31 Facts About Garegin Nzhdeh

Garegin Nzhdeh is widely admired as a charismatic national hero by Armenians.

Garegin Nzhdeh Ter-Harutyunyan was born on 1 January 1886 in the village of Kznut in the region of Nakhichevan.

Garegin Nzhdeh was the youngest of four children born to a local village priest.

Garegin Nzhdeh lost his father, Ter Yeghishe, early in his childhood.

Garegin Nzhdeh attended a Russian school in the city of Nakhichevan and continued his education at a gymnasium in Tiflis.

In 1906, Garegin Nzhdeh moved to Bulgaria, where he completed his education at the Dmitry Nikolov Military College of Sofia and in 1907 received a commission in the Bulgarian army with the rank of lieutenant.

In 1909, upon his return to the Caucasus, Garegin Nzhdeh was arrested by the Russian authorities and spent three years in prison.

Garegin Nzhdeh played a key role in organizing the troops for the defense of Karakilisa in May 1918.

Garegin Nzhdeh was wounded in the ensuing clash and, after a violent battle of four days, both sides had serious casualties.

In January 1921 Drastamat Kanayan sent a telegram to Garegin Nzhdeh, advising that Garegin Nzhdeh allow for the sovietization of Syunik, through which they could gain the support of the Bolshevik government in solving the problems of Armenian-populated lands.

Garegin Nzhdeh did not depart from Syunik and continued his struggle against the Red Army and Soviet Azerbaijan, struggling to maintain the independence of the region.

At the 10th ARF World Congress, Garegin Nzhdeh's case was reviewed and he was restored to the party.

Garegin Nzhdeh was involved in organizational activities in Bulgaria, Romania and the United States through his frequent visits to Plovdiv, Bucharest and Boston.

In 1926, Garegin Nzhdeh again came into dispute with the ARF leadership over the issue of relations with Turkey, with the party organization in Bulgaria being divided between supporters of Garegin Nzhdeh and supporters of the ARF Bureau.

In 1933, by the decision of ARF, Garegin Nzhdeh moved to the United States along with his comrade, Kopernik Tanterjian.

Garegin Nzhdeh visited several states and provinces in United States and Canada, inspiring the Armenian communities that had established themselves there, and founding an Armenian youth movement called Tseghakron in Boston, Massachusetts, which later renamed itself the Armenian Youth Federation, and functions to this day as the youth wing of the ARF.

Garegin Nzhdeh was summoned by the party to Cairo in 1937, where the ARF Bureau unsuccessfully attempted to resolve its differences with Nzhdeh and reconcile him with Ruben Ter Minasian.

In 1937, Garegin Nzhdeh went to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where he began to publish the Armenian-language newspaper, Razmik, together with fellow former ARF member Hayk Asatryan.

In 1942, Garegin Nzhdeh was invited by Artashes Abeghyan to serve on the Armenian National Council in Berlin, a collaborationist body created by Nazi Germany to coerce Armenian POWs into joining to avoid imprisonment in concentration camps.

Together with Artashes Abeghyan and Abraham Gyulkhandanyan, Garegin Nzhdeh co-edited and wrote for Azat Hayastan, the pro-German and anti-Soviet organ of the Armenian National Council, which published only two issues in 1943.

On 9 September 1944 Garegin Nzhdeh wrote a letter to Stalin offering his support were the Soviet leadership to attack Turkey.

Garegin Nzhdeh was transferred to Bucharest and later to Moscow, where he was arrested and held in the Lubyanka prison.

In November 1946, Garegin Nzhdeh was sent to Yerevan, Armenia, awaiting trial.

In 1947 Garegin Nzhdeh proposed an initiative to the Soviet government that would call for the foundation of a pan-Armenian military and political organization in the Armenian diaspora for the seizure of once-Armenian populated provinces of the former Ottoman Empire from Turkish control and its unification with Soviet Armenia.

Between 1948 and 1952 Garegin Nzhdeh was kept in Vladimir Prison, then until the summer of 1953 in a secret prison in Yerevan.

Garegin Nzhdeh received Nzhdeh's watch and clothing but was not allowed to take his personal writings, which would only be published in Yerevan several years later.

On 31 August 1983, Garegin Nzhdeh's remains were secretly transferred from Vladimir to rest in Soviet Armenia.

Garegin Nzhdeh's gravestone was erected through the efforts of Paruyr Hayrikyan and Movses Gorgisyan on 17 June 1989, a day that later turned into an annual pilgrimage day to the monastery's graveyard.

Decades after his death, on 30 March 1992, Garegin Nzhdeh was rehabilitated by Prosecutor General's Office of the newly independent Republic of Armenia.

On 26 April 2005 during the celebration of the 84th anniversary of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia, parts of Garegin Nzhdeh's body were taken from the Spitakavor Church to Khustup.

In 1926, Garegin Nzhdeh wrote for the newspaper Araks based in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he published a series of articles titled "Open Letters to the Armenian Intellectuals".