ABSTRACT
While the insurers' claims of the Turkish government's direct role in the killings of the Armenians are supported by ample documentary evidence, the question of the liability of the perpetrators for payments of the life policy benefits is a different issue. The sinking of the British civilian ship Lusitania by a German military torpedo during World War I provides an historic precedent of primary authority that may be used as a precedent of sorts to clarify the issue of liability. In the aftermath of World War I, on August 25, 1921, the United States and Germany signed a treaty in Berlin that held Germany liable for losses suffered aboard the Lusitania. Germany compensated for lost lives aboard the Lusitania, but the American commissioner argued that the compensation to American insurance companies was also a German liability thus "justifying" the claims made by insurers.
