PLAQUE HONORING RAFAEL LEMKIN UNVEILED AT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL COMPLEX

A commemorative plaque honoring Rafael Lemkin, the Jewish Polish lawyer who coined the word “genocide,” was unveiled on Tuesday, June 24, at the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex in Yerevan. The event coincided with the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the 125th anniversary of Lemkin’s birth.  

Edita Gzoyan, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, delivered the opening remarks, paying homage to Lemkin’s contribution to the recognition and prevention of the crime of genocide.   

“Today, we are paying tribute not only to Rafael Lemkin’s legal legacy but also to his moral convictions,” she said. “He believed that memory without responsibility is hollow, and that justice begins by naming the truth.” 

Lemkin was not Armenian and never visited Armenia, Dr. Gzoyan added. “Yet it was the Armenian Genocide that left a profound impression on his soul and became the starting point of his legal thinking.”

It was Lemkin, she concluded, “who coined the term for that horrific crime and fought until the end of his life to ensure that genocide would never go unpunished.” 

Archbishop Shahan Sarkissian, director of the Cilicia Library of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and a board member of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, and Archbishop Dajad Ashekian, Chancellor of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, attended the ceremony on behalf of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I. Also present were Marcin Różycki, Chargé d’Affaires of the Republic of Poland in Armenia; and Hrachya Margaryan, Director of the National Center development foundation, along with members of the Museum-Institute. 

The ceremony involved placing a handful of soil from Rafael Lemkin’s grave at Mount Hebron Cemetery in New York, which was collected with assistance from His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate. It was then brought to Yerevan, by way of Antelias, by Archbishop Shahan, who took the initiative to bring the symbolic sample of earth to Dzidzernagapert.  

On the occasion, two lectures were delivered at the Museum-Institute’s conference hall. AGMI researcher Dr. Narek Poghosyan spoke about “Rafael Lemkin and the Armenian Genocide.” Polish researcher and war correspondent Witold Repetowicz discussed “Rafael Lemkin’s Legacy and Its Relevance in Today’s World.”  

At the conclusion of the event, Dr. Gzoyan handed newly issued Rafael Lemkin commemorative medals to Narek Poghosyan and Witold Repetowicz for their scholarly work on Lemkin’s contributions to the history of the Armenian Genocide and to the broader field of human rights. She also presented a certificate of appreciation to Archbishop Shahan.