Education & Career
The German Legacy: Foreign Office Documents Confirm Armenian Genocide
2008-02-27 09:53:05 - Wolfgang Gust, a former editor of the respected German news magazine Der Spiegel, has over the last years published many important documents from Foreign Office archives.
These documents in the original German version and in English appear on their internet page www.armenocide.net.
Over the last ten years, he and his wife Sigrid, have made a significant contribution to the collation of historical evidence regarding the Armenian Genocide. Although their work is not yet complete it is already viewed as the most authoritative source concerning the Genocide during the Ottoman Empire epoch. In recognition of his contribution to the History of the Armenian Genocide, Karekin II the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos awarded him the Surp Sahak-Mesorp medal in 2004. He also received the Dennis Papazian prize in 2006.
Unfortunately, the work of Wolfgang and Sigrid Gust is not generally known within Germany nor within the international community. Not only do the published documents clearly expose the extent of the murderous Turkish policy but also the responsibility of the German Empire for the Armenian Genocide. This chapter of German history is unknown to most of the German population.
Wolfgang Gust was born in Hannover in 1935. He studied in Freiburg, Bonn, Hamburg and Toulouse.
From 1965 to 1966 he was Economic Editor then Political Editor of the News magazine 'Der Spiegel'. He ran Spiegel's office in Paris from 1970 to 1976 and it was here that Gust learnt about the tragic fate of the Armenians for the first time. In 1992 a three part article appeared in the Spiegel magazine written by Wolfgang Gust about the war in Mountainous Karabakh and the Armenian Genocide. For the first time ever, an authoritative German magazine had reported in detail the events of the Armenian Genocide. This sensational article aroused angry protest within the Turkish community in Germany and protests took place outside the Hamburg editorial offices of Spiegel. Despite countless threats from fanatical Turkish nationalists Wolfgang Gust intensified his work to find out the truth surrounding the History of the Armenian Genocide. In 1993 his first book was published: 'The Armenian Genocide - The Tragedy of the Oldest Christian Nation'. It was voted as one of the best ten books of the month and in 2002. The Armenian translation was published in Yerevan.
After Wolfgang Gust went into retirement in 1993 he continued his assessment of the German documents and correspondence concerning the Genocide. In many important articles published in leading Journals and Quarterly's, Gust examined the extent of German responsibility for the Armenian Genocide. Due to Wolfangs Gust research the manipulation of the documents published by Joannes Lipius in his work 'Germany and Armenian 'in 1919 were discovered. By referring to the original documents he was able to deliver evidence which showed that the German Government by the end of the First World War had tried to cover up their responsibility for the crimes committed. From the 444 German Foreign Office documents published by Lepsius just after the end of the war in 1919, it is clear that Genocide had indeed taken place. However, documents which could have placed responsibility on Germany were either manipulated or not published.
Thanks to the work of Wolfgang and Sigrid Gust these German Documents were made accessible to Historians and the general public. Prof. Vahakn N. Dadrian wrote about the significance of these documents as follows: "As I keep emphasizing in my writings and lectures over and over again, noc corupus od documents, including the holdings of U.S. National Archives can be compared in terms of substantiveness, authenticity an overall value to that associated with the holdings of the German state archives." A large number of the documents have already been translated into English.
From the beginning Wolfgang Gust´s goal was to ensure the widest possible access to the documents and to raise public awareness. This has been possible through the internet. The publication of these documents is seen by Gust as the first part of a long-term comprehensive documentation project. 'Our long-term goal is to complete in time for the 100th Anniversary of the Genocide that is 24th April 2015, the publication on our internet platform of all the important State files regarding the Armenian Genocide.'
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