Voting Station

Armin T. Wegner

Please vote to return to collections.

Hero

The Resume

    (October 16, 1888-May 17, 1978)
    Born in Elberfeld Weppertal, Germany
    Birth name was Armin Theophil Wegner
    German soldier and medic during World War I
    Stationed in the Ottoman Empire, where he witnessed the violent death marches of Armenian Christians (1915)
    Photographs and testimonies detailing the massacres remain the most enduring and complete documentation of the Armenian Genocide
    Author of 'Armin T. Wegner and the Armenians in Anatolia, 1915: Images and Testimonies' 'The Road Without Return' (1919), 'The Scream from Ararat' (1922) and 'Five Fingers Over You' (1922)
    Advocated for Armenian independence in an open letter to Woodrow Wilson

Why he might be annoying:

    He was divorced (later saying 'Germany took everything from me, even my wife').
    Unsubstantiated rumors persist that he had a role in designing the genocide which he later condemned (despite being only a medic, not an officer).
    He violated specific military orders (albeit for a damn good reason) and he was arrested for censorship violations upon his return to Germany in 1916.
    He remains persona non grata with the Turkish Government, mainly because his photos challenge the notion that the Armenian Genocide was just 'ethnic conflict,' 'inter-communal struggle,' 'civil war,' or an outright lie.
    He testified at the trial of Soghomon Tehlirian, who was charged with the murder of Ottoman leader Talat Pasha in Berlin, despite having no direct connection to the crime itself (he was called on merely to confirm Ottoman atrocities).
    Skeptics have seized on the difference between his private writings and his published works as proof of his dishonesty.
    His most widely circulated photo looks like Rudolph Valentino as Ahmed in 'The Sheik.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He risked his life to illegally photograph the Ottomans' graphic atrocities against the Armenians for the world to see (they remain the most compelling evidence).
    When he was arrested, he concealed a majority of the photos in his belt, preventing them from being confiscated/destroyed.
    Post-WWI, he was an advocate for the rights of Genocide survivors.
    He was an outspoken critic of Nazi Germany's anti-Semitic policies, penning a letter to Adolf Hitler denouncing them as 'bad for Germany,' in 1933.
    He was subsequently arrested, tortured, and detained in a Concentration Camp.
    Upon his release he fled Germany, changed his name, and lived the rest of his life as an exile in Rome.
    He was awarded the Highest Order of Merit by the Federal German Government (1956).
    He was accorded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem (1967).
    He worked to save as many Armenian lives as he could during the death marches and maintained regular contact with Armenian Genocide survivors.
    He has been praised as 'the only writer in Nazi Germany ever to raise his voice in public against the persecution of the Jews.'
    His ashes were honored and scattered near the Armenian Genocide Monument's perpetual flame.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 31 Votes: 16.13% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 17 Votes: 47.06% Annoying