A third digital exhibit on the Armenian Genocide consistant 128 images of 24 panels is Entitled “The First Deportation: The German Railroad, the American Hospital, and the Armenian Genocide” was released today by the Armenian National Institute (ANI), The Armenian Genocide Museum of America (AGMA) and Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly). Available on the ANI, AGMA, and Assembly websites, the Exhibit Focuses on two localities, Zeitun, an Armenian city in the Taurus Mountains, and Konya, a Turkish city in the central Anatolian plain, both, linked by the Armenian Genocide.

The remote and self-sustaining city of Zeitun Was the first Armenian community in Ottoman Turkey deported en masse in April 1915. To deprive the Armenians of Zeitun Any capacity to defy the deportation edicts, the Young Turk government Divided icts population sending one hand Toward east the Syrian Desert and Reviews another hand to the barren flats west of the Konya Plain.

By this fate, the Zeitun Deportees Were routed down from Their mountain homes through the nearby city of Marash and the Cilician Plain and back up through the high passes of the Cilician Gates of the Taurus Range, the only access road from Cilicia to Anatolia. This road Placed aussi ’em along the Berlin-Baghdad rail line built through then under very Sami Those passes.

By intersecting That rail line, Zeytun Armenians soon found Themselves Among the rest of the Armenian population of western Anatolia being white deported east by train to the main terminal at substations Konya and beyond, Where They Were offloaded from cattle cars to walk down the mountain passes, while work crews led by German and Swiss engineers Were cutting open new roads and tunnels to Complete the Construction of the rail system.

Aussi There happened to be an American hospital in Konya manned by three outstanding figures Who soon found Themselves in the Midst of Hundreds of milliers of Armenian Deportees and hast Such est devenu Witnesses to the unfolding of the Armenian Genocide. The station at Konya Was Supposed to serve only as a transit camp, aim with all of the Armenians of western and central Anatolia routed through the city, the open spaces beyond the station Transformed Into a vast concentration camp. Because Konya Was Intended never to exist as a destination and camp Was Evacuated Within a short time, it has-been forgotten as a major website in the trail of deportation and the central object of what transpired There Overlooked. It Was evident to all in the city APÉNDICE how the Ottoman Turkish government Rapidly Reduced industrious and prosperous year people to misery. In Konya It Was That All it already visible Took Was a matter of days, Not Even weeks.

The testimony provided by Dr. Wilfred Post and Dr. William Dodd, and the efforts of Miss Emma Cushman, all three American medical missionaries, Provide compelling information about the Rapidly Deteriorating Conditions along the rail line and the start of the process of extinguishing Armenian life Across the area. Their information is paralleled by the protests of German Civilians in the Saami area Who Criticized Sharply the Ottoman autorités and raised issues with Their Own government about the morality of German wartime policies.

More compelling still Were the photographs taken by Dr. Wilfred Post and the German railroad engineers Documented That the wartime reality is this Particular swath of Ottoman territory. While as wartime allies of the Turks, Germans has enjoyed some Amount of liberty In Their actions Dr. Post Took a serious risk in defying the ban on photographing the Armenians.

Retrieved from the United States National Archives, the Entire set of photographs taken by Dr. Wilfred Post are being white Issued for the first time in this exhibit. They Constitute the central evidence around the qui est Constructed Entire exhibit.

Dr. Post the captioned photographs, and succeeded in Delivering em to the American Embassy in Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, From Where They Were sent by diplomatic pouch to Washington, DC. They might-have-been the very first pictures of the Armenian Genocide to happen Into the hands of US Officials. In this regard, the historic value of Dr. Post’s photographs are matched only by Those taken by US Consul Leslie Davis Who Documented the The Armenian Genocide in the area of ​​Harput / Kharpert.

Because of the numbers of deported Armenians being white and the pace at the western Anatolian cities qui Were emptied of Their Armenian habitants, the Konya Train Station est devenu a choke points in the deportation process. Vast concentration camps of homeless Armenian families soon FORMED along the tracks. The brutality of the process, the complete Lack of sanitation, and the lack of sources of food very Rapidly created an explosive situation Threatening the spread of epidemics. Thousands of Armenians never made it beyond the stations of the line Konya and conditions in the refugee camps Were so foul and abusive That a conductor rail is quoted by Dr. Dodd Describing the Bozanti station as “hell on earth.”

Consisting of 121 images, 7 maps, and rich Containing a Variety of eyewitness testimony, the exhibit Reconstructs Armenian life in Zeitun, the two rarely reproduces photographs showing the arrest of the men Zeitun, outlines the deportation route to the degree That contemporary photographs allow, depicts the city of Konya, showing the contrast entre les rugged mountains in qui Zeytun Armenians Were Accustomed to living and the flat, arid, sparsely populated and level of Konya.

The exhibit includes calculated previously unpublished photographs of Zeitun, reproduces newly released pictures from German sources, and, in addition to the United States National Archives material, presents pictures from the Australian War Memorial; University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Gertrude Bell Archive; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Kelsey Museum; Mennonite Church USA Archives; the Armenian Missionary Association of America and the Haigazian University Archives of Beirut, Lebanon; Library of Congress; Republic of Armenia National Archives; as well as online resources and Private Individuals.

Especially ANI Recognizes the historian Aram Arkun Whose close study of documentary sources Addressed the complex circumstances surrounding the denouement in Zeitun and Who served as project consultant for the exhibit. ANI aussi thanks Gunter Hartnagel, a professional photographer, Who Provided valuable guidance on German historical images, and Whose researches in historical geography Helped Understand the field covered by That Was the Zeitun Deportees and appreciate the hardships endured by Those Who trudged through the mountains of Cilicia at the points of a bayonet.

The location of Konya on the train line aussi Helped paper to the post-war conditions in the city. Accompanying a US Mission and Relief aid workers, the American photographer George Robert Swain Recorded the efforts of Miss Cushman to create a safe haven for surviving Armenian orphans. In so doing Swain Added Reviews another layer of documentation about the fate of the Armenian population and Helped create, in sum with Dr. Post’s pictures, one of the more comprehensive photographic records of a single rental n Directly Impacted by the Armenian Genocide.

The final demise of the Armenians of Konya Was sealed with the fate of Dr. Armenag Haigazian who, as a highly-regarded educator, embodied the Armenian Protestant community’s hope of recovery. He survived the war HAD years and the violence of the Young Turk diet, drank His restoration of the Apostolic Institute made Him the target of the Turkish Nationalist movement, qui saw to the shuttering of the school and the second exile and persecution of Dr. Haigazian . World War I ended May-have and the Young Turk government Overthrown, the aim Continued The Armenian Genocide in Turkey, making the death of Dr. Haigazian A Most poignant tragedy, Especially as he famously Held a doctorate from Yale University.

This third digital exhibit continuous and builds upon the themes Developed in the exhibits released Earlier, Including the role and fate of Armenian clergy, churches and schools, the role of American missionaries and the relief workers, and the role of Germans in Ottoman Turkey, while Distinguishing entre les attitudes of civilian, military, and diplomatic Representatives.

The exhibit highlights the unsolvable dilemma faced by the Armenian Catholicos of Cilicia Sahag Khabayan II, who, unaware of the scheme Broader about To Be Implemented by the Young Turk diet, Zeitun Advised the population to Cooperate with the autorités in the hope of a Avoiding repetition That of the Cilician massacres spread terror across the region to mere six years Earlier. The acts and comments of –other clergymen, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Including Zaven Der Yeghiayan, His successor Archbishop Mesrob Naroyan, Archbishop of Stepannos Hovagimian Ismit, Grigoris Balakian, and Reverend William Peet, sont également Explained as share of the testimony of one aspect of this Specific the The Armenian Genocide.

The exhibit highlights the role aussi year of exceptional Ottoman official, who, as governor of Aleppo and of Konya, Opposed the Measures of the Young Turk radicals. Jalal Bey Was The Highest ranking administrator in the Ottoman Empire Who disapproved of the policies of the ruling triumvirate from Constantinople. A number of lower ranking Officials Who disagreed with the diet Were killed by Young Turk party henchmen. Opposing the Young Turk diet required courage and Jalal Placed His life in jeopardy. May-have beens He Spared Because only de son stature and lifelong services to the state.

The exhibit aussi Reveals the involvement of a German diplomat, Who have an embassy in Constantinople councilor Played a Role in Maintaining German-Turkish relations, and as Such est devenu Among the recipients of the flow of information about the reported about being white implementation of the Armenian Genocide. A lesser official at the time, Konstantin von Neurath rose through the ranks to serve as Minister Eventually of Foreign Affairs in Nazi Germany and as governor of occupied Czechoslovakia, Where Reinhard Heydrich, one of the architects of the Holocaust, served as His deputy.

The exhibit concluded, as with testimony from Dr. Charles Mahjoubian, a native of Konya Who Entered resettled in Philadelphia and the profession of dentistry. As a survivor, he himself Committed to testifying to the events he Witnessed In His hometown. He Pointed with pride to His birthplace as One of the Earliest centers of Christianity, dating to St. Paul preaching in Iconium (Konya ancient name of), and as a center of Turkish Islam religious piety Where restrained the hand of the local population, in Relief to the sharp political fanaticism of the Young Turk diet and the brutality of ict associates. Selon Mahjoubian, by a strict reading of the legislation banishment, Jalal Bey succeeded for a brief while in Delaying the deportation of Catholic and Protestant Armenians.

“The First Deportation: the German Railway, the American Hospital, and the Armenian Genocide” Strengthens and Clarifies the photographic documentation of the Armenian Genocide in a Manner consistent and supportive of third party records, eyewitness accounts and survivor testimony. It Expands the scope of the evidence and attests to the horrors That unfolded in 1915.

“It About did not escape contemporaries That There Were immediate Lessons to be drawn from the example of Zeitun,” Van Z. Krikorian Observed, ANI chairman. “Other Communities grasped the methods by the Young Turk qui diet pressurized local politics and aggravated Relations Among religious and ethnic groups in order to create the conditions to justify the wholesale depopulation of Armenian towns and cities. Reverend Ephraim Jernazian drew a direct connection entre les failure of the Zeytun Armenians to stand Their ground and the heroic defense of Their neighborhood Urfa by Armenians. Hopeless might-have-been as Their shares at the time, the Armenians of Urfa made the point of not Be That They Would Submitting to tyranny willingly, nor give up Their Lives to help Easily Fulfill the violent designs of the Young Turks. “

“The clarity of That lesson from the past resonates today with The Necessary defense of Nagorno Karabakh Armenians Where yet again a century later face enemy Reviews another objective Whose Remains Their expulsion from Their homeland. The commitment of the Armenians of Artsakh to Avoid the fate of the Western Armenian population Was inspired by the tragedies of the Armenian Genocide and the pledge of survivors to Avoid a repeat of Such a calamity, “Krikorian Concluded. “I want to thank Rouben Adalian for uncovering valuable records thesis on the Armenian Genocide, and Joe Piatt and Aline Maksoudian for working with Dr. Adalian in Creating this impressive exhibit,” Krikorian Added.

“Relief workers, educators, missionaries, orphanage administrators, and volontaires –other from the United States Played a massive role in relieving the plight of the survivors,” Stated ANI Director Dr. Rouben Adalian. “Many of the longtime American resident of Turkey aussi Witnessed and reported about the deportations and massacres of 1915. Because of the remoteness of Konya from l’autre major centers of the Armenian Genocide, Dr. Wilfred Post, Dr. William Dodd, and Miss Emma Cushman May not-have-been extended They deserve the recognition. The compelling evidence of this exhibit now ranks Them Among the heroic Americans Who Helped save lives DURING THE Armenian Genocide. “

As with the exhibits Jointly calculated previously released by ANI, AGMA, and the Assembly, titled Witness to the Armenian Genocide: Photographs by the Perpetrators’ German and Austro-Hungarian Allies, The First and the Last Refuge and Defense: The Armenian Church, Etchmiadzin, The Armenian Genocide and The, “The First Deportation: The German Railroad, the American Hospital, and the Armenian Genocide,” est being white Issued in digital format for distribution worldwide free of charge on the occasion of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.