Born in 1876, Grigoris Balakian was one of the leading
Armenian intellectuals of his generation. In Ottoman Turkey he
attended Armenian schools and seminary; and in Germany he studied,
at different times, engineering and theology. He was one of the 250
cultural leaders (intellectuals, clergy, teachers, and political
and community leaders) arrested by the Turkish government on the
night of April 24, 1915, and deported to the interior. Unlike the
vast majority of his conationals, he survived nearly four years in
the killing fields. Ordained as a celibate priest (vartabed) in
1901, he later became a bishop and prelate of the Armenian
Apostolic Church in southern France. He is the author of various
books and monographs (some of them lost) on Armenian culture and
history, including The Ruins of Ani (1910) and Armenian Golgotha,
volume 1 (1922) and volume 2 (1959). He died in Marseilles in
1934.
Peter Balakian is the author of The Burning Tigris: The
Armenian Genocide and America’ s Response, winner of the 2005
Raphael Lemkin Prize, a New York Times best seller, and a New York
Times Notable Book; and of Black Dog of Fate, winner of the
PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of Memoir, also a New York
Times Notable Book. Grigoris Balakian was his
great-uncle.
“A fascinating first-hand testimony to a monumental crime.”
—The New Yorker
“Gripping. . . . A powerful and important book. . . . It takes its
place as one of the key first-hand sources for understanding the
Armenian Genocide.”
—Mark Mazower, The New Republic
“Powerful. . . . Riveting. . . . A poignant, often harrowing story
about the resiliency of the human spirit [and] a window on a moment
in history that most Americans only dimly understand.”
—Chris Bohjalian, Washington Post
“An immensely moving, harrowing memoir that instantly takes its
place as a classic alongside Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz and
Elie Wiesel’s Night.”
—Carlin Romano, The Chronicle of Higher Education
“Read this heartbreaking book. Armenian Golgotha describes the
suffering, agony and massacre of innumerable Armenian families
almost a century ago; its memory must remain a lesson for more than
one generation.”
—Elie Wiesel, author of Night
“An appalling and magnificent book. . . . It owes its existence to
[Balakian’s] determination to survive to write it . . . a sacred
task that gives him the strength to persevere through the
impossible circumstances that killed well over a million of his
countrymen.”
—Benjamin Moser, Harper’s
“Shocking and brilliant. . . . Exquisitely rendered. . . . This
book has the feel of a classic about it, and I suspect that future
writers on historical trauma and its representation will turn
eagerly to Armenian Golgotha. It’s a massively important
contribution to this field.”
—Jay Parini, The Chronicle of Higher Education
“An extraordinary narrative . . . beautifully translated. . . .
Armenian Golgotha will influence Armenian genocide studies for
decades.”
—John A. C. Greppin, The Times Literary Supplement (London)
“Monumental. . . . Balakian provides strong evidence that these
gruesome proceedings were carried out under official orders from
the highest level. . . . For generations to come Armenian Golgotha
will remain a first-hand documentation of a historic tragedy
written from the perspective of a talented scholar.”
—Henry Morgenthau, III, Boston Sunday Globe
“[A work] of exceptional interest and scholarship.”
—Christopher Hitchens, Slate
“The translation and publication of Armenian Golgotha in English is
long overdue. It constitutes a thundering historical proof that
those who deny the Armenian Genocide are engages in a massive
deception.”
—Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of Denying the Holocaust: The Growing
Assault on Truth and Memory
“Groundbreaking. . . . Comprehensive. . . . Sobering. . . .
Armenian Golgotha is replete with narratives that focus on
collective suffering, marking this memoir as one of the few to
explicate the true nature of the crime. . . . Balakian’s memory is
extraordinary, but so, too, are his intellect, his compassion and
his ethical obligation to immortalize his beloved
co-nationals.”
—Donna-Lee Frieze, The Jewish Daily Forward
“An Armenian equivalent to the testimonies of Holocaust survivors
like Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel.”
—Adam Kirsch, Nextbook
“The descriptions of the Armenian genocide are striking and the
author spares his readers none of the gruesome details. . . . A
riveting and powerful indictment of a genocide that became a
paradigm for future genocides.”
—Holger H. Herwig, The Gazette (Montreal)
“An essential memoir, a lively and extraordinary life story. . . .
This is more than an eyewitness account, it is a masterful history
in its own right.”
—Seth J. Frantzman, The Jerusalem Post
“Weighted with eyewitness accounts and distinguished by Balakian’s
prodigiously sharp memory, this book is not a scholar’s history, of
course, but an educated prelate’s, with an enviable grasp of
Ottoman and European history. . . . Memory and hope for the future
live in seminal texts such as Armenian Golgotha.”
—Keith Garebian, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“A powerful, moving account of the Armenian Genocide, a story that
needs to be known, and is told here with a sweep of experience and
wealth of detail that is as disturbing as it is irrefutable.”
—Sir Martin Gilbert
“Extraordinary. . . . This book will become a classic, both for its
depiction of a much denied genocide and its humane and brilliant
witness to what human beings can endure and overcome.”
—Robert Jay Lifton, author of The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and
the Psychology of Genocide
“Witness literature of the highest order, to be put aside the great
testimony from the Shoah. . . . Required reading for those who wish
to comprehend the 20th century.”
—Robert Leiter, The Jewish Exponent
“An astonishing memoir. . . . An important primary document
concerning the Armenian Genocide. . . . A major addition to the
literature of witness and testimony.”
—Robert Melson, Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International
Journal
Ask a Question About this Product More... |