Which Came First: Holocaust or Genocide?

[A.R.]

As one proponent of the uniqueness of the Holocaust, Edward Alexander, has put it, to describe as genocidal the ghastly agonies suffered by others-the Armenians, for instance-is "to plunder the moralcapital" of the Jewish people. It is to "steal the Holocaust”.

 

I can teach jews a thing or two about who stole what when it comes to "steal the Holocaust" and jews have no “moralcapital” to plunder.

 

Which Came First: Holocaust or Genocide?

 

My Turn, By Harut Sassounian California Courier Publisher

 

We commonly use the word Genocide to describe the mass murders of Armenians in 1915, and Holocaust to describe the Jewish killings during World War II. But sometimes, the word Holocaust is used to describe the Armenian Genocide in order to draw a parallel between the Armenian and Jewish tragedies. However, some Jews object to the use of the term Holocaust to describe the Armenian massacres, or other mass murders, fearing that it would detract from the uniqueness of the Jewish Holocaust. Turkish officials are also quick to make a clear distinction between these two tragic events, lest the world condemn the Turks in the same breath as the Nazis.

 

I remember about 20 years ago when Prof. Richard Hovannisian published an extensive bibliography of the Armenian Genocide, titled "The Armenian Holocaust," a few Jews and even some Armenians probably were not too pleased to see the word Holocaust used in conjunction with the Armenian Genocide. It turns out that the word holocaust was used to describe the Armenian tragedy long before the Jewish Holocaust occurred during World War II. An American diplomat informed me last week that while reading my book, "The Armenian Genocide: Documents and Declarations, 1915-1995," he had remembered another quotation from Winston Churchill's book, "The World Crisis, vol. 5: Aftermath," published in New York in 1929, page 157, which stated: "As for Turkish atrocities: marching till they dropped dead the greater part of the garrison at Kut; massacring uncounted thousands of helpless Armenians, men, women, and children together, whole districts blotted out in one administrative holocaust -- these were beyond human redress." I also just learned that Arnold Toynbee, in his book, "The Murder of a Nation," published in 1915, uses the words "Armenian Holocaust" to describe the massacres. For the sake of clarity, I prefer to use the more distinct terms of Armenian Genocide and Jewish Holocaust. However, next time a Jew, a Turk, or even an Armenian complains about the use of the term Armenian Holocaust, we can point to the above two quotations which predate the Jewish Holocaust. This should silence all those who accuse us of mimicking the Jews.