ARMENIAN GOLGOTHA - A Memoir Of The Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918

Samstag, Mai 9, 2009

ARMENIAN GOLGOTHA by Grigoris Balakian.jpg

Grigoris Balakian (1876-1934), a cultural and religious leader in Istanbul's Armenian community, was arrested in April 1914 with 250 other leaders and began almost four years of deportation, forced march to the Syrian desert, and abusive treatment. Thus was launched the Turkish government's program to rid the country of Armenians. Hundreds of thousands were viciously murdered or died of cold and starvation, but Balakian's fierce will to live and his encounters with a few generous people allowed him to survive and tell the story. This memoir, which Balakian published in Armenian in 1922, vividly portrays Turkish brutality as it provides his and others' stories along with well-informed commentary on Turkey's actions. Peter Balakian (English, Colgate Univ.; The Burning Tigris), the author's grandnephew, has translated this rich historical document and provided scholarly support, making available a readable and moving account that will be welcomed by both the English-speaking Armenian community and a broader audience committed to witnessing and understanding the massive cruelty and suffering that characterized widespread crimes against humanity in the 20th century. Important for readers who want to judge whether or not this was the first genocide in modern times.

ARMENIAN GOLGOTHA
by Grigoris Balakian,
translated by Peter Balakian with Aris Sevag

Table of Contents


	Introduction	p. xiii
	Map	p. xxx
	Chronology	p. xxxiii
	Translator's Note	p. xliii
Volume I	The Life of an Exile July 1914-April 1916
Part I	July-October 1914
1	In Berlin Before the War	p. 5
2	In Berlin	p. 10
3	Return to Constantinople from Berlin	p. 22
Part II	The First Deportation, April 1915-February 1916
4	The General Condition of the Armenians at the Beginning of 1915	p. 31
5	The First Bad News from Cilicia: The Secret Messenger	p. 49
	Map	p. 54
6	The Night of Gethsemane	p. 56
7	Red Sunday	p. 58
8	Toward a Place of Exile: The Names of the Exiles in Ayash	p. 61
9	Life in Chankiri Armory: The Names of the Deportees in Chankiri	p. 68
10	Life of the Deportees in the City	p. 74
11	Plan for the Extinction of the Amenians in Turkey	p. 77
12	The Armenian Carnage in Ankara	p. 82
13	The Tragic End of Deportee Friends in Ayash	p. 90
14	The Tragic End of the Chankiri Deportees	p. 95
15	The Deportation and Killing of Zohrab and Vartkes	p. 103
16	The Armenians of Chankiri in the Days of Horror	p. 106
17	The General Condition of the Armenians at the Beginning of 1916	p. 117
18	Second Arrest and Imprisonment	p. 122
19	Departure from Chankiri to Choroum	p. 125
20	From Choroum to Yozgat	p. 131
21	From Yozgat to Boghazliyan: The Skulls	p. 134
Part III	The Second Deportation: The Caravan of Death to Der Zor, February-April 1916
22	The Confessions of a Slayer Captain	p. 139
23	Encountering Another Caravan of the Condemned	p. 150
24	From Boghazliyan to Kayseri: The Halys River Bridge and the Bandits of the Ittihad	p. 162
25	Kayseri to Tomarza	p. 170
26	Tomarza to Gazbel	p. 179
27	Gazbel to Hajin	p. 184
28	Hajin to Sis	p. 195
29	Sis to Garzbazar	p. 204
30	Garzbazar to Osmaniye	p. 216
31	Osmaniye to Hasanbeyli and Kanle-gechid	p. 220
32	Hasanbeyli to Islahiye: The Sweet Smell of Bread	p. 230
33	Islahiye: A Field of Mounds for Graves	p. 240
34	Bad News from Der Zor	p. 247
35	Escape from Islahiye to Ayran	p. 252
Volume II	The Life of a Fugitive April 1916-January 1919
Part I	In the Tunnels of Amanos
1	Escape on the Way to Ayran-Baghche (Vineyard)	p. 263
2	The Remnants of the Armenians in the Amanos Mountains	p. 268
3	Signs of Imminent New Storms	p. 272
4	The Treatment of the Armenians by the German Soldiers	p. 279
5	The Ghosts of Ten Thousand Armenian Women in the Deserts of Ras-ul-Ain	p. 282
6	The Deportation and Murder of the Armenian Workers of Amanos	p. 283
7	Bloodshed on the Way from Baghche to Marash: A German Nurse Goes Insane	p. 291
8	The Suffering of British Prisoners of War at Kut-al-Amara	p. 294
9	The Program of Forced Islamization: Escape from Baghche to Injirli	p. 298
10	In the Forests of Injirli: Escape from Amanos to Taurus	p. 302
Part II	In the Tunnels of the Taurus Mountains
	Map	p. 308
11	The Self-Sacrifice of the Armenian Workers of the Baghdad Railway	p. 311
12	Fragments of Armenians in the Taurus Mountains	p. 316
13	In the Deep Valley of Tashdurmaz	p. 319
14	Life in Belemedik	p. 322
15	The Deportation of Patriarch Zaven Der Yeghiayan from Constantinople to Baghdad	p. 326
16	Legions of Armenian Exiles in Konya and Bozanti	p. 331
17	Meeting Armenian Intellectuals on the Road to Belemedik	p. 335
18	Escape from Belemedik to Adana	p. 339
Part III	In Adana, January 1917-September 1918
19	The General Condition of the War at the Beginning of 1917	p. 347
20	A Mysterious Patient in Adana's German Hospital	p. 348
21	The Condition of the Remaining Armenians in Adana	p. 352
22	The Curse of Murdered Armenian Mothers	p. 356
23	The Natural Beauty of Cilicia: The Disguised Vine Grower	p. 357
24	The Clerk of the Office: Disappearance	p. 368
25	The General Condition of the Armenians at the Beginning of 1918	p. 370
26	The Turkish Army Invades the Caucasus, and the Armenians at Sardarabad	p. 374
27	The Declaration of the Armenian Republic	p. 378
28	The Hospital-Slaughterhouse of Turkish Soldiers	p. 380
29	The Victorious British Army Occupies Damascus: The Battle of Arara	p. 389
30	The National Vow of the Turks to Exterminate the Surviving Armenians: The General Massacre in Der Zor	p. 392
31	Escape from the Land of Blood	p. 398
32	The Disguised German Soldier Toward Constantinople: The Longing of a Mother	p. 404
33	Armistice: The Allied Fleet Victoriously Enters the Turkish Capital	p. 411
34	Did the Victors Come to Punish, or to Loot?	p. 416
35	The General Condition of Constantinople on the Eve of the Armistice	p. 421
36	Irrevocable Departure from Turkey: From Constantinople to Paris	p. 430
	Acknowledgments	p. 435
	Glossary	p. 437
	Biographical Glossary	p. 441
	Appendix: Author's Preface	p. 453
	Map	p. 458
	Notes	p. 461
	Bibliography