Aghet - A genocide

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Movie
Original title Aghet - A genocide
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2010
length 90 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Eric Friedler
script Eric Friedler
production Katharina M. Trebitsch
music Michael Klaukien ,
Andreas Lonardoni
camera Hanno Lentz
cut Florentine Bruck
occupation

Aghet - Ein Genocide is a documentary film by Eric Friedler about the genocide of the Armenians , which was initiated and carried out during the First World War by the ruling Committee for Unity and Progress in the Ottoman Empire between 1908 and 1918 . By the United Nations Genocide Convention recognized genocide is in Turkey officially still denied . Turkish citizens, such as Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk , who work to achieve historical recognition of the genocide, still face fines or imprisonment under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. The film sheds light on the background and reasons behind the withholding of historical facts and traces the course of the genocide on the basis of numerous historical sources. The documentation was created in 2009 after several years of extensive research. It was produced by Katharina and Markus Trebitsch, Gyula Trebitsch's children , for Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). According to the NDR, the film tries to “snatch part of the early history of the 20th century from the realm of the dead”.

content

The film is based on quotes from contemporary witnesses presented by actors in a scenic presentation. The murder of Hrant Dink is reported at the beginning of the film . As a journalist, Dink had campaigned for the state to recognize the genocide of the Armenians in Turkey . Then the protest march by Turks against the killings is contrasted with various statements by government spokesmen.

On this basis the question arises: What happened in 1915 after April 24th and why could this happen?

American and German diplomats, heads of orphanages, German military, survivors of the catastrophe and other contemporary witnesses have their say. The actors quote the researched and researched reports and testimonials from the Political Archives of the Foreign Office , the Lepsius Archives, the Library of Congress , the National Archives and other archives. The actors "give voices of oppressive authenticity to long-dead contemporary witnesses," according to the producing NDR. This traces the historical development of the Balkan Wars and the Young Turkish constitution of a constitutional monarchy with Sultan Abdülhamid II, who was overthrown in 1909, and his successor Mehmed V as well as the triumvirate Talât Pascha , Enver Pascha and Cemal Pascha established from 1913 at the top. The unsuccessful military battle of Sarikamis between the Ottoman Empire and Russia in the Caucasus, with 90,000 dead on the Turkish side, was justified by Talât Pasha with the betrayal of the Armenians who served in both armies. After the prelude on April 24, 1915 with the arrest of 235 Armenian intellectuals, including 40 doctors and 10 lawyers from Constantinople , a mass expulsion caused by the internal political turmoil in Turkey began. The goal of the (nationalistic) Young Turks was a Christian-free empire. A mass deportation from all provinces in which Armenians lived developed from an alleged security of the border region. The cited contemporary documents document how the massacres and death marches developed through the Mesopotamian steppe and into the Syrian desert , which then belonged to the Ottoman Empire .

Documented statements by leading representatives of the Ottoman Empire, (at that time neutral) American diplomats and reports from German military and diplomats are presented in this scenic form in order to make the background understandable. As the film progresses, original documents from the time will also be inserted, which prove the cruelty and inhumanity in dealing with the deportees. It is also mentioned, however, that Turkish district administrators and police forces resisted. After all that, the film proves that the goal of the Young Turkish leadership was to destroy the Armenians as a people. Reports from refugee helpers, missionary nurses and journalists as well as heads of mission stations testify to the processes.

In connection with the historical events and the helplessness of the charitable forces in the face of the deportation , the Germans' disinterest in their possible intervention is emphasized. At that time Turkey was a war partner of the German Reich . During the visit of the German emperor, no intervention was made against the expulsion and extermination of the Armenians. Those responsible for the mass annihilation went into exile after Kemal Ataturk came to power in Turkey . When the person mainly responsible, Talât Pascha , was murdered in Berlin by Soghomon Tehlirian (member of a secret society of surviving Armenians), the perpetrator was left unmolested by an acquittal. In the last part of the film, the bow is drawn to Raphael Lemkin , who promoted the anti-genocide convention of the UN from 1948 in an evaluation of his personal experience. Reference is made to Adolf Hitler , who is said to have legitimized his extermination campaign against the Poles with the fact that the world had not raised any objection to the genocide of the Armenians.

Furthermore, the attitude of the current Turkish leadership under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is contrasted again with the views of western politicians.

"Evidence should be presented," says Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Just as if the genocide were a myth, a fantasy of the Armenians, an anecdote with which one wanted to do evil to Turkey. "

It also shows how European governments and the US administration must be interested in a good relationship with Turkey through economic and military interests and how they can be blackmailed. So did Obama have spoken in 2007 as a senator of genocide, as president, he takes into account the geopolitical position of Turkey between Asia, Europe and the Arab world.

The film ends with the statement that today's Turks have no personal responsibility for the events of that time. It is only necessary to recognize the fact at the time in order to prevent future repetition of the processes in a different context.

background

The starting point for the production management of the NDR was Franz Werfel's novel The 40 Days of Musa Dagh . Then there was the incident surrounding the murder of the Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink . In their own words, the creators attached particular importance to high-quality journalistic research in order to ensure that the presentation was irrefutable. Scientific advisors were Hermann Goltz from the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg. Further technical advice was provided by Hans-Lukas Kieser , Otto Luchterhandt , Günter Seufert , Fritz Frey , Volker Zielke and Vartkes Yeghiayan . After the Hebrew term Shoa was made known by the director Claude Lanzmann with his film, the Armenian word "Aghet" for catastrophe should have the same effect and message with this title. Through the conscious relationship, the commonality of the (two) “inconceivable crimes” should be emphasized.

In the words of director Eric Friedler, the Armenian genocide was the “blueprint” for all other genocides of the 20th century. Since no government in the world has any difficulty in describing the events in Cambodia or Rwanda as genocide, the reason for the film was to find out what is special about the Turkish-Armenian problems that are simply "hushed up" by large parts of the world. “A top-class actor ensemble gave the long deceased contemporary witnesses of the Armenian genocide a voice again. The texts are taken from historical documents, ”says the production company.

The film premiered on April 7, 2010 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin and is distributed by Norddeutscher Rundfunk as part of the Das Erste television station .

reception

The Turkish community in Germany wrote a protest letter to ARD . The People's Voice praised the film, this was a "deeply moving 90-minute documentary that examines the role of the German Empire as an ally." The former ARD chairman Peter Boudgoust , exhibited in a public statement after criticism by Turkish organizations out that their criticism of the representation is by no means shared by all Turks, as the solidarity demonstration of more than 200,000 people in Istanbul after the murder of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007 has shown. International historians see the genocide of the Armenians as proven. This genocide and the Holocaust of the Jewish people led to the development of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide of the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.

Aghet is shown in the United States and was also seen by members of the US Congress. The documentary filmmaker Eric Friedler succeeded in showing the NDR documentary to members of the US Congress and the US House of Representatives. The performance in the US Congress took place on July 21, 2010. Many MPs were amazed at how many eyewitness accounts there are describing the mass murder of 1915.

“The Armenian word 'Aghet' was previously unknown internationally. The term now stands for one of the most unimaginable crimes in human history, the Armenian genocide. That is one of the extraordinary merits of this documentary by Eric Friedler, which is recognized with prizes at international festivals. [...] The film is now even shown in such world-famous universities as Harvard and Cambridge, and rightly so. "

- Frank Beckmann, NDR program director television

“The committed documentary brings together facts and asks the reasons for the determined denial of this crime. Archives from all over the world provide the facts, politicians, artists and athletes comment on the first genocide of the 20th century, and in minimalist game scenes long-dead contemporary witnesses are given a voice. "

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

Evidence cited in the film

The documents below, as far as they are named by the NDR, were used for the speaking roles in the documentation.

  • Tagouhi Antonian (survivor of the Bitlis genocide , born 1900): said herself as an eyewitness in an interview. Their statements can be found in the Armenian Genocide Museum & Institute (AGMI), Yerevan and in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.
  • Tacy Atkinson (auxiliary nurse in Harput ): Her personal diary was published as The Harpoot Diaries 1908–1917. Tacy Atkinson's statements can be found in the National Archives, Washington.
  • Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (Chancellor of the German Empire 1909–1917): His main goal was not to upset Turkey as an ally in the First World War. Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg's statements can be found in the Political Archives of the Foreign Office, Berlin.
  • Ernst Jakob Christoffel (head of a home for the blind in Malatya and Sivas 1916–1919): Ernst Christoffel's statements can be found in the Political Archives of the Foreign Office, Berlin and in the Johannes Lepsius Archives, Halle.
  • Leslie A. Davis (American Consul in Harput): Reports to his Government, observation in The Slaughterhouse Province: An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1917 . The statements of Leslie A. Davis can be found in the National Archives, Washington and in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.
  • Oscar Heizer (American Consul in Trebizond 1915–1917): repeatedly gave descriptions to the American Embassy in Constantinople. The statements of Leslie A. Davis can be found in the National Archives, Washington and in the Johannes-Lepsius-Archiv, Halle.
  • Karen Jeppe (Danish teacher in Urfa and Aleppo 1903–1935): worked in Lepsius aid stations as a refugee commissioner for the League of Nations. Karen Jeppe's statements can be found in the Library of Congress, Washington and the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.
  • Alma Johansson (Swedish nurse on a mission in Muş 1913–1919): Letters and reports from personal experience. Their statements can be found in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle, the US National Archives and in the Political Archives of the Foreign Office.
  • Friedrich Freiherr Kreß von Kressenstein (Commander of the 1st Turkish Expeditionary Corps in 1915): gave regular reports to the German government, including on the genocide. His statements can be found in the Political Archives of the Foreign Office, Berlin.
  • Jakob Künzler (Swiss deacon and disaster relief worker in Urfa 1915–1917): His report as a direct eyewitness of the genocide is the basis of his book In the Land of Blood and Tears: Experiences from Mesopotamia during the World War 1914–1918 . Potsdam 1921. The statements of Jakob Künzler can be found u. a. in the Political Archive of the Foreign Office, Berlin, and in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.
  • Raphael Lemkin (genocide researcher and lawyer, creator of the UN Anti-Genocide Convention): His statements can be found in the Library of Congress and the National Archives, Washington.
  • Johannes Lepsius (Protestant theologian and founder of the German-Armenian Aid Organization): Report on the situation of the Armenian people in Turkey. The statements of Johannes Lepsius can be found in the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin and in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.
  • Wilhelm Litten (Consul in the Imperial German Consulate in Tabriz 1914–1915, eyewitness to the murder): recorded his observations in diary-like notes during the journey from Baghdad to Aleppo. His statements can be found in the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, and in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.
  • Samuel S. McClure (American publisher and correspondent): made trips to Constantinople and Europe and published them in the political non-fiction book Obstacles to Peace in 1917. The statements of Samuel S. McClure can be found in the National Archives, Washington.
  • Count Wolff Metternich zur Gracht (Imperial German Ambassador in Constantinople 1915–1916): gave detailed reports to the Chancellor. After only ten months in office, he was ordered back to Berlin under pressure from his Turkish ally. Count Wolff-Metternich's statements about the canal can be found in the Political Archives of the Foreign Office in Berlin.
  • Johann Mordtmann (Imperial German Consul General in Constantinople 1915–1918): As Consul General, he prepared memos and reports. His statements can be found in the Political Archives of the Foreign Office, Berlin.
  • Henry Morgenthau (US Ambassador to Constantinople 1913–1916): led personal disputes with Talaat Pasha, made petitions to the US government, he summarized his observations in the book Ambassador Morgenthau's Story , 1918. The testimony of Henry Morgenthau can be found among others in the National Archives, Washington and in the Political Archive of the Foreign Office, Berlin.
  • Martin Niepage (teacher at the German school in Aleppo 1915–1917): sent reports for the German government and an eyewitness report for the Berlin Reichstag members. His statements can be found in the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, and in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.
  • Hambardzoum Sahakian (survivor of the genocide, born 1908): Commented as an eyewitness in a questioning. His statements can be found in the Armenian Genocide Museum & Institute (AGMI), Yerevan and in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.
  • Walter Rößler (Imperial German Consul in Aleppo 1914–1918): as consul he gave exact, detailed reports and uncensored information. He was not allowed to testify in the murder trial against Talaat Pasha in 1921. Walter Rößler's statements can be found in the Political Archives of the Foreign Office, Berlin and in the National Archives, Washington.
  • Beatrice Rohner (Swiss nurse in Aleppo 1915–1917): as an eyewitness, she expressed herself in letters and reports. Their statements can be found in the Political Archive of the Foreign Office, Berlin, and in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.
  • Harry Stürmer (correspondent for the Kölnische Zeitung in Turkey 1915–1917): gave reports to the German government, he used his articles as an eyewitness for the book Two Years of War in Constantinople, Sketches of German-Young Turkish Morals and Politics. His statements can be found in the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, and in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.
  • Armin T. Wegner (German medical officer in the Ottoman Army 1915–1916): took photos in his role as an officer of the medical troops, later he sent an open letter to Adolf Hitler against the persecution of the Jews. The statements by Armin T. Wegner can be found in the Political Archive of the Foreign Office, Berlin, and in the Johannes Lepsius Archive, Halle.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for Aghet - A Genocide . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF). Template: FSK / maintenance / type set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Doğan Haber Ajansı Orhan Pamuk was sentenced for insulting Turkish citizenship March 28, 2011, accessed on July 29, 2011
  3. ^ NDR dossier on the film
  4. ↑ The word "Aghet" becomes the term of an incomprehensible crime ( Memento from September 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) NDR.de, accessed on November 7, 2011
  5. ^ A b c d e NDR press release on the film premiere, April 7, 2010 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin, published by NDR press and information, editor: Iris Bents. presse@ndr.de
  6. ^ Political bloody act in Turkey clarified. Police apprehend the murderer of journalist Hrant Dink , NZZ Online, January 21, 2007. Accessed June 14, 2019
  7. ↑ Interview with Friedler: Bringing testimonies from the past into today ( Memento from January 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ a b NDR film page ( memento from September 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ^ Tessa Hofmann persecution, expulsion and extermination of Christians in the Ottoman Empire , Berlin 2004, p. 82
  10. ↑ Hürriyet of April 14, 2010 ( Memento of October 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ 90 harrowing minutes about the genocide of the Armenians - Volksstimme October 22, 2011
  12. ↑ Aghet - Ein Völkermord, opinion of the chairman of the ARD for criticism from the Turkish side
  13. ↑ FAZ: Obama also avoids the term genocide, accessed: August 2, 2010
  14. ↑ a b Eric Friedler receives the “Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award” in Los Angeles for “Aghet” NDR.de, September 23, 2010, accessed on August 7, 2011
  15. ↑ Aghet - A Genocide. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  16. ^ Grimme Prize Information and Culture ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 17, 2011
  17. ^ Rationale of the Grimme jury ( memento from June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 17, 2011
  18. ↑ Twice gold, one silver for NDR documentaries at the New York Film Festival , accessed on March 2, 2012
  19. ^ Page of the NDR with the actors of the contemporary witnesses, from there access to the contemporary witnesses and the evidence for their statements ( memento from September 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  20. ↑ a b c d e f g contemporary witnesses
  21. ↑ atkinson 104
  22. ↑ bethmannhollweg 102
  23. ↑ christoffel104
  24. ↑ davis108
  25. ↑ heater104
  26. ↑ jeppe102
  27. ↑ johansson106
  28. ↑ kressenstein100
  29. ↑ kuenzler104
  30. ↑ lemkin104
  31. ↑ lepsius 102
  32. ↑ suffered 102
  33. ↑ mcclure104
  34. ↑ metternichzurgracht100
  35. ↑ mordtmann106
  36. ↑ morgenthau108
  37. ↑ niepage104
  38. ↑ sahakian100
  39. ↑ roessler 106
  40. ↑ rohner 104
  41. ↑ stuermer138
  42. ↑ wegner114