In an interview, historian Stefan Ihrig discussed the attitudes of the German Empire, German society, and later Nazi circles toward the genocide committed against Armenians.

According to Ihrig, beginning in the late 19th century, some German circles portrayed Armenians through antisemitic stereotypes, referring to them as the “Jews of the East.” At the same time, a pro-Armenian current also emerged within German diplomatic circles. In 1915, many German consuls in Anatolia opposed the actions being carried out against Armenians and attempted to intervene to prevent the violence.

The historian also emphasizes the importance of Johannes Lepsius’s work. Despite strict wartime censorship, his 1916 report reached numerous German politicians, journalists, and clergymen. The documents published by Lepsius later played an important role in the debate surrounding the genocide committed against Armenians in Germany.

According to Ihrig’s assessment, the 1921 trial of Soghomon Tehlirian in Berlin became one of the major turning points in that debate. The genocide committed against Armenians was extensively discussed during the trial, survivors and experts provided testimony, and Tehlirian was acquitted.

The interview also addresses the attitudes of Nazi circles toward the genocide committed against Armenians. Ihrig notes that Nazi ideologues followed the contemporary debates and that some publications presented the genocide committed against Armenians as an example of the formation of a nation-state. At the same time, he emphasizes that direct documentary evidence concerning Hitler’s personal views and understanding of the genocide committed against Armenians remains limited.

At the end of the interview, the historian also discusses representations of the genocide committed against Armenians in German-language literature, highlighting Franz Werfel’s The Forty Days of Musa Dagh and Edgar Hilsenrath’s The Story of the Last Thought.