Overview:
A instructor fellow with the Genocide Training Undertaking studied the Armenian Genocide firsthand—strolling the museum with students, attending lectures, and reflecting on how the teachings of hatred, denial, and democratic erosion should urgently inform how we train historical past in the US.
This summer season, I used to be invited to review on the Genocide Museum in Yerevan, Armenia as a instructor fellow with the Genocide Training Undertaking. I walked the museum with Regina Galustyan, the museum’s biographer and researcher. I sat in on lectures from professors like Dr. Dikran Kaligian and visited cultural websites and monasteries. I watched Armenian students clear historic manuscripts, together with one donated by a member household from our staff. I realized a couple of genocide culminating in roughly 1.5 million individuals killed in an eighteen month interval in and round 1915. Regardless of the historic reality of all of it, some in our world are nonetheless denying this well-documented genocide ever happened.
It was brutal to listen to tales and see the proof of the atrocities firsthand. There have been greater than a number of of our staff of lecturers in tears at varied factors. Even so, that wasn’t the toughest half for me. The toughest half for me was being a instructor in the US and making connections that I knew many US educators are additionally involved about. Someday throughout our debrief one other instructor introduced up the precise feeling I had when she informed us:
“I can’t cease fascinated with all the issues I see right here, points that we haven’t appeared to have realized within the US or ones we appear to be going away from. A few of it’s the precursors to the genocide, however a few of it isn’t. I can’t cease fascinated with what number of of these items that I see proof of from our personal historical past and in some circumstances again dwelling now, or that I don’t see proof of to stop the hatred that led to this.”
I needed to agree, and all of us, the eighteen lecturers in our fellowship, mentioned not simply the dearth of those understandings again dwelling, but additionally the backlash a few of us obtain for simply educating historical past.
I want these of us had been right here, this week, to see and study what I did.
USAID and AUA
Throughout a go to to the American College of Armenia, or AUA, we spoke with professors and realized about genocide historical past. However essentially the most highly effective portion was to listen to from their college students, and their unanimous hope for us to convey the data of how hatred builds over time again to our college students at dwelling. This in and of itself was highly effective, however as I walked out of the college entrance workplace, I seen one thing that stopped me chilly. There was an indication on the wall I hadn’t seen after I got here in, so I requested one in every of our guides about it. He defined that AUA was based with a grant from US AID.
“Beforehand,” he informed us, “this constructing was a Soviet period constructing. US AID reworked it into an establishment devoted to democratic beliefs, these primarily based on America’s beliefs. Later, a number of grants have constructed and supported our genocide schooling program. Lots of our graduates have turn out to be outstanding members and actors in our democratic elections.”
By the point I obtained again to the lodge I had realized two extra issues, one from the information again dwelling and one from our information, Rima. The very first thing I realized was that the US Home of Representatives had simply authorized DOGE’s cuts eliminating funding for NPR and gutting US AID (amongst many different issues). The second was the variety of constructive contributions made because of this ofUS AID’s funding and the democratic establishments we had been actually driving by within the coronary heart of town. It wasn’t misplaced on me that at present Russia was attacking Ukraine to our north, nor that Iran was just some hundred kilometers to our south. US AID, I knew then, was a peaceable and low cost barrier to the autocratic beliefs surrounding this small democratic nation. The lack of US AID right here would have huge repercussions within the years forward, adjustments that might be way more expensive to Individuals than what US AID ever spent in Armenia.
A Genocide, an Epiphany, and a Barrier
Being our main goal, our GenEd fellowship spent the majority of our time studying concerning the Armenian genocide, perpetrated towards them by the Committee of Union and Progress, or CUP, in Turkey. To today, the Turkish authorities denies this genocide occurred, and even neighboring nations like Turkey and Ajerbeijan actively train that it didn’t occur. In a 2010 interview with 60 minutes, the Turkish Ambassador to the US stated that there was no genocide and that “dangerous issues occurred on each side.”
For individuals who know their historical past, the dearth of acknowledgement within the early twentieth century led to Adolf Hitler’s well-known quote: “Who in spite of everything in the present day speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
Right here, among the many halls of artifacts, accounts and historic data, adjoining to the flame that burns frequently as a reminder to anybody who visits, we realized and in contrast the ten phases of genocide to these of different genocides we, as historical past lecturers, knew properly.
However in practically each discuss, it turned apparent to a number of of us that we had been seeing indicators of those phases inside our society at current. In stage 1, societies “classify” different teams. In Rwanda, the Tutsis had been known as cockroaches, in Germany the Jews had been known as “rats” and “vermin”, and in Armenia, even some Turkish medical doctors referred to Armenians as “microbes” which wanted to be cleansed from society. One instructor in contrast this to the feedback made by President Trump, calling these with completely different ideologies “enemies of the state” or claiming, with out proof, that Haitian migrants had been consuming “cats and canine”. One other identified that President Trump has threatened to deport those that stand towards him, like Elon Musk or Rosie O’Donnell.
As we mentioned, we realized that many of those public feedback and actions weren’t particulars which confirmed the primary stage of genocide. This was symbology, and discrimination, the second and third stage. Some introduced up these firefighters and airline management operators focused after disasters past their management as a result of they had been “DEI hires.” Some introduced up ICE focusing on of us in Southern California merely primarily based on their bodily look.
For me, the priority wasn’t, neither is it now, whether or not or not the US will devolve into genocide towards it’s personal individuals. Regardless of “Alligator Alcatraz” and deep state conspiracies, I consider the American persons are too type a nation to fall into the atrocities I’ve seen right here.
However that’s really what bothers me essentially the most from this journey to Yerevan, Armenia. The Armenian Genocide didn’t occur in 1915 as a result of a bunch of type individuals immediately turned a bunch of evil ones. It took many years of hatred, of othering, and it took many authorized rights to be taken away from Armenian residents.
And it additionally took lies. Tons and plenty of lies.
And as a instructor, I do know very properly, that one of the simplest ways to counter a lie, whether or not it’s about whether or not or not US AID funds transgender mice or a genocide did or didn’t happen, is with information.
As a lead researcher and writer with the museum informed us, “My job is to not show to somebody denying the reality. My job is to convey extra information into the sunshine.”
And that’s my job too.
I subsequently encourage all US educators to proceed educating these information. I encourage academic leaders to maintain supporting the educating of these information. And I encourage all of us to start out referring to information, no matter how the information make us really feel. The world, and the good individuals in it, are watching us, now. Someplace sooner or later, our time will likely be their historical past.
What is going to they study from what we do?
For extra info on the right way to train genocide, Armenian or different atrocities, a devoted portion of which will likely be present in any state historical past requirements, please go to genocideeducation.org.
