DEAR Blog
Disaster Experiential Activity and Reflection
Project by Noah Hass-Cohen, Psy.D., Alliant International University School of Professional Psychology
Contributors: Jeremy Arzt, M.A.; Joanna Clyde Findley, M.A.; Anya Kavanaugh, B.F.A;
Alliant International University, Couples and Family Therapy, Crisis and Trauma course students
1915-1918: WWI ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Background
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Also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime.
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The systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. The starting date of the genocide is conventionally held to be April 24, 1915, the day when Ottoman authorities arrested some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople.
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It was implemented through wholesale massacres, as well as deportations consisting of forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees.
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The total number of Armenian deaths is generally held to have been between 1 million and 1.5 million.
Image taken from Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, written by Henry Morgenthau, Sr. and published in 1918, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Morgenthau336.jpg
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Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians and Greeks, and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination.
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It is widely acknowledged to have been one of the first modern genocides, as scholars point to the organized manner in which the killings were carried out to eliminate the Armenians, and it is the second most-studied case of genocide after the Holocaust.
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Thereafter, the Ottoman military uprooted Armenians from their homes and forced them to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of food and water, to the desert of what is now Syria. Massacres were indiscriminate of age or gender, with rape and other sexual abuse commonplace.
Psychological Impact
The psychological impact of this genocide is so far-reaching and widespread, both on an individual and national/worldwide scale, that it cannot be summarized here. Its immediate impact included multiple generations, and long-term impact continues to further generations.