1 Enclosure
Your Excellency, I have the honour of respectfully enclosing a petition from B. von Dobbeler, the director of the German orphanage in Harunia, concerning the persecution of the Armenians.
I left Mr. von Dobbeler in no doubt that, according to the information on this matter from Your Excellency, I consider it unlikely that the Imperial Embassy will intervene. For the same reason I am also refraining from going any further into the sad consequences of this foolish penalising of the Armenian element for the country in general and for the already existing German interests here in particular, apart from the loss of respect.
Enclosure
Your Excellency,
I request with the utmost devotion that you take note of the following.
Far away in Turkey, far away, I am tempted to say, from human assistance, we find ourselves here in the middle of a people, in the middle of the Armenians, and must watch as these people are crushed underfoot.
[After lengthy praises of Germany, Dobbeler continues:]
I dare say that the deportation of the Armenians is too much even for the Anatolian Turks, those who now have the opportunity of enriching themselves as never before and who are also not averse to enriching themselves. But they detest the way in which this is now offered to them. They would really prefer not to besmirch themselves with this and are more than a bit surprised by the measures which they do not understand, and draw their own conclusions about the German government. They all know that Germany is the representative of a higher civilisation, but they have lost their faith in it, because they say that Germany is saying nothing in answer to that which is approved of by no one and which its public officials, although they even have a pecuniary advantage from this, are forced to carry out and which they do so unwillingly. Yes, they go even one step further and say that it is not our government’s doing, but that it only has to carry out the will of the German rulers. Based on this train of thought, the Turks in the interior of the country console the Armenians by saying, now they are chasing you away and later on we will follow, for this is the German way of doing things and they want to have the country. But we stand by and are ashamed. Is that not deplorable? The proud saying, “Civis germanus sum” [“I am German”] almost becomes the basis for an apology in these proud and violent times. I have heard, “We are ashamed to be Germans,” more than once out of German mouths, and I have had this feeling myself. The first time that I heard it I was outraged and filled with indignation, and thought, how could they; but later I saw that they not only can, but they must. Without being shown any consideration whatsoever, the Armenians are forced to leave their houses and all of their belongings behind and are driven away. No one knows where to, off to an uncertain future. Thus, thousands and thousands of them march along the roads of Anatolia, arousing the greatest sympathy everywhere, for there are many pregnant women, many babies, many children, many sick and poor, even blind people among them, many who have only makeshift clothing, walking barefoot with sore feet on the hot and often stony roads. Many of them were rich; they had diligently tilled their fields and gardens; they had large herds; they had all kinds of household goods; they had even invested money. And suddenly, everything had to be left, and while the harvest in the fields waits for the reapers, these people must leave in order to lie around idle and watch how their wives and children go to the dogs. Apart from the purely human point of view, everyone must admit that, economically speaking, a crime is being committed here, that a nation is on its way to damage itself badly and permanently.
Contrary to matters in the country, they are now different in the towns. What enormous values have been invested in the most varied commercial enterprises and companies and how many public officials are there who are practically impossible to replace. Thus, companies such as the Baghdad Railway and both smaller and larger bank institutions will be forced to close down after the implementation of the government’s measures for the deportation of the Armenians. The Turkish government is not in a position to offer a replacement for those employees, and it carelessly throws away the resources, which it withdraws from the government body. But this is its business; we are only protesting against measures which scorn any kind of civilised behaviour and humanity. Or is it not immoral to throw the educated population of a town together with their wives and children onto the road, to bear the blazing heat of the sun, in all kinds of wind and weather, with no prospect of accommodation, and leave them to a completely uncertain future? It is the responsibility of all nations to protest against such injustice, and since Germany is the only country at the moment which can be considered for this task, it must be pushed over to the German government. Objections will be made that what is happening is an internal matter in Turkey, in which no outsider should become involved, and that it is up to Turkey what it does with its country; but these objections are as old as they are stale. In this case, it is first and foremost a matter of Germany's having a responsibility for the deplorable situation of the local Christians, and secondly it is a matter of preserving Germany's honour and increasing Germany's influence. It goes without saying that a strong defence in favour of just measures, which could possibly consist of interning all of the suspected Armenian men during the duration of the war without expropriating them, would make the best impression on the Turks and win the sympathy of the Armenians forever which, considering that the majority of the Armenians are intellectuals, will carry great weight.
What has moved me to these explanations? Firstly, my love for the oppressed, who are by no means a bunch of scoundrels, as one is easily led to think of people who are stricken; rather, there are characters among them who force us to respect them. Most of them accept the difficulties which have befallen them in a calm and collected manner, full of trust; without a sound of complaint or accusation, without a word of bitterness they watch as everything is taken away from them, and calmly, together with their people, they take up their walking staff. But in the nights and in the quiet hours the tears will flow and it will become clear to them and they will be aware of the size of their loss. What has moved me to these explanations? Secondly, my love for my native German country and the certainty that nothing better can happen to a people than that it be penetrated by the German nature, and that German influence must also dominate in this country for its own well-being, for one day the world will recover through the German nature.
Finally, with reference to the above mentioned explanations, I request that Your Excellency take measures which will move the Turkish government to bring about a change in the presently existing conditions and to alleviate the hardships.
I remain with the deepest respect Your Excellency's most obedient servant,