“Armin T. Wegner, the Righteous German Soldier” A talk by Maurice Missak Kelechian

MISSION HILLS, CA — Ararat-Eskijian Museum, present “Armin T. Wegner, the Righteous German Soldier” a talk by Maurice Missak Kelechian Independent researcher. Sunday February 18, 2018, at 4:00 PM Ararat-Eskijian Museum/Sheen Chapel, 15105 Mission Hills Road, Mission Hills, Calif., 91345.

Armin T. Wegner, whose photographic collection documents conditions in Armenian deportation camps in 1915-1916, was born in Germany in 1886. At the outbreak of World War I, he enrolled as a volunteer nurse in Poland during the winter of 1914-1915, and was decorated with the Iron Cross for assisting the wounded under fire. In April 1915, following the military alliance of Germany and Turkey, he was sent to the Middle East as a member of the German Sanitary Corps. Between July and August, he used his leave to investigate the rumors about the Armenian massacres that had reached him from several sources. In the autumn of the same year, with the rank of second-lieutenant in the retinue of Field Marshal von der Goltz, commander of the 6th Ottoman army in Turkey, he traveled through Asia Minor.

Mr. Kelechian’s presentation will focus on Armin Theophil Wegner and his motivations to pursue the Armenian cause from 1915 until his death in 1978. He will address a number of questions, including: Why did he risk his life by taking forbidden photos of Armenians? Besides the two dozen known Armenian Genocide photographs, were there additional photos? Do any of Wegner’s books, ostensibly burned by the Nazis, survive? Also, Kelechian will present for the first time newly uncovered correspondences between Wegner and a German lady who was living in Lebanon and married to an Armenian man.

Maurice Missak Kelechian is an Electrical Engineer with extensive experience with key U.S. Department of Defense global logistics operations. He is an independent investigative researcher passionate about finding untold stories of courageous expressions and service to humanity by the U.S. government, its people, and Near East Relief organization that became the catalyst for the survival of hundreds of thousands of Armenian victims between 1915-1930.

Admission free. For more information contact (747) 500-7585 or Eskijian@Ararat-eskijian-museum.com