The California State University, Fresno Armenian Studies Program the Armenian Students Organization present the Leon S. Peters Foundation Lecture “Perpetrators, Bystanders and Rescuers vs. Victims: Survivors and Betrayers during the Genocide (The Case of the Armenian Genocide)” by Dr. Suren Manukyan
Deputy Director at the Armenian Genocide Museum & Institute, Yerevan, Armenia
Genocide is a political crime. The Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust of the Jews, the Cambodian genocide, the Genocides
in Rwanda and Bosnia had political motivation and political background. They took place under political circumstances, and
were part of political program and needed political mechanisms and state resources for implementation. That’s why the study of
genocides and mass killings predominantly focuses on the political aspect of these events.
But beyond statistical figures we should see human-beings. Simultaneously the process of mass extermination is a “man-made
event.” Two opposite sides of this “process,” murderers and victims, are human-beings, and involved in a process not only as part
of political groups but also and to a considerable extent as members of a particular society. In this case the social construction of
cruelty is very important for understanding the essence and deep character of phenomenon.
The study of this aspect of mass killings helps to find answers to questions such as: Why do ordinary people commit extraordinary
crime? How are they involved in mass killings? How do victims of such abominable crimes survive? How do some people
leave the framework of their social group, break the dominant stereotypes and become rescuers among murderers or betrayer
among victims?
Dr. Suren A. Manukyan (in residence 2012-2013) is a visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution
and Human Rights, at Rutgers University, in New Jersey and is conducting research as a Fulbright Scholar on Sociology of the
Armenian Genocide. He is currently a.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 • 7:30PM
University Business Center • Alice Peters Auditorium • Fresno State
PARKING: There is no longer a separate UBC parking lot.
Parking in Lots A and J near the UBC.
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