Armenian Golgotha

February 15, 2009
The first English translation of a seminal personal account of the first modern genocide.

Balakian (1873–1934) was a prominent intellectual and priest of the Armenian Church in Turkey at the outbreak of World War I. The Ottoman Empire was publicly neutral but secretly allied with Germany. Turkey's long-persecuted Armenian minority favored Russia and her allies, because Czar Nicholas II had long been an unofficial, and ineffective, protector of Armenian Christians under Ottoman rule. This proved disastrous when Russia declared war on Turkey in November 1914, and Ottoman officials decided that the entire Armenian population represented a fifth column. There had been earlier massacres of Armenians in Turkey, but nothing like the nightmare that began with the April 1915 arrest in Constantinople of 250 Armenian intellectuals, including Balakian. In a text originally published in 1922, he relates their Kafka-like ordeal, in which humiliating abuse alternated with occasional kindness, and the release of a few was counterpointed by occasional killing of others. After ten months, the remnant of Balakian's group was ordered to march west, joining hundreds of thousands of additional victims. While ordinary Germans' acceptance of Jewish persecution was mostly passive, Balakian describes the Turkish population, civilian and military, enthusiastically falling upon the Armenians in an orgy of torture, slaughter, rape and robbery. More than a million Armenians died. With luck, the aid of comrades and a few sympathetic officials, Balakian survived to write this memoir, which combines extensive research, an account of his own experiences and testimony from eyewitnesses, both victims and perpetrators. Poet, memoirist and Armenian holocaust historian Peter Balakian (The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response, 2005, etc.), Grigoris's great-nephew, collaborated with professional translator Sevag to render the blistering Armenian text into modern English.

An important historical document, though its relentless depiction of atrocity make this a hard slog for the average reader.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 15, 2009
Grigoris Balakian (18761934), a cultural and religious leader in Istanbul's Armenian community, was arrested in April 1914 with 250 other leaders and began almost four years of deportation, forced march to the Syrian desert, and abusive treatment. Thus was launched the Turkish government's program to rid the country of Armenians. Hundreds of thousands were viciously murdered or died of cold and starvation, but Balakian's fierce will to live and his encounters with a few generous people allowed him to survive and tell the story. This memoir, which Balakian published in Armenian in 1922, vividly portrays Turkish brutality as it provides his and others' stories along with well-informed commentary on Turkey's actions. Peter Balakian (English, Colgate Univ.; "The Burning Tigris"), the author's grandnephew, has translated this rich historical document and provided scholarly support, making available a readable and moving account that will be welcomed by both the English-speaking Armenian community and a broader audience committed to witnessing and understanding the massive cruelty and suffering that characterized widespread crimes against humanity in the 20th century. Important for readers who want to judge whether or not this was the first genocide in modern times.Elizabeth R. Hayford, President Emeritus, Associated Coll. of the Midwest, Evanston, IL

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2009
Immediately after World War I, Grigoris Balakian, a prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church, set down this account of the massacres of Armenians instigated by the Ottoman government during that conflict, telling his personal story of endurance and commemorating the sufferings of named companions as well as the Armenian nation. Crediting his religious faith for his survival to bear witness, he could also have credited his proficiency in German, which rescued him from tight spots during his ordeal, which started with the opening move of arresting Armenian leaders. Those not killed were force-marched through the desert to Syriaif they lived. Balakian fills the framework afforded by that procedure with painfully observant descriptions of cruelty, expressions of gratitude to German railroad officials and fellow Armenians who concealed him, and detached recording of the magnitude of the crime perpetrated against the Armenians. At present, when denial of this crime is still heard, Balakians testimony stands as vital refutation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)