Forced into Genocide

Memoirs of an Armenian Soldier in the Ottoman Turkish Army
1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4128-6552-4
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 178 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 420 g

Reihe: Genocide Studies

This memoir recalls Yervant Alexanian’s death-defying experiences in the center of the Armenian Genocide. Like other Armenians of his generation, he was an eyewitness to the massacre and dislocation of his family and fellow countrymen in Ottoman Turkey during World War I. Alexanian was conscripted into the Turkish army—but unlike others so conscripted, he survived.

Alexanian was forced to become an onlooker while he watched the atrocities unfold. His story of resourceful action and fateful turns is a suspenseful “insider’s account” of a Genocide survivor. From his singular position, Alexanian was able to document the tragedy of his people in his journals and diaries, but he also offers us a behind-the-scenes look into the motivations and actions of Turkish military officials as they committed the atrocities. His story continues after the war as we follow the trail of his journey through Europe and finally to America, where he found solace and was able to start anew with fellow survivors.

No comparable account exists in the literature of the Armenian Genocide. This edition, translated from Alexanian’s hand-written Armenian-language chronicle, includes never-before-seen documents and photos that the author preserved. Through his eyes we relive the astonishing cruelty of the Genocide’s perpetrators—but also rare, unexpected acts of humanity between victim and oppressor.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Alexanian, Adrienne G.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword Israel W. Charny

Introduction Sergio La Porta

Translator’s Preface Simon Beugekian

Memoirs of Yervant (Edward) Alexanian

Chapter 1: Childhood Early Life

Chapter 2: School Years

Chapter 3: Life in Sivas before Deportations

Chapter 4: Deportations and Genocide

Chapter 5: Life in the Army

Chapter 6: Istanbul

Chapter 7: America

Afterword

Final Thoughts (1953)

Appendix A: Reflections of Yervant Alexanian

Appendix B: Letters of Yervant Alexanian

Appendix C: Documents of Yervant Alexanian (Facsimile with English Transcript/Translation)

Timeline of Yervant N. Alexanian

Select Bibliography and Further Reading

Über Autor(innen)

Adrienne G. Alexanian is a 2010 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal, an educator, and the daughter of Yervant Alexanian. Sergio La Porta is Haig and Isabel Berberian Professor of Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno. Israel W. Charny is executive director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem and past editor of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Genocide.