For the souls of those who passed

By Sarine Bezjian

If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you would know that I recently went to Berlin. When I was there, I took a trip out to a nearby concentration camp. It was one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever done and it impacted me profoundly. I couldn’t help but make parallels between what I was seeing there and what I have always been told about the Armenian Genocide. We are well into April now, which means it’s time for the annual Genocide commemoration. Normally, if I was back home in Montreal, I’d have at least a commemoration event to go to every week, if not more. I’m not gonna lie, I often ignored all those events and chose to only go to the march in Ottawa. Now, being in Dublin, where the Armenian population is of less than 200 people, I am left with a longing to be back home and join my friends and family at all those events that I neglected for so many years… Who knew that it would take being away to realize how important it is to participate.

This blog post is my way of taking part in the 102nd commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

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When I left the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and was sitting on the train back to Berlin, I took my phone out and wrote about some of the things I was feeling… Forty minutes later, we were back in Berlin and I had basically written an entire blog post about what it felt like to be at a former concentration camp, about what it felt like to be in Germany, about what it feels like to have so much of my own history denied and about why we are not done fighting for justice and recognition.

Written: March 23rd

Sachsenhausen. Maybe the most depressing place I’ve ever been to, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. It struck me to my core and has made me reflect on so much more than just my general lack of knowledge on the Holocaust. I feel grim and gloomy. Just a few minutes ago, on my walk back to the train station, I was literally walking the same path that so many people walked when they were being taken to their deaths. This is not the first time I’ve walked along historical sites… I’ve done it before, so why is this time so different? Why is it affecting me so much? I’ve walked along roads where people used to lose their lives on the daily. I’ve walked on mountains where wars were held and thousands died. I’ve been to Armenia and looked out at Mount Ararat, knowing that it belongs to me but also knowing that I can’t have it. This is a different feeling altogether… So, again… Why is this time so different?

Maybe it’s the closeness of it. Something about the fact that you’re walking in a residential area, down someone’s street when suddenly, you come to a gate that happens to be the entrance to a former concentration camp. Literally, someone’s backyard is a place where thousands upon thousands of people were tortured and murdered. Some of the worst and cruelest acts in history were committed there and that’s not something you can walk through without feeling extremely heavy-hearted.

Or maybe it’s the reality of it. I’ve heard the saying “seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing” so many times before.  Yes, I believe all the stories and the facts about how the Nazis gassed thousands of people, but seeing the remains of something so horrible gives it a whole new sense of reality. There was this whole section of the camp where there were ruins of the old building where these murders had taken place. I was looking out onto the remaining foundations of the building and whatever remained of the cremation ovens and I could vividly imagine the history in my head. I couldn’t help but tear up, because why would someone do this and how could they ever justify it?

As we were leaving the camp, our tour guide said something that I noted down:

“Walking around in a place where thousands were tortured and so horribly murdered makes you inevitably lose some faith in humanity. What kind of person can justify taking another life by confining them in a gas chamber? What kind of person believes that an entire race is so inferior that it deserves to be exterminated? Human beings are the ONLY species that have ever done this to each other… and on more than one occasion. So, how can you NOT lose a little faith in humanity? Well, you have to comfort yourself with the fact that people have accepted and learned from their mistakes, that they’ve apologized for them and that they will never make another mistake like that again.”

She wanted to end the day on a positive note. And it did make me feel better for about a minute… Until I remembered that not all people have accepted and acknowledged their mistakes….

I’m obviously not talking about the German people and the Holocaust anymore. I’m talking about other people altogether. People who still deny, to this day, that they have ever committed crimes of mass murder. Despite all the facts and historical evidence, these people deny the fact that they ever intended to exterminate an entire race from this earth. People who still hold lands that do not belong to them. People who refuse to acknowledge Genocide.

Written: April 21st

One hundred and two years later, still no recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Turks and still no justice for the 1.5 million souls who passed. Why is this simple fact still so important to us? On April 24th, Armenians around the world still march for their ancestors and they will continue marching until the people who committed those acts take responsibility for their actions and admit to Genocide. They will continue spreading the message and spreading awareness about the Armenian cause. Now more than ever, people around the world are learning about us and our history. The RIGHT history. With the arrival of The Promise, a high budget movie starring famous actors and endorsed by so many well-known celebrities, more and more people will learn and will know about our history. Spread the message… It’s all we can really do.

Education. I think education is the only way forward. Germany understands this… But Turkey doesn’t. The beautiful thing about Germany is that they fully embrace their history and they don’t try to hide it in any way. They want as many people to know about it as possible. They even turned former concentration camps into museums so that visitors would never forget the horrors that took place there. They accept their past, because they never want to repeat it. Turkey denies and continues to falsify history, because they don’t want to admit to the terrors they put the Armenian people through.

So, I guess this is why this visit to Sachsenhausen affected me so deeply. Others could find comfort in the fact that the horrors of the Holocaust are acknowledged worldwide, that everyone has learned about it and that Germany has accepted their past and has apologized for the acts of World War II. They can find comfort in the fact that nothing like it will ever happen again… And yet, I can’t be comforted.

I can’t be comforted, because my ancestors went through a Genocide that so many people don’t even know about and that hasn’t even been acknowledged. Turkey hasn’t accepted their past, so how can I be sure that they will never again repeat it?

I can’t be sure. But I can use my voice to stand up and join the fight for justice. I can participate in as many events as I can. I can use every tool I have to educate others and to spread the message.

And every year, I can march…

I will march… For my ancestors…

And I will march for all the souls of those who passed.