The Agony of a People
Haig Toroyan's Eyewitness Account of the Armenian Genocide
Published on 20. February 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
200 pages
978-0-7556-5431-4 (ISBN)
Description
Haig Toroyan's account of his journey from Dikranagerd (Diyarbakir in modern-day southeastern Turkey) along the Euphrates River to Mesopotamia and Iran is a unique and hauntingly detailed account of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
Recounting first the ominous final months of 1914, Toroyan is employed in Jarabalus by a sympathetic German Army Sergeant, Otto Oehlmann, as his assistant and interpreter, on a mission to transport arms to Iran. Posing as a Syrian Catholic Arab, Toroyan keeps notes on the atrocities he sees being committed against his own people but knows he cannot reveal his true ethnicity. He records the stories of the refugees he meets, as well as the conversations he can have with Turkish soldiers, unaware they are speaking with an Armenian.
In the summer of 1916, Haiyg Toroyan told his story to celebrated Armenian writer Zabel Yessayan, who had herself escaped from the round-up of intellectuals in Istanbul in April 1915. Yessayan published his testimony in 1917 in Western Armenian.
With this translation, Haig Toroyan's testimony, the first full-length eyewitness account of the Armenian Genocide ever published in Armenian in the wake of 1915, is available in English for the first time.
Recounting first the ominous final months of 1914, Toroyan is employed in Jarabalus by a sympathetic German Army Sergeant, Otto Oehlmann, as his assistant and interpreter, on a mission to transport arms to Iran. Posing as a Syrian Catholic Arab, Toroyan keeps notes on the atrocities he sees being committed against his own people but knows he cannot reveal his true ethnicity. He records the stories of the refugees he meets, as well as the conversations he can have with Turkish soldiers, unaware they are speaking with an Armenian.
In the summer of 1916, Haiyg Toroyan told his story to celebrated Armenian writer Zabel Yessayan, who had herself escaped from the round-up of intellectuals in Istanbul in April 1915. Yessayan published his testimony in 1917 in Western Armenian.
With this translation, Haig Toroyan's testimony, the first full-length eyewitness account of the Armenian Genocide ever published in Armenian in the wake of 1915, is available in English for the first time.
Reviews / Votes
Minassian delivers a hauntingly beautiful English translation of this important document that at once shocks and moves its readers to confront the unspeakable atrocities witnessed by Haig Toroyan, who traversed several deportation routes during the Armenian genocide. First recorded by the prolific writer Zabel Yesayan, Toroyan's testimony arrives here to the Anglophone world in the raw and unfiltered quality of its original, which itself mimics the urgency of the oral account. Agony of a People will become an invaluable source for scholars of genocide, trauma, and Armenian studies. * Talar Chahinian, Lecturer, University of California, Irvine, USA *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
2 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
314 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7556-5431-4 (9780755654314)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Zabel Yesayan was a prominent Armenian writer and intellectual whose many novels and non-fiction works include In the Ruins, her account of the Adana massacres.
Arakel Minassian is a PhD candidate at at the University of Michigan, USA
Arakel Minassian is a PhD candidate at at the University of Michigan, USA
Content
List of Figures
Editor's Acknowledgments
Translator's Preface
Translating Hokevark or the Untranslatable Life-form Maral Aktokmakyan
Between the Lines: Haig Toroyan's Testimony and the Armenian Genocide Elyse Semerdjian
Note on Transliteration
Introduction by Zabel Yesayan
Chapter 1: Dikranagerd, November 1914. Economic Boycott. The Burning of the Bazaar. Military Requisitions and Mobilization.
Chapter 2: Jarabulus, December 1914 to November 12th, 1915. The Condition of the Armenians Until February 1915. The First Signs of Enmity. The Attempt to Massacre 2,000 Armenian Workers. The Incident of the Loggers.
Chapter 3: The Deportations in Cilicia: Zeytun, Doert-yol (Chork Marzvan). Hajn. Aintab.
Chapter 4: The Story of a Wealthy Village. The Sight of the Arriving Refugees. The Collapsed Woman. Nighttime Assaults. A Complaint to the Turkish Authorities.
Chapter 5: An Armenian Mother. Children Are Sold Off. The Role of a Greek Woman.
Chapter 6: The Distribution of Bread. The First Corpses on the Euphrates. Seventy Children Drowned.
Chapter 7: Episodes from the Deportations of Armenians from Armenia. Dikranagerd. Mardin. In Resulayn. In Tell Abyad. In Edessa Arap Pinar.
Chapter 8: The Plain of Suruc/Suruj Plain (Armenian cemetery). Jarabulus' Bazaar. The Image of the Nizib khan.
Chapter 9: The Transportation of the Population by Train. Water... Water... A Woman from Yerznga, and the Deportation of Yerznga. The Story of Chemeshgadzak.
Chapter 10: The Deported Population on Foot Towards Aleppo. A Bride's Escape. The passage of Seventy Armenians from Erzrum (the Deportation of Erzrum).
Chapter 11: Groups of Armenians passing through Birecik. Murad, Murad, You Have Fulfilled Our Wishes.
Chapter 12: Aleppo. Turkish and Armenian Committees for Settling the Deportees. The Behaviour of Aleppo's Armenian Population. The Condition of Aleppo's Armenian Population. A General Picture. The Passage of the Armenian Intellectuals. Zohrab and Vartkes.
Chapter 13: The Edessa (Urfa) Resistance. The First Steps of Deportation. The Armenians Are in Revolt. Negotiations. A Turkish Army Besieges the Armenian Quarter. 15 Days of Fighting. Edessa Ruined. The Former Situation.
Chapter 14: A Wedding Among the Kurds. A Temporary Order Concerning the Property of the Exiled Armenians. The Birecik Armenians Convert to Islam, yet are Still Deported. The Words of a Turkish Soldier from Marash.
Chapter 15: The Turks' Suspicious Attitude Towards Me and the Other Local Armenians. Jarabulus' 's The German Hospital at Jarabulus. Captain Otto Oehlmann, a German Officer. My Departure.
Chapter 16: Meskene. The Teacher. Towards Raqqa
Chapter 17: Raqqa. The Armenian Cemetery. The Sight of the People Gone Mad in the Field. The State of the Exiles on the Left Bank in Raqqa. The Burial of a Girl.
Chapter 18: Towards Deir ez-Zor. Marash's Armenian Villagers. The Image of the Population on the Banks of the Euphrates. A Second Meeting with a Group of Armenian Exiles.
Chapter 19: Deir ez-Zor. Meeting with the Colonel. The Market. A Girl from Mezere. Before the Pharmacy.
Chapter 20: Towards Aney. Aney. An Old Man Loses Consciousness. The Market.
Chapter 21: Towards Hadise. Hadise. The Price of Freeing an Armenian Girl.
Chapter 22: Hit. The Students of Aintab's Seminary. The Market. An Armenian Girl is Requested from Baghdad.
Chapter 23: Ramadi. 300 Armenians from Zeytun in a cave. The Conduct of an Arab Baker. Fallujah. The Story of a Wealthy Armenian Family.
Chapter 24: Baghdad. 49 Armenians Are Deported. The Gallows. The Armenians' Situation. The German Consul's Resistance. The Words of Halil Pasha.
Chapter 25: Towards Persia. The Arabs Steal Two Trunks of Weapons. We Cross the Border. The German Officer Takes to Illness. He Goes Mad. Towards Kermanshah. The German Officer Commits Suicide. The Russians Capture Kermanshah, and I go to the Caucasus
Afterword: Testimony and Authorship: Zabel Yesayan's The Agony of a People, Marc Nichanian
Editor's Acknowledgments
Translator's Preface
Translating Hokevark or the Untranslatable Life-form Maral Aktokmakyan
Between the Lines: Haig Toroyan's Testimony and the Armenian Genocide Elyse Semerdjian
Note on Transliteration
Introduction by Zabel Yesayan
Chapter 1: Dikranagerd, November 1914. Economic Boycott. The Burning of the Bazaar. Military Requisitions and Mobilization.
Chapter 2: Jarabulus, December 1914 to November 12th, 1915. The Condition of the Armenians Until February 1915. The First Signs of Enmity. The Attempt to Massacre 2,000 Armenian Workers. The Incident of the Loggers.
Chapter 3: The Deportations in Cilicia: Zeytun, Doert-yol (Chork Marzvan). Hajn. Aintab.
Chapter 4: The Story of a Wealthy Village. The Sight of the Arriving Refugees. The Collapsed Woman. Nighttime Assaults. A Complaint to the Turkish Authorities.
Chapter 5: An Armenian Mother. Children Are Sold Off. The Role of a Greek Woman.
Chapter 6: The Distribution of Bread. The First Corpses on the Euphrates. Seventy Children Drowned.
Chapter 7: Episodes from the Deportations of Armenians from Armenia. Dikranagerd. Mardin. In Resulayn. In Tell Abyad. In Edessa Arap Pinar.
Chapter 8: The Plain of Suruc/Suruj Plain (Armenian cemetery). Jarabulus' Bazaar. The Image of the Nizib khan.
Chapter 9: The Transportation of the Population by Train. Water... Water... A Woman from Yerznga, and the Deportation of Yerznga. The Story of Chemeshgadzak.
Chapter 10: The Deported Population on Foot Towards Aleppo. A Bride's Escape. The passage of Seventy Armenians from Erzrum (the Deportation of Erzrum).
Chapter 11: Groups of Armenians passing through Birecik. Murad, Murad, You Have Fulfilled Our Wishes.
Chapter 12: Aleppo. Turkish and Armenian Committees for Settling the Deportees. The Behaviour of Aleppo's Armenian Population. The Condition of Aleppo's Armenian Population. A General Picture. The Passage of the Armenian Intellectuals. Zohrab and Vartkes.
Chapter 13: The Edessa (Urfa) Resistance. The First Steps of Deportation. The Armenians Are in Revolt. Negotiations. A Turkish Army Besieges the Armenian Quarter. 15 Days of Fighting. Edessa Ruined. The Former Situation.
Chapter 14: A Wedding Among the Kurds. A Temporary Order Concerning the Property of the Exiled Armenians. The Birecik Armenians Convert to Islam, yet are Still Deported. The Words of a Turkish Soldier from Marash.
Chapter 15: The Turks' Suspicious Attitude Towards Me and the Other Local Armenians. Jarabulus' 's The German Hospital at Jarabulus. Captain Otto Oehlmann, a German Officer. My Departure.
Chapter 16: Meskene. The Teacher. Towards Raqqa
Chapter 17: Raqqa. The Armenian Cemetery. The Sight of the People Gone Mad in the Field. The State of the Exiles on the Left Bank in Raqqa. The Burial of a Girl.
Chapter 18: Towards Deir ez-Zor. Marash's Armenian Villagers. The Image of the Population on the Banks of the Euphrates. A Second Meeting with a Group of Armenian Exiles.
Chapter 19: Deir ez-Zor. Meeting with the Colonel. The Market. A Girl from Mezere. Before the Pharmacy.
Chapter 20: Towards Aney. Aney. An Old Man Loses Consciousness. The Market.
Chapter 21: Towards Hadise. Hadise. The Price of Freeing an Armenian Girl.
Chapter 22: Hit. The Students of Aintab's Seminary. The Market. An Armenian Girl is Requested from Baghdad.
Chapter 23: Ramadi. 300 Armenians from Zeytun in a cave. The Conduct of an Arab Baker. Fallujah. The Story of a Wealthy Armenian Family.
Chapter 24: Baghdad. 49 Armenians Are Deported. The Gallows. The Armenians' Situation. The German Consul's Resistance. The Words of Halil Pasha.
Chapter 25: Towards Persia. The Arabs Steal Two Trunks of Weapons. We Cross the Border. The German Officer Takes to Illness. He Goes Mad. Towards Kermanshah. The German Officer Commits Suicide. The Russians Capture Kermanshah, and I go to the Caucasus
Afterword: Testimony and Authorship: Zabel Yesayan's The Agony of a People, Marc Nichanian