{{Short description|Armenian journalist, historian and writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Aram Andonian<br>Արամ Անտոնեան | image = Արամ Անտոնեան - Aram Andonian.jpg | image_size = 210px | birth_date = 1875 | birth_place =Constantinople, Ottoman Empire | death_date = {{Death date|1951|12|23|df=y}} | death_place = Paris, France | occupation = Historian, editor, writer, public figure, drawer }} '''Aram Andonian''' ({{langx|hy|Արամ Անտոնեան}}; 1875 – 23 December 1951) was an Armenian journalist, historian and writer.
==Biography== Andonian was born in Constantinople and was ethnic Armenian. There he edited the Armenian journals ''Luys'' (''Light'') and ''Dzaghik'' (''Flower'') and the newspaper ''Surhandak'' (''Herald''). Andonian then went on to serve in the department of military censorship of the Ottoman Empire.<ref>A Crime of Silence: The Armenian Genocide, by Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, Gerard J. Libaridian, 1985, p. 123.</ref> He was arrested by order of interior minister Talat Pasha of the Ottoman Empire on the eve of 24 April 1915, and joined the large number of Armenian notables who were deported from the Ottoman capital. Andonian was deported to Chankiri, then, halfway there, returned to Ankara and was deported again to the camps in the Ra's al-'Ayn and Meskene.<ref>The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies, by Richard G. Hovannisian, Transaction Publishers, 2007, p. 55.</ref> However, Andonian survived in Aleppo in the underground.<ref>At the crossroads of Der Zor, by Hilmar Kaiser, Nancy Eskijian, Luther Eskijian - 2002 - p. 93</ref> When British forces occupied Aleppo, a lower-level Turkish official, Naim Bey collaborated with Aram Andonian in publishing his memoirs, an account of the deportation of the Armenians.<ref>The Lions of Marash, by Stanley Elphinstone Kerr - 1973, p. 15</ref> ''The Memoirs of Naim Bey'' were published in 1920, and are sometimes referred to as the "Andonian Telegrams" or the "Talat Pasha Telegrams." The telegrams are purported to constitute direct evidence that the Armenian genocide of 1915–1917 was state policy of the Ottoman Empire. They were introduced as evidence in the trial of Soghomon Tehlirian.<ref>Dadrian, Vahakn. "[https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/163381?uid=3739560&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21100802453301 The Naim-Andonian Documents on the World War I Destruction of Ottoman Armenians: The Anatomy of a Genocide]," ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'', 18 (1986), pp. 311-360.</ref>
According to Robert Melson, Andonian's report on post-1915 deportations and killings of Armenians are crucial for the research of that period.<ref>Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, By Robert Melson, Contributor Leo Kuper, University of Chicago Press, 1996, {{ISBN|0-226-51991-0}}, p. 147</ref>
From 1928 to 1951 Andonian directed the Nubarian Library in Paris, and succeeded in hiding and saving most of the collection during the German occupation of Paris. He also worked to collect eyewitness testimonies of the genocide.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cheterian |first1=Vicken|author-link=Vicken Cheterian |title=Open Wounds: Armenians, Turks and a Century of Genocide |date=2015 |publisher=Hurst |isbn=978-1-84904-458-5 |language=en|page=120}}</ref>
He is the author of a ''Complete Illustrated History of the Balkan War'' (Vol. 1–5, 1912–1913), published originally in Armenian.
== Works == * {{transliteration|hyw|Shirvanzade}} ({{lang|hyw|Շիրվանզադէ}}), Constantinople, 1911. A biography of Alexander Shirvanzade. * {{transliteration|hyw|Badgerazart entartsag batmutiun Balkanyan baderazmin}} ({{lang|hyw|Պատկերազարդ ընդարձակ պատմութիւն Պալքանեան պատերազմին}} (Complete Illustrated History of the Balkan War)), 5 vols., Constantinople, 1912-1913. Published in Turkish translation as {{lang|tr|Balkan Savaşı}}, Istanbul: Aras Yayincilik, 1999 (1st ed.). * {{transliteration|hyw|Ayn sev orerun}} ({{lang|hyw|Այն սեւ օրերուն}} (In Those Dark Days)), Boston, 1919. * {{transliteration|hyw|Medz Vojire}} ({{lang|hyw|Մեծ Ոճիրը}} (The Great Crime)), Boston, 1921 (English translation by Simon Beugekian, editor Taner Akçam, 2026<ref>https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-97231-7</ref>). * ''The Memoirs of Naim Bey'', London, 1920.
== See also == *Deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915
== References == <references/>
==Further reading== * Soulahian-Kuyumjian, Rita. ''The Survivor: Biography of Aram Andonian''. London: Gomidas Institute, 9 June 2010. {{ISBN|1-903656-94-X}}.
==External links== *[https://avproduction.am/?ln=am&page=person&id=3879 Aram Andonian's biography]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Andonian, Aram}} Category:Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire Category:Armenian genocide survivors Category:Political people from the Ottoman Empire Category:1875 births Category:1951 deaths Category:Writers from Istanbul Category:Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to France Category:Ethnic Armenian journalists Category:19th-century journalists from the Ottoman Empire Category:20th-century journalists from the Ottoman Empire