#armin t wegner

The photos of Armin T. Wegner  capture the bleak struggle to survive facing Armeniandeportees. As a second-lieutenant in the German army stationed in the Ottoman empire in April 1915, Wegner took the initiative to investigate reports of Armenian massacres. Disobeying orders intended to stifle news of the massacres, he collected information on the genocide and took hundreds of photographs of Armenian deportation camps, primarily in the Syrian desert.

Wegner was eventually arrested, but not before he had succeeded in channeling a portion of his research material to Germany and the United States through clandestine mail routes. When he was transferred to Constantinople in November 1916, he secretly took with him photographic plates of images he and other German officers recorded.

Photographs in order of appearance by Armin T. Wegner.

1. 1915, Armenian deportees living in the open desert under makeshift tents. Central figure with long black robe and cap is an Armenian priest, probably performing burial rites for the dead a three men behind are kneeling while others are standing next to and behind the priest. Clothing of some deportees is already worn to rags. Location: Ottoman empire.

2. 1915-1916 Abandoned and murdered small children of the (Armenian) deportees, Three are dead including stripped boy in gutter. Location: Ottoman empire. 

3. 1915-1916, murdered Armenian male adult lying in a ditch as children watch the corpse. Location: Ottoman empire.

4. 1916, Scattered deportees in a desert wasteland, individually foraging as their only source of food. There is no shelter, water, or habitation in sight.  Location: Ottoman empire