Albert Wisner Public Library to screen 'The Promise,' the story of the Armenian Genocide, on Oct. 22

WARWICK — An important movie that everyone should see,"The Promise," will be shown at the Albert Wisner Public Library in Warwick on Monday, Oct. 22, at 1 p.m. "The Promise" is about the Armenian Genocide which happened in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 during World War I.
Monday at the Movies is a free weekly event at the Albert Wisner Library and open to the public
In 1915, the Ottoman Empire was much larger than present day Turkey and also included Syria, Iraq, Saudia Arabia and present day Israel. The Ottoman Empire fought with the Central Powers, Germany, Bulgaria and the Austro-Hungarian Empire against the Allies consisting of England, France, Russia and the United States, which joined in 1917.
The Armenians were a minority in the Ottoman empire and were Christians (Greek Orthodox, Apostolic Catholic and Protestants) and the Turks were Muslims.
The genocide begin with the taking away the passports of Armenians which allowed them to travel both in and outside the Ottoman Empire. Armenians who were officers in the Turkish Army were removed.
There were forced deportations of Armenians who were forced to walk long distances without food until they collapsed and died. Many Armenians were worked to death, many of the women were raped and the children were burned to death in villages.
Concentration camps were set up where life expectancy was a few days. Doctors performed lethal injections on the inmates.
About 1.5 million Armenians died.
In 1933, 18 years after this event, "Forty Days at Musa Dagh" was written by an Austrian author, Franz Werfel, who told about a small group (about 5,000) of Armenians who fought back and camped on Musa Dagh (Moses Mountain ) in present Syria, resisting attack by the Ottoman Army.
Werfel wrote about this event when Hitler and the Nazi came to power in Germany in 1933. He wrote this book to warn the Jewish people that this genocide could happen to them and in fact it was a rehearsal for the Holocaust.
Linda Dubin will give a short introduction to this movie. Let her explain why:
One day, a friend asked Dubin, who works on Holocaust Programs at Temple Sinai and shows a movie at the Albert Wisner Public Library each year for Holocaust Remembrance Day, why she never talked about the Armenian Genocide.
Her first reaction was: "Why me? I know about the Holocaust and am Jewish but I know very little about the Armenian Genocide."
However, in 2016 Dubin saw the movie, "The Promise," and immediately realized that her friend was right: everyone should see this movie and learn about the Armenian Genocide.
Dubin contacted the Albert Wisner Public Library and librarians Laurie Angle and Kathleen Georgalas and they agreed to show this movie on Oct. 22 at "Monday at the Movies."
Dubin will introduce the movie with background information on the Armenian Genocide. After the movie, she will provide facts about the Armenian Genocide she has discovered when doing research on this topic.