that the death toll was only 5 million Ukrainians. The most accurate estimate puts the death toll of the Holodomor puts the number of deaths near 10 million.
Joseph Stalin was the kind of dictator who saw enemies everywhere. From the rise of fascism in the west to the rise of imperialism in Japan, Stalin was surrounded by enemies. But his list of enemies in his mind didn't stop with just the outside forces. Stalin's most punished foes were those trapped in his Soviet Union.
During the forced famine, the Soviet Famine of 1932-1933, the Ukraine became one of Stalin's main targets. The commands that come down the line were orders that incited the 20Th century's first peacetime genocide.
To begin the genocide Stalin gave the order to punish the "peasant" class in the Ukraine. The order was evident from the very beginning seeing as how the famine suddenly stopped at the border between Russia and the Ukraine. Yet the leaders of the Ukraine SSR were still forced to refuse food aid and ship all food grown to their Russian leaders.
Starved Ukrainians were then often shot if they were found with food or attempting to steal food from the fields protected by Soviet soldiers. Others would by the end of the famine resort to cannibalism to survive. By the end of 1933 there would be millions dead from starvation and 2,500 people convicted for cannibalism.
Many historians have picked over the suspected reasons for the forced famine in the Ukraine. Some have even claimed that the Holodomor was not a genocide since other parts of the Soviet Union also suffered smaller famines (much smaller). As for Alder's Ledge, the famine in the Ukraine was nothing more than an attempt to subdue an imagined enemy... an enemy that Stalin had a long history of targeting, the Ukrainians themselves.
No major rebellions were yet recorded within the Soviet Union's Ukraine SSR state. The "peasant" class had done nothing to stop the "collectivization" in the Ukraine. They hadn't even impeded the tyranny that Stalin's Soviets used to bring the Ukraine in line with Russia's policies. Yet Stalin still saw his "enemy within" when he looked toward the large landmass to the west. This socialist republic after all was his "buffer" between Russia and the West.
However, despite any rational explanation for the famine... if there is any... the fact remains that it did happen. And during its nearly two year reign nearly 10 million ethnic Ukrainians would die. Their skeletal frames would simply be walking one moment and then stacked in heaps at the edge of their villages or towns the next. Men, women, and children were all the targets of Stalin's forced famine. Everything that needed food to survive were victims of the Soviets' master plan.
In the spring of 1932 the Soviets initiated their policy of starvation by beginning the exportation of all food substances from the Ukraine. The grains that had over wintered in the fields were now cut down and sent to Russia. Many fields that were now ready to plant were left barren while those planted out for the fall harvest were suddenly being patrolled by Soviet guards. The famine had begun.
As hunger sat in the Soviets began distributing Agitprop movies in the urban areas of the Ukraine to support the "cause"... to support collectivization. These movies all portrayed the peasants as greedy "rats" that were hiding wheat and potatoes while the urban workers were dieing. These videos did not however point out the fact that the rations from Moscow were now dwindling with each passing day. They were simply movies to incite class warfare and as the movies pointed out (due to a law passed in August of 1932 that stated all food was "state property") food was a weapon.
As rations in the cities suddenly came to an abrupt stop in the winter of 1932 the number of dead spiked. To force the numbers even higher the Soviets would also cut power and heat from time to time. The famine's own killing power never seemed to suffice Stalin's rage... or paranoia.
In the winter of 1932 and at the start of 1933 the Soviets began to print posters that read "To eat your own children is a barbarian act." The will to survive was now driving more and more people to unthinkable acts. This was the time period that the number of convictions for cannibalism rose the most.
To make things worse, from November of 1932 to the following December the Soviets had taken all forms of livestock to the Russian border. They had claimed that this was because the peasant class had not met their "grain quota" for the fall of 1932. In reality it was to hurry up the number of deaths by depriving the Ukrainians of any protein (it was clear that the Soviets would have taken the rats if they could).
By December of 1932 the peasants farms were put onto "blacklist" of the Soviets. This meant that if the farms could not meet their unrealistic quotas they would now be ordered to hand over 15 times the previous quota. In reality this meant that Russia wanted to take everything down to the last bread crumb.
The blacklisted farms would now become death zones. The peasants who had been portrayed as "greedy hoarders" were now the most punished. Blacklisted farms could no longer legally receive rations or trade in any manner with other farms or villagers. Blacklisting was a way to hand out death sentences.
As for the rest of the Ukraine, that same month they would all be required to hand over any grains or food sources they had on hand to meet the Russians' demands. They had been required in November to provide a third of all the Soviets grain harvest for 1932. Now they would be required to hand over anything they had left. To deny the Soviets their demands was considered treason and punishable by death.
As January approached it became clear to the Russians that the Ukrainian borders had to be sealed. Thousands of ethnic Ukrainians were fleeing all through the winter and the numbers were sure to rise as spring approached. So by the end of February 1933 an estimated 190,000 "peasants" were turned around at the borders and forced to return to their villages to die.
The main "enforcers" of the genocide however were not Soviet soldiers. Instead Stalin implemented his policy of "give me a child of 8 years old and I can make it into anything I wish". Taking the youth of the Ukraine, mainly the urban teenagers, under his wing Stalin formed his version of a Hitler Youth program.
These brainwashed enforcers were upholders of the Soviet law that stated that all food was property of the state. These youthful socialist thus fanned out across the country to find and "prosecute" all those who would dare to commit theft against their beloved "state". They did it with such enthusiasm so as to construct watch towers all around the country.
Like many gangs of young vigilantes these youth brigades didn't stop at just attacking peasants who happened to have their rations of food. Instead these brigades of rowdy teens were often known to force peasants to box one another for the children's entertainment. They would then make the peasants get on all fours and bark like dogs. Then if the peasants were lucky the youth brigades would simply kill them. Women who happened to outlive their male "comrades" were often the targets of rape by the same brigades of vigilantes.
For those who happened to survived the famine the lingering memory of hunger and cannibalism would stick for generations. In the years that have passed since the genocide's end many governments have recognized the event for what it was. Others, like Russia, still do not admit nor allow the event to be taught in their public schools. However for Ukrainians it will forever be remembered as Holodomor... killing by hunger.
Some historians claim that the death toll was only 5 million Ukrainians. The most accurate estimate puts the death toll of the Holodomor puts the number of deaths near 10 million.
March 3, 2011
A Message To My Friends... Part Two.
-
Get Out.
-
-
Dutch are again ready to send the message to their Jewish community. This time however the far right are attempting to use the law of the land to ban Jewish practices. This would make it nearly impossible to be a dedicated Jew in Holland.
-
The last time around they were simply telling the Jews to get out by telling them to leave for Israel or America. Now the Dutch Parliament is trying to outlaw the ancient and central practice of shechitah (ritual slaughter of animals for consumption). Without this practice it is impossible for the Dutch Jews to adhere to the Kosher dietary laws. And thus it impossible for dedicated Jews to live in Holland.
-
This is not the first time this sort of law has come up either. In December of 2010 the European Union struck down a proposed law on the practice due to its anti Semitic qualities. That law would have forced all kosher meats to be labeled as "meat from slaughter without stunning". And it would have made it impossible for Jews to purchase their meat without being identified as being a Jew.
-
Now Holland is pushing for this law so as to make it impossible for Jews in Holland to purchase their meat at all. It would also make it impossible for Muslims in Holland to purchase meat from animals slaughtered in the Islamic halal method. And for the Dutch PVV Freedom Party (an extremely far right party) this is simply an animal rights issue (the PVD Party proposed the bill, they too are considered far right).
-
Non European Union countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania already ban the shechita practice. However it is also important to note that countries such as Sweden and Norway have the largest number of "nationalist" political parties in Europe. But of course we are supposed to believe that these "open minded" countries simply put these bans in place due to "animal welfare" and "animal rights" reasons. Aren't we?
-
The simple fact is that anti Semitic attacks continue to rise in numbers and frequency in Europe as the populous of these countries swing toward a 1920's style socialist agenda. This attack on the kosher dietary laws is simply a stepping stone to banning Judaism altogether. Let us not forget that even before Hitler began his "Final Solution" his government initially banned kosher practices.
-
-
Source Documents for this Post.
-
JTA, The Global News Service of the Jewish People.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/02/20/2743044/dutch-parliament-to-consider-shechita-ban-bill
-
Meatinfo.co.uk
http://www.meatinfo.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/12465/Holland_moves_to_ban_non-stun_ritual_slaughter_.html
-
European Jewish Press
http://www.ejpress.org/article/49164
-
Get Out.
-
-
Dutch are again ready to send the message to their Jewish community. This time however the far right are attempting to use the law of the land to ban Jewish practices. This would make it nearly impossible to be a dedicated Jew in Holland.
-
The last time around they were simply telling the Jews to get out by telling them to leave for Israel or America. Now the Dutch Parliament is trying to outlaw the ancient and central practice of shechitah (ritual slaughter of animals for consumption). Without this practice it is impossible for the Dutch Jews to adhere to the Kosher dietary laws. And thus it impossible for dedicated Jews to live in Holland.
-
This is not the first time this sort of law has come up either. In December of 2010 the European Union struck down a proposed law on the practice due to its anti Semitic qualities. That law would have forced all kosher meats to be labeled as "meat from slaughter without stunning". And it would have made it impossible for Jews to purchase their meat without being identified as being a Jew.
-
Now Holland is pushing for this law so as to make it impossible for Jews in Holland to purchase their meat at all. It would also make it impossible for Muslims in Holland to purchase meat from animals slaughtered in the Islamic halal method. And for the Dutch PVV Freedom Party (an extremely far right party) this is simply an animal rights issue (the PVD Party proposed the bill, they too are considered far right).
-
Non European Union countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania already ban the shechita practice. However it is also important to note that countries such as Sweden and Norway have the largest number of "nationalist" political parties in Europe. But of course we are supposed to believe that these "open minded" countries simply put these bans in place due to "animal welfare" and "animal rights" reasons. Aren't we?
-
The simple fact is that anti Semitic attacks continue to rise in numbers and frequency in Europe as the populous of these countries swing toward a 1920's style socialist agenda. This attack on the kosher dietary laws is simply a stepping stone to banning Judaism altogether. Let us not forget that even before Hitler began his "Final Solution" his government initially banned kosher practices.
-
-
Source Documents for this Post.
-
JTA, The Global News Service of the Jewish People.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/02/20/2743044/dutch-parliament-to-consider-shechita-ban-bill
-
Meatinfo.co.uk
http://www.meatinfo.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/12465/Holland_moves_to_ban_non-stun_ritual_slaughter_.html
-
European Jewish Press
http://www.ejpress.org/article/49164
-
The Ottomans' Other Victims
The Assyrian Genocide 1914 - 1920.
"We have cleansed the Armenians and Syriac from Azerbaijan, and we will do the same in Van." Jevdet Pasha
Suldouze, Iran; General Agha Petros leads his ragtag band of 1500 horse mounted soldiers to swiftly attack and defeat a force of 8000 Ottoman soldiers. This battle would be one of the many feathers in his cap. However it would also be one of the last successes in his campaign to free his Assyrian comrades from the routine attacks the Ottomans had submitted them to.
As the war between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies dragged on the support for the Assyrians crumbled. Russian forces were quickly called up to take positions against the Germans so as to keep the Prussians pinned down in trench warfare. British needed to do the same toward the end of World War One. And thus the forces of the Ottoman Empire amped up their relentless attacks.
To the North of Iran General Petros's battlefields in Iran were thousands of Turkish Assyrians. And in what is now modern-day Turkey the Assyrians were particularly vulnerable.
Although the Northern Assyrians had attempted to fight back against the pogroms they had already been submitted to they would never had been prepared for what would come next. The attacks on Assyrians in Turkey and Mesopotamia were stepped up at the beginning of the World War. By the time attacks on Assyrians in modern-day Iran began in earnest the Assyrians to the North were already almost completely gone.
In 1915 the "Butchers' Battalion", Kasap Taburu in Turkish, entered the Van Province with the soul mission to destroy the Assyrian villages in that region. With 8,000 soldiers the Ottomans slaughtered an estimated 20,000 Assyrian civilians. By the end of their attacks some 30 villages had been razed. (These numbers do not take into account any armed Assyrians that may have offered some resistance.)
By the end of this attack in Turkey the Ottomans had realized that the Russians had fled modern-day Iran. This allowed the Ottomans to thus move their 36Th and 37Th battalions into the Northwestern region of Iran. It was there that the Ottomans in 1915 at the village of Urmia captured 61 leading Assyrian leaders (religious and political). Demanding their ransom the Ottomans waited till the village could produce money to fund the Ottoman army's campaign against the Assyrians. When the village paid the Ottomans the Turks decided to let 20 of the captives live. The rest had their heads cut off and piked at the stairs of the Charbachsh Gate. Among the severed heads was the head of the Bishop Mar Denkha (an Assyrian church Bishop).
After the slaughter of Assyrian leaders in Urmia, the Turks moved deeper into Iranian lands. On February 25Th of 1915 the Ottoman forces invaded the Iranian villages of Gulpashan and Salamas. In Gulpashan the invaders moved so quickly that nearly the entire population of the village was massacred, leaving around 2,500 people dead. In Salamas the invaders suddenly found that the entire Assyrian population was nowhere to be found. The Persians in Salamas had hidden them in their own homes.
Breaking down the doors of every home in Salamas the Ottomans found their unarmed victims. Roping the men together, the Turks led their captives out into the fields between Khusrawa and Haftevan. It was there that the Young Turks slaughtered their Assyrian victims in a number of ways... the Turks claimed however that they were all shot in the head.
"Many Moslems tried to save their Christian neighbours and offered them shelter in their houses, but the Turkish authorities were implacable." A British Field Report from 1915.
During the winter of 1915 an estimated 4,000 Assyrians died from exposure, disease, and starvation in and around the village of Urmia. The Ottomans there refused the Assyrians the "right to society" (or the common human rights). An additional 1,000 were directly killed by Young Turk soldiers.
In early 1918 the Ottomans allowed an estimated 3,500 Assyrians to leave Turkey and reside in Khoi, Iran. Upon arrival the Young Turks in Persia had a sudden change of heart. Once the unarmed civilians were encamped the Turkish forces fell upon them in droves. The orgy of violence that followed was documented by one of the handful of survivors.
"You have undoubtedly heard of the Assyrian massacre of Khoi, but I am certain you do not know the details..." Reverend John Eshoo, a survivor, began he recollection.
He would go on to tell of how the Assyrians were rounded up and brought into small enclosures where they would be shot with rifles and revolvers. The "slaughter house" was so small that each group of new victims would have to stand upon the dead bodies of their fellow Assyrians before being shot themselves. This ritual of death would continue for hours as groups of 10 to 20 Assyrians were executed at a time.
John told of how those found in the outer areas of the village were rounded up into courtyards and kept for around eight days before being taken to slaughter. They were starved and yet remained silent even when being marched to their deaths... John states that the only words they spoke was this... "L-rd, into thy hands we commit our spirits."
For these Assyrians death would come not by the rifle but by the sword. They were taken to courtyards or fields that had been prepared for their slaughter. Like "lambs" they were slain. First the Young Turks would cut off their fingers and then their hands. Then they would stretch their victims out upon the ground and force them to look up as they cut their throats in such a manner as to prolong their deaths. The Assyrian victims were made to bleed out slowly as they gasped for air and choked on their own blood. Most were beaten while they struggled to take their next breath. Some were tossed into mass graves while still bleeding out.
As with most cases of genocide, the young women and little girls captured in this attack were forced into sexual slavery. A group of them were even raped to death at the moment of their captivity. All would be killed within days from either brutal butchering or continual gang rapes.
If it had not been for Reverend John Eshoo nobody would have ever known of the Young Turks' bloody butchering of Khoi. We would be led to believe the long held Turkish lie that this, like they claim about the Armenian Genocide, was simply a military conflict. And once again genocide would be hidden by the "fog of war".
By the end of the Assyrian Genocide a known 495,780 Assyrians were dead. A population of just over one million were suddenly no more than 250,000, many say only 100,000. So it is more likely that just around 750,000 Assyrians were killed by the Ottomans. In any case the once large minority in the region is now a very important minority in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey.
This minority in the Middle East has suffered in Iraq every since the British deported them from Iran at the end of the Genocide. In 1933 thousands of them were killed in a mass pogrom at Simele, Iran. During the unrest in 1961 the Assyrians would suffer in Iraq. And under Saddam Hussein the Assyrian community would suffer thousands more of deaths during the dictator's Al Anfal Campaign.
"We have cleansed the Armenians and Syriac from Azerbaijan, and we will do the same in Van." Jevdet Pasha
Suldouze, Iran; General Agha Petros leads his ragtag band of 1500 horse mounted soldiers to swiftly attack and defeat a force of 8000 Ottoman soldiers. This battle would be one of the many feathers in his cap. However it would also be one of the last successes in his campaign to free his Assyrian comrades from the routine attacks the Ottomans had submitted them to.
As the war between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies dragged on the support for the Assyrians crumbled. Russian forces were quickly called up to take positions against the Germans so as to keep the Prussians pinned down in trench warfare. British needed to do the same toward the end of World War One. And thus the forces of the Ottoman Empire amped up their relentless attacks.
To the North of Iran General Petros's battlefields in Iran were thousands of Turkish Assyrians. And in what is now modern-day Turkey the Assyrians were particularly vulnerable.
Although the Northern Assyrians had attempted to fight back against the pogroms they had already been submitted to they would never had been prepared for what would come next. The attacks on Assyrians in Turkey and Mesopotamia were stepped up at the beginning of the World War. By the time attacks on Assyrians in modern-day Iran began in earnest the Assyrians to the North were already almost completely gone.
In 1915 the "Butchers' Battalion", Kasap Taburu in Turkish, entered the Van Province with the soul mission to destroy the Assyrian villages in that region. With 8,000 soldiers the Ottomans slaughtered an estimated 20,000 Assyrian civilians. By the end of their attacks some 30 villages had been razed. (These numbers do not take into account any armed Assyrians that may have offered some resistance.)
By the end of this attack in Turkey the Ottomans had realized that the Russians had fled modern-day Iran. This allowed the Ottomans to thus move their 36Th and 37Th battalions into the Northwestern region of Iran. It was there that the Ottomans in 1915 at the village of Urmia captured 61 leading Assyrian leaders (religious and political). Demanding their ransom the Ottomans waited till the village could produce money to fund the Ottoman army's campaign against the Assyrians. When the village paid the Ottomans the Turks decided to let 20 of the captives live. The rest had their heads cut off and piked at the stairs of the Charbachsh Gate. Among the severed heads was the head of the Bishop Mar Denkha (an Assyrian church Bishop).
After the slaughter of Assyrian leaders in Urmia, the Turks moved deeper into Iranian lands. On February 25Th of 1915 the Ottoman forces invaded the Iranian villages of Gulpashan and Salamas. In Gulpashan the invaders moved so quickly that nearly the entire population of the village was massacred, leaving around 2,500 people dead. In Salamas the invaders suddenly found that the entire Assyrian population was nowhere to be found. The Persians in Salamas had hidden them in their own homes.
Breaking down the doors of every home in Salamas the Ottomans found their unarmed victims. Roping the men together, the Turks led their captives out into the fields between Khusrawa and Haftevan. It was there that the Young Turks slaughtered their Assyrian victims in a number of ways... the Turks claimed however that they were all shot in the head.
"Many Moslems tried to save their Christian neighbours and offered them shelter in their houses, but the Turkish authorities were implacable." A British Field Report from 1915.
During the winter of 1915 an estimated 4,000 Assyrians died from exposure, disease, and starvation in and around the village of Urmia. The Ottomans there refused the Assyrians the "right to society" (or the common human rights). An additional 1,000 were directly killed by Young Turk soldiers.
In early 1918 the Ottomans allowed an estimated 3,500 Assyrians to leave Turkey and reside in Khoi, Iran. Upon arrival the Young Turks in Persia had a sudden change of heart. Once the unarmed civilians were encamped the Turkish forces fell upon them in droves. The orgy of violence that followed was documented by one of the handful of survivors.
"You have undoubtedly heard of the Assyrian massacre of Khoi, but I am certain you do not know the details..." Reverend John Eshoo, a survivor, began he recollection.
He would go on to tell of how the Assyrians were rounded up and brought into small enclosures where they would be shot with rifles and revolvers. The "slaughter house" was so small that each group of new victims would have to stand upon the dead bodies of their fellow Assyrians before being shot themselves. This ritual of death would continue for hours as groups of 10 to 20 Assyrians were executed at a time.
John told of how those found in the outer areas of the village were rounded up into courtyards and kept for around eight days before being taken to slaughter. They were starved and yet remained silent even when being marched to their deaths... John states that the only words they spoke was this... "L-rd, into thy hands we commit our spirits."
For these Assyrians death would come not by the rifle but by the sword. They were taken to courtyards or fields that had been prepared for their slaughter. Like "lambs" they were slain. First the Young Turks would cut off their fingers and then their hands. Then they would stretch their victims out upon the ground and force them to look up as they cut their throats in such a manner as to prolong their deaths. The Assyrian victims were made to bleed out slowly as they gasped for air and choked on their own blood. Most were beaten while they struggled to take their next breath. Some were tossed into mass graves while still bleeding out.
As with most cases of genocide, the young women and little girls captured in this attack were forced into sexual slavery. A group of them were even raped to death at the moment of their captivity. All would be killed within days from either brutal butchering or continual gang rapes.
If it had not been for Reverend John Eshoo nobody would have ever known of the Young Turks' bloody butchering of Khoi. We would be led to believe the long held Turkish lie that this, like they claim about the Armenian Genocide, was simply a military conflict. And once again genocide would be hidden by the "fog of war".
By the end of the Assyrian Genocide a known 495,780 Assyrians were dead. A population of just over one million were suddenly no more than 250,000, many say only 100,000. So it is more likely that just around 750,000 Assyrians were killed by the Ottomans. In any case the once large minority in the region is now a very important minority in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey.
This minority in the Middle East has suffered in Iraq every since the British deported them from Iran at the end of the Genocide. In 1933 thousands of them were killed in a mass pogrom at Simele, Iran. During the unrest in 1961 the Assyrians would suffer in Iraq. And under Saddam Hussein the Assyrian community would suffer thousands more of deaths during the dictator's Al Anfal Campaign.
Follow us on Twitter: @alders_ledge
Or on Facebook: Alder's Ledge
March 2, 2011
Bloody Past
The First Genocide of the 20Th Century.
"I destroy the African tribes with streams of blood... Only following this cleansing can something new emerge, which will remain..." German General Trotha.
Many people who have studied the genocides of the 20Th century have long begun with the Armenian Genocide. It seems appropriate to start with the World War One Holocaust. Yet the first genocide of the 20Th century was actually committed by the same country that would carry out the infamous World War Two Holocaust.
In the race for supremacy in Africa Germany began its fight to subdue the tribes of Namibia in South West Africa. Its empire there was one riddled with violence. And in most cases this violence was intended not for the maintaining of peace but the expulsion of less desirable tribes.
The Herero and Namaqua were two tribes that the German government decided were less than desirable. These two tribes had a long history of being warriors and proud defenders of their territories and possessions. And those two things, land and animals, were not allowed to be kept from white German "settlers". After all, in Namibia Germany would develop the ideas that would lead to the Holocaust itself.
Lebensraum was first put into action in Namibia as German settlers pushed further and further into tribal lands. The idea behind the Nazi's most exploited of ideas was that the Father Land had a right to spread its legs so to speak. The people who happened to live on this new German land simply had to be enslaved or expelled. And the food grown here was to be used to grow Germany... not Namibia.
The starvation and lack of ability to find water for themselves and their cattle would be the straw to break the camel's back for the Herero. In 1904 the Herero decided that expulsion and starvation were no longer an option. They became a people who wanted, or actually needed, their country back.
In the battles that would follow the Herero and Namaqua quickly found themselves at the mercy of the German army. Unable to sustain their rebellion the two tribes were being taken prisoners by the thousands. Those who tried to run were forced into the arid lands at civilization's edge and denied water. The water holes they could find were often poisoned by the German army in an attempt to kill the rebels in hiding.
"I, the great general of the German soldiers, send this letter to the Hereros. The Hereros are German subjects no longer. They have killed, stolen, cut off the ears and other parts of the body of wounded soldiers, and now are too cowardly to want to fight any longer. I announce to the people that whoever hands me one of the chiefs shall receive 1,000 marks, and 5,000 marks for Samuel Maherero. The Herero nation must now leave the country. If it refuses, I shall compel it to do so with the 'long tube' (cannon). Any Herero found inside the German frontier, with or without a gun or cattle, will be executed. I shall spare neither women nor children. I shall give the order to drive them away and fire on them. Such are my words to the Herero people." General Trotha.
General Trotha failed to mention that he had by this time already killed nearly all the Herero who had ever carried a weapon. His goal in making this declaration to the Herero was to further intimidate the starving Herero still hiding in the arid bushland. He simply was conducting the orders to remove the "undesirables" from German held territory.
The Generals own men and other Germans had already recorded his "German soldiers of good repute" brutal attacks on the said "rebels".
"I was present when the Herero were defeated in a battle in the vicinity of Waterberg. After the battle all men, women, and children who fell into German hands, wounded or otherwise, were mercilessly put to death. Then the Germans set off in pursuit of the rest, and all those found by the wayside and in the sandveld were shot down and bayoneted to death. The mass of the Herero men were unarmed and thus unable to offer resistance. They were just trying to get away with their cattle." Jan Cloete, German guide.
As for the Herero who were captured, if allowed to surrender, death would have been a better option.
The second part of the genocide of the Herero and Namaqua came when Germans employed their second most infamous idea... the Konzentrationslager, concentration camps. And the camps they built were the early models that would be seen in the beginning of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Mortality rates in these camps would begin around 45% and then quickly spike.
Shark Island was the most infamous of these camps. It was used for forced labor and later for medical experimentation. Those who died here were told that they would be turned into food for the sharks... hence the name of the camp. Those who lived were constantly reminded that they were not citizens of their own homeland. They were even more so reminded that they were not considered human to their captors.
Food in the camps was limited to uncooked rice and salt. German prison guards denied the Herero pots to cook the rice and refused to allow the prisoners to build cooking fires. As a result the prisoners slowly starved and died of dysentery. While still living they were forced to work on German chain gangs.
"There are hundreds of them, mostly women and children and a few old men ... when they fall they are sjamboked by the soldiers in charge of the gang, with full force, until they get up ... On one occasion I saw a woman carrying a child of under a year old slung at her back, and with a heavy sack of grain on her head ... she fell. The corporal sjamboked her for certainly more than four minutes and sjamboked the baby as well ... the woman struggled slowly to her feet, and went on with her load. She did not utter a sound the whole time, but the baby cried very hard." Percival Griffith.
Medical experimentation included mainly the forced sterilization, injection with small pox, typhus, and tuberculosis. Herero women who had been raped and later gave birth were forced to hand their "mulatto" children over to people like Eugen Fisher who would study them as his test subjects; all the while calling them "Rehoboth bastards" and "of lesser racial quality". The studies Fisher did upon these children were the same studies later done on the Jews and Roma.
Fisher would take his subjects away to study their eyes, the length of their noses, the width of their skulls, and the proportions of their bodies. When finished with them he would have them killed. It was at the end of his studies that Fisher decided that genocide was the only solution for "lesser racial quality" individuals. He noted, "whoever thinks thoroughly the notion of race, can not arrive at a different conclusion".
In the end the German involvement in Africa would come to a close with the beginning of World War One. Until then the Herero and Namaqua would be continually subjected to the genocidal ambitions of the German government and its settlers. It wouldn't be till nearly a hundred years later that the German government, let alone its people, would even admit that "perhaps genocide may have occurred" in Namibia.
As for the rest of the world the genocide in Namibia is somewhat forgotten. Much like other genocides this one has fallen away from our history books due to the depressing reality of what horrible things we have done to one another.
"I destroy the African tribes with streams of blood... Only following this cleansing can something new emerge, which will remain..." German General Trotha.
Many people who have studied the genocides of the 20Th century have long begun with the Armenian Genocide. It seems appropriate to start with the World War One Holocaust. Yet the first genocide of the 20Th century was actually committed by the same country that would carry out the infamous World War Two Holocaust.
In the race for supremacy in Africa Germany began its fight to subdue the tribes of Namibia in South West Africa. Its empire there was one riddled with violence. And in most cases this violence was intended not for the maintaining of peace but the expulsion of less desirable tribes.
The Herero and Namaqua were two tribes that the German government decided were less than desirable. These two tribes had a long history of being warriors and proud defenders of their territories and possessions. And those two things, land and animals, were not allowed to be kept from white German "settlers". After all, in Namibia Germany would develop the ideas that would lead to the Holocaust itself.
Lebensraum was first put into action in Namibia as German settlers pushed further and further into tribal lands. The idea behind the Nazi's most exploited of ideas was that the Father Land had a right to spread its legs so to speak. The people who happened to live on this new German land simply had to be enslaved or expelled. And the food grown here was to be used to grow Germany... not Namibia.
The starvation and lack of ability to find water for themselves and their cattle would be the straw to break the camel's back for the Herero. In 1904 the Herero decided that expulsion and starvation were no longer an option. They became a people who wanted, or actually needed, their country back.
In the battles that would follow the Herero and Namaqua quickly found themselves at the mercy of the German army. Unable to sustain their rebellion the two tribes were being taken prisoners by the thousands. Those who tried to run were forced into the arid lands at civilization's edge and denied water. The water holes they could find were often poisoned by the German army in an attempt to kill the rebels in hiding.
"I, the great general of the German soldiers, send this letter to the Hereros. The Hereros are German subjects no longer. They have killed, stolen, cut off the ears and other parts of the body of wounded soldiers, and now are too cowardly to want to fight any longer. I announce to the people that whoever hands me one of the chiefs shall receive 1,000 marks, and 5,000 marks for Samuel Maherero. The Herero nation must now leave the country. If it refuses, I shall compel it to do so with the 'long tube' (cannon). Any Herero found inside the German frontier, with or without a gun or cattle, will be executed. I shall spare neither women nor children. I shall give the order to drive them away and fire on them. Such are my words to the Herero people." General Trotha.
General Trotha failed to mention that he had by this time already killed nearly all the Herero who had ever carried a weapon. His goal in making this declaration to the Herero was to further intimidate the starving Herero still hiding in the arid bushland. He simply was conducting the orders to remove the "undesirables" from German held territory.
The Generals own men and other Germans had already recorded his "German soldiers of good repute" brutal attacks on the said "rebels".
"I was present when the Herero were defeated in a battle in the vicinity of Waterberg. After the battle all men, women, and children who fell into German hands, wounded or otherwise, were mercilessly put to death. Then the Germans set off in pursuit of the rest, and all those found by the wayside and in the sandveld were shot down and bayoneted to death. The mass of the Herero men were unarmed and thus unable to offer resistance. They were just trying to get away with their cattle." Jan Cloete, German guide.
As for the Herero who were captured, if allowed to surrender, death would have been a better option.
The second part of the genocide of the Herero and Namaqua came when Germans employed their second most infamous idea... the Konzentrationslager, concentration camps. And the camps they built were the early models that would be seen in the beginning of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Mortality rates in these camps would begin around 45% and then quickly spike.
Shark Island was the most infamous of these camps. It was used for forced labor and later for medical experimentation. Those who died here were told that they would be turned into food for the sharks... hence the name of the camp. Those who lived were constantly reminded that they were not citizens of their own homeland. They were even more so reminded that they were not considered human to their captors.
Food in the camps was limited to uncooked rice and salt. German prison guards denied the Herero pots to cook the rice and refused to allow the prisoners to build cooking fires. As a result the prisoners slowly starved and died of dysentery. While still living they were forced to work on German chain gangs.
"There are hundreds of them, mostly women and children and a few old men ... when they fall they are sjamboked by the soldiers in charge of the gang, with full force, until they get up ... On one occasion I saw a woman carrying a child of under a year old slung at her back, and with a heavy sack of grain on her head ... she fell. The corporal sjamboked her for certainly more than four minutes and sjamboked the baby as well ... the woman struggled slowly to her feet, and went on with her load. She did not utter a sound the whole time, but the baby cried very hard." Percival Griffith.
Medical experimentation included mainly the forced sterilization, injection with small pox, typhus, and tuberculosis. Herero women who had been raped and later gave birth were forced to hand their "mulatto" children over to people like Eugen Fisher who would study them as his test subjects; all the while calling them "Rehoboth bastards" and "of lesser racial quality". The studies Fisher did upon these children were the same studies later done on the Jews and Roma.
Fisher would take his subjects away to study their eyes, the length of their noses, the width of their skulls, and the proportions of their bodies. When finished with them he would have them killed. It was at the end of his studies that Fisher decided that genocide was the only solution for "lesser racial quality" individuals. He noted, "whoever thinks thoroughly the notion of race, can not arrive at a different conclusion".
In the end the German involvement in Africa would come to a close with the beginning of World War One. Until then the Herero and Namaqua would be continually subjected to the genocidal ambitions of the German government and its settlers. It wouldn't be till nearly a hundred years later that the German government, let alone its people, would even admit that "perhaps genocide may have occurred" in Namibia.
As for the rest of the world the genocide in Namibia is somewhat forgotten. Much like other genocides this one has fallen away from our history books due to the depressing reality of what horrible things we have done to one another.