“Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” This quote was spoken on August 22, 1939 by Adolf Hitler over 20 years after the Armenian Genocide took place. Adolf Hitler then went on to plan and lead one of the biggest and most widespread human massacres of all time, The Holocaust. Adolf Hitler believed that no one would notice the Holocaust because no one had taken much interest in the Armenian Genocide. The historical fiction book Forgotten Fire, by Adam Bagdasarian, tells the story of a boy named Vahan Kenderian who lived through the Armenian Genocide. Vahan’s family lived in Turkey in a town called Bitlis. Vahan was the youngest child of one of the wealthiest and most respected Armenians. He lived with his father, …show more content…
Vahan’s father’s death was so significant because his father was one of Vahan’s first family members lost in the war against the Armenians. Vahan’s father was also one of the most influential people in his life. Vahan looked up to his father very much and imagined himself growing up to be just like him. After Vahan and Sisak leave their mother to escape the gendarmes they have to endure a long and rigorous journey where Vahan shares his thoughts about his father. “I pretended that I was my father, that I had my father’s face and my father’s will and my father’s mind and muscles. I walked as my father would have, with the same expression my father would have worn. I could not keep walking, but my father could. I wanted to stop but my father didn’t. And now I was looking through his eyes at the road ahead” (56). When Vahan is suffering and feels that he cannot go on much longer he uses the memory of his father to keep going. Vahan’s father held very high standards for all of his children. Being a very wealthy, well-respected, and influential family, Vahan’s father expected for his children to be well educated and disciplined, something that Vahan’s father felt that Vahan lacked. Once Vahan had to live and survive on his own he realized why his father had wanted him to be disciplined and have strong character. This taught Vahan that discipline is needed to help you get through your hardest
Vahan during his stay befriend a girl named Seranoush who sadly gets raped daily by soldiers. Vahan feels bad that he can't comfort her loneliness through bad times. For example, “I wanted her to know that she was safe, that she was no longer alone, that this was not just the best day of my life but the best day of hers, as well. She had a family now. She had a brother, a father, and a best friend.
In Adam Bagdasarian’s historical novel Forgotten Fire, the characters are deprived of their Human rights as they experience various examples of Dehumanization; stage of genocide. In chapter 7 of Forgotten Fire, Vahan, and his family are taken to a building called “Goryan’s inn” that is filthy and has a horrid smell due to the many bodies that were kept in the building. As Vahan and his family pray for water, Vahan hears a man in the back say, “Why don't they kill us now” (Bagdasarian 45). People would argue that this man has these thoughts of being murdered by the Turks due to dehumanization. Because they are kept in morbid places with extreme humidity and horrible stench, as a result of being Armenian they are given no water and little to no food.
Also, Ara tells Vahan that is very similar to things Vahan’s father used to tell him. Vahan’s father used to tell Vahan to build character, and Ara says “... your heart, your character, your faith, do not belong to time. ”(188). It is this similarity in views that makes Vahan see him as a father figure. Ara talks about teaching Serop a trade, and that he couldn’t learn a trade if it killed him.
1. Childhood – Craig Armstrong – 01` - It`s presented a law regarding children in a fictional Canada 2. Building a Mystery – Sarah McLachlan – 02` - Madam Despres is in the car listening to music and driving through town and she sees an accident 3. White Flag – Dido – 09` - Madam Despres is taking her son Steve from the centre that took him in 4. Provocante-
The Nazi book burning that occurred in 1933 took place during a very dark time in our world’s history. The Nazi regime, which was ruled by Hitler, had taken over most of Germany by this point in time as what we now know as the Holocaust. The word Holocaust means “sacrifice by fire”, and is displayed partly by the burning of an estimated eighty to ninety thousand volumes. The burning of books that took place during the Holocaust is very similar to the actions that take place in the novel Fahrenheit 451.
Vahan went from being a spoiled little kid to a grown man going to war by the time he was 15. Ever since Vahan was little he was taught not to begg. Even in the end of his grandmother's life she told him to not beg for water. That he needed to stay strong no matter what because they did not raise him to be a beggar. She told him he was too good for that.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Those who were not strong enough to be soldiers had been eradicated by this point. I guess I could argue that some of those who were left who eventually became soldiers weren’t exactly strong enough to cope as soldiers, or so it seemed. Back when we were training, they were even worse. Those who showed strength back then are much more stronger now.
“It is generally not known in the world that, in the years preceding 1916, there was a concerted effort to eliminate all the Armenian people, probably one of the greatest tragedies that ever befell any group. And there weren’t any Nuremberg trials”(Carter, 1987). Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth president of the United States, said this quote at the White House reception honoring Armenian Americans in May of 1978. It shows how little is known about the Armenian Genocide and that the survivors never received closure like the Holocaust survivors did with the Nuremberg Trials. During the Armenian Genocide, which lasted from 1915 until 1916, 1.2 million Armenians were brutally murdered.
Many people have heard of the Holocaust but have never thought about how it affected an individual who went through it. The Holocaust is the most well-known genocide, although there are many other instances of mass killings, including the Bosnian Genocide. Bosnian Serb forces, with the backing of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army, targeted both Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Croatian civilians for wicked crimes resulting in the deaths of some 100,000 people (80 percent Bosniak) by 1995. It was the worst act of genocide since the Nazi regime’s destruction of 6 million European Jews during World War II. In the memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel reveals the negative impact the Holocaust had on his identity.
"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" - Adolf Hitler Obersalzberg Speech, August 22, 1939 The Armenian Genocide and Holocaust were similar in that their main goal was to eliminate an entire religion, however there are far more differences in the cause, course, and effects. The Armenian Genocide was carried out by the Young Turks, a Turkish Nationalist reform party in the 20th century, who favored reformation of the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Empire.[1] To do so, they believed that one particular group/religion was weighing them down: non-Muslim Armenians. With these (mostly Christian) Armenian civilians gone, the Ottoman Empire would gain the power it once had and have a say in the war. In many opinions,
In the Holocaust, Simon Wiesenthal claims that the Nazis murdered 11 million people. A Holocaust survivor, Elie Weisel won a Nobel Peace Prize for speaking against violence. In Elies’ speech, he explains that if anyone is suffering due to their race, class, or religion their suffering is the center of the universe. Elie felt the need to write his book Night, to recognize the suffering of Jews at the hands of Nazis. Examples of human suffering in which people should interfere are the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and the Russia Vs.
It seems that there is no reason to keep surviving in a world which no hopes remain, a father still perseveres to survive with his son and they are sustained by their love. On their journey, the father sacrifices a lot to protect his son and strongly shows his parental love. In this book, the father and the son have great
Holocaust Essay “I told him that I did not believe that they could burn people in our age, that humanity would never tolerate it . . .” - Elie Wiesel. The Holocaust was one of the worst killing masses in history and a man named Elie Wiesel was there to experience the whole thing. Unlike others Elie survived the whole thing. The holocaust was started with one man named Adolf Hitler.
Many find it difficult to believe that the Armenian Genocide caused over one million deaths while the Holocaust involved seventeen million (Wilson). Most people have heard of the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide; sadly, most individuals do not understand the truth behind these events. Together, these genocides persecuted millions of innocent victims, tearing apart nations. The novel Forgotten Fire explained the events of the Armenian Genocide. Protagonist, Vahan Kenderian, suffered through these unfortunate events from the age of twelve to fifteen.
Never shall I forget the little faces of the children whose bodies turned into wreaths of smoke beneath the silent blue sky.” This was what Elie Weisel, a survivor, said about the Holocaust. The Holocaust was horrible and Elie Weisel tells us how bad it really was in his book, Night. The story took place during World War II. It is important to study the Holocaust because we need to understand how wrong it was so that it never happens again.