Armenians Saviors

In the first chapter of the book “A Problem From Hell” American and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power, the text explains how during, and after World War I, the Turkish were trying to get rid of all of the Armenians by killing them. This Armenian Genocide had started in 1915 by taking away all of the freedom and power that the Armenians had in Turkey, such as disarming the Armenian soldiers and shutting down Armenian schools, which eventually turned into the killing of nearly 1 million Armenians by “firing squad, bayoneting, bludgeoning, and starvation” (pg.1). Even though these were mass killings, the Turkish did a very good job at keeping it a secret so that no one knew what was going on and tried to stop them.

The chapter talks about those who were opposed against the killings, those who were for the killings, and those who were neutral to the killings. The United States was one of the countries who started off staying as neutral as possible with the Armenian genocide, because the “Wilson administration was resolved to stay out of World War I” (pg.6) and to get involved with the genocide would be going against that. One of the main people who strongly opposed the Armenian genocide was a German-born Jewish American named Henry Morgenthau Sr. Morgenthau was a man who was brought over to the United states at the age of 10, and grew up to become appointed the ambassador of the Ottoman Empire by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913. Morgenthau was very passionate about the Armenian genocide and trying to get the United States involved with the genocide, claiming that “Talaat and other senior officials would eventually be held responsible…” (pg.7) However, the United states still did not want anything to do with it, so Morgenthau tried to convince the United States that they should consider doing something about it, not only because the victims were innocent people, but because it would be “on behalf of humanity” (pg.10)

I believe that Mogenthau was someone who really changed the way the genocide was playing out, and was the one who truly saved all of the Armenian refugees. Morgenthau was a very passionate and strong man when it came to the Armenian genocide and saving all of the innocents, he was a man that should be looked up to when it comes to genocides and other mass killings. Being neutral and not doing anything is being a bystander, and being a bystander does not help anyone but the people who are doing the killing. I think that if it was not for Morgenthau and his convincing of involving the United States in the Armenian genocide, then I think that the Turkish would have eventually found their way to get rid of all of the Armenian in their country, if not the world.

There were plenty of Armenian refugees that were saved, thanks to Morgenthau and the people who opposed the genocide; however, there was still over 1 million Armenians killed during the genocide and that should never be forgotten as an example of what happens when someone who can help decides to be a bystander.