‘Operation Nemesis’ Explores the Plot That Targeted the Perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide
NEW YORK—On April 22, the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) welcomed writer Eric Bogosian to the AGBU Central Office in New York for a presentation about his new book, Operation Nemesis: the Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide.
The book—the result of seven years of research—studies the plan devised by a network of Armenian professionals to assassinate the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. The plot—called Operation Nemesis after the Greek goddess of retribution—included operatives on three continents who killed six Ottoman leaders in Berlin, Constantinople, Tiflis, and Rome. By the mid-1920’s, the group had disbanded and the story of the secret operation faded from memory. Bogosian is the first writer to offer a complete history of Operation Nemesis, drawing on newly uncovered documents and previously untranslated texts to bring attention to a period characterized by violence and revenge.
Eric Bogosian is an actor, playwright, and novelist of Armenian descent. He was the Pulitzer Prize finalist for his play “Talk Radio” and is the recipient of the Berlin Film Festival’s Silver Bear Award, several Obie Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is also the author of three novels.
The sold-out event began with opening remarks by Sharis Boghossian, AGBU events coordinator, who commented on the writer’s Armenian heritage. “Bogosian lost two of his great-grandfathers during the Armenian Genocide and was brought up on the importance of his Armenian heritage. When he later began investigating his heritage, Bogosian found scattered accounts about an Armenian commando group who decided they needed to avenge the genocide by sending assassins all over Europe. Bogosian actually started writing the book as a movie.”
Bogosian began his presentation by explaining the unassuming origins of the movement that prompted him to
investigate the plot. “The idea that Operation Nemesis was operating out of Watertown, Mass., led by businessmen from New York and New England and funded by charitable donations by Armenians all over the United States—sometimes not always aware of where the money was going—was an incredible story and led me to start researching it. I built on what Jacques Derogy uncovered in the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) archives for his book Resistance and Revenge and relied on memoirs to reconstruct the period.”
The event concluded with a book signing and a reception. It was co-sponsored by AGBU Ararat, the Armenian Network of America-Greater New York, the Armenian Studies Association, Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society of New York, the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center, St. Leon Armenian Church, and the Tekeyan Cultural Association of Greater New York in collaboration with the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of America.
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Most Armenians don’t think of Nemesis as “revenge” so much as justice.
Let’s not fall into the trap of using pro-Turkish words that take the focus off the violence of the genocidists.
Next step –a film? I nominate Javier Bardem / Antonio Bannderas.