Traces of Germany in Armenian History and Culture

In Tiflis, Georgia, the settlers heard from Russian officials and soldiers that it would be too dangerous to go farther – because of the wild Kurds, Turks and Tartars. (This was the region of today’s Azerbaijan.) As a result the “Swabian villages” — Katharinenfeld, Marienfeld, Elisabethtal, Aleksandersdorf, Petersdorf, Freudenthal and Alexanderhilf — grew up about 35 kilometers from Tiflis. The settlements Neudorf, Lindau and Gnadenberg were established in Abkhazia. German was the language they spoke. In this way other German communities came into being (like Old Katharinenfeld, Annenfeld, Helenendorf, Alexejevka, Grünfeld, Eichenfeld and other places in the East, like Arzach Province, Koxt District, in the czarist period: Yelisavetpol Province, today the Republic of Azerbaijan). Around 1900 there were about 25,000 Germans in the Caucasus. Following the arrival of German troops in the Soviet Union in 1941 all Germans were relocated to Siberia and Central Asia.

There were some settlers, however, who traveled farther and in 1891 founded three German villages between Kars and Gumri (Petrovka, Estonka and Vladikars). They specialized in wine growing, forestry and hunting. Almost every village had its own school and church. Soon some Swiss also moved to this region, set up two milk and cheese factories and later sent Swiss cheese to all the lands of the Czarist empire. Each German family owned 50-70 cows. In 1914 the Russian czarist army deported many of these villagers to the Yelisavetpol Province, beyond the Ottoman Empire.

In 1921 a treaty was signed between two revolutionary movements, namely the Bolsheviks (Lenin and Stalin) and the Atatürk movement: on March 16 the Moscow Treaty and on October 13, 1921 the Treaty of Kars. In the process, the holy Mount Ararat was wrested from the Armenians.

In 1971 a grandson of German emigrants photographed a home in Petrovka near Kars, where Muslims were living. Above the door frame he recognized a wooden beam with an inscription carved in German: “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him” (Psalm 37:5).

Only half the 8,000 Swabians, Bavarians, Hessians and Luxemburgers who had set out for Mount Ararat ever saw it. Was there a flood in the 19th century? — that is the question this author raised, and added: In the 20th century a flood enveloped mankind in such a horrendous manner that even a holy mountain could not save it…. Since 1921, Ararat no longer lies on Armenian territory.

In 1946 Stalin gave the order to German prisoners of war to blow up one of the two German churches in Tiflis. Following protests, however it was not blown up, but rather torn down, dismantled stone by stone and the stones were used for other purposes. German prisoners of war were forced by the dictator also to build a fantastic bridge in Yerevan, which, to mock them, was named the “Victory bridge.”

German Scientists in Armenia

In 1829 the German geologist and geographer Prof. Friedrich Parrot from the German University Dorpat in Estonia received permission from the Russian czar to explore Ararat. From time immemorial it had been strictly forbidden to climb the holy mountain. Parrot appealed for assistance to the Catholicos of the Armenians and in this way the young writer, researcher, pedagogue and translator Khatchatur Abovyan became his fellow-traveler. To climb the mountain, they took Russian soldiers and Armenian mountain guides from the surrounding villages with them. On September 27, 1829 at 3:15 p.m. the group reached the peak Massis (greater Ararat). They danced with joy on the ice and Abovyan placed a cross, which he had brought from Echmiadzin, on the peak. On November 8, they climbed up the “Sis” (smaller Ararat). The press throughout Europe reacted with indignation, anger and hatred to this sacrilege. Did it not even come to a trial? But with foresight the explorers had cleverly brought glacier chunks from the summit back with them. Never had the soles of their feet touched the holy mountain. Snow and ice had protected it from contact. In1845 Abovyan made the climb again, this time with the German geologist and mineralogist Prof. Otto Wilhelm Hermann von Abich (1806 – 1886) at his side. (There is a mineral named after the German researcher, called Arbichit.)

In 1914, together with the German theologian Dr. Johannes Lepsius, the Armenian writer Avetik Isakyan founded the German-Armenian Society in Berlin. Avetik Isakyan is the name of the library at Republic Square in Yerevan. The building was constructed in 1896 by the German master builder Nikolaus von der Nonne, who also built many residences that he rented out in Yerevan. For a time von der Nonne was also the mayor of Baku.

Many more such stories could have been told that evening in Bochum, had time allowed; but at the conclusion of the delightful presentation, now and again interrupted by questions from Heide Rieck-Wotke, listeners rushed to add their comments and queries.

Translated from German by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach