The first genocide of the 20th century took place in Turkey in 1915
when some 1.5 million Armenians were deported from their birthplace
and massacred. Here, the Millers (he: Sociology/University of
Southern California; she: Director/Office for Creative Connections,
All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena) have collected more than
one hundred oral histories from survivors of the atrocities. Their
testimony, organized thematically, is shocking and poignant. The
various eyewitness accounts show how Armenians, believing that they
were being deported only temporarily, went docilely to their fates.
Men were shot or brutally murdered by hatchets and axes. Women and
children died mostly from attrition, as guards denied them water
and as they starved during the hundreds of miles of enforced
marches. The survivors speak of rotting corpses and babies'
skeletons strewn along their path. Mothers faced terrible choices
about which children to save; ware raped as their children watched;
saw their daughters abducted by Turks and Kurds. The authors point
out that the Turkish government continues to deny that the Armenian
genocide took place, even though the scrupulously presented paper
evidence here - missionaries' eyewitness reports, letters from
diplomats on the scene, official government accounts, etc. -
corroborates the oral testimony. As welcome relief, the Millers
also include examples of kindness by a few "good Turks" who risked
their lives to help deportees, as well as touching scenes of
rehabilitations in orphanages and at family reunions. A valuable
contribution to the growing literature on the Armenian genocide.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Between 1915 and 1923, over one million Armenians died, victims of
a genocidal campaign that is still denied by the Turkish
government. Thousands of other Armenians suffered torture,
brutality, deportation. Yet their story has received scant
attention. Through interviews with a hundred elderly Armenians,
Donald and Lorna Miller give the "forgotten genocide" the hearing
it deserves. Survivors raise important issues about genocide and
about how people cope with traumatic experience. Much here is
wrenchingly painful, yet it also speaks to the strength of the
human spirit.
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