Arda Arsenian Ekmekji

Surviving Massacre: Hagop Arsenian’s Armenian Journey to Jerusalem, 1915-1916

These pages are excerpted from Hagop Arsenian’s diary of his deportation from his native village of Ovajik in Turkey and his harrowing journey to Jerusalem (1915-1916). After months of hardship in Meskene, “one of the most infamous stations of the Armenian deportation,” where he and his family barely escape massacre, Arsenian’s status as a professional pharmacist finally allows him to leave for Aleppo. He and his family ultimately find refuge in Jerusalem – where, in a twist ...