Memoirs and Autobiographies of Armenian Fedayis

Researcher: Elke Hartmann M.A.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Kellner-Heinkele

Abstract:

Memoirs and Autobiographies of Armenian Fedayis Elke Hartmann Examining autobiographical writing on the extreme periphery of the late Ottoman Empire, the project focuses on one text, Memoirs of an Armenian Revolutionary, by a fedayi (guerilla fighter) and ranking leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Roupen Der Minasian (1882-1951). Roupen's Memoirs, written between 1921 and 1951, cover the years of his guerilla activity in the Russian, Iranian and Ottoman border region – especially the Ottoman province of Bitlis, the ancient Armenian region of Daron – during the first decade of the 20th century. This extraordinarily voluminous text, which treats a vast range of topics, has served as a model for post-genocide Armenian autobiographical writing. It therefore serves as a point of departure and a key reference in my investigation into late Ottoman conceptions of the person between the tradition(s) and traditionalism(s) of a plural society on the one hand and the processes of modernisation on the other. The project begins by inquiring into the authors’ position and self-identification in the context of the multitudinous cultural, political and social influences in the region. Secondly, it considers the authors’ relationship with both the (Ottoman) society they lived in and their (Armenian) community, itself sub-divided into different strata, groups and elites. Thirdly, as the basis for a thematic reading of the memoirs, the project scutinizes the forms and functions of (Western) Armenian autobiographical writing and the constitution of the person after the catastrophe of the First World War, which put an end to Armenian life in the greater part of the ancient Armenian homeland. Particularly important aspects for an understanding of the Armenian fedayis’ memoirs are their functions as example (exemplum), memory (memoria) and confession (confessio).