“Genocide: The Armenians 1915-1922” exhibit opens in NY

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. government does not officially recognize the Armenian Genocide, but a new exhibition at Queens College, NY, has been curated with the intent of preserving the memories of the 1.5 million who lost their lives during the first genocide of the 20th century, yournabe.com reports.

“Genocide: The Armenians 1915-1922” consists of posters, books and photos from the personal collection of Hratch Zadoian, a professor of political science at the college. Zadoian was born in Romania to Armenian parents.

Zadoian said the Armenians had been living for a couple of millennia in what at the time was the Ottoman Empire. Standing in front of the exhibition in the Barham Rotunda of the Rosenthal Library last week, Zadoian told the story of the beginning of World War I which presented the opportunity to for the Young Turks to “deal with the Armenian problem.”

“April 24, 1915, several hundred community leaders, intellectuals and members of Parliament were arrested and all killed. What begins is a set path of extermination of 250,000 or so Armenians in the Ottoman army. They were segregated into labor battalions and killed... As in other genocides, the women suffer the most,” he said.

The documents of the exhibition include historical documents, such as a revised Bryce Report. James Bryce was appointed by the British government to write a report on the atrocities committed against the Armenians, which redacted the names of the victims. The revised report includes those names.

The professor said he is currently working on making the permanent collection at Queens College the premier academic resource on Armenian subjects. “One of the greatest fears of people who died in genocide is no one will know. No one will remember,” he said. “The community should get a sense of satisfaction that the denial has not worked. The world knows.”