Germany, Turkey, and Armenia: A Selection of Documentary Evidence Relating to the Armenian Atrocities from German and other Sources — John Shaqi
Germany, Turkey, and Armenia: A Selection of Documentary Evidence Relating to the Armenian Atrocities from German and other SourcesAnonymous
History
Germany, Turkey, and Armenia: A Selection of Documentary Evidence Relating to the Armenian Atrocities from German and other Sources
Anonymous
Armenian question; World War, 1914-1918 -- Armenia
Next day there was a regular battue through the cornfields. (The corn
was then standing, and many Armenians had hidden in it.)
From that time on, convoys of exiles were continually arriving, all on
their way to the slaughter; we have no doubt about their fate, after
the unanimous testimony which we have received from many different
quarters. Later, our Greek driver told us that the victims had their
hands tied behind their backs, and were thrown down from the cliffs
into the river. This method was employed when the numbers were too
great to dispose of them in any other fashion. It was also easier work
for the murderers. Sister B. and I, of course, began at once to think
what we could do, and we decided to travel with one of these convoys
to Harpout. We did not know yet that the massacre on the road had been
ordered by the Government, and we also thought that we could check the
brutality of the gendarmes and stave off the assaults of the Kurds,
since we speak Kurdish and have some influence over the tribesmen....
We then telegraphed to the Consul at Erzeroum, telling him that we
had been dismissed from the hospital, and urging him, in the interests
of Germany, to come to Erzindjan. He wired back: "Impossible to leave
my post. Wait for Austrians, who are due to pass here the 22nd June."
On the evening of the 17th June, we went out for a walk with Mr. C.,
the druggist of the Red Cross Staff. He was as much horrified as we
were at the cruelties that were being perpetrated.... On our walk
we met a gendarme, who told us that, ten minutes' distance away, a
large convoy of exiles from Baibourt had halted. He narrated to us,
with appalling vividness, how one by one the men had been massacred
and cast into the depths of the gorge. [14]
He told how, at each village, the women had been violated; how he
himself had desired to take a girl, but had been told that already she
was no longer a maid; how children had had their brains battered out
when they cried or hindered the march. "There were the naked bodies
of three girls; I buried them to do a good deed," was the remark with
which he concluded his story.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account