26.04.2015


Today, an event to commemorate the memory of the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau (26 April 1856 – 26 November 1946) took place at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.

The event was attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Armenia Richard M. Mills, Morgenthau family members, renowned genocide scholar Israel Charny, and director of the school after Morgenthau Gohar Arzanyan.

The AGMI Director Hayk Demoyan, US Ambassador Richard M. Mills, the grand-son of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Henry Morgenthau 4th delivered welcome speeches.

During the event the book of memoirs of Henry Morgenthau translated into Armenian by the AGMI in 2014 was presented. The book is a unique source for the history of the Armenian Genocide, particularly, it reveals the folds of the crime, determined and planned by the Turkish Government, and identifies and explores the thoughts of the Turkish criminal regime of that time. The memoir of U.S. Ambassador is a monumental work indeed, where the represented facts and testimonies undeniably prove that the Armenian genocide was planned and premeditated.

Morgenthau gives deep analysis of the situation reinforcing it by information from official sources. Besides, he describes the process of decision-making, the intrigues of Young Turk government, as well as introduces the reader to the German propaganda policy, which made Turkey involved in the World War I. In the conference hall of the AGMI, great-grandchildren of Henry Morgenthau gave speeches to express their emotions and gratitude to the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute for organizing an event to honor the memory of Ambassador Morgenthau.

The AGMI Director Hayk Demoyan awarded the medals of «Henry Morgenthau» to American ambassador Richard M. Mills and Morgenthau family members. Repayment of postcards dedicated to the memory of Henry Morgenthau also took place.

The guests visited the museum, then the Memorial Complex of the Armenian Genocide and laid flowers at the eternal fire. US ambassador and Morgenthau family members also laid flowers at the memorial plaque of Henry Morgenthau.

The Armenian Genocide Institute-Museum has also opened an office named after Henry Morgenthau.

Henry Morgenthau, US diplomat, politician, lawyer, born in Mannheim, Germany, in German-Jewish family. In 1866, his family moved to the United States, New York.

He studied at Columbia Law School. Being an active figure in the Democratic Party and the companion of US President Woodrow Wilson, he was appointed in 1913 as US ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Henry Morgenthau established contacts with the Young Turk leaders in Constantinople, and intervened several times to stop the massacres of the Armenians. Every day, the US Embassy in Constantinople received the reports of consuls in the Eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire with testimonies of Turkish atrocities. Morgenthau regularly sent telegrams to the US State Department, about the massacres of the Armenians, where he qualified the policy of Turkish authorities as extermination of a race.

In 1916, H. Morgenthau gave up his diplomatic career but continued his pro-Armenian activities. Back in 1915, by his direct efforts and initiative the American Committee of Armenian-Syrians Relief organization was established, which provided humanitarian aid for those in need in the Near East, and later on was renamed as “American Near East Relief”. In 1918, Morgenthau published “The story of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau” his memories of the years he spent in the Ottoman Empire. The part of the book titled “Murder of a Nation” is dedicated to the coverage of the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

After the First World War Morgenthau was involved in a number of initiatives. In Paris Peace Conference he was the adviser of US delegation on the issues of the Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Henry Morgenthau died in 1946.