ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE HONORS POLAND

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide honors Poland, Archimandrite of Krakow Monastery Tadeush Isahakian-Zalezski told PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent. The Polish Sejm has acknowledged the Armenian Genocide in spite of the claims of the Turkish Embassy in Poland and the letter of Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Jan Truschchinski written last year and urging not to convey a public response to the establishment of a khachkar (cross-stone) in Krakow, as well as the scandalous behavior of some Polish politicians. In the words of Tadeush Isahakian-Zalezski, the day of acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide by the Polish Sejm is a great day for Armenians of Poland, as well as all those, who reserve themselves the right to come to know the real truth.

My grandfather on my mother's side fought in World War I as a Canadian. After the war, he was presented with a seven volume set of books documenting the war. The first volume is concerned with the lead up to the war and then one volume for each year. There a many contemporous essays written by various players from both sides in the books. Even granting that the winners write the history, these books were written at the time the events they describe took place.

One of the things that is discussed is the Armenian Genocide. What is nice is that it was written soon after the events so it is untainted by historical revisionism.

What it describes is absolutely horrific. I will give you one example. One of the things the turks did was to cut off the hands of Armenean children. In one account, an eyewitness describes walking along a road and seeing so many childrens' severed hands that you could "pave the road with them".

My Father is Armenian and my Mother is Polish, so it's nice for me to see Poland reaffirm an ulgy episode in the history of the 20th century which the U.S. has tried and failed several times to officially acknowledge.

Here is my second hand evidence for the truth behind the genocide; my grandmother's history:

My grandmother was a victim of the genocide. Her story is typical. She was around 10 years old at the time. The Turks simply came to her village, and forced every Armenian out of their homes, making them leave Turkey by foot across the Syrian Desert.

Out of her family of five, only she and her 12 year old brother made it across. The first to go was her father - starvation. After her first sister died a horrible, painfull death due to starvation, her mother intentionally drowned her other sister in a river to end her starvation sufferings. Her mother went next.

She and her brother were helped by the Syrians they met along the way. After a time in an orphanage in France, she came to the US and her brother stayed in France. They both wound up living happy and productive lives, with many children and grandchildren. We still keep in touch with our French cousins.

My father recently went to tour Turkey with a bus group. A Jewish person he was touring with, knowing my father was Armenian, asked the eldrly Turkish tour guide about the Armenian genocide, which he vehemently denied. The next day, when a much younger Turkish guide was asked, he admitted that the genocide did occur, saying that the older generation was taught otherwise their whole lives and to try to forgive them.

Life goes on.

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