Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

And Then?
by Janny Groen - De Volkskrant, 8 January, 2001
Posted: Monday, January 15, 2001 05:22 pm CST

Translated from Dutch exclusively for ANN/Groong by Nanneke Toverheks

News have a short lifespan. What was news yesterday, is often forgotten by the following day.

In a series of articles, those who were concerned then, look back. After Turkish intimidation, the city of Assen (Capital of Drenthe, an eastern province of the Netherlands) gives Armenian N. Romashuk permission only to place a personal memorial stone. No references to genocide may be made.

"Never to forget, that has been printed in our heads."

Every schoolday, Nikolai Romashuk was confronted with 'the genocide of the Armenians'. On the blackboard of his Jerusalem school stood a lifelesson in bold chalkletters: "IF OUR CHILDREN FORGET THE TURKISH CRUELTIES, THE WORLD SHALL CURSE THEM."

Romashuk, concierge of a school for the mentally handicapped in Assen, will not be damned. He will do anything to bring 'the slaughter' of his people during the First World War to public attention. He is now digging holes in 'De Boskamp' Cemetry, for 6 poles, on which his -controversial- Armenian memorial stone will be placed. He has contracted an architect for the purpose of placing the stone 'according to the rules and to artistic principles'.

The message he had wanted to carry out has faded away. The City Council will not allow the word 'genocide' to be carved into the stone. No reference to mass-murder will be allowed at all. "Expressions, in any form they may come, which can cause friction, do not belong there (at the cemetry)" the Council wrote him.

It is clear that the Turks view Romashuk's memorial stone as extremely provocative. They have protested, intimidated, threatened. With mailbombs from inside and outside of the Netherlands, they have sabotaged the City Council's electronic mailbox. A systematic, ethnic cleansing has never taken place, the Turks say. Therefore, the Armenian memorial stone is misplaced, a falsification of history.

Romashuk looks in a bag and takes out 6 history booklets. He puts them on the table, authentic yellowed pieces: "Tortured Armenia", "The bloody yolk of the Turk", "Armenian cruelties", "Torturing of Armenians in Turkey". "Most have been published in the beginning of the century before this one, and one by one they were written by neutral authors," he says and reads a passage from J.B. Charles' 'Following the spoor/track back': "Some of the Armenians were so well integrated that the Turks could not immediately recognize them. Men had to take off their pants and if they were circumsized, the bowed sable was used. (ging de kromme sabel erover)

His grandmother was there to exprience the slaughter. With a flow of Jewish-Armenian victims, she has fled to Jerusalem. There, Romashuk was born and had grown up, in a community of traumatised refugees.

Romashuk: "The women were always in mourning, all were dressed in black. They told the most gruesome, abhorrent stories. My grandmother's brother had commited suicide. It drove my mother crazy." Romashuk, who was raised by his grandmother, feels he is also a victim of the genocide.

In 1976, right after his grandmother died, the Armenian left for the Netherlands, together with a Dutch girl he had gotten to know in Jerusalem. He rarely met any Armenians in the North. Sometimes he went to Amsterdam. He would leaf through the phonebooks, looking for Armenian names.

He longed intensely for contact with those who shared his fate. By now, around two hundred Armenians live in and around Assen. Enough souls to give his monument meaning, Romashuk thinks. "To place a memorial stone like this for yourself would be ridiculous." He came up with his idea in 1998. He approached Armenian businessman Ashot Vartanian, who reacted enthusiastically. They collected twenty thousand guilders. Vartanian travelled to Armenia, where he had a monument made out of tufa stone. He had a text engraved on it, which referred to the genocide. Romashuk shows a letter from the Council, dated december 29th 1999. "Here it does say that 'for the Armenians who have perished in the years 1910-1920' may be on it. The City Council are cowardly, they haven given in after the 'Grey Wolves'' threats. I am only allowed to commemorate my own ancestors. That was never my intention"

Still, Romashuk will keep to the rules. The stone is with a sculptor who is adapting the text. The City Council has informed Romashuk they want further discussion concerning the 24th of April, the day on which the Armenians want to commemorate the genocide.

Romashuk: "We will not have any demonstrations. We want to remember and commemorate, collectively. Because we may not forget. This has been printed in our heads."

Related Information...

Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News Archives