April 9, 2009 - 22:17 AMT
Two new books shed light on the premeditative nature of the Armenian Genocide
Two new books reveal unexplored aspects of the Armenian Genocide. Armenia 1915, written by Heinrich Vierbücher, one of the leading figures of the pre-WWII German pacifist movement, is based on his travels and experiences in the Ottoman Turkey during the WWI as the personal interpreter of General Liman von Sanders, the director of the German military mission charged with organizing the Turkish army. The book is "the most explicit indictment of Germany issuing from a German national who was a rare eyewitness to the massive calamity engulfing the Armenian nation in the First World War," according to Vahakn Dadrian, the foremost authority on the Armenian Genocide.

In the Land of Blood and Tears: Experiences in Mesopotamia During the World WAR (1914-1918) is the accounts of Swiss missionary Jakob Künzler in an around Urfa during the World War I (1914-1918) and beyond. It provides a window onto the destruction of the Armenian Christian population, including the suffering of the deported Kurdish communities of the Ottoman Empire under the policies of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). Künzler is also best known for his saving and transporting over 8,000 Armenian orphans from Urfa to what is present day Lebanon where he assumed their care under the auspices of the American Near East Relief until his death in 1949.

Both titles appear in English for the first time since their publication in German in early 1920 and 1930s. In addition to their original annotated texts, both titles include additional relevant essays and articles, and bibliographies. Arlington Cultural Center in Massachusetts reported to PanARMENIAN.Net