The Armenian Genocide
Ottoman troops guard Armenians being deported. Ottoman Empire, 1915–16. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
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The plight of the Armenians triggered an unprecedented public philanthropic response in the United States. Many private American citizens were active in providing relief for Armenian survivors. This poster illustrates the "Lest We Perish" campaign of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East to raise $30,000,000 for relief in Armenia, Greece, Syria, and Persia. Text on the poster also indicates that Cleveland H. Dodge was the treasurer of the committee, which was located at One Madison Ave, New York. —Library of Congress More
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Three young Armenian girls, one holding a basket of roses. (From left to right: Rebecca H. Hazarian, Yevnige Hazarian, Araxi Hazarian; daughters of Hagop Hazarian). Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey), ca. 1912. —Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts, Courtesy of Haroutune Hazarian
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Portrait of an Armenian family. Pictured are Elbis Jeknavorian, Ohanjan Chitjian and their three children. Ordu, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), 1905. —Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts, Courtesy of Jack Chitjian
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Portrait of an Armenian family. Pictured are the Selian and Gulbenkian families. A nursemaid holds the baby. Mersin, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), 1906. —Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts, Courtesy of Missak Selian
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An Armenian couple poses with their young child. Ottoman Empire, before 1915. —Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts, Courtesy of Armen Matossian
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Ottoman military forces march Armenian men from Kharput to an execution site outside the city. Photograph taken by Armin T. Wegner. Wegner served as a nurse with the German Sanitary Corps. In 1915 and 1916, Wegner traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire and documented atrocities carried out against the Armenians. Kharput, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), March–June 1915. —Republic of Armenia National Archives, courtesy of the Armenian National Institute; Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts, Courtesy of anonymous donor
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Armenian children lie in the street of an unidentified town. Photograph taken by Armin T. Wegner. Wegner served as a nurse with the German Sanitary Corps. In 1915 and 1916, Wegner traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire and documented atrocities carried out against the Armenians. —© Armenian National Institute, Inc., courtesy of Sybil Stevens (daughter of Armin T. Wegner). Wegner Collection, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach & United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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Ottoman troops guard Armenians being deported. Ottoman Empire, 1915–16. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
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A small group of Armenian deportees walking through the Taurus Mountain region, carrying bundles. A woman in the foreground carries a child. Ottoman Empire, ca. November 1915. Photograph taken by Armin T. Wegner. Wegner served as a nurse with the German Sanitary Corps. In 1915 and 1916, Wegner traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire and documented atrocities carried out against the Armenians. —© Armenian National Institute, Inc., courtesy of Sybil Stevens (daughter of Armin T. Wegner). Wegner Collection, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach & United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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A line of Armenian refugees, predominantly women and children, walking toward Kharput. Ottoman Empire, ca. 1915. Photograph taken by Leslie A. Davis. Davis was one of 13 American consuls stationed in the Ottoman Empire. Many of these diplomats were eyewitnesses to atrocities and sent dispatches to the US ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau Sr. While traveling by horseback in eastern Anatolia, Davis documented forced marches and massacre sites. —Laurence MacDaniels papers, #21-25-815. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
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Armenian refugees near Kharput, Ottoman Empire, ca. 1915. Photograph taken by Leslie A. Davis. Davis was one of 13 American consuls stationed in the Ottoman Empire. Many of these diplomats were eyewitnesses to atrocities and sent dispatches to the US ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau Sr. While traveling by horseback in eastern Anatolia, Davis documented forced marches and massacre sites. —Laurence MacDaniels papers, #21-25-815. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
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Photograph showing Near East relief efforts: Armenian orphans board a barge at Constantinople, bound for Greece. ca. 1915. —Library of Congress More
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1918 Poster titled "They Shall Not Perish." Depicts a girl who symbolized the Near East, clinging to woman with sword and US flag, symbolizing America. American Committee for Relief in the Near East campaign to raise money for Armenia, Greece, Syria, and Persia. —Library of Congress More
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American Comittee for Armenian and Syrian relief poster, ca. 1917–19: "You won't let me starve will you? I am little Shushan from Armenia. My home has been destroyed, Father was taken away, Mother starved because she gave me all the food...." Across the United States, religious and civic groups raised over $100 million to aid Armenian refugees. —National Archives and Records Administration More
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Armenian Refugees. Ottoman Empire, 1918–1920. —© Photothèque CICR (DR) / s.n.
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An Armenian woman and her child sit on a sidewalk next to a bundle of their possessions. Ottoman Empire, 1918–1920. —© Photothèque CICR (DR) / s.n.
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An Armenian refugee, wearing a scarf and a pack on her back. Ottoman Empire. 1918-1920. —© Photothèque CICR (DR) / s.n.
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President Calvin Coolidge and others standing on a rug presented by Near East Relief committee. The rug was woven by Armenian orphans in gratitude for American relief efforts. Washington, DC, December 1925. —Library of Congress More
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Studio portrait of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Sr. seated with a book in his study. Morgenthau was US ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during World War I and was a strong advocate in defense of Armenians. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Henry Morgenthau
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Memorandum of January 16, 1944, meeting between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. about rescuing Jews from Nazi-dominated Europe, with reference to the Armenian genocide. —Diaries of Henry Morgenthau, Jr., April 27, 1933–July 27, 1945. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York. More
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Portrait of Henry Morgenthau Jr. at his desk in the US Department of the Treasury. Inspired by his father's actions during the Armenian genocide, Morgenthau Jr. was a key advocate for the 1944 establishment of the War Refugee Board which rescued as many as 200,000 Jews from Nazi Europe. Washington, DC, 1941–44. —National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
The plight of the Armenians triggered an unprecedented public philanthropic response in the United States. Many private American citizens were active in providing relief for Armenian survivors. This poster illustrates the "Lest We Perish" campaign of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East to raise $30,000,000 for relief in Armenia, Greece, Syria, and Persia. Text on the poster also indicates that Cleveland H. Dodge was the treasurer of the committee, which was located at One Madison Ave, New York. —Library of Congress More
Three young Armenian girls, one holding a basket of roses. (From left to right: Rebecca H. Hazarian, Yevnige Hazarian, Araxi Hazarian; daughters of Hagop Hazarian). Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey), ca. 1912. —Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts, Courtesy of Haroutune Hazarian
Portrait of an Armenian family. Pictured are Elbis Jeknavorian, Ohanjan Chitjian and their three children. Ordu, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), 1905. —Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts, Courtesy of Jack Chitjian
Portrait of an Armenian family. Pictured are the Selian and Gulbenkian families. A nursemaid holds the baby. Mersin, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), 1906. —Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts, Courtesy of Missak Selian
An Armenian couple poses with their young child. Ottoman Empire, before 1915. —Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts, Courtesy of Armen Matossian
Ottoman military forces march Armenian men from Kharput to an execution site outside the city. Photograph taken by Armin T. Wegner. Wegner served as a nurse with the German Sanitary Corps. In 1915 and 1916, Wegner traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire and documented atrocities carried out against the Armenians. Kharput, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), March–June 1915. —Republic of Armenia National Archives, courtesy of the Armenian National Institute; Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts, Courtesy of anonymous donor
Armenian children lie in the street of an unidentified town. Photograph taken by Armin T. Wegner. Wegner served as a nurse with the German Sanitary Corps. In 1915 and 1916, Wegner traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire and documented atrocities carried out against the Armenians. —© Armenian National Institute, Inc., courtesy of Sybil Stevens (daughter of Armin T. Wegner). Wegner Collection, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach & United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Ottoman troops guard Armenians being deported. Ottoman Empire, 1915–16. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
A small group of Armenian deportees walking through the Taurus Mountain region, carrying bundles. A woman in the foreground carries a child. Ottoman Empire, ca. November 1915. Photograph taken by Armin T. Wegner. Wegner served as a nurse with the German Sanitary Corps. In 1915 and 1916, Wegner traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire and documented atrocities carried out against the Armenians. —© Armenian National Institute, Inc., courtesy of Sybil Stevens (daughter of Armin T. Wegner). Wegner Collection, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach & United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
A line of Armenian refugees, predominantly women and children, walking toward Kharput. Ottoman Empire, ca. 1915. Photograph taken by Leslie A. Davis. Davis was one of 13 American consuls stationed in the Ottoman Empire. Many of these diplomats were eyewitnesses to atrocities and sent dispatches to the US ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau Sr. While traveling by horseback in eastern Anatolia, Davis documented forced marches and massacre sites. —Laurence MacDaniels papers, #21-25-815. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
Armenian refugees near Kharput, Ottoman Empire, ca. 1915. Photograph taken by Leslie A. Davis. Davis was one of 13 American consuls stationed in the Ottoman Empire. Many of these diplomats were eyewitnesses to atrocities and sent dispatches to the US ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau Sr. While traveling by horseback in eastern Anatolia, Davis documented forced marches and massacre sites. —Laurence MacDaniels papers, #21-25-815. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
Photograph showing Near East relief efforts: Armenian orphans board a barge at Constantinople, bound for Greece. ca. 1915. —Library of Congress More
1918 Poster titled "They Shall Not Perish." Depicts a girl who symbolized the Near East, clinging to woman with sword and US flag, symbolizing America. American Committee for Relief in the Near East campaign to raise money for Armenia, Greece, Syria, and Persia. —Library of Congress More
American Comittee for Armenian and Syrian relief poster, ca. 1917–19: "You won't let me starve will you? I am little Shushan from Armenia. My home has been destroyed, Father was taken away, Mother starved because she gave me all the food...." Across the United States, religious and civic groups raised over $100 million to aid Armenian refugees. —National Archives and Records Administration More
An Armenian woman and her child sit on a sidewalk next to a bundle of their possessions. Ottoman Empire, 1918–1920. —© Photothèque CICR (DR) / s.n.
An Armenian refugee, wearing a scarf and a pack on her back. Ottoman Empire. 1918-1920. —© Photothèque CICR (DR) / s.n.
President Calvin Coolidge and others standing on a rug presented by Near East Relief committee. The rug was woven by Armenian orphans in gratitude for American relief efforts. Washington, DC, December 1925. —Library of Congress More
Studio portrait of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Sr. seated with a book in his study. Morgenthau was US ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during World War I and was a strong advocate in defense of Armenians. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Henry Morgenthau
Memorandum of January 16, 1944, meeting between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. about rescuing Jews from Nazi-dominated Europe, with reference to the Armenian genocide. —Diaries of Henry Morgenthau, Jr., April 27, 1933–July 27, 1945. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York. More
Portrait of Henry Morgenthau Jr. at his desk in the US Department of the Treasury. Inspired by his father's actions during the Armenian genocide, Morgenthau Jr. was a key advocate for the 1944 establishment of the War Refugee Board which rescued as many as 200,000 Jews from Nazi Europe. Washington, DC, 1941–44. —National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
April 24, 2015, marks one hundred years since the start of the Armenian genocide, sometimes called the first genocide of the twentieth century. Of approximately 1.5 million Armenians living in the multiethnic Ottoman Empire, at least 664,000 and possibly as many as 1.2 million were massacred or died as a result of systematic abuse from Ottoman authorities from 1915–16.
View eyewitness testimonies to the Armenian genocide
The destruction of the Armenians would cast a long shadow into the Holocaust era. During the Armenian genocide, US Ambassador to Constantinople Henry Morgenthau Sr. was deeply troubled by the atrocities and sought to rouse the world’s conscience. Ambassador Morgenthau’s son, Henry Morgenthau Jr., served as US secretary of the treasury from 1934–45. Driven in part by memories of the Armenian genocide, Morgenthau Jr. was a key advocate for the establishment of the War Refugee Board which rescued some 200,000 Jews from Nazi-dominated Europe.
Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin highlighted early exposure to news of attacks against Armenians as key to his beliefs about the need for the protection of groups under international law. After the murder of his own family during the Holocaust, Lemkin tirelessly championed this legal concept which found broad acceptance in the United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948.
Perhaps most hauntingly, a novel about Armenian self-defense (Franz Werfel’s The Forty Days of Musa Dagh) was secretly passed from hand-to-hand among Jews imprisoned in ghettos during the Holocaust, who saw in it an inspirational analogy to their plight and a call to resistance.
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The Ottoman Empire: Founded by ethnic Turks in 1299, the Ottoman Empire took its name from Osman I, the leader of what was initially a small principality in northwestern Anatolia (Asia Minor). Over the course of the next six centuries, Ottoman rule expanded across much of the Mediterranean Basin. At the height of its power under Suleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566), the Ottoman Empire represented a vast multilingual and multiethnic realm encompassing southeastern Europe, North and East Africa, Western Asia, and the Caucasus. During a period of decline, the Empire lost much of its territory in southeastern Europe and the Balkans. After World War I, the Ottoman Empire collapsed, leading to the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923 and to the creation of other new states in the Middle East.
