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Los Angeles Daily News, CA
July 3 2003
MUSEUM NOT PLANNING GENOCIDE EXHIBIT
By Naush Boghossian
Staff Writer
GLENDALE -- Museum of Tolerance officials have
no plans to erect a permanent exhibit on the
Armenian Genocide despite a campaign by
Armenian community members, including a six-
day hunger strike in April.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the
Simon Wiesenthal Center, reiterated plans to
include the Armenian Genocide in a new time
line on crimes against humanity in the 20th
century.
The time line, which has been in development
for months, will be open to the public in the
museum's main tolerance section early this
month, he said.
"Certainly, mention of the genocide in the
timeline is a given ...
but it is not an exhibit and it is not the
result of any discussion
or negotiation with the group. It's part of
our ongoing educational
mandate," Cooper said.
The Los Angeles museum, the educational arm of
the Simon Wiesenthal Center, is a hands-on
museum that explores the dynamics of racism
and prejudice in America and the history of
the Holocaust. The Western Region of the
Armenian National Committee of America had
issued a press release saying museum officials
promised to debut a major exhibit on the
genocide by July 1.
About 30 activists and leaders of the Armenian
community attended the museum Tuesday, then
demanded their money back after they were told
there was no exhibit dedicated to the Armenian
Genocide.
"The leadership of this group was well aware
that their press release
was put out erroneously," Cooper said.
"They're obviously looking for political
limelight, and they're manipulating young
people in the
community. It's an emotional issue."
Ardashes Kassakhian, director of the Western
Region ANC, said the
organization stands by its press release and
blamed the museum for
being unclear about its intentions.
"By acting ignorant of the community's
concerns and inquiries, and
responding to the serious concerns in a
patronizing and dismissive
fashion, (the museum) is only pouring salt on
the wound of the
survivors of the Armenian Genocide -- those
very wounds that are kept open by Turkey's
modern-day denial," he said.
Armenian leaders insist the museum should have
a permanent exhibit devoted to the first
genocide of the 20th century in which more
than 1 million Armenians living in the Ottoman
Turkish Empire were killed in 1915.
Turks have denied a genocide occurred, arguing
those slain were
casualties of wartime.
"Since the opening of the museum, an inclusion
of the Armenian
Genocide in the permanent exhibits of the
museum has been awkwardly absent," Kassakhian
said.
The museum, which opened in 1993, screens a
film presentation that
mentions the Armenian Genocide along with the
genocides in Cambodia and of indigenous people
in South America, but Kassakhian said that is
not enough.
During the last several months, the Armenian
National Committee and the Armenian Youth
Federation launched a grass-roots campaign,
including calls and faxes from thousands of
Armenians nationwide to the museum. The
efforts culminated in April's failed hunger
strike.
On average, 50 people visit the Armenian
National Committee's Website each day,
Kassakhian said, to send faxes to the museum
requesting a permanent exhibit on the
genocide.
July 3 2003
MUSEUM NOT PLANNING GENOCIDE EXHIBIT
By Naush Boghossian
Staff Writer
GLENDALE -- Museum of Tolerance officials have
no plans to erect a permanent exhibit on the
Armenian Genocide despite a campaign by
Armenian community members, including a six-
day hunger strike in April.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the
Simon Wiesenthal Center, reiterated plans to
include the Armenian Genocide in a new time
line on crimes against humanity in the 20th
century.
The time line, which has been in development
for months, will be open to the public in the
museum's main tolerance section early this
month, he said.
"Certainly, mention of the genocide in the
timeline is a given ...
but it is not an exhibit and it is not the
result of any discussion
or negotiation with the group. It's part of
our ongoing educational
mandate," Cooper said.
The Los Angeles museum, the educational arm of
the Simon Wiesenthal Center, is a hands-on
museum that explores the dynamics of racism
and prejudice in America and the history of
the Holocaust. The Western Region of the
Armenian National Committee of America had
issued a press release saying museum officials
promised to debut a major exhibit on the
genocide by July 1.
About 30 activists and leaders of the Armenian
community attended the museum Tuesday, then
demanded their money back after they were told
there was no exhibit dedicated to the Armenian
Genocide.
"The leadership of this group was well aware
that their press release
was put out erroneously," Cooper said.
"They're obviously looking for political
limelight, and they're manipulating young
people in the
community. It's an emotional issue."
Ardashes Kassakhian, director of the Western
Region ANC, said the
organization stands by its press release and
blamed the museum for
being unclear about its intentions.
"By acting ignorant of the community's
concerns and inquiries, and
responding to the serious concerns in a
patronizing and dismissive
fashion, (the museum) is only pouring salt on
the wound of the
survivors of the Armenian Genocide -- those
very wounds that are kept open by Turkey's
modern-day denial," he said.
Armenian leaders insist the museum should have
a permanent exhibit devoted to the first
genocide of the 20th century in which more
than 1 million Armenians living in the Ottoman
Turkish Empire were killed in 1915.
Turks have denied a genocide occurred, arguing
those slain were
casualties of wartime.
"Since the opening of the museum, an inclusion
of the Armenian
Genocide in the permanent exhibits of the
museum has been awkwardly absent," Kassakhian
said.
The museum, which opened in 1993, screens a
film presentation that
mentions the Armenian Genocide along with the
genocides in Cambodia and of indigenous people
in South America, but Kassakhian said that is
not enough.
During the last several months, the Armenian
National Committee and the Armenian Youth
Federation launched a grass-roots campaign,
including calls and faxes from thousands of
Armenians nationwide to the museum. The
efforts culminated in April's failed hunger
strike.
On average, 50 people visit the Armenian
National Committee's Website each day,
Kassakhian said, to send faxes to the museum
requesting a permanent exhibit on the
genocide.
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