W–052 · 1915 · album published in 1917 · Sheykhalan, Mush region, Ottoman Empire

Sheykhalan and the Refugees’ Album

The Armenian inhabitants of Sheykhalan, in the Mush region, were burned alive. That is how a Russian inscription on the back of the surviving print describes their deaths. Russian servicemen stand among the remains. The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute dates the photograph to 1915 and attributes it to Russian soldiers on the Caucasus front. The individual photographer is unknown.

Servicemen stand behind human remains lying on open ground — Russian servicemen among the remains of villagers at Sheykhalan. The museum dates the image to 1915; the inscription on the back says the inhabitants were burned alive.Photographer unknown · Sheykhalan, 1915

Provenance and sources for frame 1

File and rights
1920 × 1080 monochrome copy from Wikimedia Commons, whose record classifies the image as public domain. The museum establishes the place and year but does not name the photographer. A later colour version is omitted because its maker and method have not been established.

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: Sheykhalan photograph File on WITNESS · 1920 × 1080

During the First World War, the Young Turk government accused Armenians of supporting Russia. On 24 April 1915, hundreds of Armenian public and cultural figures were arrested in Constantinople. That date became the day of remembrance for the genocide. In May, deportations spread to districts far from the front: belonging to a people declared disloyal was enough to be driven from home.

Armenians were driven from their homes and sent south towards the empire’s desert regions. Deportation columns came under attack; people died from murder, starvation, disease and exhaustion. Massacres in towns and villages were another part of the destruction. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that between 664,000 and 1.2 million Armenians died from spring 1915 to autumn 1916. Tens of thousands of children were taken from their families and forcibly converted to Islam.

Some refugees reached the Caucasus. Charitable societies, doctors and the Armenian Central Committee in Tiflis organised relief. The committee supported sixteen orphanages in Tiflis, Dilijan and Alexandropol. The Caucasian Armenian Charitable Society maintained another twenty-eight. During the war these organisations worked together, raising funds for medical care, food and shelter for refugees.

Worn album cover bearing its printed title — Cover of the Album of Armenian Refugees, issued by the Armenian Central Committee in Tiflis in 1917.Armenian Central Committee · Tiflis, 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 2

File and rights
Complete 1000 × 704 museum reproduction of the 1917 cover. No free licence is stated for the digital publication.

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album cover File on WITNESS · 1000 × 704

A multistorey charitable society building on a Tiflis street — The Caucasian Armenian Charitable Society building in Tiflis. Plate 1, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 3

File and rights
Complete historical album sheet, including its printed captions; the precise exposure date is not stated. File published by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. The mark “Sogom. Siutch.” on some sheets does not securely identify the photographer. The museum states no free licence for its digital publication.

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 1 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 765

Human skulls and bones on the ground, with several people standing behind them — Skulls at Ali-Zrnan; the printed caption says the inhabitants were burned alive. Plate 7, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 4

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 7 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 743

Human remains lie beside a stone pier of an arched bridge — Human remains on the bank below the Bitlis bridge. Plate 8, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 5

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 8 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 741

Skeletons and bodily remains on the ground beside stonework — Remains of murdered Armenians at Ali-Zrnan in the Mush region. Plate 10, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 6

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 10 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 737

Skulls and bones on the ground, with several people standing behind them — Human remains at Trebizond, as identified in the printed caption. Plate 15, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 7

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 15 File on WITNESS · 4272 × 3318

A man’s body lies among stones beside a road — A murdered Armenian labourer on a road near Mush, according to the album caption. Plate 16, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 8

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 16 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 722

A clothed man’s body lies on the ground — A murdered Armenian labourer in Bitlis, according to the album caption. Plate 17, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 9

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 17 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 666

Relief also meant everyday work. There was a temporary shelter in Igdir, a food warehouse in Elisavetpol, and workshops in Tiflis where refugees wove cloth and worked as jewellers. In 1917, the Armenian Central Committee included these places in the Album of Armenian Refugees, issued by the Progress publishing house in Tiflis. Its 62 photographs brought evidence of massacres together with orphanages and workshops. They concerned people who, having escaped death, still had to rebuild their lives.

Children sit in a wagon, with adults and a horse beside them — Gathering orphaned children lost during the retreat from Van, according to the album caption. Plate 26, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 10

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 26 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 694

A group of children in headscarves poses for the camera indoors — Children at the temporary shelter in Igdir. Plate 51, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 11

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 51 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 670

People stand outside a warehouse entrance beside large sacks — A food warehouse in Elisavetpol. Plate 54, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 12

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 54 File on WITNESS · 4000 × 2775

People work at benches in a jewellery workshop — A refugees’ jewellery workshop in Tiflis. Plate 58, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 13

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 58 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 730

People inside a room containing looms — A refugees’ weaving workshop in Tiflis. Plate 59, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 14

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 59 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 680

The Sheykhalan photograph also appeared in that publication. The museum acquired a separate original print in 2008. A Russian inscription describing the villagers’ deaths by burning survived on the back, with the number 74 on the photograph. The museum’s account names neither the victims nor the photographer. What remains identifiable is the place, the year and the testimony written on the print itself about the villagers’ deaths.

People sit and stand at tables during a tea gathering — The album’s final plate: tea in Tiflis. Plate 62, Album of Armenian Refugees, Tiflis, 1917.Photographer unknown · published in 1917

Provenance and sources for frame 15

Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute: album plate 62 File on WITNESS · 1000 × 712

Sheykhalan and the Refugees’ Album

1. Sheykhalan

2. The Tiflis edition

3. The charitable society

4. Ali-Zrnan

5. Below the Bitlis bridge

6. Remains at Ali-Zrnan

7. Trebizond

8. A road near Mush

9. A labourer in Bitlis

10. Children after the retreat

11. A temporary shelter

12. The food warehouse

13. The jewellery workshop

14. The weaving workshop

15. Over tea