c An interesting example of cooperation with the Nazis was the replacement of two Jewish athletes on the 4 x 400 meter U.S. relay team in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin (New York Times, Aug. 10, 1986, p. 95). This was done without any direct pressure by the German organizers. The world’s participation in the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 was itself a statement of acceptance of Nazi policies.
d Consider the experience of one of my students, which she described in a paper for a course. A man pulled a knife on her and forced her to follow him to a park, where he talked about himself for a while and then raped her. A couple of days later she and her boyfriend were leaving her apartment when, playfully responding to something he did, she held up her fists and said, “Do you want to fight?” He said in response, “Why didn’t you fight the other day?”
e The story of a woman born in Austria is consistent with many of the themes in this chapter. Now a Canadian citizen, she was fifteen years old at the time of the Anschluss, the German takeover of Austria in 1938. She and her family felt well-regarded and well-treated members of the community. Immediately upon the German entry they became nonpersons. Schoolmates stopped talking to her. Austria had a history of intense anti-Semitism, which, as conditions changed, immediately came to the fore. (We can contrast this with the Danes’ loyalty to Jews after they were occupied by the Germans.)
Her family, especially her father, refused to believe that the Nazi actions were aimed at all Jews, innocent Jews. When they witnessed the Gestapo taking away a neighbor’s son, her father thought that he must have done something terrible. Even as he himself was arrested, he claimed it had to be a mistake.
After he was released, a shadow of his former proud self, and the family accepted the reality of their situation, they had no place to go. No country was willing to accept them. Ultimately, they succeeded in getting to Palestine. (I am grateful to Michael Shandler, who made available to me an interview of his mother, taped for a documentary.)
f This point is illustrated by the famous story of the dancer who was recognized by a Nazi officer in the line leading to the gas chamber and told to dance. As she danced, she grabbed the officer’s gun and shot him. By becoming a dancer again she had regained her identity and capacity to resist.
Part III
Other genocides and mass killings
In this section I examine three more cases of genocide and mass killing: the Armenian genocide, the “autogenocide” in Cambodia, and the disappearances in Argentina. The description and analysis will be detailed enough, I hope, to show that the conception presented in Part I promotes the understanding of a broad range of such tragic and horrible events. I briefly describe difficult life conditions, cultural preconditions, and steps along the continuum of destruction. This will enable the reader to judge the extent to which the influences I posited in Part I were present in these genocides and mass killings as well as in the Holocaust.
12 The Turkish genocide of the Armenians
Historical (life) conditions
When the First World War began, the Ottoman Empire had been losing power and territories for more than a hundred years. Once a great military power that ruled over many countries, it was called the Sick Man of Europe by Czar Nicholas of Russia in the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1877-78 it lost a war against Russia, and Russia annexed parts of Turkish Armenia. Turkey lost additional territories in the Balkan wars, between 1911 and 1913.
Turkey was also commercially and industrially backward and dominated in these realms by other nations. In 1875 the Ottoman Empire went bankrupt. A Public Debt Administration was set up by the great powers with representatives of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Turkey to control Turkey’s finances, and 12 to 15 percent of Turkey’s revenues were ceded to this organization.1
Within Turkey, commerce, trade, and finance were largely in the hands of foreigners or of non-Muslim minorities such as Greeks, Armenians, and Jews.2 “Capitulations,” which were extraterritorial agreements between the Ottoman Empire and foreign nations, granted judicial and economic privileges to foreigners. Partly because of the Islamic belief that law is derived from religion, so that only believers can participate in it, and partly for other cultural and historical reasons, foreigners were judged and protected by their own laws. They were exempt from all taxes except export and import duties, which had ceilings specified by capitulations. Foreign products flooded into Turkey, inhibiting industrial development.3
The Ottoman Empire continued to repress its many minorities. Reforms announced in 1839 and 1856 that would have provided rights to all citizens and others promised later (partly under foreign pressure) were not carried out. A constitutional government was created in 1876 but dissolved in 1878 by Sultan Abdul Hamid. A long reign of repression and terror followed.
Foreign powers continuously exerted influence on Turkey, military and political. Russia was consistently belligerent, partly because it wanted to acquire Turkish territories and reduce Turkish power. England’s prime concern was the containment of Russia. Western powers and Russia were also interested in protecting the rights of Christian minorities in Turkey, but realpolitik usually won out. In exchange for promises of reform, England supported Turkey in its conflicts with Russia. After Russia’s victory in the war of 1877-78, England intervened to shape a treaty that would minimize Russia’s gains. The promises of reform remained unfulfilled.
In 1908 a revolution compelled Abdul Hamid to restore constitutional government. In 1909 the revolutionaries, who called themselves the Committe of Union and Progress but who were also known as the Young Turks, gained complete power. Initially, the revolution was widely welcomed. The Young Turks promised universal rights, freedom, and equality. However,
