A brief history of the Armenian Genocide
Read about the persecution of Ottoman Armenians during World War I and how the victims are remembered.
The events of 1915
During World War I, Ottoman authorities began a campaign of mass deportation and killing against the empire’s Armenian population. On April 24, 1915, authorities arrested Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople, now Istanbul. The date is commemorated each year.
Deportation and survival
Armenians were forced from their homes and sent on deportation routes that led toward the Syrian desert. Many were killed or died from starvation, disease, and exposure. Families were separated, and survivors built new lives in refugee communities. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that at least 664,000 and possibly as many as 1.2 million Armenians died in the period it documents.
Remembrance
Survivor accounts, archival documents, and photographs preserve evidence of the genocide and the experiences of those affected. In Yerevan, the Tsitsernakaberd memorial and the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute provide a place for remembrance and historical study.