German Historian Reveals 1100 Pages of Documents in Vatican Archives on Armenian Genocide

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — German historian and author of a number of works on the Armenian Genocide Michael Hesemann revealed documents of 1100 pages linked with the Armenian Genocide in Vatican’s open and secret archives.

The German historian told the reporters that he plans to write a book based on the findings, while the copies of the documents he handed to the director of Armenia’s National Academy of Sciences. Hesemann informed the book will be not only in German, but also English and other languages. The scientist is ready to share his experience with other scientists and researchers studying Armenian Genocide.

Referring to the content of the document, Michael Hesemann noted that they are mainly the correspondences of Popes with their representatives in the East, as well as with the representatives of the Capuchin and Franciscan orders. The documents are mainly in Italian and French.

“The studies mainly reveal that extermination of the Christian element, and particularly Armenians, took place in the Ottoman Empire. It was a well planned state policy. The Young Turks believed that only homogeneous states are powerful, and for reaching that goal ethnic cleansings were necessary”, the scientist said.

According to him, the documents show that the Catholic Church had tried to influence the German position on the Armenian Genocide. “Vatican tried to influence Germany through Austria-Hungary aiming to stop the genocide. But Germany wished to keep Turkey under its influence, even at the expense of the fate of Armenians”, Michael Hesemann said. He thinks that the feeling of guilt coming from this act made the German parliament adopt a relevant decision and recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The German historian also mentioned that the documents examined by him contain precise evidences about the number of Armenian victims amounting to 1.5 million. “The letter of a Capuchin representative also documents this fact, who mentions that 1.5 million out of 2.3 million Armenians have been killed by November, 1918”, the scientist said.