Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy

by Bedros Haroian, Gillisann Harootunian (Editor)

Overview

Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy offers a first-hand account of momentous events in the 20th century: the Armenian Genocide, the first major genocide of the 20th century, and decisive World War I battles, such as the Battle of Sarikamish which was a turning point in the Caucasian Campaign. Sergeant Major Bedros Haroian is born in 1894 in Tadem, a remote village in the interior of the Ottoman Empire, which was the Caliphate and operating under Shari'a Law. The youth of Bedros Haroian prepared him for the life of a warrior. The Armenians were a despised Christian community within the Caliphate, and within one year of Haroian's birth, the Sultan Abdul Hamid will order the Great Massacres that devastate Haroian's family, village, and community. Haroian grows up an orphan in the cold and half-destroyed house of an older brother who takes him in. Haroian is impassioned to realize justice and reprisal for his Armenian community. When conscripted in WW I, he eagerly joins to gain the military skills that Armenians had long been denied under the Caliphate and to become part of an Ottoman Army that, once integrated, might be less easily deployed toward massacres of minorities in the Ottoman Empire. Haroian fights on the front lines, including the brutal Battle of Sarikamish. His observations on Enver Pasha, Minister of War, enhance insights in the disastrous leadership that led to the military debacle at Sarikamish. The humiliating defeat for the Ottoman Army leads to scapegoating of minority populations once again. Haroian finds himself regulated to a labor battalion along with other Armenian conscripts. He soon discovers his duties include burying—at gunpoint—the piles of corpses from the Armenian Genocide. Haroian realizes the Armenian soldiers will be slaughtered next. He escapes to the Underground Railroad of the Dersim Kurds, where he finds safety. He becomes trusted and joins the Kurds in their 1916 Dersim Rebellion. Armenian commanders in the Imperial Russian Army are seeking fighters for their battalions, and Haroian enlists. He travels to Tbilisi and first serves with the Russian Red Cross. The Russian Revolution in 1917 leads to the withdrawal of the Imperial Russian Army from the Caucasian Campaign, making extreme the need for the small band of Armenian units to fight for a homeland. Against staggering odds, the Armenians succeed in founding the First Republic of Armenian on 28 May 1918. Haroian dedicates himself to defending the new republic. He travels to Baku, where he is arrested and tortured. He manages to save his life, returns to Tbilisi, and serves in the British Army in Batum (a Black Sea port). At the end, Bedros Haroian joins the Armenian Legionnaires in the French Foreign Legion to protect the remnant Armenian community in southern Turkey. However, the French strike a lucrative bargain with the new Turkish National Movement under Kemal Ataturk and forcibly deport the Armenian Legionnaires. The Turkish National Movement embarks on finishing the job of liquidating the Armenian race. The survivors must find immediate money to pay huge bribes to officials and travel agents to escape to the United States or any safe haven available. Finally, Haroian's memoirs reveal he developed a condition that had neither a name nor a treatment at the time: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He escapes from Constantinople, but he cannot escape from the deep trauma of the past. His life compels him to write these memoirs, to search for meaning, for as Viktor Frankl, survivor of WW II concentration camps reveals, that is the only search allowing survivors of atrocities to believe in a different future. On 21 September 1991, Armenia regained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bedros Haroian died in 1967, 24 years before, never seeing this day but always believing in it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781737555810
Publisher:	BookBaby
Publication date:	03/11/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
File size:	13 MB
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About the Author

Sergeant Major Bedros Haroian was born in 1894 in Tadem, a remote village in the interior of the Ottoman Empire, which was the Caliphate and operating under Shari'a Law. The youth of Bedros Haroian prepared him for the life of a warrior. Within one year of Haroian's birth, the Sultan Abdul Hamid will order the Great Massacres of his Christian Armenian subjects that devastate Haroian's family, village, and community. He grows up an orphan in the cold and half-destroyed house of an older brother who takes him in. Haroian becomes impassioned to realize justice and reprisal for his Armenian community. He marries Anna Sahagian, and they have a daughter, Lalezar (Lily). When conscripted in WW I, he eagerly joins to gain the military skills that Armenians had long been denied under the Caliphate. Haroian fights on the front lines, including the brutal Battle of Sarikamish. The humiliating defeat for the Ottoman Army leads to the scapegoating of minority populations once again. Haroian finds himself regulated to a labor battalion along with other Armenian conscripts. He soon discovers his duties include burying—at gunpoint—the piles of corpses from the Armenian Genocide. Haroian realizes the Armenian soldiers will be slaughtered next. He escapes to the Underground Railroad of the Dersim Kurds, where he finds safety. He becomes trusted and joins the Kurds in their 1916 Dersim Rebellion. Soon, Armenian commanders in the Imperial Russian Army are seeking fighters for their battalions, and Haroian enlists. Against staggering odds, the Armenians succeed in founding the First Republic of Armenian on 28 May 1918. Haroian dedicates himself to defending the new republic. He travels to Baku, where he is arrested and tortured. He manages to save his life, and he returns to Tbilisi and serves in the British Army in Batum (a Black Sea port). At the end, he joins the Armenian Legionnaires in the French Foreign Legion to protect the remnant Armenian community in southern Turkey. However, the French strike a lucrative bargain with the new Turkish National Movement under Kemal Ataturk and forcibly deport the Armenian Legionnaires. Finally, the memoirs reveal Haroian developed a condition that had neither a name nor a treatment at the time: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He escapes from Constantinople, but he cannot escape from the deep trauma of the past. His life compels him to write these memoirs, to search for meaning, for as Viktor Frankl, survivor of WW II concentration camps reveals, that is the only search allowing survivors of atrocities to believe in a different future. Haroian immigrates to the United States. He has lost his first wife and child. He remarries and has four more children. Haroian dies in 1967, 24 years before Armenia regained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union, on 21 September 1991. Though Haroian did not live to see the rebirth of his nation, he lived always believing in it.Gillisann Harootunian, PhD, is Executive Director of University Initiatives at California State University, Fresno. She has helped to secure over $20 million to realize priority initiatives at the university. Harootunian served as a Fulbright Sr. Lecturer and Researcher to Brusov Linguistic University in Armenia, and later as the U.S. Project Director of a U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs "Freedom Support" educational exchange program with Brusov Linguistic University. She earned her B.S. in Communications from Boston University; her M.A. in Creative Writing from The City College of New York; and her PhD in English Literature from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Harootunian has authored multiple publications. She is a direct descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors.

Table of Contents

Dedication v

Editor's Foreword Gil Harootunian xi

Translation and Transmission of Manuscript xxii

Maps and Place Names xxvi

Person Naming Conventions xxxiii

Chapter 1 The Landscape of Tadem 1

The Monastery of Tadem 1

St. Hovhanes Church and St. Hovhanes Well 3

Theft of Church's Burnished Stones 4

Haroian Family Land Holdings: Hamarek Mountain to Norsoyents Gorge 6

Saint Sarkis Sanctuary 8

The Gardens of Tadem 9

Chapter 2 The Life of Tadem 13

The 1895 Great Massacres: The Carnage 13

The Yeniceri (Janisseries) 16

Local Heroes: Father Aharon, Father Hagop, and Mikael 16

Elisabeth Mentzoian Haroian: The Face That Provoked Two Assaults 19

The 1895 Great Massacres: The Long Aftermath 22

Chapter 3 Black Sky: A Teenage Boy in Tadem 25

New School Built by American Émigrés 26

Mapping Tadem 29

Historical Photograph: Armenian Village Clothing 34

Chapter 4 Revolution and Reprisal 37

The 1908 Young Turk Revolution 37

Armenian Revolutionary Federation: Open Political Parties 38

Revenge and Survival 41

Chapter 5 From Marseilles to Massachusetts 51

Sailing for America 51

Liverpool Limbo 56

America: Factories, Picnics, and Songs 59

Chapter 6 From Bolis [Constantinople] to Tadem 73

Armenian Intelligentsia: Krikor Zohrab, Avedis Aharonian, and Azadamard 75

The Big Secret Trip To Tadem 78

Chapter 7 The Wheat Harvest: A Young Man in Tadem 87

The Wheat Harvest 87

Marriage: Wife and Infant 89

Assassination Attempt 94

Chapter 8 World War I 98

Conscription into the Ottoman Army 98

Saying Good-bye to Tadem 105

Chapter 9 The Long March to the Russian Front 117

Military Zeal 117

Army on the Move 122

Chapter 10 The Battle of Sarikamish 128

A String of Ambushes 128

Enver Pasha's Chimera 136

The Battle of Sarikamish 137

Chapter 11 The 1915 Genocide 147

Forced Labor Battalions 148

The Keotur Bridge Killing Station 151

Flight for Life 161

Chapter 12 The Wreckage of Tadem 171

Chapter 13 New Allies and New Battles 186

Escape to the Dersim Kurds 186

The Dersim Rebellion 187

Chapter 14 Fighting for the New Democratic Republic of Armenia 198

The Russian Red Cross 200

Typhus Epidemic 203

The New Democratic Republic of Armenia 210

Torture in Baku 218

Chapter 15 The French Foreign Legion: The Armenian Legionnaires 225

Cold Snakes 228

The Politics of Death 233

Revenge and Survival 238

Chapter 16 The Battle of Injirlik 254

Multi-Party Politics 254

The Battle of Injirlik 257

A Farm in Flames 265

Famine Threatens 269

Chapter 17 The Routine of Death, Skirmishes, and Harvests 276

Guarding and Harvesting in Aptoli 278

The Battle of Chodu 281

Skirmish in Aptoli 295

Chapter 18 The Battle of Herekli 298

Names of Those Fallen 303

Names of Tadem Fighters 307

Chapter 19 The French Betrayal 313

Forced Shipping Out 315

Chapter 20 The Light 322

Afterword by Fatma Muge Göcek 336

Photographs 345

Bibliographic References 357

Endnotes 363

Index 428