Aux Peuples Assassinés” [“To the Murdered Peoples”] (Paris, 1916). Cover illustration of the essay by Romain Rolland. This woodcut by the Flemish artist Franz Masereel remains relevant on the 100th anniversary of the onset of the Genocide against the Armenians

“Armenian News Network / Groong
April 25, 2015

Special to Groong by Abraham D. Krikorian and Eugene L. Taylor

Long Island, NY

Like many others, we believe that story telling can rely solely on images.

Romain Rolland (1866 -1944) pointed to “our blood-stained-era, which [has] concealed under the guise of heroism and idealism so much cruelty and hypocrisy.”

Franz Masereel (1899 - 1972) has earned the reputation of a remarkable artist and graphic designer who could give voice to those people haunted by the “spectacle of death.”

In his “To the Murdered Peoples” Rolland also alludes to the silence and impunity which ultimately led to the Genocide. He asked:

“Who will ever know at what price the Red Sultan has purchased from his mutes of the European press and European diplomacy their silence concerning the slaughter of two hundred thousand Armenians during the first massacres, those of 1894 to 1896?”