Med kultur som våpen - Utslettingspolitikken førd mot armenarane under fyrste verdskrig sett i lys av Assmann sin minneteori

Abstract

This master thesis is aiming at exploring The Ottoman Empires destructive politics towards the Armenian population during World War I through the theory of Cultural memory by Jan and Aleida Assmann. Culture was intended to be a big part of the definition of Geocide in the development of the Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide between the two world wars. Still, the ratified text of 1948 bear little or no sign of this. In this thesis, description from field reports by German officials spanning from 1909-1928 is analysed and explored through Assmanns theory of Cultural memory. This gives a possibility of not only getting a grasp of the magnitude of the destruction this politics had on the Armenians as individuals and as a group during those years, it also unveils structures that have consequences beyond the many people who suffered and died. The systematic oppression against the Armenians during World War I is today part of a politically tense discussion on whether it was or wasn’t a genocide. The view in this thesis is that it was a humanitarian crisis, and hopefully looking at the politics in a new way, this can be a humble contribution in the work being done in understanding and of that, preventing similar events in the future.