Armin T. Wegner Armenian Genocide Photos

April 1, 2012 by admin  
Category > Articles, Genocide

Armin T. Wegner (1886 – 1978) was a lawyer, expressionist lyricist and first aid sergeant during the First World War. He witnessed the Armenian Genocide during the years of 1915 to 1917 and took many important pictures that compromise the core of witness images of the Armenian Genocide. His photos were published in a book entitled “The Armenian Genocide – Armin T. Wegner`s eye witness report.” It is available from the publisher Wallstein Verlag on this page. Many of these Armenian Genocide photos have also been published by permission on our website. As a first-aid attendant in the First World War, Armin T. Wegner witnessed the stream of Armenian refugees driven into the Syrian Desert by the Turks. Wegner was part of a German detachment under von der Goltz stationed near the Baghdad Railway in Mesopotamia. He took hundreds of photographs and documented what he saw, even tough he had orders not to do so.

The Armenian Genocide – Armin T. Wegner`s eye witness report

As a first-aid attendant in the First World War, Armin T. Wegner witnessed the stream of Armenian refugees driven into the Syrian Desert by the Turks. Wegner was part of a German detachment under von der Goltz stationed near the Baghdad Railway in Mesopotamia. He took hundreds of photographs and documented what he saw, even tough he had orders not to do so.

At the Ottoman Command’s request, Wegner was arrested by the Germans and recalled to Germany. While some of his photographs were confiscated and destroyed, he nonetheless succeeded in smuggling out many images of the Armenian persecution by hiding the negatives in his belt.

In an open letter to the American president Wilson, Wegner protested against the outrageous injustice done by the Turks.

Immediately after the war ended, Wegner recapitulated his experiences as an eye witness in a presentation, which he held several times from October 1919 onwards. Here he showed 100 slides he had made in spite of the Turkish ban and – as he said in his lecture.

Although many of these photographs have greatly influenced the iconography of the genocide, only recently were Wegner`s eye witness reports published.