Hans Freiherr von Wangenheim

Baron Hans Freiherr von Wangenheim (1859-1915) - German diplomat. Ambassador Extraordinary to Mexico. German Minister at Athens, 1909-12. During World War I, from 1912 to October 25, 1915 was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. In 1914 the wave of deportations, executions, and genocide directed against the Armenian population started in Ottoman Empire. During the May and June 1915 major newspapers of the neutral nations (Switzerland, Denmark, United States) published numerous reports about these events. Under mounting international pressure and in response to the accusations of German complicity on July 4, 1915, Wangenheim, issued his memorandum of protest stating German official position on the Armenian Genocide. It began with expression of support for the Ottoman government security concerns:

"The measures of repression by the Imperial Government [Young Turks] against the Armenian population of the eastern Anatolian provinces having been dictated by military considerations and constituting a legitimate means of defense, the German Government is far from opposing their execution inasmuch as these measures have objective of consolidating the internal security of Turkey and avoiding attempts at insurrections."

Wangenheim then proceeds:

"On the other hand, the German Government cannot disguise the dangers created by these rigorous measures and notably by the mass expatriations which include the guilty and the innocent indiscriminately, especially when these measures are accompanied by acts of violence, such as massacre and pillage."

While von Wangenheim did not go further, his successor Ambassador Paul von Metternich reacted much more strongly. In August 1916, two top Young Turks leaders, İsmail Enver and Mehmed Talat Pasha, signed a memorandum demanding Ambassador Metternich’s recall citing his stance on the Armenian Question.

See also

*Otto Liman von Sanders
*Arthur Zimmermann
*Alexander Parvus

Notes

References

* [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-2168%28195911%2939%3A4%3C568%3AGMPIMD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2&size=LARGE German Military Penetration into Mexico during the Late Diaz Period. Warren Schiff.] Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Nov., 1959), pp. 568-579
* [http://forum.skadi.net/showthread.php?t=21815 German war plans in the Pacific, 1900-1914. Peter Overlack]
* [http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/papazian/vienna.html Modern Genocide: The Curse of the Nation State and Ideological Political Parties. The Armenian Case. By Dennis R. Papazian] The University of Michigan-Dearborn
* [http://www.manorhouse.clara.net/book2/reference.htm Straits: British Policy Towards the Ottoman Empire and the Origins of the Dardanelles Campaign] Geoffrey Miller. 604 pages. University of Hull Press (January 1997) ISBN 0-85958-663-4
* [http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/arutyun/ThesisIndex.html Treatment of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1918 in Germany throughout the 20th century. Thesis in History, May 2000. Zhenya Arutyunyan]