Categories: HistoryPeople

Armin T. Wegner, Photographer of the Genocide

Armin T. Wegner was a German soldier, medic, and an amateur photographer in the years of WWI. Accidentally becoming a witness to the Armenian Genocide, Wegner took photographs that now comprise “the core of witness images of the Genocide.”

During his service in the Ottoman Empire, Wegner took hundreds of photos and attempted to introduce the world community to the tragic reality. He also addressed the President of the United States Woodrow Wilson with a request to aid the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. After the war, he became a renowned human rights activist and publicist. Since 1933, Wegner has been fighting against antisemitism in Nazi Germany.

When the Jewish massacres began, Wegner wrote an open condemning letter to Adolf Hitler. He was sent to a concentration camp, but he would soon miraculously escape.

This film by Tigran Kzhmalyan is based on Wegner’s unique photos and letters that captured the tragic outlines of the first Genocide of the 20th century.

Armin Wegner and the Armenian Genocide

Armin T. Wegner – Der Fotograf des Genozids [Völkermord an den Armeniern]

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Tork Angegh: Storm, Stone, and the Oldest Face of the Armenian Pantheon

Long before Armenia's kings raised churches over pagan sanctuaries, before Hellenism folded Vahagn into Herakles…

3 days ago

The Goat on the Armenian Highland: A Symbol Older Than Writing

Introduction Long before Urartian kings inscribed their names in cuneiform on the cliffs of Van,…

6 days ago

“Summon Against Her the Kingdoms of Ararat”: Urartu-Armenia in the Prophecy Against Babylon

A Coalition Beneath the Mountain Among the oracles of judgment collected in the Book of…

1 week ago

The Tower That Never Left Us: From the Susi Shrine of Ancient Van to the Obelisk Above the Yerevan Cascade

If you have ever climbed the Cascade in Yerevan and looked up at the tall,…

1 week ago

Hayravank Monastery: The “Father Monastery” of Lake Sevan and the Legend of the Doves

On a rocky promontory above the southwestern shore of Lake Sevan, at an elevation of…

2 weeks ago

Scythian Ceremonial Swords and the Art of the Van Kingdom (Urartu)

Among the most arresting objects to survive from the Early Iron Age Near East are…

2 weeks ago