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A Brief History of Nirze Village in Gesaria

A Brief History of Nirze Village in Gesaria

Senekerim Khederian

translated from Armenian with annotations and introduction by Gerard J. Libaridian
London : Gomidas Institute, 2021,
xiv + 90 pp., map, photos, tables,
ISBN 978-1-909382-66-4, pb.,
UK£16.00 / US$22.00
To order please contact books@gomidas.org



This work is the first Armenian compatriotic study that records the life of an Armenian community as a memorial to its existence in the wake of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. It was written in 1917 and published in 1918 when the destruction of Armenians was still in progress.  It captures this critical, uncertain moment in Armenian history, as it relates what had been the life of Armenians in Nirze, in the Gesaria [Kayseri] plain of the Ottoman Empire. A significant part of the work focuses on the emigration of Armenians from Nirze to the United States, where the author, Senekerim Khederian, resided when writing this book. 

A Brief History of Nirze Village in Gesaria has been expertly translated from the original Armenian and introduced with a critical introduction by Gerard J. Libaridian.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Senekerim Khederian was born in Nirze, near Gesaria (Kayseri) in 1890. In 1909 he migrated to join his elder brother Garabed, in Watertown, Massachusetts. His younger brother, Vahan, followed suit. During the First World War, their remaining siblings were presumed killed in the Armenian Genocide, or in the case of young women like their sister, more than likely abducted by Turks.

TRANS., ANNOT. AND INTRO: Gerard J. Libaridian is a retired historian and diplomat currently residing in Cambridge, Mass., USA, and working on a number of projects on modern and contemporary Armenian issues. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Notes (v)
Editor/Translator’s Introduction (vii))
Preface (1)
Gesaria - Brief information (5)
 
Chapter I
Nirze Village and our forefathers (11)
Weddings in Nirze (12)
The organizations of Nirze (14)
1909 (14)
The earthquake (16)
The waters of Nirze (16)
Mount Erciyes (16)
The school of Nirze (17)
The Meadow of Nirze (Nirze Chayere) (18)
Soorp Krikor Monastery (18)
Gat-Aghpyur [The Milk Fountain] (19)
The Hole Stone [Dzag Kare] (21)
Nirze’s position (21)
The Monday of Great Lent (22)
The 1896 event in Nirze (23)
About the priest, once again (24)
 
Chapter II
The extended Khederian family (27)
My father’s life and death (27)
My mother’s life and death (32)
My paternal aunts (37)
My sister (38)
My paternal uncles and their lives (41)
[About me] From my birth to the present day (43)
To America (46)
My brothers (51)
Vahan (53)
My paternal cousins (53)
Garabed S. Khederian (54)
Baruyr and Sarkis [my younger brothers] (54)
My maternal uncle and his sons (57)
Haji Boghos Haji Sarkissian (57)
Hovhannes Kuyumjian (60)
Asdur Kuyumjian (63)
"News from Nirze” (64)
 
Chapter III
Nirzetis in America (64)
The lifestyle of Nirzetsis of America and our "union” (68)
General list of Nirzetis by city (69)
Those who returned to the Homeland (73)
The life of Nirzetsis in America (75)
Armenag Pavlian (77)
Nirzetsis who died in America (77)
Hayg Abajian (78)
Krikor Balian (78)
Stepan Alyanakian (78)
Hapet Kehyayan (79)
Nirzetsi volunteers (79)
Diar [Sir] Vahan Kurkjian (80)
Volunteers to the Caucasus front (85)
On the path to duty (85)
Last Minute (89)
 
The [Armenian] Population of Nirze Village and Their Wealth
(Before the 1914 War) (89)

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