Joseph Knollenberg: “I rise this afternoon in remembrance of a dark period in American history, or actually in history, period. That point is…”

“I rise this afternoon in remembrance of a dark period in American history, or actually in history, period. That point is the Armenian genocide. When most people hear the word ``genocide'' they immediately think of Hitler. They think of the persecution of the Jews during World War II. Most individuals are unaware that the first genocide of the 21st century occurred during World War I and was perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian people. Concerned that the Armenians would move to establish their own government, the Ottoman Empire embarked on a reign of terror that resulted in the massacre of over 1.5 million Armenians. This atrocious crime began on April 15, 1915, when the Ottoman Empire arrested, exiled, and eventually killed hundreds of Armenian religious, political, and intellectual leaders. Once they had eliminated the Armenian people's leadership, they turned their attention to the Armenians serving in the Ottoman army. These soldiers were disarmed and placed in labor camps, where they were either starved or executed. The Armenian people, lacking political leadership and deprived of young, able-bodied men who could fight against the Ottoman onslaught, were then deported from every region of Turkish Armenia. The images of human suffering from the Armenian genocide are graphic, and are as haunting as the pictures of the Holocaust. Why, then, it must be asked, are so many people unaware of the Armenian genocide?”