Ein vergessener Holocaust

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Today’s Assyrian people date their existence to the ancient Assyrians, Chaldeans and Aramaeans, who inhabited Syria and Mesopotamia for millennia. At present, they live throughout the Middle East, notably Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey and, since their emigration, in Western Europe, the Americas and Australia. Following the break-up of theirempire, a large part of the population went through an assimilation process, gradually adapting religion, language and culture to that of their new rulers. Cyrus’ great Persian empire, the dominance of the Parthians, the Sassanids, the Byzantine empire, the Arab caliphate, the Seljuks, the Mongol hordes and finally the dominance of the Turkish Ottomans from the 15th to the beginning of the 20th century shaped the destiny of a people subject to ever changing sovereignty. A minority withstood the melting process through the millennia and, until 1915, they comprised a linguistic and religious community in a geographically relatively homogeneous area, Upper Mesopotamia, with extensions into the Mosul and Urmia plateaus. Until the beginning of the 20th century, this settlement area was within the territories of the Ottoman empire and Persia; after the First World War it was split up once again.This is the story of these peoples. Their early adoption of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and early efforts to spread their faith as far as China an India makes their history intriguing and worth documenting.