The first effective action came from Jean Jaurès, whose name will always be tied to the Armenian Question, which he defended so well. This farsighted man, sensed that the world, in its constant struggle against imperialism, was sliding towards the unavoidable global catastrophe of 1914, and through eloquent statements blew the breath of compassion over all France. In his graceful words, "the real formula for patriotism is the right to equality amongst all nations regarding the introduction of freedom and justice."
Georges Clemenceau, who also devoted all of his energy to the Armenian Question, in the darkest moments of ill deed in Armenia and in his battle against silence in France, warned: "It is no longer possible to pretend to be uninformed and ignorant. The truth has been revealed and the hypocrisy of our European men in power can no longer persuade anyone other than their incompetent cowered collaborators." 331
Amongst the proliferation of French literature on the subject, the words of Albert Vandal stand out: "One says that France has expanded in the world at the expense of the oppressed and the enslaved. To some extent this is true regarding the Orient and is to a large extent the same factor which created the special influence and characteristics which France possesses. This influence has no equal. If one there, in the Orient, respects France, then this respect is the same which is shown for all other empires and France weighs upon the Orient with its existence and weight. The glory of France is the thought that these people think of France… do not let them say that France, which earlier was the thinker and the actor of the greatest ideas in the world, no longer burns for higher and more noble thoughts, that it no longer fights for words such as international justice and compassion for its fellow humans and finally, do not let it be said that the stranger who in 1871 cut our body into pieces has also managed to empty the heart of France of all feeling." 332
In USA, the majority of the public expressed their sympathy for the Armenian Question and it was only Gordon Bennet, the chief editor The New York Herald, who went against the flow and supported the sultan in his paper. This was solely because of the royal reception which Sultan Abdul Hamid II arranged for him in Constantinople, having been informed of the arrogance and the vanity of Bennet. As a great politician said: "When you want to measure a person, you must first ignore that person's pride and egoism and then see what is left of him." The mammon-worshiping journalist under Gordon Bennet in Constantinople, Mr. Whitman, twisted the truth about the events and defended the murderers.
In contrast, , several Americans, who were present in Turkey as consuls, teachers at the universities, or missionaries, displayed great courage during these events.
In Germany, despite the decision by Kaiser Wilhelm II to forbid mass gatherings for the defence of the Armenians or monetary collections for the victims of the massacres, there was a group of people, with the unforgettable Johannes Lepsius at their head, who continued the struggle for the rights of the Armenians in newspapers such as Christliche Welt, Frankfurter Zeitung and Reichbote in the midst of the official silence of the censored media in the country.
The group which gathered around Lepsius included prestigious figures such as Professor Rade, professor at the University of Marburg, Eduard Bernstein, leader of the Social Democrats, the historian Paul Rohrbach, Professor Marquart, professor at the University of Berlin, and Lohmann and Stier, who constituted the core of the Deutshce-Armenische Gesellschaft.
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