90th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Reader comment on item: Anti-Semitism Evolves

Submitted by Marcos Berenstein (Brazil), Feb 17, 2005 at 19:05

In 1915, Armenian people suffered an abominable persecution that led some 1.5 MILLION of them to die at Turkish hands.
As a Jew, I find it offensive to notice that this horrible massacre is almost entirely unknown among the vast majority of us. It's shameful, for the Armenian Genocide gave Adolf Hitler, then a Corporal in the Kaiser's Army, Turkey's ally, the hideous conviction
that killing millions of people was achievable. Some 27 years later, he reminded his Generals at Wansee that "Who remember the Armenians?". He was right. He did with the Jews four times worse than the Turkish did to the Armenians. The world kept silent, did very little in both episodes.

Many of us still wonder if that kind of mass murder is likely to happen again. My answer is YES. The motivations that led Adolf Hitler to perpetrate the worst crime of history still lives in Europe. The Europeans still hate Jews with a passion. The French and Polish populace react to the word "Jew" with disgust. In Spain, Portugal, Italy, Latvia, the situation is much the same. What do those countries do have in common? CATHOLICISM. The same fuel that propelled Mel Gibson in his blood libel turned into a movie,"THE PASSION OF CHRIST",in which the principal argument that made the hatred, persecution, torture, humiliation, vilification, mutilation and wanton massacre of Jews possible: the accusation that JEWS KILLED JESUS CHRIST.

This Gospel is the turning point of the Jewish History. Before that, Jews were persecuted for being monotheistic,not bowing down to idols,kings. After that, Jews were accountable as a whole,not individually. In my view,"THE PASSION OF CHRIST" could've easily been made by Leni Riefenstahl in the 1930's or 1940's ordered by Göebbels or Hitler himself. It matches very well with
the line adopted by Julius Streicher's "DER STÜRMER", where cartoons depicting Jews with long noses,claws and targetting innocent Christian girls amused Germans. The movie entices its audience to hate those who killed their Lord. As the Jews "DID IT", thus their lives were expendable.They were human beings no more. Explaining the dehumanization of the Jews that way,explain the logic of the Holocaust. To the Germans,Jews weren't humans.They were considered MICROBES, therefore to be wiped out as such.

I'd like to add something that many don't know: ADOLF HITLER WENT TO OBBERAMERGAU'S PASSION OF CHRIST'S PLAY,IN 1934.HE SAID THAT AFTER WATCHING THE PLAY HE BECAME CONVINCED OF THE MALIGNANCY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE, AND THAT THE JEWISH THREAT HAD TO BE DEALT WITH.
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What happened afterwards is history for everyone to see.

My point is that Armenian Genocide gave a extremely bloody precedent in which all subsequent massacres took place. Don't you forget the Armenians, much less the Jewish Holocaust, for tomorrow someone could repeat history.

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