german share in armenian holocaust – hubert_luns

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German complicity in the Armenian Holocaust

It would seem that Hitler used the following argument: “Why shouldn’t we murder the Jews?

When the Armenians were massacred nobody lamented, nor will they do so when the Jews are

cleared out.” It is quite possible that Hitler knew of Germany’s complicity in the massacre of

two million Armenians and other Christians in the First World War. (1)

The Dominican Jacques Rhétoré was an important witness to what happened in Turkey. His

report was recently referred to in “Les Chrétiens aux Bêtes”, or “Christians to the lions” (Cerf,

Paris - 2005, pp. 283-96). The book refers to René Pinon, who as early as 1916 expressed con-cern over the German involvement in the slaughter of the Armenians. And it quotes Gabrielle

Yonan known from “Ein Vergessener Holocaust” (A forgotten Holocaust) in 1989.

The massacre of the Armenians by the Turks was the result of several factors – such as the fact

that the Armenians ran the country’s trade even though they were a minority of the population.

But the Turks’ main motive was an extreme rise of nationalism. They had been humiliated by

the break-up of the Ottoman Empire and wanted Turkey for the Turks and a return to the ‘pure

Islamic belief’. This, it was thought, would solve all their problems. The Koran and its various

interpretations have always preached hatred and contempt for Christians, and thus little effort

was needed to call up this type of feeling. But it was Germany that tipped the balance. The

Germans were desperately trying to form an alliance with Turkey in order to counterbalance

the Russian troops on the southern front. The friendship was purchased with enormous quan-tities of gold during the First World War and it was Germany’s idea – unbelievable though it

may seem – to have Turkey declare a Holy War (Jihad). And yet well beforehand they knew

that this could have terrible consequences for the Christians living there.

The politicians cared little for the fate of the Christians, but considered the Jihad to be the ideal

means of bringing together the various ethnic groups inside and outside Turkey. It seems rea-

sonable to assume that the Germans instructed the Turks regarding systematic mass murder,

which deviated from the approach used by the Turks in previous times. The approach now

showed a frightening similarity to the methods later used by the Germans in their mass murder

of the Jews. Once the barbarities – which all classes of the population joined in with enthu-

siasm – had broken out, a succession of German ambassadors sent alarming reports to their

ministry and continued to submit official protests to the Turkish government – which were



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then pushed to the back of a drawer. (They knew that no political action would follow the dip-

lomacy.)

The Armenian holocaust has an aspect that is scarcely mentioned in the news media. Itso happens that within Islamic thinking, a region conquered in the name of Allah

remains an inalienable territory. If you are so naïve as to think that Spain belongs to theSpanish, then you are wrong: Isabel of Castile stole it from the Moors! Seen from thispoint of view it is, of course, a fantastic achievement to have murdered almost all theChristians in Turkey during and shortly after the First World War, since that was themost important region to become Christian, thanks to Paul. Hence for the Turks thisslaughter proves that Christianity’s days are numbered. I should now be crying 'Allauh Achbar', but as long as my wife of more than 35 years does not wear a burqa, I will notdo so. And perhaps then I too will wear a burqa – for security’s sake.

The most important German who can be held responsible for the Armenian debacle was, ac-

cording to Pinon, not the Kaiser but General von Staab, at the time member of the High Gene-

ral Staff. David Shermer writes that Germany had no long-term war plans in 1914 since such

specific plans would have required alertness and consistency of action, both of which, in fact,

Behmann-Hollweg and Moltke lacked – to say nothing of the Kaiser. But once the war began

to drag on, the German government was in an excellent position to intervene with Turkey, had

they found it necessary to stop the slaughter or to reduce its ferocity. Instead of which those

who wanted to inform the German population of what was going on in Turkey were threatened

with court martial.

Hubert Luns

See also:

“The Genocide of the Eastern Christians of the City of Smyrna in 1922” by M. H. Dobkin

“The Blight of Asia” by George Horton

“The Underreported Persecution of Christians” by Herb Denenberg

“The Return of Anti-semitism to Germany - it never really left” by William E. Grim

(1) The Herero and Namaqua Genocide, also known as the Namibian Genocide, is consi-dered to have been the first genocide of the 20 th century (UN Whitaker Report 1985). Ittook place under the German rule. Between 1904 and 1908 about 80,000 people died dueto violence and starvation after having been driven into the desert, a tactic used also

against the Armenians. The German colonial army seems to have systematically poisoneddesert wells. In 2004 the German government pleaded guilty and apologized for the atroci-ties committed then.



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Letter to the editors

Dear editors,

What Mr. Luns writes is correct.

I have had an Armenian friend for more than 25 years. Her father experienced the genocide of the Armenians and now lives in Canada. Five years ago Professor Vermeulen wanted to talk tohim about the genocide but he did not dare to. Now he is as good as demented. The rest of hisfamily lives in Antwerp.

During a visit he made some ten years ago he told of how, as a small boy, he saw his pregnantaunt cut open from belly to throat by a Turkish sword.

He said that the reason why the Armenians were murdered was first and foremost becausethey were Christians and secondly because they refused to fight on the side of the Germans.

Wouter Bos, chairman of the PvdA political party, only sees the Turkish voters in the Nether-lands and thus prefers to speak of an Armenian incident instead of genocide.

Hitler was most certainly inspired, if not placed under pressure, by the Mufti of Jerusalem.

Mohammed Amin al-Husseini was born in 1893, son of the Mufti of Jerusalem, and member of a highly respected and aristocratic family. The Husseini family was one of the richest and mostpowerful families within the rival clans in the Ottoman province of Judea in Palestine. He volunteered to serve in the Ottoman pro-German army during the First World War but retur-ned to Jerusalem in 1917 where, for opportunistic reasons, he opted to support the victoriousBritish after the war.

With kind regards, Janice Laureyssens

(Published in the Email magazine ’t Scheldt, No 752 / 10-11-2006 and follow-up in No 756 / 24-11-2006)

german share in armenian holocaust – hubert_luns

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