DONALD BLOXHAM READS THE TESTIMONY OF RUBEN VARDANIAN
April 17, 2015 10:30
EXCLUSIVE
Donald Bloxham
Mediamax presents 100 Seconds project devoted to Armenian Genocide
Centennial. The project is based on testimonies of Genocide survivors
published by the National Archive of Armenia.
Donald Bloxham is a Professor of Modern History, Editor of the Journal
of Holocaust Education.
For 100 seconds project he reads an extract from Armenian Genocide
survivor Ruben Vardanian’s testimony.
National Archives of
Armenia Collection of Documents
Testimony of survivor Ruben Vardanian on the Massacre of the village
of Goms in Mush district of Mush province
At the end of Easter 10 to 15 policemen came to our village. They told
us that the government wanted us all. In the morning, they surrounded
the village and some of them broke in, gathered everyone, women and
children and drove them out. They shot those who tried to flee. Two
people were killed there. After starting off, the policemen killed
another four people who tried to flee. They also caught a man and
cut off his head with a sword.
After walking for some time we were returned back to our village which
was full of people from other villages. Turks from the town had come
who selected beautiful women and girls and took them away. Our friend
Rasul came, selected my mother, my three brothers and me and took us
to Baghesh to keep in his house. We stayed there for a month. Once
I went to our village with the Turkish children to look for food and
goods. All the houses in our village were destroyed; the wooden parts
were taken away. There were corpses in the church, around it and in
the yard; the Turks counted 80 corpses of women and children.
Producer: Ara Tadevosyan Filming: Peter Ross Post Production: Tumo LLC
The source of Ruben Vardanian’s testimony: National Archives of
Armenia, Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey, 1915, Testimony of
survivors, Collection of documents, Yerevan-2013.
VivaCell-MTS is the general partner of 100 seconds project.