The 40 Days Of Musa Dagh

[irlandahay]

has anyone read the forty days of musa dagh?

 

i love that book

 

sure im only fifteen, but the 800 page brick laid on my desk by my irish father one morning soon turned into a book too short for me to wanna finish.

 

i was crying while reading about the deportations, i wanted to scream to them "fight! dont die! FIGHT!"

it is an amazing book.

 

lol i should post something like this once i ACTUALLY finish the book. im actually like at page 200. its just that i love it so much.

im at the part where they get the deportation order and they gather in the village square to deside wether to die like sheep, or to die fighting like the true armenians they are!

 

in any case.

 

this is also to answer hellektor.

hellektor, please dont cuss jews because of some idiots. jews are our biggest allies in this world.

 

raphael lemkin (who invented the word genocide) said he made it for the armenains and jews, who both suffered genocide!

then we have goldberg, who made tons of genocide documentaries

and there are countless other jews who help us!

my bets friend is a jew and she always talks about the genocide to other jews in order to help us!

 

dont generalise like that, i dont think your a racist, your one of the people i respect the most here, your probably the only one who really took me seriously, you are a smart man hellektor. i realise you are angry at the worlds ignorance and so am i. but there is only one to blame here...turkey!

 

and if you absolutely need someone to hate, hate that armenain assyrian guy (forgot his name) who was on turkish pay roll and spoke against his two great nations who both suffered genocide, just to poket some money...

 

and back to musa dagh

i heard speilberg wanted to make a movie of it!

with antonio banderas as main carachter!

yet another jew working for us!

 

in any case...whoever read this wonderful book tell me and tell me what you think of it!

 

your truly

-patrick

[Arpa]

Dear Patrick,

Here on this forum we speak Armenian.

That mountain is not known as Musa Dagh, it is Musayi Ler. Dagh is a Turkish word to mean mountain, it is LER in Armenian. Yes, yes we know the author of that book was not an Armenian and could care less whether it was called Turkish "dagh" or Armenian-"LER".

For once and for all, can we please stop calling that Armenian Mountain "dagh"!!!

has anyone read the forty days of musa dagh?

==========

i love that book

man hellektor. i realise you are angry at the worlds ignorance and so am i. but there is only one to blame here...turkey!

=======

your truly

-patrick

[gamavor]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138989/

 

I've watched this movie long time ago. It was poorly directed and awfully performed.

[irlandahay]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138989/

 

I've watched this movie long time ago. It was poorly directed and awfully performed.

 

ya i know...the '82 one right?

 

im saying anew one! like resent, theyr thinking of doing it...

in any case...anyone else read the book and has anything to say?

[Arpa]

has anyone read the forty days of musa dagh?

======

i love that book

======

in any case...whoever read this wonderful book tell me and tell me what you think of it!

 

your truly

-patrick

My intention is not to “throw out the baby with the bathwater”, on the contrary we are here to nurture that baby and make it grow. Al this noise about Werfel’s Forty Days… has probably been one the bests mediums to propagate our plight yet , in the process we have forgotten the eyewitnesses, the real actors of that saga at Musa Ler.

Below segments from this site, written by Rev. Andreasian’s son in law Rev. Darakjian. Of course, Rev. Andreasian was only one, if a major actor, (we will come to the others under a separate posting), his valuable contribution to the history of the saga , and his…

adapted from two prefatory chapters written by Rev. Darakjian for the book Escape to Musa Dagh, or The Banishment of Zeitoun and Suedia 's Revolt by Rev. Dikran Andreassian, tr. Knarik Meneshian** (Paramus, NJ. Armenian Missionary Association ofAmerica. 1993).

**How many of us have seen or even heard about this book?

Below we will see that Werfel’s accounts were heavily influenced by information furnished by the Rev. and others as Franz himself was not an eyewitness, neither was he an actor in the scenario. Every Armenian and many others know about Franz Werfel’s opus, we are so grateful and forever indebted to him, but how many of us (Hi MosJan) know anything about the real heroes of that epic??

Is it not time that an Armenian “Werfel” write the definitive account of that heroic battle??

See the full article here;

 

http://www.churcharmenia.com/evangelical/evmain3_23_01b.html

 

Early Biography

Dikran Andreassian was born in 1888, in the Musa Dagh region, in the village of Yoghoun-Olouk, Turkey. He received his early education in the local parochial school. At age 14, he was sent to Aintab to continue his education in the Central Turkey College. He graduated in 1911, after a number of interruptions, during which he served as a teacher and preacher in different villages. In the fall of the same year, Dikran entered the Marash Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1914, with a degree in theology. He married Araxi Muncherian and together they moved to Zeytoun to serve the local Armenian Evangelical church.

His ministry in Zeytoun was curtailed because of the devilish designs of the Turkish government to annihilate its Christian Armenian subjects. The Young Turk government began to execute its plan of deportation with the Armenian provinces in Cilicia, with heroic Zeytoun being its first target.

The young minister and his family‹wife, mother, and sister‹were also ordered to leave Zeytoun. However, through the intercession of American missionaries, the Andreassians were allowed to return to their native village of Yoghoun-Olouk. The family endured a terrible ordeal during this journey, which can fill a book in itself. The young pastor was also given the responsibility of delivering 40 Armenian orphans safely to an orphanage in Marash. His daring confrontations with Turkish officials to obtain safe conduct for the orphans nearly cost him his life. In addition, he had to take care of his pregnant wife, his sister and elderly mother.

Andreassian¹s first-hand experiences with Turkish officials and their brutal and inhuman treatment of the defenseless Armenians left him no illusions about the genocidal designs of the Ottoman government. This is why he became a strong advocate of self-defense when he met with the representatives of the villages in Musa Dagh.

 

The saga;

Resistance at Musa Dagh and Beyond

In his book Escape to Musa Dagh, Rev. Andreassian downplays his role as a leader and mastermind of the defense council. He was fully aware of the precariousness of his position vis-à-vis the Turkish government on the one hand, and his own people on the other. Inexperienced though he was, he used his natural talents and college education to the fullest to organize the defense, to form committees and to set disciplinary rules for the 4,200 fugitives. He himself conceived the plans for rescue and prepared the historic banner with the sign of a red cross on it. He wrote and sent out rescue appeals to the representatives of the Great Powers in the area, and to the commanders of the war ships in the Mediterranean.

 

Franz and Dikran;

Franz Werfel¹s Forty Days and Rev. Andreassian

The plight of the Armenians of Musa Dagh is well known to non-Armenians chiefly as the result of Franz Werfel¹s novel, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh. A number of studies have been made about the possible sources for this book. In the very brief preface to the book¹s first edition in 1934, the author refers to his stay in Damascus, Syria, in March of 1929. He writes, "The miserable sight of some maimed and famished-looking refugee children, working in a carpet factory, gave me the final impulse to snatch from the Hades of all that was, this incomprehensible destiny of the Armenian nation."

Though contemporaries, Werfel and Andreassian did not have any direct correspondence with each other. However, the two were in indirect communication through their mutual friend, the late Rev. Antranik Bedikian, then pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church in New York City. But it must be stated that whatever correspondence Bedikian may have had with Andreassian on Werfel and his book, it took place after the publication of Forty Days. It is interesting to note that Bedikian¹s friendship with Werfel began when the latter visited New York for the first time right after the Second World War. A big testimonial celebration was held at the Armenian Evangelical Church to honor the great Austrian author and friend of the Armenians.

A thorough study of the background sources used by Werfel in constructing his work of historical fiction was made by George Schulz-Behrend. The main results of this study are quoted and summarized below.

It is related that Werfel visited the Armenian Catholic Mekhitarist Congregation in Vienna and consulted first with the abbot, and then with Father Thomas Kachazn, a Musa Daghtzi born in Yoghoun-Olouk. They furnished some oral information and a number of printed books from their library. However, "for reasons of prudence, the Mekhitarists requested Werfel not to mention them in connection with the novel. They feared Turkish reprisals."

The main source for Forty Days is Rev. Andreassian¹s long and informative article "Suedia: An Episode from the Time of the Armenian Persecution." He had written it after the evacuation of the refugees to Egypt, and it was translated into English by the Rev. Stephen Trowbridge, Secretary of the American Red Cross at Cairo. The translator communicated it to the editor of the Armenian journal, Ararat, based in London, who published it in the issue of November, 1915. Later, this article appeared as an official document in The Treatment of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire , or "Blue Book", London, 1916. It also appeared under a different title, "A Red Cross That Saved Four Thousand," which was published first in The Outlook.

For the main plot of his novel, Werfel followed Andreassian¹s "Suedia..."; for some episodes, he made use of different pamphlets and magazine articles written by the great Armenophile, Dr. Johannes Lepsius. For Armenian historical and cultural information, Werfel used von Paul Rohrbach¹s Articles about Armenian Lands and the Armenian People (Stuttgart, 1919), which contained "numerous essays by experts on various topics."

For the leader of the defense, Werfel created the fictitious character of Gabriel Bagradian, who had no real counterpart in the history of the resistance. Schulz-Behrend makes the following comment about why the character of Aram Tomasian (who was modeled after Rev. Andreassian) could not have been made the sole religious head of his people: "ŠBut Tomasian is a Protestant, a member of a religious minority group among the dominant Gregorians who, though historically they had no single leader on Musa Dagh, nevertheless have a just claim to representation under the more nearly Œnormal¹ conditions a work of art demands. Hence, Werfel created Ter Haigasun, the priest of a very ancient and venerable creed."

We believe that this is a fair assessment of the role of Rev. Andreassian, as seen by many Armenian political leaders and the Armenian people at large. It also explains why this great hero did not enjoy the praise and popularity he certainly deserved.

[phantom22]

I know Jesus. I have read far and wide accounts of him from North Africa to the Himalayas. It is the traditional Armenians who have allowed the Papists to twist their arms over the centuries. The Byzantines hated us because our Christianity was so Hebraic at that time!

 

 

This shows how limited you intellect is.

I am not a Bush supporter. You are so non-observantly stupid. My choice would have been that prennial "what, me worry kid" Alfred E Newman. At least, he speaks better English.

As to how Bush was elected. It was the likes of you who confuse Jewhovah and Jesus. How and why Bush was elected to be our "fearless leader", even if he can't even speak English, is when at a meticulously scripted and well rehearsed debate he was asked as to who his "all time hero" was he answered "Jesus". Duhh! When did he meet Jesus?And wher did he read that Jesus was for the "eye for eye" and " tooth for tooth" hebraic heritage. ??

[phantom22]

The best way to save America is to muzzle the Evangelicals. They have made a mess our our beautiful country.

 

This shows how limited you intellect is.

I am not a Bush supporter. You are so non-observantly stupid. My choice would have been that prennial "what, me worry kid" Alfred E Newman. At least, he speaks better English.

As to how Bush was elected. It was the likes of you who confuse Jewhovah and Jesus. How and why Bush was elected to be our "fearless leader", even if he can't even speak English, is when at a meticulously scripted and well rehearsed debate he was asked as to who his "all time hero" was he answered "Jesus". Duhh! When did he meet Jesus?And wher did he read that Jesus was for the "eye for eye" and " tooth for tooth" hebraic heritage. ??

[MosJan]

the name of the topic is The 40 Days Of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel

 

now any post that has nothing to do w/ the topic will be deleted

 

keep is clean !!!

 

 

 

On This Day in History ...

The "Guichen" rescues the Armenian resistance fighters of the 40-day battle of Musa Dagh

[Arpa]

The below URL seems to be a partial reproduction of a monograph from the SAE (Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia), and it credits L Barseghian, assuming that it refers to Lavrenti Barseghian, the current director of Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Museum, even if the original SAE monograph does not .

Those who can see the script and read it will notice that many names are mentioned, to not forget the heroine Manushak Manukian and her picture.

http://www.zetilyan.com/musaler/history.htm

 

For whatever reason the poster of the above site may have seen fit to omit some of the names of some of the major actors of the drama. Even the SAE monograph has these names in addition to the above.

(in translation) That line was particularly kept by the preacher of the Village of Bithias, Rev Nokhutian,, the Qahanas of Qebusia Markos and Mattheos et al……..the inhabitants of about six villages took the road of no return …but the remaining, about 5 thousand resorted to armed struggle.. and traveled up to Musa Ler and waged an extraordinary battle… (with the guidance) of that Patriot Rev. Andreasian and other patriots.

[Yeghishe_Charents]

wow this is certainly interesting indeed... anyone recommend me to read it?

[irlandahay]

wow this is certainly interesting indeed... anyone recommend me to read it?

absolutely!

 

im only 15 (its 800 pgs)

[abass80]

it's one of the best books i have ever read!

i know that it's a bit long and that may discourage some ppl but i assure u that it is worth reading it!

[SanVal]

It's a good book. I was skeptical at first because I thought it would idealize the victims, but they seemed like real people. There were a few places where I thought the author was pretty biased....I remember something about a "dirty Kurd" who was after Armenian women, something about the Muslims' sexual mores being lax, and a reference to a Turks' less than attractive "Asiatic" lips. Those parts of it were very obvious, because I read it four years ago and I still remember.

 

I don't know if you're there yet, but there's a point at which a group of Armenians start acting like the oppressors towards their own kind. That to me was an essential part of the book, because without it, it wouldn't have been realistic...some people who suffer do turn to aggression.

[gurgen]

Fantastic book and anyone who hasn't read it yet should be wondering why.

 

The ending brought a tear to my eye.

[Helios]

Yes, the ending was really heart wrenching.

[Haytorontonian]

Yes I read it too about three years ago. I took at least two weeks break before reading the last several pages and cried a lot. It is very well written.

[misakz]

Just for Historical Reference regarding the title of this book. "Dagh" or "Ler" should be irrelevant. The original Title of this book was "40 DAYS" The "of Musa Dagh" was added later when it was translated. The fact is that this book is a good read and one who reads this book should learn that it is not far from reality. Some research on the Armenian Genocide, specifically the resistance on Musa Ler would be a good companion to the book.

 

FYI the resistance took place for longer then 40 days! How much exactly, do your research and post it there.

[abass80]

besides the info that u can find about the actual events in wikipedia and armeniapedia u can also check the Mousa Ler Online site!

[hosank]

true that

[irlandahay]

FYI the resistance took place for longer then 40 days! How much exactly, do your research and post it there.

 

As i recall it took 53 days for the Guichen got there. The author put it 40 as a reference to the biblical flood.

[AVO]

I wonder when Rambo will again start talking about the remake.