Armenian Genocide Worksheet Qs PDF

Preview

Summary

notes...

Description

Armenian Genocide Worksheet - World Studies - Shepardson Use the Armenia pdf article and the slideshow notes on The Armenian Genocide to answer these quesions. Answer all questions in your own words. Complete sentences are only needed for answers that require more than one sentence. 1. What happened in the Hamidian massacres and why do you think that all surviving Armenians did not leave the Ottoman Empire after these massacres? In the Hamidian massacres protests for more rights led to massacres endorsed by the Sultan Hamid. This type of massacre is called a pogrom. I think that all surviving Armenians did not leave the Ottoman empire after the massacres because they were being used for Ottoman losses to Russia; Armenians’ connections to Russia were seen as threatening. 2. How/why were Armenians suspected of siding with the Russians (enemy of Ottoman Empire in World War I)? Armenians and Russians share religion, somewhat ethnicity. The Young Turks began a campaign to portray the Armenians as a kind of fifth column, a threat to the state. 3. When the genocide started against Armenians, why do you think it happened in that particular sequence? It happened in that sequence because they wanted to get rid of the most powerful people first, so that they wouldn't be able to fight back. Then towards the end they started doing the people who were less “important”. After reading the two letters from Wegner, the Morgenthau telegram and the background information on Wegner, answer the following questions. 4. Why does Wegner feel obliged to send this letter to President Woodrow Wilson? What other whistleblower does Wegner remind you of? Why? Wegner felt obligated to send this letter to President Woodrow Wilson because he wanted him to speak out the wrong things happening to the Armenian people in a way to help them. 5. How does Wegner contradict Hitler's messages? Wegner contradicts Hitler’s message by saying “I dispute the foolish notion that the Jews should be blamed for the world’s misfortunes.” 6. How does Wegner say that Hitler's actions will haunt Germany? Wegner says that if Hitler doesn't help Germany will lose its truth, beauty, and justice. Everyone will die, and the would practically fall apart, and the people who live on will remember that Germany did nothing to help. In the end Hitler would only be hurting his people more.

7. How was Wegner personally hurt by sending this letter to Germany? Wegner’s secret mail routes were soon discovered and, at the Turkish government’s request, Wegner was arrested and recalled to Germany. 8. Wegner was a poet and writer who used language to great effect. What words do you find particularly powerful? Explain. Oppressed, unimaginable, silenced, humanity, dignity, and implore. I think he uses words like this to promote a sense of compassion in people that he sends these letters to. 9. Morgenthau's 1915 telegram also uses language more sophisticated than what we typically use today. Look up any vocabulary words that you don't know and paraphrase the telegram here: He's basically saying that there's more deportation of Amerenians. Also, eyewitnesses claimed that a campaign of race extermination is in progress. Protests and threats are uneffective. The Ottoman government will not claim responsibility for their disregard to surrender. The US is not in the position to exert force in this situation. 10. Although to some extent this genocide happened "under the cover of war" it is clear that some leaders in the wider world knew what was happening. Why didn't someone stop the genocide? In terms of America we were not in World War I at the time and we wanted to stay out of it as much as possible. President Wildrow Wilson did raise money to feed the Armanians, and made sure everyone knew what was going on. A lot of countries didn't even know there was a genoicde until a while later. The Turkish government did their best to hide it and deny all allegations. 11. Read this observation, and then answer: what point was Hitler making about the Armenians, and why is this important for us in the world today? In 1939, just before the Nazi invasion of Poland, Adolf Hitler told his generals, "The aim of war is not to reach definite lines but to annihilate the enemy physically. It is by this means that we shall obtain the vital living space that we need. Who today still speaks of the Armenians?” Hitler was saying that due to the genocides no one remembers the Armenians. This is important for us in the world today because we do remember the Armenians, and we remember how he did nothing to help them. 12. In October 2006, the French parliament passed a law making it a crime, punishable by fines and imprisonment, to deny that the Armenian Genocide took place. Does this seem like an appropriate law? Why or why not? Contrast this with Article 305 which our article claims became a Turkish law in 2004. Yes, this seems like an appropriate law because for the longest time the Turkish

government was denying the genocides when in reality they did happen, and people were being killed without anyone knowing. In contrast with article 305 I think the French Parliament was just following what the Turkish were doing. 13. When did Armenia become a modern independent nation? What explains that timing? Armenia became a modern independent nation September 1991. They got independence right after the Soviet Union collapsed. 14. Share one additional reflection/thought on the Armenian Genocide material, or feel free to substitute a question that you have. I only knew a little about the Armenian Genocide because I saw pictures of the memorial online once. I did not know the severity of it until now and I am quite shocked. What happened then was truly horrible and my heart goes out to the families who had to deal with deaths....