While scholarship on the Armenian Genocide has expanded significantly in recent years, the history of the concentration camps in present-day Syria, where Ottoman authorities deported Armenians during the death marches, remains largely understudied. This is the first book to offer an in-depth and multifaceted examination of these camps. The chapters trace the origins and development of the camp system and document the atrocities committed at infamous sites such as Deir ez-Zor, Ras al-Ain, Meskene and others. Contributors explore the brutal realities of daily life in the camps, the interactions between deportees and local populations, as well as the ways in which some Armenians managed to resist and survive against overwhelming odds. Combining a comparative perspective that situates the camps within a global context with detailed analyses of specific locations, this volume provides critical new insights into the operation and function of concentration camps during the Armenian Genocide.

Autorentext
Bedross Der Matossian is Professor of Modern Middle East history and the Hymen Rosenberg Professor in Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. He is the author, editor, and co-editor of seven books, including Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire (2014) and The Horrors of Adana: Revolution and Violence in the Early Twentieth Century (2022). He serves on the editorial board of journals, including the International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES). Dr. Edita Gzoyan is a genocide studies scholar specializing in the legal and historical dimensions of the Armenian Genocide. She is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies and teaches at the American University of Armenia. Her research focuses on gendered violence, forced child transfer, and international criminal law, including the edited volume The Silenced Crime: Forcible Child Transfer During the Armenian Genocide (2025).

Inhalt

INTRODUCTION
Bedross Der Matossian (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and Edita Gzoyan (American University of Armenia)

PART I: From the Global History of Concentration Camps

Chapter 1-Concentration Camps
Dan Stone (University of London)

Chapter 2-Concentration Camps during the Armenian Genocide in a Global Historical Context
Khatchig Mouradian (Columbia University)

Chapter 3- Concentration Camps during the Armenian Genocide: Turning a Universal Idea into Action
Regina Galustyan and Mihran Minassian (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)

PART II- Concentrations Camps as a Method of Destruction: From the Decision to Implementation

Chapter 4-The Young Turk Regime and the Decision to Liquidate the Last Deportees on Syria and Mesopotamia
Raymond H. Kévorkian

**Chapter 5-**The Humanitarian Perversion
Hatice Ayse Polat (Columbia University)

PAT III-Documenting the Atrocities in Concentration Camps

**Chapter 6-**Aram Andonian's Collection of Testimonies on the Concentration Camps of Armenian Deportees in Syria
Mihran A. Minassian (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)

Chapter 7-****"Rescue" as Genocide and Attempts of Self-Rescue
Harutyun Marutyan (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)

**Chapter 8-**Archeology of the Armenian Genocide on the Source Study and Discovery of Massacre and Mass Burial Places
Shushan Khachatryan and Hayk Hakobyan(Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI and Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Armenia)

PART IV-Destination Nowhere: Reconstructing Deportation Routes and Concentration Camps Through the Survivors' Memoirs

Chapter 9- From Keghi to the Desert: The Ordeal of Armenians Through Transit Camps and Forced Marches
Anna Kazaryan (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)

Chapter 10- **From Medz Nor Kiwgh to Ras ul-Ain: The Deportation Journey of Yervant Sharabkhanian
**Gohar Khanumyan (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)

Chapter 11- Chronicling the Extreme: Father Nerses Tavukjian's Genocide Diary*
Vahe Tachjian (Houshamadyan Organization)

Chapter 12-Zepyur Metspahkian's Memoires on Exile and Salvation
Lusine Abrahamyan (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)

PART V-Life-and-Death Struggle: "Life" in Concentration Camps

**Chapter 13-**Exile in a Transit Camp: 'Life' of Armenian Deportees in Akçakoyunlu Railroad Station in 1915-1916
Ümit Kurt (The University of New Castle)

Chapter 14- Experiencing Refugeedom in Katma Concentration Camp during the Armenian Genocide
Antranik Dakessian (Haygazian University)

Chapter 15- Concentration Camps in Smyrna as Reported in Eyewitness Accounts
Tehmine Martoyan (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)

PART VI-Resisting Death in Concentration Camps

Chapter 16 - Armed Resistance Attempt by Deported Zeitun-Armenians in Deir al-Zor Desert
Robert Tatoyan (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)

**Chapter 17-**Children at Concentration Camps during the Armenian Genocide: Suffering and Survival
Aram Mirzoyan (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)

PART VII: Acting and Reacting: Foreign Intervention and Help

**Chapter 18-****German Missionary Stations and the Armenian Genocide:**Issues of Continuity of Financial Flows from Europe and Their Distribution
Hayk Martirosyan (Lepsiushaus, Potsdam)

Chapter 19-The Attitudes of Bedouin Arabs Towards Armenian Refugees in the Concentration Camps
Narine V. Margaryan (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)

Chapter 20- "Managing the Undesirables:" Humanitarian Encampment in Post-WWI Aleppo
Melanie Tanielian (University of Michigan-Ann Arbor)

Conclusion
**Deportations, Camps, and Massacres:**The Ottoman State During the Armenian Genocide
Hilmar Kaiser (Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, AGMI)