Documents and Wegner Photographs Reporting on the Armenian Genocide

Letter from Leslie A. Davis, American Consul at Harput in Eastern Turkey, to the US Ambassador to Turkey

"30 June. Sir: I have the honor to report to the Embassy about one of the severest measures ever taken by any government and one of the greatest tragedies in all history. . . . Practically every male Armenian of any consequence at all here has been arrested and put in prison. A great many of them were subjected to the most cruel tortures under which some of them died.... Another method was found, however, to destroy the Armenian race. This is no less than the deportation of the entire Armenian population, not only from this province, but, I understand, from all six provinces comprising Armenia.... For people travelling as these Armenians who are going into exile will be obliged to travel it is certain death for by far the greater part of them.... During the last three days crowds of people have visited the Consulate and the American Mission for help of some kind.... All feel they are going to certain death...."

Citation from: Leslie A. Davis, The Slaughterhouse Province. An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1917 (New Rochelle, New York, Aristide D. Caratzas, 1989), pg. 143-7

Murdered Armenian Male Adult Lying in a Ditch as Children Watch the Corpse

1915-1916, Murdered Armenian adult male lying in a ditch as children watch the corpse. Location: Ottoman empire, region Syria. (Courtesy of Deutches Literaturarchiv, Marbach & United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Photo by Armin T. Wegner.)

Three Generations of Deported Armenians

1915, Deported Armenian family-two older couples and two young children-living under a tent in the desert. Location: Ottoman empire, region Syria. (Courtesy of Deutches Literaturarchiv, Marbach & United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Photo by Armin T. Wegner.)

Armenian deportees- women, children, and an older man

1915, Armenian deportees-women, children and elderly men. Woman in foreground is carrying a child in her arms, shielding it from the sun with a shawl; man on left is carrying bedding; no other belongings or food noticeable among effects being carried. All are walking in the sun on an unpaved road with no means of shelter from the elements. Location: Ottoman empire, region Syria. (Courtesy of Deutches Literaturarchiv, Marbach & United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Photo by Armin T. Wegner.)

Corpse of a young Armenian boy starved to death

1915-1916, Corpse of young Armenian boy starved to death, collapsed at doorstep. Location: Ottoman empire, region Syria. (Courtesy of Deutches Literaturarchiv, Marbach & United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Photo by Armin T. Wegner.)

Victims of Armenian Genocide

1915, Victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Abandoned and murdered children of the Armenian deportees

"Abandoned and murdered small children of the (Armenian) deportees, "according to the photographer, 1915-1916. Three are dead including stripped boy in gutter. Location: Ottoman empire, region Syria. (Courtesy of Deutches Literaturarchiv, Marbach & United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Photo by Armin T. Wegner, attributed.)

Orphaned Armenian children in the open

1915, Orphaned Armenian children in the open, all in worn-out clothing, with many covering their heads from the desert sun. Twenty-eight boys in the foreground. Some adults are visible in the background. Location: Ottoman empire, region Syria. (Courtesy of Deutches Literaturarchiv, Marbach & United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Photo by Armin T. Wegner.)