The U. S. Congress And Adolf Hitler On The Armenia

[Fireland]

This article traces the history of a purported Adolf Hitler quote which cites the precedent of the world's lack of reaction to the fate of Armenians during the First World War as a justification for his planned extermination of European Jewry in the course of the Second World War. By a detailed examination of the genesis of this quotation the author demonstrates that there is no historical basis for attributing such a statement to Hitler. Likewise, the author traces the manner in which this purported quote has entered the lexicon of U.S. Congressmen, and the manner in which it continues to be used by Armenian-Americans in their efforts to establish a linkage between their own history and the tragic fate of European Jewry during the Second World War. The author concludes with a plea to policy-makers that they focus their activities on the responsibilities of their offices and leave the writing of history to the historians.

A casual perusal of the pages of the Congressional Record (CR), of both the House and the Senate, on or about April 24, 1984, reveals a bipartisan group of our elected officials condemning the failure of the Republic of Turkey to acknowledge and assume responsibility for the "genocide" of the Armenian people allegedly perpetrated by the ottoman Empire in the course of the First World War. In 1984, a total of sixty-six such statements, fifty-seven by members of the House and nine by Senators, were read into the Congressional Record. Of these sixty-six tributes in support of Armenian Martyrs' Day remembrances, exactly one third – twenty-two – contained one or another version of a quote attributed to Adof Hitler in which he purportedly responded to a query about his planned annihilation of European Jewry, by quipping : "Who, after all, speaks today of the extermination of the Armenians ?"

The Hitler Quote : Its Source and Its Avowed Focus

While the quiver of anti-Turkish invectives utilized by Armenian spokesmen contains a number of arrows, none is more frequently unleashed than this charge that Adolf Hitler was encouraged by his perception that the world had not reacted to alleged Ottoman mistreatment of its Armenians population during the First World War. He thus felt justified in going forward with his plan to exterminate European Jewry during the Second World War.

Given the widespread utilization of this quotation by Armenian spokesmen and their supporters, perhaps we should not be too surprised at the fact that il has found its way into the lexicon of our lawmakers. Even the dean of Armenian-American historians, Professor Richard Hovannissian of UCLA, stated in a 1983 address to the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, "Perhaps Adof Hitler had good cause in 1939 to declare, according to the Nuremberg trial transcripts, "Who, after all, speaks today of the extermination of the Armenians ?" (1) It is any wonder, then, that the following list of elected US officials repeat the same charge ?

Senator Rudi Boschwitz, R-Minn. ; Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich. ; Senator Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio ; Congressman Les Aspin, D-Wis. ; Congressman howard Berman, D-Calif. ; Congressman Thomas Bliley, R-Va. ; Congressman Edward Boland, D-Mass. ; Congresswoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. ; Congressman Jim Courter, R-N.J. ; Congressman Mervyn Dymally, D-Calif. ; Congressman Edward Feighan, D-Ohio ; Congress-woman Geraldine Ferraro, D-N.Y. ; Congressman Hamilton Fish, R-N.Y ; Congressman William Ford, D-Mich. ; Congressman Sam Gejdenson, D-Conn. ; Congressman William Green, R- N. Y ; Congressman Richard Lehman, D-Calif. ; Congressman Bruce Morrison, D-Conn. ; Congressman Nicholas Mavroules, D-Mass. ; Congressman Charles Schumer, D-N.Y ; Congressman James Shannon, D-Mass. ; and Congressman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

It is noteworthy that sixteen of the above-listed officials (with the exception of Boxer, Courter, Dymally, Feighan, Ford, and Schumer) all clearly state that Hitler made his statement in support of his planned extermination of European Jewry. Equally noteworthy is the fact that the three Senators, Boschwitz, Levin, and Metzenbaum, and four of the members of the House, Berman, Gejdenson, Green, and Waxman, who made this linkage are themselves Jews.

The problem with this linkage is that there is no proof that Adolf Hitler ever made such a statement. Everything written to date has attributed the purported Hitler quote, not to primary sources, but to an article that appeared in the Times of London on Saturday, November 24, 1945. Said article, entitled "Nazi Germany's Road To War," (2) cites the quote and bases its attribution to Hitler on an address by him to his commanders-in-chief six years earlier, on August 22, 1939, a few days prior to his invasion of Poland. According to the unnamed author of the Times article, the speech had been introduced as evidence during the November 23, 1945, session of the Nuremberg Tribunal. Hitler is quoted as having stated, "Thus for the time being I have sent to the East only my Death's Head units, with the order to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of the Polish race or language. Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians ?" (3) However, this version of the address was never accepted as evidence in this or any other session of the Nuremberg Tribunal.

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