Armenian Golgotha

by Grigoris Balakian and Peter Balakian

Book Overview

Never before in English, "Armenian Golgotha" is the most dramatic and comprehensive eyewitness account of the first modern genocide. On April 24, 1915, the priest Grigoris Balakian was arrested along... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 030726288X
• ISBN13: 9780307262882
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 509 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.7" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Armenian Gogotha

Wonderful book, how he survived is a real miracle, always looking up, dreaming of the day the Armenian people would be free, praying that there would be some left alive. WELL WRITTEN, ALWAYS ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT, SOOOOOO SAD YET VICTORIOUS

Wow.

Gripping, emotional account - the most detailed, day by day, description of the deportation and genocide of all the Armenian History books I have read. Truly inspirational quotes of dying requests from hundreds of victims to, "Record these crimes for future generations," and "I wish I could be there with you to see the rebirth of the Armenian Nation after the end of this war." Tremendously important perspective on not only the mindset and actions of the filthy Turks, but also the complicity of the Germans, as well as some truly heroic actions of a few Swiss and other Europeans. Places the personal perspective within the world and national events of the time. If you got this far, just buy the book.

Genocide

This may perhaps be the saddest book that I have ever read. Most folks are unaware of the calculated plan to exterminate the Armenian people initiated by the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. While the rest of the world was concentrating on the fighting, the government of Turkey was busily killing off all of the Armenians possible. The author is not some historian looking back on a period of history. He is, rather, an eye witness to this tragedy and barely escaped death himself several times. He tells his story with sorrow, but also with hope for the future of the Armenian nation. Luckily the Ottoman officials were so venal that a well placed bribe could often save a person or an entire family from the ghastly fate awaiting all Armenians. Our author travelled many, many miles as a captive of the Ottomans, yet managed to survive. he felt thst his survival was meant to be so that he could put down in writing what he saw and what he was told about this horrid period of history. At times the book becomes repetitious, but that is because he wrote with emotion and had to retell some things so that they could be impressed into the minds of his readers. The 20th century is, unfortunately, know for its genocides, the Holocaust being the most well known. There are also others; Cambodia, Darfur, Uganda, etc.. The difference is that in the Armenian situation, not only government officials, but many of the ordinary Turkish citizens actively cooperated in the mass killings. It's unfortunate that even today the government of Turkey denies that these events took place. If you have any doubts on that point, read this interesting but tearful book and you will be convinced!

A Must Read

a gripping first hand story of the genocide of the armenians from someone who lived through it. More people need to read about and understand that this horrible crime against humanity did take place and what actually did happen. A must read.

An eye-opener, a must read!

This is a singularly amazing account of the detailed processes involved in the execution of the state-sponsored murder and looting of the wealth of the entire Armenian Christian minority in Turkey during the 1915 to 1918 period. The memoir of Rev. Grigoris Balakian, himself a victim, who was arrested, deported and exiled to later miraculously escape the carnage, lucidly narrates (big thanks are due to the sensitive and sensible translation by Peter Balakian & Aris Sevag) the entire process of mass killings and the generalized theft of the victims' wealth in chilling details after seeing them all first hand. The agonizing and terrifying ordeal in the exile and during his escape as as a fugitive lasted almost the entire 1915-1918 period. The details are nerve-racking as they are compelling. The author powerfully exposes the juxtaposition of two asymmetric human conditions. The psychic feelings of the fearful victims and the determined mindset of the powerful perpetrators bent on killing unless bribed. Bribe had the magic power it seems to delay, at least for a while, the determined slaughter of the victims. Here it is worthy to bring to memory Article 142 of the 1920 international Sèvre Treaty, to which Turkey was a signatory, which had branded the revolutionary group that ruled Turkey (Ittihad vé Térakki Jemiyeti, Committee of Union and Progress) during World War I (1914-1918) as a "terrorist" regime. In today's parlance, these crimes are defined as Genocide and undeniably constitute crimes against humanity requiring retributive judicial condemnation and reparations however symbolic they might be. It is unfortunate however, that today Turkey and the western states doing business with Turkey including ours, are engaged in covering up and denying these crimes as Genocide. The translation of this book to English, first published in Armenian in 1922, is way too long overdue! However, there is one thing that the author of this book can rest assured and that is, the voices of the victims that he heard and recorded in his mind can now be heard by the "outside world," a pledge that Rev. Balakian had made to honor the last request of the dying victims in his arms.