Raphael Lemkin, Cultural Destruction, and the Armenian Genocide

Using an interdisciplinary, cultural studies approach, this article explores Raphael Lemkin's often overlooked concept of cultural destruction in the case of the Armenian Genocide. Lemkin's thinking was significantly shaped by the Armenian Genocide, as seen here in his newly published autobiography and other documents in the collection of his papers held at the American Jewish Archives. The author considers the Ottoman government's vandalism and destruction of Armenian cultural monuments, the mass killing of Armenian intellectuals, torture using crucifixes, and forced conversion to Islam. In deepening the idea of culture and its relationship to genocide, the author draws upon several models in the social sciences and humanities. The conclusion assesses the long-term impact of cultural destruction on Armenians in the diaspora and the Republic.