The German Empire: An Accomplice in a Genocide

Germany played a role in the massacres of 101 years ago [against Armenians]. Military advisors of the German Empire supported the Ottomans and even fought alongside them. We [Germans] are accused of complicity and we must accept this. These words were spoken by Cem Özdemir, a Turkish-born member of the German parliament and leader of the Green Party in Germany, regarding the approval of a bill that will henceforth refer to the Armenian massacres as 'genocide' in Germany. Turkey opposes the characterization of the killings that began in 1915 as genocide, claiming that those who were killed were victims of civil war and related unrest. The German parliament approved this bill almost unanimously on Thursday, June 3, despite pressure from Turkey. Many German military and political leaders unconditionally supported their Ottoman ally, in some cases welcoming the destruction of Armenians, silencing critics, and censoring reports of the massacres. By censoring reports about the killings of Christians in Ottoman territories, the Protestant Church in Germany preferred to support government policies over the lives of thousands of women and children. Wolfgang Gust, a former Spiegel journalist, has spent nearly two decades writing a book about the Armenian genocide based on German documents and archives from the early 20th century. The German state archive, a key resource after the Turkish archive for understanding the events of 1915, contains significant evidence. Taner Akçam, a Turkish historian and author of the famous book 'Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility,' states that the documents in the Ottoman archive speak of the genocide of Armenians. In his book 'The Armenian Genocide,' Wolfgang Gust published multiple documents showing that German officials were well aware of the Ottoman's ethnic cleansing policies and, in some cases, endorsed them. He refers to the efforts of Johannes Lepsius, a German pastor and missionary, to draw attention to the suffering of Armenians. In 1916, he sent a report on the genocide to 20,000 German pastors, but this report never reached its destination. This time, the Protestant Church, of which Lepsius was a member, took on the censorship task rather than the German government. Paul Wolfmetternich, the German ambassador in Constantinople (Istanbul), who was aware of the plan to kill hundreds of thousands of Armenians, urged his government to prevent this act. He stated that the Turks' capability was based on German financial and military resources. The German ambassador's request received minimal attention. German soldiers who intended to expose war crimes were also severely suppressed. Numerous photographs by Armin T. Wegner, a soldier and member of the German army's medical team, acquainted the world with what many historians call 'the first genocide' of the 20th century, depicting the massacres and suffering of Armenians in 1915 and 1916. Photographing Armenians was prohibited, and Wegner was arrested and later returned to Germany. Wegner, who became a successful and bestselling author, challenged Hitler's racist policies due to the suffering of Armenians and was forced to leave Germany. Wolfgang Gust writes that German officials were well aware of the destruction of Armenians. One of the hundreds of pieces of evidence published in this book is a note from August 15, 1915, by Admiral Wilhelm Souchon, the German commander of the Ottoman-Turkish naval fleet: 'The Turks are acting with great care and secrecy regarding the Armenians. Three-quarters of them have perished... When they finish off the last Armenian, the time for Turkey's salvation will come.' In many instances, Germany's role in organizing the extermination of Armenians was hidden and sometimes indirect. However, in some cases, forced relocations ordered directly by German officials led to the mass killing of Armenians: Colonel Botheirch, the German head of the railway section at the Ottoman command center, ordered the forced relocation of Armenian railway workers. This forced relocation, according to eyewitnesses, ended with the deaths of thousands. Where did the idea of forced relocation come from? Henry Morgenthau, the American ambassador at the time in the Ottoman Empire, who made significant efforts to save Armenians, writes about the influence of German thought and ideology on Ottoman officials. Morgenthau states that for hundreds of years, various methods of torture were executed against Christian inhabitants, but the idea of forced relocation, hundreds of kilometers away from their millennia-old homes, raises the question of where this came from for the Ottomans. According to the American ambassador, before the forced relocation of Armenians, about 100,000 Greeks were forced to leave their ancestral homes in 1914... A naval officer from Germany tells the American ambassador that this idea was proposed by the Germans to the Turks. The American ambassador adds that some German writers, including Paul Rohrbach, openly called for the implementation of this plan regarding Armenians; driving Armenians from their homes and occupying these places by Turks. Ugur Ungor, a Dutch researcher of Turkish descent who teaches at Utrecht University, states, 'After the forced relocation of Armenian civilians to the desert, which itself constitutes genocide, Armenian properties were confiscated.' The theory of this German writer was implemented. Ugur Ungor, a Dutch researcher of Turkish descent who teaches at Utrecht University, states, 'After the forced relocation of Armenian civilians to the desert, which itself constitutes genocide, Armenian properties were confiscated.' Although there is insufficient evidence to prove that the inspiration for the forced relocation of Armenians came from the Germans, the American ambassador states that the idea of collective relocation in other places is an idea that originates from the Germans. Hitler's lesson from the Ottomans. Brad Sherman, a member of the U.S. Congress who requested President Obama to recognize the 'genocide' in America in a letter, states that denying a genocide is not the last stage of a genocide but the first stage of a new genocide. It seems that Adolf Hitler drew inspiration from the world's silence regarding the fate of Armenians for the destruction of other nations. This congressman cites a phrase attributed to Hitler during the invasion of Poland in 1939: 'Who today remembers the extermination of the Armenians?' One of Hitler's advisors and close friends, Schubner-Richter, was the German vice-consul in Erzurum during World War I. 'Germany is not responsible.' 'Germany is not responsible for this [forced relocation].' This was the response of Baron von Wangenheim, the German ambassador in Constantinople, to Henry Morgenthau. A response that does not convince Morgenthau, who simply tells him: 'You can say this until the end of time, but the world will always hold Germany responsible. The guilt of these crimes will be your legacy... You think you can hide these hellish crimes.' Ultimately, the German ambassador states that everything you say may be true, but the major problem we face is winning the war. 'The world will always hold Germany responsible. The guilt of these crimes will be your legacy... You think you can hide these hellish crimes.' This was Henry Morgenthau's response to the then German ambassador in the Ottoman Empire. Germany lost the war alongside the Ottoman Empire, and as Morgenthau predicted, many held Germany responsible. Franz Joseph Jung, the German Minister of Defense, also stated during the German parliament's vote to recognize the Armenian genocide that the German Empire allowed these events to happen and secretly supported them. The events the Minister of Defense refers to, according to many historians, destroyed the lives of over one and a half million people. Events that some believe inspired Adolf Hitler for his ethnic cleansing policies. As of Thursday, these events have been referred to as genocide in Germany.