Grigoris Balakian
Grigoris Balakian (Armenian: Գրիգորիս Պալաքեան; 1875 – 8 October 1934), was a bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church, in addition to being a survivor and memoirist of the Armenian genocide.
Life
Grigoris Balakian was born in
One group was deported to Ayaş. Balakian was deported to Çankırı, north-east of Ankara with the rest of the 190 other deportees from the capital. Only 16 of them would survive. He marched with 48 deportees from Çankırı in the direction of Deir ez-Zor in the Syrian desert. On the way Balakian won the confidence of captain of constabulary Shukri Bey and learned about the Ottoman government's plan to exterminate the whole Armenian population. Balakian was able to flee toward Islahie. He joined a group of workers on the Bagdad-railway where Turkish deserters did forced labor alongside Armenian refugees. While Armenian workers between Marash and Bartche were being slain, Balakian fled to another construction site on the Bagdad railway. He was helped by German engineers and finally succeeded – disguised as Herr Bernstein – in escaping from Constantinople to Paris.
At the 1921 trial in Berlin against
Balakian became prelate of Manchester, London and finally bishop of Marseille. Two churches were built under his guidance in Marseille and Nice (St. Mary, 1928) as well as a number of chapels and schools. He died in Marseille.
Balakian is the granduncle of literary critics
Achievements
Balakian's memoirs in Armenian Golgotha are an important eyewitness account of the genocide. He describes his experiences during the deportation. Balakian was one of the few surviving leaders of the Armenian community who gave an account of the deportation.
Works
- Նկարագրութիւն Անիի ավերակներուն (Description of the Ruins of Ani). Constantinople, 1910.[2]
- Հայ Գողգոթան ISBN 978-1-4000-9677-0.[3]
See also
- Witnesses and testimonies of the Armenian genocide
- Armenian notables deported from the Ottoman capital in 1915
Notes
- ^ Komitas evaded further persecution upon the intervention of a powerful Turkish friend. His psychological situation deteriorated rapidly following the deportation and massacres. He died in 1935 in an asylum in Paris.
References
- ^ Peter Balakian, Black Dog of Fate (BasicBooks, 1997), family tree on two unnumbered pages (several pages before page 1)
- ^ տէյիրմենճեան, սեւան (25 May 2016). "Նշումներ շահեկան հրատարակութեան մը առթիւ | Agos". Agos (in Armenian). Retrieved 23 June 2016.
- ^ Romano, Carlin (12 April 2010). ""Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-18" by Grigoris Balakian". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
Sources
- Rita Soulahian Kuyumjian Archeology of Madness. ISBN 0-9535191-7-1
- Wolfgang Gust Der Völkermord an den Armeniern 1915/16. Dokumente aus dem Politischen Archiv des deutschen Auswärtigen Amts Verlag zu Klampen, 2005, ISBN 3-934920-59-4
- ISBN 0-7679-0254-8,
- Grigoris Palakjan Das armenische Golgatha German article translated from the original Armenian text in Pogrom May 1980.