Sunday, I attended the Centennial Memorial Concert, in remembrance of the 100th  anniversary of the Armenian genocide of 1,500,000 souls.  The concert fittingly began with a local Ne’Jewish Community Choir , followed by Italian Community, Armenian Churches, Greek Orthodox choir and Armenian Choral Members who sang both church music and traditional Armenian music.

Here are some fascinating quotes about this horrible story included in the program:

“The Armenian massacre was the greatest crime of the war, and failure to act against Turkey is to condone it. . . . .”    Theodore Roosevelt  1918

“The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian Race in 1915.’ Henry  Morgenthau Sr., US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, 1919 

“Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”  Adolf Hitler 1936

“It was not war. It was most certainly massacre and genocide, something the world must remember. . . ”  Yossi Beilin, Isreali Foreign Minister, 1994

I have to admit to being  only marginally aware  of this history.  I hope you will have time to watch the 13 minute video story of a little girl who survived to tell her story.  We must know and work to prevent this from happening again.   Hard to think about with the massacre and possible genocide of  Christian people in the Middle East!