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Most Americans think the holocaust in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s was the first of its kind, believing then was the first time concentration camps were used, mass gassings and cattle cars to transport victims, and it was the first time people were targeted for extermination due to their faith and race. They would be wrong. It happened before. Christians in Armenia suffered a similar fate under the Ottoman Empire 25 years earlier. The Armenian genocide was the precursor, the practice run. It is where many of the future Nazi leaders would get their ideas during WWI. It is believed had the world known about the horrors of what happened to the Armenians, the holocaust may have been avoided. Adolf Hitler stated such, intimating that no one remembered the Armenians; why would they remember the Jews? On April 24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian intellectuals (poets, musicians, publicists, editors, lawyers, doctors, and deputies) were arrested in Constantinople under warrants issued by the government of Young Turks. Exiled, they were then slaughtered. The annihilation of the Armenian intellectuals was part of a systematic plan to exterminate the Armenian people in their homeland, at first under cover of WWI. It was the first state-planned genocide of the 20th century, but not the last. Between 1915 and 1923, the Armenian genocide was conceived and carried out, resulting in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, and 500,000 survivors were expelled from their homes and the lands they'd inhabited for well over 2,500 years. To this day, the Turkish government continues to deny the genocide, despite the fact it was the Ottoman Empire and the Kemalists, not the current government of Turkey, that was responsible. It has been a source of political impasse. Very little has been written about this. The best account is in Robert Fisk's "The Great War for Civilisation." Also, in the corridor connecting the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem with the Christian quarter, the survivors have created a postered event timeline for visitors to read and learn from. Many of the shops and stores in the Christian quarter of the old city are owned by Armenian Christians, and the bishops of the local church are quite helpful in answering questions and providing context. A film on Netflix outlines what happened during 1916-1918 called "Ararat." It's highly recommended and will provide a context to this horrific event. It may finally get its due. In March 2014, during an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net, Oscar-winning director of "Schindler's List," Steven Spielberg, noted that he's been collecting information on the Armenian genocide, as well as others that occurred last century, including Rwanda and Cambodia. Read the full Senate Resolution for more details on this event: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c113:S.RES.410: Learn More at: http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/remembrance_day.php#sthash.l5c7K4dg.dpuf"

Africa

Apr

Children, Every Kid Healthy Week: April 24-28

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Africa

Apr

Confederate Memorial Day (US-AL, GA, MS)(1865): April 24*

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Confederate Memorial Day occurs in several former states of the Confederacy on different days of the year. In some cases, like Georgia, it is no longer referred to as Confederate Memorial Day but rather as a state holiday. It is an official state holiday in most and honors the men who died fighting for the Confederacy during the American Civil War, 1861-1865. The dates are as follows: Alabama, Georgia: fourth Monday in April Mississippi: Last Monday in April Florida: April 26 Tennessee, Kentucky, and Louisiana: June 3, Jefferson Davis's birthday, 1808 North and South Carolina: May 10, Anniversary of the death of General "Stonewall" Jackson in 1863 Texas: January 19, Birthday of Robert E. Lee 1807 Due to the 400-year legacy of slavery (ending in 1865) and state-supported racial segregation (ending in 1964), this event is highly contentious and seen as a celebration of racism by many critics. Detractors insist this plays into existing racism and celebrates white supremacy and slavery. Proponents of the observance insist that the Confederacy played a part in shaping who we are, its ramifications, and its contributions continue today. To deny a portion of our past, good and bad, is selective censorship. On the contrary, this event can be used to explore the unspoken but oft-felt prejudices and perceived reality that political correctness squelches. Whether you side with the detractors or the proponents, the best way to acknowledge this month is to spend some time reading the Constitution of the United States and learning history. History, not social studies. A great place to start is with Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States, which some states, including Arizona, have tried to ban from their schools. Why? Because it is a history of the American people, not the leaders, and looks at the nation from the perspective of the 99%, the immigrants, migrant workers, women, religious minorities, slaves, the common man."

Africa

Apr

Easter Rebellion (IE)(1916): April 24

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Africa

Apr

06:20 AM | -

Africa