Exhibition : The history of the German Missions for Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1896-1919

In cooperation with the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Armenia in Saxony and St. Nicholas Church in Lepizig, this exhibition will present the research results of Dr. Hayk Martirosyan on the German Missions for Armenians.

The opening of the exhibition will be celebrated with a dedicated program.

About the exhibition:

At the end of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was shaken by massacres of the Armenians, which also became known in Europe. The massacres fomented by the Ottoman government in 1894-1896 prompted several German missions to take care of the survivors and in particular the orphaned children. Since June 1896, hundreds of Armenian orphans have been taken into custody at the stations of the Kaiserswerth Deaconess House, the Syrian Orphanage and the Jerusalem Association. A larger number of survivors were taken into their care by the newly founded German Orient Mission and the German Aid Association for Armenia. Christoffel's Missionary for the Blind was added to these missions in 1909. German Catholic circles also financially supported the survivors. In 1915, the Armenian genocide began in the Ottoman Empire. The missionaries from the German missions became witnesses of the Armenian genocide and tried to turn their stations into places of hope and salvation. After World War I, all German missions had to leave the Ottoman Empire.

This exhibition presents the history of the German missions mentioned above among the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire from 1896 to 1919. Numerous contemporary photos of the leading figures of the missions and their cries for help, as well as the stations and orphans, serve to illustrate the exhibition. Dr. Hayk Martirosyan, employee of the Lepsiushaus Potsdam, created the exhibition as part of a multi-year research project on the activities of German Protestant and Catholic missions in the Ottoman Empire between 1896 and 1919. The results of this research are detailed in 2024 in a monograph by him under the title “Humanism and Christian Mercy” in the series “Politics of Violence and Human Rights“published by Duncker & Humblot.