R. HAMBARTSUMIAN: RESTORATION OF SEVRES TREATY PROVISIONS SHOULD BE ONE OF ARMENIAN NATION’S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS
Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The August 10 conference at the RA
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) was dedicated to the issue of
returning the territories which were to belong to Armenia by the
Sevres Treaty. At the meeting called “Conference of the Armenian
National Intellectuals”, it was decided to declare August 10 as
International Day of Armenian Homeland Possession (Hayrenatirutyun),
as it was exactly 86 years ago that the Sevres Treaty was signed
on that day. Historian Rafael Hambartsumian, the event’s organizer,
Chairman of the organization “National Unity Vow” and the National
Council of the Armenians of Nakhichevan, stated that “regaining the
occupied Armenian territories is an inalienable right of the Armenian
people.” He also called on all the unions, parties and other bodies
of Armenia and the Diaspora “to adopt the appropriate documents,
officially joining this decision of the intellectuals.
The historian assured that announcing the Armenian nation as “Homeland
possessing” will unify everybody with the aim of solving this problem,
“because restoration of the Sevres Treaty points should be one of the
greatest achievements of our nation.” To recap, by the decision of
the powers that signed the Sevres Treaty in 1920 (Armenia, Britain,
France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Czechoslovakia and Turkey), the American President Woodrow Wilson
on November 22 1920 presented to these states the border line (90
thousand sq.km) of the territories to be given by Turkey to Armenia,
after which Armenia’s territory would make about 162 thousand sq.km.
Representatives of various unions of compatriots, NGOs, cultural,
scientific and creative unions, parties and higher educational
institutions participated in the event.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT FORBIDS SALE OF GOODS MARKED WITH EXCISE STAMPS DATED “2004”
Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. Under the RA Law on Excise Tax,
the Armenian government made a decision at its sitting on August
10 to put in circulation excise stamps “Tobacco” and “Alcoholic
Drinks” dated “2007” for marking the tobacco products and alcoholic
drinks imported into Armenia. NT was informed about it from the RA
Government Information and PR Department. It was decided that in
case of availability of excise stamps dated “2006”, the importers of
cigarettes and alcoholic drinks may be also given excise stamps dated
“2006”. The decision applies to relations that will arise starting
from August 15.
Making additions to the RA government’s decision No. 662 of October 26,
1999, on marking some goods, which are produced in Armenia or imported
into Armenia and are subject to excise taxation, with excise stamps of
new type, the government in particular approved the re-marking order
of the importers’ remaining stock of goods marked with excise stamps
dated “2004”. Another addition stipulates that starting October 1,
2006, the sale of goods imported into Armenia and marked with excise
stamps dated “2004” is forbidden. It was also decided to approve the
order of writing off and desposing of unused or damaged excise stamps
dated “2004” until September 1, 2006, and to ensure the implementation
of this work.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHO REPRESENTS THE SOCIETY
Lragir.am
10 Aug 06
There are four main sectors in the public and political life, which
represent the interests of the society: government, opposition, the
media and NGOs. Aghasi Yenokyan, political scientist, says two of these
sectors, namely the government and opposition are not legitimate. The
media and NGOs remain. “However, we can see that the media are weak for
one reason or another, or mostly serve different government groups, and
the NGOs simply avoid fulfilling these functions,” said the political
scientist in an interview with the Lragir. He says it means that the
public opinion is not represented anywhere in Armenia. Aghasi Yenokyan
mentioned that the consequence is that it is becoming impossible to
conduct a policy, which is in public interests, because “this opinion
is not expressed in any way”. The political scientist thinks this is
the reason why the public is indifferent towards politics, and “the
sphere of public opinion is left to a small group which represents
the government, the opposition, the media and the NGOs”, becoming an
“underlying” factor of stagnation in Armenia.
Mr. Yenokyan, what is the role of NGOs in the ongoing process in
Armenia, and do they fulfill their role?
Aghasi Yenokyan: The roles of NGOs in countries with developed
democracy and in countries with developing democracy are different.
In developed democracies, NGOs usually assume pursuing the interests
of the sectors, where either it is not expedient for the government
to pursue interests or simply the government is unable to solve
these problems. In developing democracies, the goal is different. In
countries with developing democracy, the goal of NGOs is to promote
democracy. What is the problem? The problem is that NGOs, in fact,
pursue the interests of vulnerable groups, whereas in non-democratic
countries the entire society is vulnerable. In the countries where
the government does not represent the public, at least the NGOs should
represent the public.
Do the NGOs in Armenia represent the public, the interests of the
public?
Aghasi Yenokyan: The NGOs of Armenia are rather serious, certain
NGOs get rather serious funding to solve certain problems, implement
projects. Today, however, I can see that the activity of these
organizations in Armenia is not leading to what we anticipate.
Why, what is the reason that the NGOs work but fail to live up to
the expectations?
Aghasi Yenokyan: Perhaps, the problem is that NGOs are rather
conformists. The NGOs try not to become politicized because
politicization may be a setback for their mandate, in other words,
their type for which they get the grants. This is one reason, the
reluctance to become politicized. The second reason is that NGOs
mostly seek for foreign funding.
There is no local funding. In other words, the local rich people
do not think there are problems in the society and there is point
in turning to NGOs to solve these problems. Even if there is local
funding, budget funding or almost budget funding, it is mainly meant
to create an imitation of NGOs, purely governmental ones, and it may
sound funny, to fund governmental non-governmental organizations. We
can even see that there are NGOs under almost all the government
agencies, whose purpose is to compete with more or less active NGOs
for funding, and get foreign grants, and when necessity arises,
and the government needs to present the public sector, these NGOs
are presented. In other words, we can say that the NGOs are busy
with their problems, which basically differ from the problems of the
society. In other words, the function of NGOs to assume the role of
a legitimate representative of the society is not fulfilled.
And what should be done to fulfill this function?
Aghasi Yenokyan: I think that we have slightly different expectations
from NGOs. We expect NGOs to be politically active, whereas it is not
a function of NGOs, or at least it is not one of the functions the
NGOs assign themselves to. So, the first aspect is that it is wrong
to expect much from NGOs. The second is that efforts should be made
to politicize NGOs slightly. I can present cases when the NGOs did a
good job, they did little work which, however, broke the ice. I can
underline the work of NGOs after the events of April 2004. In other
words, on the one hand, we must not demand much from NGOs, and on
the other hand, we must try to politicize them, because you know the
society in Armenia is politicized. There is no middle in the society,
there is white and there is black. If the NGOs try to become middle,
this middle becomes their job, which is not needed by either the
white or the black. They are needed by themselves only.
And if the NGO represents the public interest, will it get more
funding from the international donor? Or do we deal with the NGO
– international donor – government triangle, which works on an
arrangement?
Aghasi Yenokyan: You know I wouldn’t like to dwell on these grant
mechanisms. Of course, they will not give them more money, because
these funds are limited. If the NGO operates normally, they will
give the money, if not, they will not give anything. There is no more
or less. On the other hand, the NGOs get grants for problems, which
are set outside, and do not always correspond to the key issues of
Armenia. Hence, on the one hand, they encourage these organizations
in an attempt to turn them into factors in the public life, but the
public life is political life now, and they do not become a factor
in the political life. In other words, hence they fail to fulfill
their function and represent the interests of the entire society.
So, it appears that the sector of NGOs in Armenia mainly serves to
distract the attention of the public.
Aghasi Yenokyan: I would not like to say that this approach of
theirs was predetermined. The reality is, however, that the NGOs
are fulfilling such a role. We may assert this by combining a series
of conditions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

YOUNG DRAUGHTS PLAYER OF ARMENIA HAS 3 VISTORIES, 3 DRAWN GAMES AND 3 LOSSES IN EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP
Noyan Tapan
Aug 10 2006
TALLINN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The Europe Youth Championship of
international draughts finished on August 8 in Tallinn, the capital
of Estonia.
Representative of Armenia Samvel Azibekian was also among 52
participants. He had 3 victories, 3 drawn games, 3 losses and took
the 17th place, having 9 points.

GERMAN REFUGEE EXHIBIT BREACHES EUROPEAN TABOO
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Monsters and Critics.com, UK
Aug. 10, 2006
Berlin – A new exhibit by ethnic Germans expelled from eastern Europe
after World War II carefully avoids giving greater prominence to
German refugee experiences than to the suffering of other groups
driven from their homes by the Nazis earlier in the war.
The federation of expellees, the BdV, was warned in advance that
portraying Germans as victims would breach one of history’s most
sensitive taboos. So the controversial show seeks to put the fates
of the ejected Germans into the context of a wider European drama
of expulsions.
The professionally curated show looks at European history from
a standpoint of the expulsions, refugee treks and genocide that
devastated Armenians, Jews, Bosnian Muslims and other societies.
Housed in 600 square metres of the Kronprinzenpalais museum on Berlin’s
Unter den Linden avenue, it picks a range of examples from the Armenian
genocide of 1915-17 to the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of former Yugoslavia.
A link is drawn to the persecution that caused huge numbers of
European Jews to flee after the 1933 Nazi takeover in Germany. The
exhibit quotes Israeli historian, Moshe Zimmermann, who calls this
dispossession a ‘building block of the Holocaust.’
BdV president Erika Steinbach says the show does not portray the
Holocaust as such, because that is incomparably separate.
In any case, not even expulsions can be fairly compared to one another,
says exhibition curator Wilfried Rogasch. Each was uniquely wrong,
distinct from the one that preceded it.
Entitled ‘Forced Routes, Expulsions in the 20th Century,’ the
exhibition seeks to place a personal touch on history, telling of
the lifelong psychological traumas of those who lost their homes.
Emotion, it suggests, is an unavoidable part of the story.
Items on display include the ship’s bell of the Wilhelm Gustloff,
a passenger ship sunk in 1945 by the Soviet military, causing 9,000
fleeing German refugees on board to drown in the Baltic Sea.
Ultimately, 14 million Germans forced out of the region by about 1950,
often by decrees that gave them the choice to leave or starve.
A toy car once clutched by a Greek boy as he was expelled from northern
Cyprus witnesses to a child’s sense of loss.
The curators say they wanted to avoid placing each refugee’s suffering
in a scales to compare, and simply to suggest that each misdeed was
an assault on humanity collectively. Eminent German scholars and
writers were consulted during the show’s making.
In eastern Europe, particularly in Poland and the Czech Republic,
there is deep disquiet over the exhibition, starting with the fact
that it is being put on in Berlin, once Adolf Hitler’s capital,
rather than in the refugees’ former home, eastern Europe.
The BdV set up a foundation headed by Steinbach to create
the exhibition, with the ultimate aim of integrating it into a
documentation centre as a permanent memorial to expulsions. She has
stubbornly defended the plan despite angry protests in Poland.
The exhibition runs to October 29.
On the other side of the street, the federally funded Germany
History Museum is showing another exhibition touching on the refugee
experience: how the millions of uprooted and hungry people were
integrated into West German society after the war.

SOME ARMENIAN JEWS AFRAID AS COUNTRY TAKES IN HUNDREDS OF LEBANESE REFUGEES
By Yasha Levine
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, NY
Aug. 10, 2006
YEREVAN, Armenia, Aug. 10 (JTA) – Armenia’s Jewish community is bracing
for a possible wave of anti-Semitism as hundreds of Lebanese Armenians
taking refuge from the fighting in southern Lebanon stream into the
former Soviet republic.
Weeks after Israel began its retaliation against Hezbollah forces,
more than 500 Lebanese Armenians and Armenian nationals living in
Lebanon had arrived in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, on chartered
flights from Aleppo, Syria.
More are expected to arrive as the fighting continues and creeps
closer to the Armenian quarter in eastern Beirut.
“I’m really scared. I think that politically motivated anti-Semitism
is beginning to show itself,” Inna Astvatsatryan, a contributor to
Magen David, the community’s newspaper, told JTA.
Astvatsatryan was vague about the details, but her fear is echoed by
many in Armenia’s tiny Jewish community, which numbers anywhere from
100 to several hundred.
The Israeli army is not targeting Beirut’s Armenian quarter, nor are
there reports of Armenians being killed by Israeli fire, but Lebanese
Armenians feel affected by Israel’s war on Hezbollah.
“People talk about the fact that they are only bombing south Beirut,
but they don’t realize that Beirut is a tiny city. If you’re bombing
one part, you’re bombing the entire city,” said Shogher Margossian,
23, a Lebanese Armenian who flew to Yerevan from Beirut a few days
after the conflict broke out.
Lebanese Armenians have close ties with Lebanon, as harbored Armenian
refugees fleeing the Turkish massacre of Armenians in the early 20th
century. An estimated 80,000 ethnic Armenians live in a tight-knit
community in Beirut.
On the streets of Yerevan, Lebanese Armenians are unanimous: They do
not support Hezbollah’s military activity, but they consider Israel’s
offensive unwarranted and counterproductive.
Some local Jews fear that anti-Israeli sentiments the displaced
Lebanese Armenians are bringing with them may translate into
anti-Semitic views that remain long after the rockets stop falling.
Other than the defacement of a Holocaust memorial stone in Yerevan two
years ago in connection with the conviction of an extremist politician
for inciting ethnic hatred, Armenian Jews are hard pressed to remember
an anti-Semitic incident. Swastikas can be seen in graffiti around
Yerevan, but they hardly seem fresh or connected to Israel’s conflict
with Hezbollah.
Evgenia Kazaryan, editor of Magen David, is taking a wait-and-see
approach.
“I think that it is only a matter of time for the effects to be seen,”
she said.
According to Kazaryan, there have not been open cases of anti-Semitism
because the Israel-Hezbollah conflict is too fresh.
“Not enough time has passed for the impression the Lebanese Armenians
bring back with them to sink in,” she said.
The worry has prompted Rimma Varzhapetyan, chairwoman of the Jewish
community of Armenia, to consider organizing an Armenian-Jewish
roundtable to discuss Israel’s political motivation behind its conflict
with Hezbollah, as well as Israel’s failure to officially recognize
the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Turks almost a century ago.
Suren Gregoryan, an Armenian journalist, supports Varzhapetyan’s idea
and believes disinformation and stereotypes about Jews flow into
Armenia from the Armenian Diaspora in Syria and Iran. He insists
there needs to be more freely available information in Armenia on
Israel and Jewish culture.
Rabbi Gersh-Meir Burshtein remains skeptical about the possibility
of anti-Semitism. Burshtein, who heads a small Chabad-sponsored
community center, school and synagogue, rejects the idea that the
Hezbollah-Israel conflict will cause a spike in anti-Semitic sentiment
in Armenia.
Unlike Jewish communities in Georgia and Azerbaijan, which have long
Jewish histories, Armenia’s current Jewish community is made up of
Jews who began settling in the country from elsewhere in the Soviet
Union during World War II.
Some came first as evacuees from the Nazi advance into Ukraine and,
as word spread of the absence of anti-Semitism in Armenia, many other
Jews came as professionals, Burshtein explains. He said he has walked
the streets of Yerevan in Chasidic garb for more than 10 years without
confronting bigotry.
Burshtein believes the fact that Israel does not recognize the Armenian
genocide is not as important to the Armenian population as some think:
Poverty, energy self-sufficiency and the possibility of conflict with
neighboring Azerbaijan are more pressing issues.
For her part, Margossian doubts that the conflict between Hezbollah
and Israel will affect Armenian Jews. She explained that her accounts
of life under Israeli bombing make little impression on local Armenians
because they have suffered so much: During the early 1990s, Azerbaijan
imposed an energy and trade blockade that forced Armenia’s population
to ration electricity and food.
Armenians do not feel sympathy for Lebanon because “most Armenians
think of Lebanon as a Muslim country,” Margossian told JTA. “They view
the conflict as a war between Israel and a terrorist organization
in which civilian casualties are justified. And if Armenians viewed
Lebanon as a Christian country, things would be much different for
the Jews.”

ARMENIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE CARRIES OUT ARCHEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN NK
Today, Azerbaijan
Aug. 10, 2006
Armenian National Academy of Science Archeology Institute announced
the results of the archeological excavations carried out in occupied
Azerbaijani region of Agdam.
The Institute director Aram Kalantaryan said during the excavations
in the region, the remnants of ancient city established by “Armenian
tsar Tigran Mech” were discovered.
The Institute continues carrying out archeological excavations in
Azerbaijani occupied region at the initiative of Yerkir Patriotic
Union of Public Organizations.
According to Armenian sources, the remnants of ancient city discovered
in Agdam are dated to the 1st century, B.C. Armenian media is
largely commenting on the results of these excavations. Basing on the
discovery of “Armenian city”, the media called for Defense Minister
Serj Sarkisyan to apologize to the people for his saying Aghdam is
not an Armenian territory.
“The border of the home country lies till where we can protect our
lands. As concerns Agdam, I can reiterate that it is not part of our
country,” Sarkisyan said.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Press Center head Matin Mirza commenting
on Armenian archeological excavations in Azerbaijani lands, said
Azerbaijani historians always presented neat arguments against false
claims of Armenian “historians”.
Mirza said the fact of Armenians’ illegal archeological excavations
in occupied Azerbaijani regions was submitted to international
organizations and embassies, APA reports.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RABBIT EARS ARE FOR TV RECEPTION, RIGHT? NOT ALWAYS.
Mobilemag.com
Aug. 10, 2006
A French company has come up with a plastic rabbit that talks to you
in a Wi-Fi sort of way, reading emails, SMS transmissions, traffic
updates, sports scores and all manner of other Internet-related
information. The hard part is remembering the rabbit’s name. It’s
Nabaztag, which is Armenian for “rabbit.” (The creator is Armenian,
so that’s what he called it. You can call it anything you like,
including incredible.)
Nabaztag’s 9-inch-tall body lights up when it speaks or sings (another
one of its talents). It also has the power to wiggle its ears. All of
this is predicated, however, on your home’s Wi-Fi network capabilities.
So far, 50,000 of the little rabbits have been sold in France, Belgium,
Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. They should be available in the
U.S. and Canada soon, and the American price will be US$150.

REMEMBERING GERMAN VICTIMS
By Charles Hawley
Spiegel Online, Germany
Aug. 10, 2006
Some call it historical revisionism. Others say it’s an important
part of World War II. An exhibition in Berlin looks at the fate of
Germans expelled from Eastern Europe after the war — something that
makes many of Germany’s neighbors nervous.
REUTERS
Erika Steinbach, head of the Federation of German Expellees, looks
at the new exhibition in Berlin.
One wonders what all the fuss is about. The exhibition, after all, is
relatively modest — occupying three rooms in the Kronprinzenpalais
located on Berlin’s Unter den Linden boulevard. Inside, one sees
informational plaques dedicated to the forced re-settlement of the
Finnish Karelians, forced by the Soviets to head westward during
World War II. One sees luggage belonging to Italians forced out of
Yugoslavia in 1944. There’s even documentation regarding the expulsion
of the Armenians from Turkey in 1915.
But the exhibition — called “Forced Paths: Flight and Expulsion in
20th Century Europe” — also has a large section on the post-World War
II expulsion of some 12 to 14 million Germans from Poland and other
Eastern European countries. In other words, say critics, the exhibition
seeks to portray Germans as victims of World War II and to rewrite
history. Plus, they point out, there’s already an exhibition dedicated
to the German expellees across the street in the German History Museum.
An esoteric debate for historians? Hardly. It’s an issue that has
repeatedly strained Germany’s relations with Eastern European countries
and has particularly rankled next-door neighbor Poland.
Indeed, soon after his election last fall, conservative Polish
President Lech Kaczynski made it be known that the ongoing efforts
of the German group Federation of Expellees — led by the vocal
parliamentarian Erika Steinbach — to build a permanent center in
Berlin devoted to post-war German expellees was unwelcome.
And in late July, he commented on the current exhibition: “Polish
foreign policy, of course, is dedicated to pursuing Polish interests,”
Kaczynski said on Polish radio. “The exhibition about expulsions
which will open on (August 10) in a prestigious building in the
Federal Republic of Germany is very definitely not in the interest
of Poland. The relativization of the responsibility for World War II
is not in Poland’s interest.”
The ongoing debate is not primarily about the historical facts. When
the Soviets under Stalin agreed with the Western Allies to move the
Polish border west to the Oder and Neisse rivers, millions of Germans
who had long lived in areas now belonging to Poland were forced to
leave. As many as 2 million died on the trek westwards and those who
arrived in Germany had to live for years in temporary shelters and
even in former concentration camps due to post-war housing shortages.
Primarily, opponents of the Center Against Expulsion — which is
the preliminary name Steinbach and her group have given to their
pet project — worry about the context within which German expellees
are presented. A handful of protestors were on hand on Thursday to
make sure their side of the story got press as well. “An image of
history,” read the anti-exhibition flyers tossed into the scrum of
journalists crowded around Steinbach to hear her opening address,
“is being communicated which portrays Germans as the victims of
flight and expulsion without adequately presenting the fact that
flight, expulsion and resettlement at the end of World War II was the
consequence of the aggressive, expansionist and destructive policies
followed by the Nazis.”
It is a criticism that has dogged Steinbach’s group for years —
and one that she seems particularly sensitive to. In comments to a
group of foreign journalists on Wednesday, she took pains to emphasize
the European nature of the exhibition and never tired of mentioning
that historical expertise was provided by experts from a number of
European countries including Czech Republic and Hungary. A Polish
expert withdrew from the project due to pressure faced at home.
Modest exhibition, bolder aims
And the exhibition itself — which will run through October 29 —
is rather modest. The fate of the German expellees is presented
along with that of eight other groups that were victims of forced
resettlement in 20th century Europe. The result is a lot of text, a
few items on display — the centerpiece being the bell from the ship
Wilhelm Gustloff which sank in January 1945 killing 9,343 Germans
fleeing Poland — and not a lot of clarity. If anything, it seems as
though Steinbach’s group is trying to keep the issue alive without
stepping on any toes.
But the true motivation for the ~@500,000 exhibition is obvious enough
and Steinbach herself admits that it is a means to an end. “I believe
that our exhibition will be an important step in the direction of
opening a center in Berlin documenting the expulsion,” she said
on Wednesday. Germany’s current government under Chancellor Angela
Merkel supports the idea of setting a “visible symbol” dedicated to
the expulsions, but have yet to agree on what that should be.
DDP Critics argue that portraying Germans as victims of World War II
amounts to historical revisionism.
And Steinbach’s group has made it clear it won’t be deterred by
criticism from outside Germany. “It is important that Germans
understand the fears (of Poles) and respects those fears,” she said.
“But that shouldn’t result in inaction. There is a need in Germany
to confront our entire history and a part of that is the story of
the expellees.”
Perhaps. But Eastern European fears are not so easily quelled. The
Polish papers on Thursday ramped up their anti-German rhetoric to mark
the exhibition’s opening. “The biggest difference (between Germany
and Poland) in their approach to history,” writes the weekly Wprost,
“is that in Poland and in other countries, one thinks primarily about
those things the Germans would rather forget.”
Or, as Piotr Buras, a Polish expert on German-Polish relations, told
SPIEGEL ONLINE last autumn: “The idea of a (Center Against Expulsion)
is very suspect for Poles. The Germans need to understand that
there is a large problem in German-Polish relations and she is called
Steinbach. If the Germans don’t see that, then it is a clear sign that
they aren’t all that interested in good relations with their neighbor.”

GERMAN EXPELLEES OPEN CONTROVERSIAL EXHIBITION
Expatica, Netherlands
Aug. 10, 2006
BERLIN – Germany’s movement of former refugees Thursday recalled its
suffering in the aftermath of World War II in a controversial Berlin
exhibition it hopes will become the core collection of a permanent
museum about ethnic purges.
There has been anger in Poland, the Czech Republic and other eastern
nations at the group’s plans for a memorial to 14 million dispossessed
ethnic Germans who fled from eastern Europe in the confusion after
the Second World War.
The 600-square-metre temporary exhibition in the Kronprinzenpalais
museum on Berlin’s central avenue, Unter den Linden, treats the German
experience as just one episode in a century of similar expulsions.
Other photos and souvenirs illustrate the 1915-1917 genocide of
the Armenians in Turkey. The flight of Jews from Nazi Germany and
the “ethnic cleansing” of the 1990s in former Yugoslavia are also
mentioned.
Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski criticized the exhibition as
“an ominous, offensive and sad event.” Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel
Kowal called it an attempt to manipulate history.
The venue is just across the street from the federal German History
Museum, where a temporary exhibition began in May, showing how the
refugees, an impoverished underclass in post-War Germany, struggled
back on their feet.
Erika Steinbach, leader of the German expellees federation BdV, said
Thursday just before the evening inauguration that she was still
planning a permanent Berlin memorial and documentation centre.
The BdV decided several years ago to shift its focus from the German
experience only to the wider pain of the whole 20th century.
Critics have accused the BdV of bias because it insists the expulsions,
which were allowed by the Allied powers, were unjust.
There are also fears that a memorial would undermine the message that
the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes were uniquely reprehensible.
The German government has been wary of the BdV plans, and instead backs
a European network to study expulsion history. The ranking speaker
at the inauguration was a non-cabinet official, Norbert Lammert,
the speaker of the Bundestag parliament.
Bernd Neumann, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s top culture aide, earlier
proposed that the less controversial federal exhibition on post-war
resettlement be made a permanent one.
The BdV exhibition, “Forced Routes, Expulsions in 20th Century Europe,”
runs until 29 October.