- Title
- On the Verge of Death and Survival: Krikor Bogharian’s Diary
- Creator
- Kurt, Ümit
- Relation
- Documenting the Armenian Genocide: Essays in Honor of Taner Akçam p. 123-143
- Relation
- Palgrave Studies in the History of Genocide Part F2006
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36753-3_7
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2024
- Description
- In recent decades, much important work has been done on the Armenian deportation and genocide that draws on previously inaccessible Ottoman archival materials. However, in the process, there has been a corresponding tendency to downplay, either explicitly or through neglect, the value of largely untapped Armenian-language source materials, including personal memoirs and diaries. Until recently, few researchers in this area have possessed the language skills to hone in on both Armenian-language and Ottoman Turkish-language materials, and as a result, scholars who rely predominantly on one set of sources have tended to marginalize the other. A more well-rounded approach that is able to make use of sources in various languages can only benefit the field. This chapter builds on one such source, a diary, written by a young Krikor Bogharian (1897–1975), who takes us to early twentieth-century Aintab, modern-day Gaziantep, fifty-five kilometers to the west of the Euphrates and forty-five kilometers to the north of the modern Turkish-Syrian border. The Armenian deportation is examined through the first-person account of an Armenian from the city of Aintab. This chapter, based on the diary entries Bogharian penned as he struggled through this disastrous time, sheds light on the deportation experiences of Aintab Armenians. While sharing the tales of extraordinary suffering faced by ordinary people who were exiled and annihilated, it narrates the stories of those who survived to tell their tale as they trekked through the desert under unimaginable conditions. The chapter presents detailed information about both the personal and the family life of Bogharian, in addition to the suffering endured by his fellow deportees. Drawing on a valuable non-state primary source, this chapter explores what being a survivor entailed in a genocidal moment.
- Subject
- Armenian genocide; Krikor Bogharian; deportation; genocide
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1498349
- Identifier
- uon:54532
- Identifier
- ISBN:9783031367526
- Language
- eng
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