"The Western World and its Reaction to Genocide"

Course of Our Times, Series II

VHS; U-Matic; 16mm film


Program Number

Date Aired
ca. 1970

30 min.

There have been destructive wars in every era. But it was left to the enlightened 20th century to witness the planned destruction of whole peoples simply because of the blood that flowed in their veins. Almost forgotten now is the tragedy in the early days of World War I, of the Armenian people, where more than 1.25 million were systematically slaughtered by the Turks. The Nazis perfected the technique of annihilation in their passion to exterminate the Jews, and they combined the barbarism of the Middle Ages with the technical efficiency of this scientific era. Their toll was six million. The tragedy of such horrors was unspeakable enough. What compounded the horror was the virtual indifference of the so-called civilized world, including the professed humanitarians of the great democratic states. This chapter discusses the Armenian and Jewish tragedies and the impact on the civilized nations who apparently reacted in terms of Stalin's dictum: "The misfortune of a family is a tragedy; the misfortune of millions of families is a statistic."

Recording Location
WGBH, Boston
