Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy - Bookswagon
Home > General > Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy
Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy

Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy


     0     
5
4
3
2
1



Out of Stock


Notify me when this book is in stock
About the Book

Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy offers a first-hand account of momentous events in the 20th century: the Armenian Genocide, the first major genocide of the 20th century, and decisive World War I battles, such as the Battle of Sarikamish which was a turning point in the Caucasian Campaign. Sergeant Major Bedros Haroian is born in 1894 in Tadem, a remote village in the interior of the Ottoman Empire, which was the Caliphate and operating under Shari'a Law. The youth of Bedros Haroian prepared him for the life of a warrior. The Armenians were a despised Christian community within the Caliphate, and within one year of Haroian's birth, the Sultan Abdul Hamid will order the Great Massacres that devastate Haroian's family, village, and community. Haroian grows up an orphan in the cold and half-destroyed house of an older brother who takes him in. Haroian is impassioned to realize justice and reprisal for his Armenian community. When conscripted in WW I, he eagerly joins to gain the military skills that Armenians had long been denied under the Caliphate and to become part of an Ottoman Army that, once integrated, might be less easily deployed toward massacres of minorities in the Ottoman Empire. Haroian fights on the front lines, including the brutal Battle of Sarikamish. His observations on Enver Pasha, Minister of War, enhance insights in the disastrous leadership that led to the military debacle at Sarikamish. The humiliating defeat for the Ottoman Army leads to scapegoating of minority populations once again. Haroian finds himself regulated to a labor battalion along with other Armenian conscripts. He soon discovers his duties include burying--at gunpoint--the piles of corpses from the Armenian Genocide. Haroian realizes the Armenian soldiers will be slaughtered next. He escapes to the Underground Railroad of the Dersim Kurds, where he finds safety. He becomes trusted and joins the Kurds in their 1916 Dersim Rebellion. Armenian commanders in the Imperial Russian Army are seeking fighters for their battalions, and Haroian enlists. He travels to Tbilisi and first serves with the Russian Red Cross. The Russian Revolution in 1917 leads to the withdrawal of the Imperial Russian Army from the Caucasian Campaign, making extreme the need for the small band of Armenian units to fight for a homeland. Against staggering odds, the Armenians succeed in founding the First Republic of Armenian on 28 May 1918. Haroian dedicates himself to defending the new republic. He travels to Baku, where he is arrested and tortured. He manages to save his life, returns to Tbilisi, and serves in the British Army in Batum (a Black Sea port). At the end, Bedros Haroian joins the Armenian Legionnaires in the French Foreign Legion to protect the remnant Armenian community in southern Turkey. However, the French strike a lucrative bargain with the new Turkish National Movement under Kemal Ataturk and forcibly deport the Armenian Legionnaires. The Turkish National Movement embarks on finishing the job of liquidating the Armenian race. The survivors must find immediate money to pay huge bribes to officials and travel agents to escape to the United States or any safe haven available. Finally, Haroian's memoirs reveal he developed a condition that had neither a name nor a treatment at the time: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He escapes from Constantinople, but he cannot escape from the deep trauma of the past. His life compels him to write these memoirs, to search for meaning, for as Viktor Frankl, survivor of WW II concentration camps reveals, that is the only search allowing survivors of atrocities to believe in a different future. On 21 September 1991, Armenia regained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bedros Haroian died in 1967, 24 years before, never seeing this day but always believing in it.
About the Author: Sergeant Major Bedros Haroian was born in 1894 in Tadem, a remote village in the interior of the Ottoman Empire, which was the Caliphate and operating under Shari'a Law. The youth of Bedros Haroian prepared him for the life of a warrior. Within one year of Haroian's birth, the Sultan Abdul Hamid will order the Great Massacres of his Christian Armenian subjects that devastate Haroian's family, village, and community. He grows up an orphan in the cold and half-destroyed house of an older brother who takes him in. Haroian becomes impassioned to realize justice and reprisal for his Armenian community. He marries Anna Sahagian, and they have a daughter, Lalezar (Lily). When conscripted in WW I, he eagerly joins to gain the military skills that Armenians had long been denied under the Caliphate. Haroian fights on the front lines, including the brutal Battle of Sarikamish. The humiliating defeat for the Ottoman Army leads to the scapegoating of minority populations once again. Haroian finds himself regulated to a labor battalion along with other Armenian conscripts. He soon discovers his duties include burying--at gunpoint--the piles of corpses from the Armenian Genocide. Haroian realizes the Armenian soldiers will be slaughtered next. He escapes to the Underground Railroad of the Dersim Kurds, where he finds safety. He becomes trusted and joins the Kurds in their 1916 Dersim Rebellion. Soon, Armenian commanders in the Imperial Russian Army are seeking fighters for their battalions, and Haroian enlists. Against staggering odds, the Armenians succeed in founding the First Republic of Armenian on 28 May 1918. Haroian dedicates himself to defending the new republic. He travels to Baku, where he is arrested and tortured. He manages to save his life, and he returns to Tbilisi and serves in the British Army in Batum (a Black Sea port). At the end, he joins the Armenian Legionnaires in the French Foreign Legion to protect the remnant Armenian community in southern Turkey. However, the French strike a lucrative bargain with the new Turkish National Movement under Kemal Ataturk and forcibly deport the Armenian Legionnaires. Finally, the memoirs reveal Haroian developed a condition that had neither a name nor a treatment at the time: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He escapes from Constantinople, but he cannot escape from the deep trauma of the past. His life compels him to write these memoirs, to search for meaning, for as Viktor Frankl, survivor of WW II concentration camps reveals, that is the only search allowing survivors of atrocities to believe in a different future. Haroian immigrates to the United States. He has lost his first wife and child. He remarries and has four more children. Haroian dies in 1967, 24 years before Armenia regained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union, on 21 September 1991. Though Haroian did not live to see the rebirth of his nation, he lived always believing in it.Gillisann Harootunian, PhD, is Executive Director of University Initiatives at California State University, Fresno. She has helped to secure over $20 million to realize priority initiatives at the university. Harootunian served as a Fulbright Sr. Lecturer and Researcher to Brusov Linguistic University in Armenia, and later as the U.S. Project Director of a U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Freedom Support educational exchange program with Brusov Linguistic University. She earned her B.S. in Communications from Boston University; her M.A. in Creative Writing from The City College of New York; and her PhD in English Literature from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Harootunian has authored multiple publications. She is a direct descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors.


Best Sellers



Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9781737555803
  • Publisher: Bookbaby
  • Binding: Hardback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: Y
  • Weight: 988 gr
  • ISBN-10: 1737555808
  • Publisher Date: 11 Mar 2022
  • Height: 234 mm
  • No of Pages: 480
  • Spine Width: 38 mm
  • Width: 158 mm


Similar Products

Add Photo
Add Photo

Customer Reviews

REVIEWS      0     
Click Here To Be The First to Review this Product
Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy
Bookbaby -
Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy
Writing guidlines
We want to publish your review, so please:
  • keep your review on the product. Review's that defame author's character will be rejected.
  • Keep your review focused on the product.
  • Avoid writing about customer service. contact us instead if you have issue requiring immediate attention.
  • Refrain from mentioning competitors or the specific price you paid for the product.
  • Do not include any personally identifiable information, such as full names.

Memoirs of a Soldier about the Days of Tragedy

Required fields are marked with *

Review Title*
Review
    Add Photo Add up to 6 photos
    Would you recommend this product to a friend?
    Tag this Book Read more
    Does your review contain spoilers?
    What type of reader best describes you?
    I agree to the terms & conditions
    You may receive emails regarding this submission. Any emails will include the ability to opt-out of future communications.

    CUSTOMER RATINGS AND REVIEWS AND QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TERMS OF USE

    These Terms of Use govern your conduct associated with the Customer Ratings and Reviews and/or Questions and Answers service offered by Bookswagon (the "CRR Service").


    By submitting any content to Bookswagon, you guarantee that:
    • You are the sole author and owner of the intellectual property rights in the content;
    • All "moral rights" that you may have in such content have been voluntarily waived by you;
    • All content that you post is accurate;
    • You are at least 13 years old;
    • Use of the content you supply does not violate these Terms of Use and will not cause injury to any person or entity.
    You further agree that you may not submit any content:
    • That is known by you to be false, inaccurate or misleading;
    • That infringes any third party's copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy;
    • That violates any law, statute, ordinance or regulation (including, but not limited to, those governing, consumer protection, unfair competition, anti-discrimination or false advertising);
    • That is, or may reasonably be considered to be, defamatory, libelous, hateful, racially or religiously biased or offensive, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing to any individual, partnership or corporation;
    • For which you were compensated or granted any consideration by any unapproved third party;
    • That includes any information that references other websites, addresses, email addresses, contact information or phone numbers;
    • That contains any computer viruses, worms or other potentially damaging computer programs or files.
    You agree to indemnify and hold Bookswagon (and its officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, employees and third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.), harmless from all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of a breach of your representations and warranties set forth above, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.


    For any content that you submit, you grant Bookswagon a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable right and license to use, copy, modify, delete in its entirety, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from and/or sell, transfer, and/or distribute such content and/or incorporate such content into any form, medium or technology throughout the world without compensation to you. Additionally,  Bookswagon may transfer or share any personal information that you submit with its third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc. in accordance with  Privacy Policy


    All content that you submit may be used at Bookswagon's sole discretion. Bookswagon reserves the right to change, condense, withhold publication, remove or delete any content on Bookswagon's website that Bookswagon deems, in its sole discretion, to violate the content guidelines or any other provision of these Terms of Use.  Bookswagon does not guarantee that you will have any recourse through Bookswagon to edit or delete any content you have submitted. Ratings and written comments are generally posted within two to four business days. However, Bookswagon reserves the right to remove or to refuse to post any submission to the extent authorized by law. You acknowledge that you, not Bookswagon, are responsible for the contents of your submission. None of the content that you submit shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of Bookswagon, its agents, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners or third party service providers (including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.)and their respective directors, officers and employees.

    Accept

    New Arrivals



    Inspired by your browsing history


    Your review has been submitted!

    You've already reviewed this product!