1 - Armin Wegner Asked Franz Werfel
Not to Write his ‘40 Days of Musa Dagh’
Part II
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Dan Janjigian Running for Congress in Texas
3 - Pan-Armenian Games Carry Message of Peace, Not War
4- ‘I Am Not Alone’ to Have World Premiere at Toronto Film Festival
5- A Passionate Patriot: Armenia’s Brandy Maestro Markar Setrakyan
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1 - Armin Wegner Asked Franz Werfel
Not to Write his ‘40 Days of Musa Dagh’
Part II
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
The California Courier will publish in a four-part series the exchange
between the two historic figures Armin Wegner and Franz Werfel.
Already in 1915 I became friends with Johannes Lepsius. As I traveled
by train, from Constantinople through Asia Minor to Baghdad, I
witnessed the entire deportation. I repeatedly sent material to
Lepsius for his collection. I have lived in close relationship with
Armenians and Turks for several years, and have spoken their language,
albeit very imperfectly. Hiding under my stomach bandage, I smuggled
the pictures that I had taken of the horror scenes in the desert. I
transported them, at the risk of death, across the border along with
the refugees’ letters to the American embassies.
In 1919, in a public event in Urania [a scientific society in Berlin],
with the help of Johannes Lepsius, I showed the pictures in a
sensational lecture. As a result, almost a pogrom broke out between
the immigrant Armenians and Turks. Soon afterwards I published my
book, “The Road of No Return” (“Der Weg Ohne Heimkehr”), revealing
personal experiences from that time. I related most of the experiences
from the days of the deportation, for my Armenian novel.
At short intervals, two more books were published – “In the House of
Happiness,” (“Im Hause der Glückselligkeit”) and my “Turkish Novels,”
(“Türkische Novellen”) which also include two stories from the
persecution of Armenians. At about the same time, in 1921, my novella
“The Storm on the Women’s Bath” (“Der Sturm auf das Frauenbad”) – the
description of an Armenian massacre – appeared in the Berliner
Tageblatt. In the same year I published the stenographic report “The
Court Case of Talaat Pasha” (“Der Prozess Talaat Pascha”), to which I
was invited, along with Johannes Lepsius and others, as a witness.
In 1925, I began to write my Armenian novel, which I had already
planned during the war. The first announcements of the work can be
found around the same time in the Kirschner, and in Albert Sörgel’s
history of literature, where the book had been announced with the
title “The Expulsion” (“Die Austreibung”). But, as I set out to
portray the vast epic of deportation and extermination of an entire
race of people, I soon realized that my work would be piecemeal if I
confined myself to describing only the end of this tragedy.
So the work grew under my hand, more and more, beyond what I
originally had planned. The entire fate of the people, and the
struggles of the peoples of the Middle East, should be presented in
it. The antagonism of races, religions and classes were laid bare. It
was not my will, but the inner nature of that work, which became a
four-volume novel. I’ll give you a short outline of the blueprint that
I shared with the academy two years ago.
The first volume deals with the prehistory of the novel – the youth of
the main hero, who was born in a small Asian town in 1890. In 1896,
during the massacres of Abdul Hamid, he loses his parents and grows up
an orphan in the Syrian orphanage in Jerusalem. The actual content of
the first volume, then, describes life in a small Asian city, the
contrast of the Turks and Armenians, their conflicting as well as
common revolutionary activities, and it finally leads to
Constantinople in the court of Abdul Hamid. This volume will be titled
“In the Shadow of God.”
The second volume, titled “Eternal Hatred,” leads first into the
mountains of an Armenian village. It shows the differences between
Kurds and Armenians, and finally depicts the outbreak of the
revolution of 1908 in Asia Minor and Constantinople, the removal of
Abdul Hamid and the victory of the Young Turks, and ends in a general
fraternization and reconciliation of Turks and Armenians in the age of
the Constitution.
The third volume, which will probably carry the title “The Scream of
Ararat,” begins with the outbreak of the World War. This volume will
also contain the conversation between Lepsius and Enver Pasha, which
Lepsius himself has so impressively recorded. The novel always shifts
between the ruling classes, the leading authorities, and the people.
The Young Turkish leaders, and the whole diplomacy of Europe, play
their part. The book ends with the actual beginning of the
deportation.
The fourth volume, titled “The Desert,” then brings the extermination
of the Armenian people in the steppes of Mesopotamia. This part also
contains the scenes of those two thousand refugees who had rescued
themselves on a mountain and were then brought to Egypt by a ship of
the Entente – scenes that I suppose to be the inspiration for the
title of your planned book, “The Forty Days Musa Dagh.” An epilogue to
the last volume describes the murder of Talaat Pasha in the streets of
Berlin.
The entire work is expected to retain the repeatedly announced title
“The Expulsion.”
Although I began writing the Novel as early as 1924, it was
interrupted by my other poetic and journalistic works. In the years
1925 to 1927, the project matured to its full extent, and from the
beginning of 1930, I had to start the whole work once again. In 1928
my novel “Moni” (the novel of a two-year-old child) was published in
the “Berliner Tageblatt.” At the same time, I offered the book to the
publishing house Zsolnay in Vienna (in March 1928), and declared my
readiness for a contractual bond for my planned work in progress, the
Armenian novel, as a great portrayal of people. But Zsolnay refused. I
then signed a contract with the Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt in Stuttgart
(in the spring of 1928), for my multi-volume novel on the Armenian
deportation, and at that time I received a considerable advance.
The great economic hardship, the pressure to feed a family and the not
quite satisfactory sales of my other books, slowed down my work.
Driven by financial obligations, I had to accept extensive
journalistic work, again and again, which required long trips to
foreign countries. In 1930, Thomas Mann applied on my behalf to the
Prussian Academy of the Arts (Section of Poetry), referring to my
work. At his instigation, I submitted to the Academy a more detailed
plan of my great Armenian novel. I enumerated the various stations of
the above listed individual volumes. Fortunately, the academy gave me
considerable support for this work. But unfortunately, all of these
sums were not enough to allow me to labor on the huge work with peace
of mind.
Article to be continued in the next issue…
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2- Dan Janjigian Running for Congress in Texas
On Thursday, September 5, Dan Janjigian announced he was launching a
bid for the Democratic nod against veteran GOP Rep. John Carter in
Texas’ 31st Congressional District, a 54-41 Trump seat in Austin’s
northern suburbs. Carter won an unexpectedly expensive contest just
51-48 last year against MJ Hegar, who is now running for the Senate.
“Now is the time. Time for me to stand up and give back to a nation
and a community that has given me so much throughout my entire life,”
said Janjigian. “For the last 15 years, I’ve counseled families on
some of the toughest decisions they’ve ever had to make when it comes
to ensuring they have the health care coverage their family needs.
I’ve sat with them as they have agonized over how to make choices like
paying for rent or groceries and paying for medicine. The American
people deserve more. They deserve representatives who understand what
they’re going through, and that is the voice I will bring to
Washington.”
Janjigian was born on April 30, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois. His
ancestors, Armenians from Trabzon in modern-day Turkey, survived the
Armenian Genocide and emigrated to the United States thereafter. He
was raised in Saratoga, California and graduated from Saratoga High
School in 1991. He graduated with a degree in business administration
from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo in
1996. After graduating, he worked at Microsoft for a number of years.
Janjigian is a founder of Gridiron Financial, a reseller of the Globe
Life company of products that helps protect families in case of
catastrophic injury or illness. These products supplement traditional
health insurance programs, relieving some of the financial burden of
individuals and families struggling with health issues.
Janjigian also pledged to make climate change a centerpiece of his
campaign. “Now is the time for new leadership that can join
representatives from across the aisle in discussing pragmatic ways we
can combat climate change,” he said. “There are opportunities to
revolutionize our economy and spur on job growth with clean energy if
we’re just willing to do the work up front, and that’s exactly what I
intend to do in Congress.”
Janjigian currently lives in Leander, Texas with his wife Rebeca,
their three children, and his dogs, Casey and Cat. He is also the
owner of a number of restaurants in Austin and Hollywood. He speaks
fluent Armenian and holds dual citizenship in Armenia and the United
States.
“My parents taught me two very important lessons as a child. The first
was the importance of hard work. The second was that nothing can be
accomplished alone,” said Janjigian. “Those two lessons helped me
become an Olympic bobsledder, a successful businessman, and a cult
classic film actor. And those two lessons will not be lost on me
during this campaign. To win, it will take hard work and a whole lot
of teammates.”
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/danjanforcongress
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3 - Pan-Armenian Games Carry Message of Peace, Not War
By Robert Avetisyan
Sports competitions are normally perceived to carry the message of
peace and unity. Olympics, Jeux de la Francophonie, Maccabiah Games,
other similar tournaments—the entire civilized humankind has always
supported events that connect people, eliminate barriers, and foster
mutual understanding.
Those ideas and values are at the core of the Pan-Armenian games,
which brings together Armenians around the globe to compete in
basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball and so on. The opening ceremony
of the 2019 Pan-Armenian games took place this August in the Republic
of Artsakh (also referred to as Nagorno Karabakh Republic)—a small
country that has defended on a battlefield its right for freedom, and
currently moves towards universal recognition of its rights and
liberties.
Artsakh is an integral part of historic Armenia. As such Artsakh is
mentioned in the works of Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Claudius Ptolemy,
Plutarch, Dio Cassius, and other ancient authors. It was severed from
Armenia when the Red Army entered the South Caucasus, and the
Bolshevik dictator Stalin decided in 1921 to place Artsakh as Armenian
autonomy into newly-created Soviet Azerbaijan, as part of the Soviet
Union.
Seventy years later, the autonomy’s legislature legally abolished this
illegitimate voluntaristic decision. In fact, the freedom movement in
Artsakh became the first truly democratic movement in then-Soviet
area, which sparked similar processes across the USSR.
The Republic of Artsakh has been proclaimed in 1991 in accordance with
the same Soviet legislation that provided sovereignty to all Soviet
republics, and has since been developing as a sovereign democracy with
open society, effective governance, a strong military and fledgling
market-oriented economy. The republic has its own President,
Parliament, Cabinet of ministers, capable defense forces and a vibrant
civil society. All rounds of presidential, parliamentary and municipal
elections were assessed by international observers as free and
transparent.
Unfortunately, leadership of the neighboring Azerbaijan – a country
that continues to be ranked among the most corrupt and cruel
dictatorships on the globe – still refuses to accept Artsakh’s right
for freedom, and continues military and political attacks against our
young republic. In 1991, and in 2016, Baku launched full-scale
military offensives against Artsakh, both times unsuccessfully
attempting to ‘solve the problem’ by conquering the republic, and
exterminating its entire population.
Long-term anti-Armenian policy by Azerbaijani leaders has led to
aggressive public hatred towards everything Armenian. Azeri President
Aliyev’s calling Armenians of the world enemy number one; proclaiming
Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov, who axed to death sleeping Armenian
officer Gurgen Margaryan during NATO-sponsored training program in
Hungary, a national hero and an example for younger generations;
ordering police to stop the UK’s Arsenal soccer club fans merely for
wearing shirts with the name of Henrik Mkhitaryan, who is of Armenian
descent; threats to knowingly shoot down any civilian plane flying in
or our Artsakh—these are just a few in a long row of the displays of
Baku’s continued policy of intolerance and ‘armenophobia’.
And these are just a few among many other reasons why the recent
article in Foreign Policy Journal by Mr. Giovanne Vincent Romero
titled ‘The 2019 Pan-Armenian Games Have Dimmed Prospects for
Peace’—in which he argues that by holding sport competitions in
Artsakh, Armenians undermined prospects for reconciliation between
Armenians and Azerbaijanis—rather raises questions than provides
answers.
It is such policy by Azerbaijan, and not a sporting event in Artsakh,
that leaves no hope for a comprehensive peaceful solution of the
Artsakh-Azerbaijan conflict anytime soon. Nonetheless, Artsakh will
continue its constructive involvement with the international community
towards security and stability in the South Caucasus. The republic
will also continue to strengthen as a free and democratic home for
every Armenian.
The attention of Mr. Romero and others, who assume the responsibility
to write about this complicated matter, is duly appreciated. We in
Artsakh are interested in having international awareness about the
true essence of our cause. At the same time, the article by Mr. Romero
unfortunately missed important points regarding the conflict, some of
which are mentioned above.
Offering opinion with vividly incomplete expertise in the
Azerbaijan-Artsakh conflict can become additional tool for the corrupt
regime in Baku for manipulation with facts, justification of numerous
domestic political and economic shortcomings, and renewed aggression
against neighbors.
Instead, every effort should be directed toward stopping anti-Armenian
propaganda in Azerbaijan and joining Artsakh in promoting mutual
understanding and tolerance between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Trust,
not hatred, is a necessary prerequisite for any lasting peace.
Robert Avetisyan currently serves as Permanent Representative of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) to the United States. He holds a
Bachelor’s degree in philology from the Artsakh State University, and
Master’s degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of
Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
This article appeared in Foreign Policy Journal on August 29, 2019.
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4- ‘I Am Not Alone’ to Have World Premiere at Toronto Film Festival
TORONTO—The feature documentary “I Am Not Alone” will have its world
premiere as an official selection at the Toronto International Film
Festival, the annual event known as the launching pad for the Oscars.
The screenings will take place on September 7, 9 and 15.
“This galvanizing chronicle of the 2018 Armenian revolution combines
gripping front-line reportage with new interviews that describe
incidents the cameras could not capture,” said Thom Powers, Head
Programmer of TIFF Docs. “Hugely informative, briskly paced, and
offering a laudable balance of perspectives, ‘I Am Not Alone’ is a
feat of nonfiction storytelling and a must-see for anyone eager to
make sense of recent history.”
Directed and produced by Garin Hovannisian, with an original score by
Serj Tankian (“Intent to Destroy”), the 93-minute film tells the
miraculous story of Armenia’s Velvet Revolution, which began on Easter
2018, when one man set out on a march from Gyumri to Yerevan to topple
the all-powerful regime that ruled his post-soviet country. This
total-access documentary includes exclusive interviews with both
sides, including the revolutionary Nikol Pashinyan and Armenia’s
two-term president Serzh Sargsyan.
Alec Mouhibian (1915), Eric Esrailian (“The Promise,” “Intent to
Destroy”), and Tatevik Manoukyan are producers of the film alongside
executive producers Serj Tankian, Joe Berlinger (“Intent to Destroy,”
“Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes”), Dan Braun (“Wild
Wild Country”), Raffi K. Hovannisian, Suren Ambarchyan, and Alen
Petrosyan.
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5- A Passionate Patriot: Armenia’s Brandy Maestro Markar Setrakyan
By Roupen Bedrosyan
(Translated and adapted by Jirair Tutunjian)
Stalin was fuming. The dictator had been stung by a letter from
Winston Churchill. The ex-prime minister of Britain had complained the
recent batch of Tvin brandies Stalin had sent to him was not up to
scratch.
At the Yalta Conference, Stalin had served Tvin, the Armenian brandy,
to the Allied leaders. Churchill, a brandy aficionado, had loved the
liquid gold. Since then, Stalin had periodically shipped a case of the
brandy to his wartime ally.
Now Stalin’s pride, not to mention Soviet Union’s reputation, was
being challenged. Stalin knew just the man to end the embarrassment:
Anastas Mikoyan. The Armenian politician swiftly found the reason for
Tvin’s decline: Markar Setrakyan, engineering technician at the
Yerevan Brandy Company and the inventor of Tvin was no longer at his
job: He had been exiled to Ukraine. During his absence, Tvin’s quality
had fallen by the wayside. Mikoyan ordered the immediate return of
Setrakyan to his old job.
Why was the brandy maestro exiled? The authorities had learned
Setrakyan kept in his office books by Yeghishe Charents and other
banned Armenian writers. Setrakyan had typically kept busy in Odessa
creating two cognac brands.
Back in Yerevan, Setrakyan restored Tvin’s bouquet. Churchill was
happy. Presumably so was Stalin.
During his long career, Setrakyan was honored by numerous Armenian,
Soviet and international medals for his creation of fourteen brandies.
It’s telling that he won these honors despite ignoring Stalin’s
directive to send the aged and precious Armenian brandies to the army
during WWII. As a result of Setrakyan’s daring, Armenia retained the
monopoly of exception brandies.
Next to brandy making, Setrakyan’s passion was to see Vaspouragan’s
return to Armenia. Born in 1907 in Vaspouragan, he was orphaned during
the Genocide and was rescued by Cossacks who had found him next to his
parents’ corpses and had taken him to an orphanage in Ashdarag.
After graduating from the oenophile department of the Yerevan Agronomy
Institute (1930), Setrakyan joined the Yerevan Brandy Factory where
his supervisor was the famed Kiril Silchenko. Setrakyan eventually
became the factory’s technology engineer.
Setrakyan’s main achievement was the invention of new technologies for
brandy production. As a result, Armenian brandy became internationally
famous.
According to legend, Setrakyan used disinfected water to obtain the
distinctive bouquet of the Armenian brandy. The fact is he used spring
water which rendered a unique taste to the liquor. Whenever Setrakyan
was asked for the secret of his brandies, he said there was no secret:
It was Armenia’s water, soil and sun.
Next to brandy making, Setrakyan’s passion was to link brandy names to
Armenia and to the history of Armenians. In 1937 he wanted to call his
creation Armenia but his friend, poet Avedik Isahakian, advised him to
consider the anti-nationalist atmosphere. Setrakyan named the brandy
Hopelyanagan. He named another of his concoctions Donagan upon
Mikoyan’s suggestion.
To persuade the Communist Party’s central committee to allow him to
name his most recent brandy Vasbouragan, Setrakyan sang to them: Ah
Vasbouragan, Priceless Armenia; How many heroes died for you.
Neither his singing nor the rest of his pitch changed the obdurate
committee’s mind. But after Setrakyan’s death (1973), Mikael Khanoyan,
the factory’s director, named a new brandy Vasbouragan, dedicating it
to Setrakyan.
Khanoyan was also a Van native. Upon the centenary of Setrakyan’s
birth (2007), Armenia issued a stamp commemorating the Maestro who had
helped put Armenia on the international brandy map.
Roupen Bedrosyan is the son-in-law of Markar Setrakyan. The Armenian
version of this article appeared in Yerevan’s Pokr Mheri Toor magazine
(Issue No. 1, 1914).
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