Raphael Lemkin’s definition of genocide as the ‘conspiracy to exterminate national, religious or racial groups,’ originated from his interest in the Ottoman Empire’s systematic massacre of the Armenian people. Lemkin was introduced to this genocide through the trial of an Armenian revolutionary, Soghomon Tehlirian, which is featured in Source A, the front page of the Trenton Evening Newspaper, 22 May 1921, recalling how he, “Shot and killed Talaat Bey, the former Turkish prime minister.” His murder was motivated by the vizier’s brutal campaigns against the Ottoman Christians, for which millions had been expelled from their homes and subjected to death marches across the Syrian desert. To Lemkin’s dismay, Talaat was unable to be prosecuted by
