Armenia:  Genocide Museum and Memorial

April 24th is one of the most important days in Armenia.  It’s Genocide Remembrance Day and tens of thousands come to the memorial complex located in the capital, Yerevan to pay their respects to the ancestors who perished.   Local Armenians and the diaspora know of this day and take time to remember.

 As a reader of history who has studied other genocides in the 20th century, the Armenian genocide is still a deep wound in the national psyche despite it occurring over 100 years ago.  Having visited the killing fields in Cambodia, who had their genocide in the 1970s, I could still feel a sense of pain by the people but they were trying to move past it and trying so hard to forget it.  The same can not be said of Armenia though.  Of course the circumstances are different in that there is overwhelming international recognition that a genocide did take place in Cambodia but not the same for Armenia.

 I remember reading about the Armenian genocide in my early undergraduate days.  I’m always shocked when reading about genocides about how one group of people can completely rationalize the systemic dehumanization and extermination of their fellow human beings.  I hope people who are reading this blog will encourage others to research more about the Armenian genocide, the Jewish genocide, the Cambodian genocide, and the Rwandan genocide and spread the word about these 20th century atrocities so that they are not repeated in the 21st century.