This Day in Jewish History / Poet Who Wrote about Armenian Genocide (and Wed an Anti-Semite) is Born

September 10, 1890 is the birthdate of Franz Werfel, the Prague-born Jewish poet, dramatist and novelist, whose most acclaimed work, the 1933 “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh,” about the Armenian genocide, was widely read as a warning about the Nazi rise to power and the murderous threat it posed to the Jews.

La palabra violada: los usos y abusos de "genocidio" nos llevan a reflexionar

Vartán Matiossián

"La muerte del genocida Videla me sorprendió en Berlín, camino a Ereván, capital de Armenia, donde me encuentro ahora. Como hijo de sobreviviente y nieto de desaparecidos en el Genocidio Armenio, la noticia me impactó. En pocas horas había transitado por los vértices del triángulo Buenos Aires-Berlín-Ereván lugares donde la palabra genocidio adquiere una connotación especial. Nombres y fechas de pronto volvían recurrentemente a mí. Talaat y Kemal Atatürk en Turquía, Hitler en Alemania y Videla en Argentina, los genocidas que implementaron cada uno en su tiempo un brutal plan sistemático de exterminio, con un mismo fin, eliminar al otro, al que consideraban diferente. Fechas: 1915, 1939 (*), 1976. A casi un siglo de la primera de las tragedias que se fueron sucediendo, encontramos que en Argentina con coraje cívico y decisión política se han juzgado y condenados a los responsables de la represión y Videla muere preso en una cárcel común.

Levon Thomassian's "Summer of '42"

Benjamin F. Alexander

Throughout the twentieth century, nearly every episode of Armenian history had a Dashnak [A.R.F.] and an anti-Dashnak version. The life of Drastamat Kanayan, more commonly known as General Dro, was no exception, especially where his actions in Germany during World War II were concerned. As was revealed publicly right after the war ended, Dro and several other Dashnak notables, with no known formal party sanction, made overtures to the Nazi high command and formed an Armenian Legion to assist the German regime. Other Armenians were also involved with the Nazis. What did they do, and why did they do it? Ambiguities have lingered.

Vartan Matiossian Lectures on Armenians, Aryan Myth

On Thursday, December 1, Dr. Vartan Matiossian presented a lecture titled “The Aryan Myth, Hitler, and the Armenians,” in an event hosted by the Zohrab Center at the Diocesan Complex in New York City. Tracing the definition of the origins of the “Aryan” race in particular, Matiossian began his remarks with an overview of the concepts of race and language since the late 18th century. The concept of the “Aryan Myth” emerged in the late 19th century, he explained, and contrary to opinions of the time, it is now considered a purely linguistic term.

Dr. Vartan Matiossian to Deliver Lecture Hosted by Zohrab Center in New York

A presentation titled “The Aryan Myth, Hitler and the Armenians” will be given by Dr. Vartan Matiossian on Thursday, December 1, 2011, at the Diocesan Complex in New York City at 7 p.m.

During his lecture, Dr. Matiossian will explore the definition of the word “Aryan” and how it has historically related to Armenians.