1915 Genocide - Eyewitnesses: Diplomats & Military

- Armin T. Wegner was a German medic in the German Army during WWI. He was stationed in Western Armenia, today's eastern Turkey, and witnessed the Armenian genocide. He documented the entire event with numerous photographs and collected documents, testimonies and reports. Despite warnings from the Turkish authorities, he continued his documentation until December 1915, when at the request of the Turkish Army, he was recalled back to Germany. Some of his photographs are in our gallery . A longer biography of him can be found here.

- Einar af Wirsén was Sweden's Military Attache in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, with access to visits at the war fronts and military intelligence via the German, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish military. In his memoirs, published in 1942, he devoted an entire chapter to the Armenian genocide. In the chapter "The murder of a nation", Wirsén writes how the Turkish government used the war to accuse the Armenians of treason just to exterminate the Armenian nation. For cxcerpts from the chapter, see here and in his book: Einar af Wirsén, Minnen från fred och krig, Stockholm, 1942.

- Henry Morgenthau was the U.S. Ambassador to Ottoman Empire until 1917 when the U.S. declared war on Turkey. His story about the genocide was published as a book, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story , and can be read online here .

- Leslie A. Davis was an American diplomat and war-time consul in Kharbert (Kharpout), Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1917 and witnessed the Armenian Genocide.

During his time as U.S. consul in Kharput Leslie Davis personally witnessed how much of the Armenian population, who had been deported from places outside Kharput to Der Zor desert of Syria, gathered in Kharput, "only to be slaughtered in this province". Some of his observations concerned the condition of Armenian deportees who arrived from the north. He noted that there were no men in the caravans and the remaining surviving members were very maltreated, starved and exhausted.

Leslie Davis was among the mixed group of Americans who examined mass graves of killed Armenians near Kharput. Davis wrote a narrative report to the State Department, where he described the tens of thousands of Armenian corpses in and around lake Geoljuk (present-day Hazar), during his trip to the lake.

Mass deportations that had been ordered by the Turks, under which hundreds of thousands of Armenians were forced into trucks and transported hundreds of miles to die in the wilderness or falling victim to killing squads, were far worse than a straightforward massacre, he wrote. "In a massacre many escape, but a wholesale deportation of this kind in this country means a longer and perhaps even more dreadful death for nearly everyone."

Leslie Davis helped some Armenians by allowing 80 of them to live in his consulate, and organized an underground railway to bring the Armenians on the other side of the Euphrates into Russia. He did this despite warnings from the Turkish government's ban on helping Armenians.

While he did this rescue work, he continued his diplomatic mission and had regular meetings with Kharput's governor, Sabit Bey, who was one of the main characters in the Armenian Genocide.

- Per Gustaf August Cosswa Anckarsvärd was Sweden's Ambassador to Turkey, stationed in the then capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), between 1905 and 1920. He sent several reports to the Swedish Foreign Ministry, where he wrote about "the annihilation Armenian nation", "wipe out the Armenian nation," "extermination of the Armenians", etc. Some of his reports are available on our Archive Section.

- Rafael Inchauspe Méndez was a Venezuelan mercenary and author. At the outbreak of World War I he failed to get enlist in a number of European armies before he was enlisted in the Ottoman Army. Here he advanced to the rank of bey . He led gendarmerie forces during the siege of Van, but asked to be relieved because of sympathy for the beleaguered Armenians. He later wrote a book about his experiences in the Ottoman Army during WWI as well as the testimonies of massacres of Armenians in Bitlis, Siirt and Van.

- Turane Jutu was a Turkish officer in the Ottoman Army. He reported that the Armenians were being cleaned out and massacred continuously during 1914-1917. He witnessed how many were killed by his government, but that he could not do anything about it, since his family and friends would be threatened. Jutu was able to successfully contact the newspapers and media, but the ethnic cleansing progressed so rapidly that his campaign did not get in time.

He was about 35 years old when he witnessed the genocide. Jutu was murdered in 1932, only 52 years old, in the city of Van. The perpetrator went free and rumors said he was killed on the orders of the government when Jutu talked openly about the Armenian Genocide and spred information and evidence on the events. Until his death he had published several papers and reports about the Armenian massacres.




Eyewitnesses: Diplomats and Military - Armin T. Wegner was a German medic in the German Army during WWI. He was stationed in Western Armenia, today's eastern Turkey, and witnessed the Armenian genocide. He documented the entire event with numerous photographs and collected documents, testimonies and reports. Despite warnings from the Turkish authorities, he continued his documentation until December 1915, when at the request of the Turkish Army, he was recalled back to Germany. Some of his photographs are in our gallery . A longer biography of him can be found here. - Einar af Wirsén was Sweden's Military Attache in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, with access to visits at the war fronts and military intelligence via the German, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish military. In his memoirs, published in 1942, he devoted an entire chapter to the Armenian genocide. In the chapter "The murder of a nation", Wirsén writes how the Turkish government used the war to accuse the Armenians of treason just to exterminate the Armenian nation. For cxcerpts from the chapter, see here and in his book: Einar af Wirsén, Minnen från fred och krig, Stockholm, 1942. - Henry Morgenthau was the U.S. Ambassador to Ottoman Empire until 1917 when the U.S. declared war on Turkey. His story about the genocide was published as a book, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story , and can be read online here . - Leslie A. Davis was an American diplomat and war-time consul in Kharbert (Kharpout), Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1917 and witnessed the Armenian Genocide. During his time as U.S. consul in Kharput Leslie Davis personally witnessed how much of the Armenian population, who had been deported from places outside Kharput to Der Zor desert of Syria, gathered in Kharput, "only to be slaughtered in this province". Some of his observations concerned the condition of Armenian deportees who arrived from the north. He noted that there were no men in the caravans and the remaining surviving members were very maltreated, starved and exhausted. Leslie Davis was among the mixed group of Americans who examined mass graves of killed Armenians near Kharput. Davis wrote a narrative report to the State Department, where he described the tens of thousands of Armenian corpses in and around lake Geoljuk (present-day Hazar), during his trip to the lake. Mass deportations that had been ordered by the Turks, under which hundreds of thousands of Armenians were forced into trucks and transported hundreds of miles to die in the wilderness or falling victim to killing squads, were far worse than a straightforward massacre, he wrote. "In a massacre many escape, but a wholesale deportation of this kind in this country means a longer and perhaps even more dreadful death for nearly everyone." Leslie Davis helped some Armenians by allowing 80 of them to live in his consulate, and organized an underground railway to bring the Armenians on the other side of the Euphrates into Russia. He did this despite warnings from the Turkish government's ban on helping Armenians. While he did this rescue work, he continued his diplomatic mission and had regular meetings with Kharput's governor, Sabit Bey, who was one of the main characters in the Armenian Genocide. - Per Gustaf August Cosswa Anckarsvärd was Sweden's Ambassador to Turkey, stationed in the then capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), between 1905 and 1920. He sent several reports to the Swedish Foreign Ministry, where he wrote about "the annihilation Armenian nation", "wipe out the Armenian nation," "extermination of the Armenians", etc. Some of his reports are available on our Archive Section. - Rafael Inchauspe Méndez was a Venezuelan mercenary and author. At the outbreak of World War I he failed to get enlist in a number of European armies before he was enlisted in the Ottoman Army. Here he advanced to the rank of bey . He led gendarmerie forces during the siege of Van, but asked to be relieved because of sympathy for the beleaguered Armenians. He later wrote a book about his experiences in the Ottoman Army during WWI as well as the testimonies of massacres of Armenians in Bitlis, Siirt and Van. - Turane Jutu was a Turkish officer in the Ottoman Army. He reported that the Armenians were being cleaned out and massacred continuously during 1914-1917. He witnessed how many were killed by his government, but that he could not do anything about it, since his family and friends would be threatened. Jutu was able to successfully contact the newspapers and media, but the ethnic cleansing progressed so rapidly that his campaign did not get in time. He was about 35 years old when he witnessed the genocide. Jutu was murdered in 1932, only 52 years old, in the city of Van. The perpetrator went free and rumors said he was killed on the orders of the government when Jutu talked openly about the Armenian Genocide and spred information and evidence on the events. Until his death he had published several papers and reports about the Armenian massacres.