Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide

Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide April 25, 2015

This book seems like a real non-fiction page turner.
This book seems like a real non-fiction page turner.

I found something truly unusual while doing research for my piece On the Polish Origins of the Concept of Genocide and Its Armenian Roots. There is a book (of course). What it describes seems as outrageous as anything you might see in Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. The thing is, Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide, is not fiction:

In 1921, a tightly knit band of killers set out to avenge the deaths of almost one million victims of the Armenian Genocide. They were a humble bunch: an accountant, a life insurance salesman, a newspaper editor, an engineering student, and a diplomat. Together they formed one of the most effective assassination squads in history. They named their operation Nemesis, after the Greek goddess of retribution. The assassins were survivors, men defined by the massive tragedy that had devastated their people. With operatives on three continents, the Nemesis team killed six major Turkish leaders in Berlin, Constantinople, Tiflis, and Rome, only to disband and suddenly disappear. The story of this secret operation has never been fully told, until now.

Eric Bogosian goes beyond simply telling the story of this cadre of Armenian assassins by setting the killings in the context of Ottoman and Armenian history, as well as showing in vivid color the era’s history, rife with political fighting and massacres. Casting fresh light on one of the great crimes of the twentieth century and one of history’s most remarkable acts of vengeance, Bogosian draws upon years of research and newly uncovered evidence. Operation Nemesis is the result–both a riveting read and a profound examination of evil, revenge, and the costs of violence.

It also seems like a Girardian cautionary tale about revenge. I’m not moralizing here. I know how twisted history is. That’s just the way it seems from the book blurb.

There was even a crowdfunding campaign based on this screen play that totally failed. I do hope that a more serious filmmaker will pick up this remarkable and twisted story.


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