On November 1, 2024, Prof. Tessa Hofmann, a distinguished Armenianologist and genocide scholar, presented her latest books, The Genocide against the Indigenous Christians in the Ottoman Empire and The Geopolitical Fate of Armenia: Past and Present, co-authored with Winfried K. Dallmann. The event, held in Berlin, attracted scholars, students and members of the Armenian community eager to engage with the critical themes addressed in these two books.
The 486-page The Geopolitical Fate of Armenia offers an overview of Armenia’s two-and-a-half millennia of history between rival great powers. In the second part it analyzes the history of Artsakh, highlighting significant losses in both human lives and territorial integrity over the past 109 years. During the event, Hofmann emphasized the importance of understanding these historical contexts, particularly the ongoing threats to remaining Armenian settlements and the deeper historical causes behind the expulsion of Armenians from Artsakh.
During the presentation, the authors used 26 thematic maps to illustrate major geopolitical changes in the region, providing a visual representation of the struggles faced by Armenians. Attendees expressed gratitude for the authors’ efforts to shed light on these critical issues and praised the book for its thorough research and accessible presentation.
Throughout her talk, Hofmann expressed her commitment to raising awareness about the plight of Armenians. She called for the Armenian Genocide to be included in German school curricula as an example of repeated genocide and hopes that her book will be used as educational material.
Hofmann holds a Ph.D. in Slavic studies and sociology and has dedicated over three decades to academia as a documentalist and research assistant at the Institute for Eastern European Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. She is recognized for her pioneering work on genocide studies, particularly concerning the Ottoman genocide targeting Armenians, Greek Orthodox and Syriac Christians. She is co-editor of the first scientific collection of essays in English on the genocide of Greeks and serves as the scientific editor of the “Virtual Genocide Memorial” website.
Hofmann has co-founded various human rights organizations focused on recognition and memorialization of genocide victims. Her contributions have earned her numerous accolades, including the 2013 President of the Republic of Armenia Prize, which she donated to support genocide memorial efforts. In 2015, Yerevan State University awarded her an honorary title of professor.
In the context of this event, I had the opportunity to talk with Prof. Hofmann for the Weekly.
Siranush Sargsyan (S.S.): What motivated you to study the Armenian Genocide?
Tessa Hofmann (T.H.): In 1973, I was supposed to give a lecture on contemporary Armenian literature at an educational institution in Berlin. During the preparation and afterwards, I realized that there is an unhealed wound in modern Armenian history. This is the Ottoman genocide against 1.5 million Armenians, which has not yet been addressed. Official Turkey still denies to this day that it was an intentional state crime. This denial keeps the wound open for generations. My goal was to help heal the wound, which is one of the indispensable prerequisites for an Armenian-Turkish rapprochement. Furthermore, I am convinced that coming to terms with past atrocity crimes can help prevent future ones. It is a signal to potential perpetrators that even after four generations, the memory of the crime lives on.
S.S.: How do you view Germany’s role during the Armenian Genocide, and how has Germany’s understanding of the Armenian Genocide evolved over the years?
T.H.: Even during the First World War, the CUP regime tried to present its German military allies as the perpetrators of the death marches and massacres in order to divert attention from its own responsibility. The German government did not object to this in order not to risk the military alliance. The German government was fully informed by its diplomats about the extent and course of the deportations and massacres. As early as the beginning of July 1915, the then German ambassador, Hans von Wangenheim, wrote to his government in Berlin that the nationwide deportations constituted the “extermination of the Armenian race” in the Ottoman Empire and were not, for example, war-related evacuations. In October 1916, in response to a request from Berlin, the German Embassy in Constantinople estimated that 1.5 million Armenians had died out of a pre-war population of 2.5 million. Germany also benefited from Armenian forced labor, particularly in connection with the construction of the Baghdad Railway.
Although German policymakers recognized very early on that what was happening was tantamount to genocide, they did not take decisive action. After the Nazis seized power, the issue was quickly and completely forgotten. It disappeared from the media. Franz Werfel’s novel The 40 Days of Musa Dagh was publicly burned. After 1945, the task was to recall this genocide in the German public consciousness and in the media. This has been successful. Today, the genocide of Ottoman Christians — Syriacs, Greek Orthodox Christians and in particular Armenians — is one of the most intensively researched genocides of the 20th century.
S.S.: What key themes and findings did you uncover in your latest book co-authored with Winfried K. Dallmann, The Geopolitical Fate of Armenia: Past and Present?
T.H.: We started from an aphorism attributed to Napoleon: “Geography is destiny.” This sentence is particularly true of Armenia. Since the beginning of its history, Armenia has found itself in a precarious position between rival great or hegemonic powers in the east and west of Armenia. But it was only in the 20th century, in connection with the ideology of the nation state, ethnocentrism and racism, that genocide occurred, and almost the entire historical settlement area was lost.
In the second part of our book, we discuss the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh, especially since the beginning of the 20th century — its futile struggle for self-determination and freedom. We wrote this part of the book parallel to the events of 2022 and 2023 and also expressed our outrage at the passive indolence of the world public — for, as in the First World War, it once again looked on idly as crimes were committed against the Armenians.
S.S.: What are your thoughts on what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh, particularly regarding the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population, and how do you draw parallels between these events and the historical Armenian Genocide? Do you consider what happened in Artsakh as a second Armenian Genocide?
T.H.: I do not use the term “ethnic cleansing” because it is part of the dehumanizing language of the perpetrators. The nine-month hunger blockade imposed on the population of the Republic of Artsakh was classified early on by international and Western human rights organizations as genocide in accordance with Article II c) of the U.N. Genocide Convention. The International Association of Genocide Scholars, the largest international professional organization of genocide scholars, warned as early as August 2022 of a “significant risk of genocide” for Armenians in the South Caucasus. I also hold this view.
Armenians have repeatedly suffered the experience of genocide and deportation — in 1915-16 under Ottoman rule, in the 1930s in the regions of Sassun and Dersim under Turkish Republican rule, and under Soviet rule during the Stalinist “Great Purge” from 1936-39.
S.S.: How can the international community support the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in upholding their right to return, addressing the humanitarian situation and safeguarding the cultural heritage that is currently at risk?
T.H.: This is probably the most difficult question of all. The inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh who were driven out of their homeland will only be able to return if there are convincing security guarantees for them to do so. But who should provide these guarantees? Russia, which was long considered the supposed protecting power of the Armenians, has once again failed. Presumably, there were higher economic and geopolitical interests for Russia. The “collective West” is indeed interested in pushing back Russian influence in the South Caucasus, but it is very questionable whether it can and will provide security guarantees there.
Nevertheless, we must uphold these demands for return and protection of cultural heritage and insist on a legal process under international law for the crimes committed. This is also a contribution to the prevention of genocide. I hope that the Armenian diaspora actively supports the Karabakh Armenians in this and that it confronts the Armenian government with these demands. And finally: history does not know the word never.
Siranush Sargsyan
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Informative and important. Thank you.