A series of lectures entitled “Crisis in Europe and the righteous of our time” will take place in Franco Parenti theatre of Milan, Italian Armenian writer Pietro Kuciukian writes in his article published on Gariwo website.

 “The first lecture will be dedicated to the genocide prevention. Historian Marcello Flores, French philosophy professor Gérard Malkassian and Israeli historian and Holocaust researcher Yair Auron will meet the audience,” the article reads.

The book “Savers and Fighters” by Yair Auron tells about Armenians, who saved Jews. Among them was the family of Charles Aznavour, which gave shelter to many Jews during the period of Nazi occupation. The main idea of the book is to show how the two tortured nations helped each other. “One shouldn’t argue whose pain was stronger but instead speak about how some people saved others. The same happened in 1915. The overwhelming majority remained indifferent. But there were also people, including in Palestine, who helped Armenians and challenged the idea of their elimination.”

When in the 80s the US Armenians tried to reach the Genocide recognition in the US Congress, the Israeli government supported the Turkish authorities. Yair Auron then spoke against this. He couldn’t understand how a nation, which experienced such horrible years, could not keep the memory about crimes against other nations.

The parents of Charles Aznavour, who survived the Genocide, began a new life in France. His father was taken to the army; he was captured. He escaped from there and returned to Paris. In 1940-45, he saved Jews in his house, although the stakes were very high: the police and Gestapo often carried out searches. Most of such people usually don’t even think they did something exceptional. It seems to them anyone would have done that way if they were in their shoe,” Auron stresses.

In his new book, the historian also tells about the work of Armenians in the French Resistance, including the group of Missak Manouchian (which included many Jews).

Furthermore, the historian writes about the Armenian priests saving Jewish children in Bucharest. He is confident that the Armenians in Europe saved more Jews than any other nation, if compared by number.

The professor doesn’t believe that the Israeli Knesset will recognize the Armenian Genocide. The reasons are the recognition of the Shoah “exceptionality” and alliance with Turkey. “By denying the Armenian Genocide, Israel betrays the historical memory and thus the memory of Holocaust as well,” he stresses.

In 2007, Yair Auron started a course on Armenian Genocide study in Israel. “Only eighted students registered for it. Currently, their number has reached 2500, although the professor didn’t demand that the subject become mandatory. Niow the genocides against other peoples, including in Rwanda, are also studied there.”