From a monastery to a neighbourhood: Orphans and Armenian refugees in the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem (1916–1926), reflexions towards an Armenian museum in Jerusalem

ABSTRACT

This study examines a fairly classic phenomenon of urban and social transformations resulting from political changes: the Armenian ‘neighbourhood’ of Jerusalem. The Monastery of St James, seat of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, was transformed after the First World War into a neighbourhood made up of a refugee population that survived the genocide of 1915. The activity of two orphanages set up around the Patriarchate illustrates these transformations.

KEYWORDS:

• Armenian refugees
• orphans
• genocide
• Jerusalem Armenian neighbourhood
• St James of Jerusalem

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 About ten years ago, the central door was closed at 10:30 pm. In the 1970s, the neighbourhood was turning in on itself even earlier, at 9 pm.

2 For centuries, certain Armenian personalities close to the Ottoman imperial power have facilitated the settlement of disputes, particularly with the Greeks, concerning the respective rights of the churches in the Holy Places.

3 Nubar Library website, archives of the Armenian General Benevolent Union, accessed January 2021. http://bnulibrary.org/index.php/en/archives-en/les-archives-de-l-ugab-en

4 Concluded on 30 October 1918 on the island of Lemnos, at the port of Mudros, the Armistice of Mudros ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World Yanıkdağ, (Yanıkdağ, Y., Mudros, Armistice of, In: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet, K., Krämer, G., Matringe, D., Nawas J., Rowson E. Consulted online on 13 November 2020. https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_36577.)

5 Ibidem; this deportation axis, which was less deadly, mainly benefited Turkish-speaking Armenians from the vilayet of Adana, of which Kemal Pasha was the governor in 1909-1910. He requisitioned these deportees for his military needs and, perhaps, to spare those Armenians from Cilicia whom he knew well.

6 Author's field survey. It is thanks to the income generated by these buildings built on Jaffa road, which extend for about 400 metres, that the Patriarchate obtains a good part of its operating budget.

7 Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, second president of the AGBU; Colin 2020. Armenian General Benevolent Union: a non-profit Armenian organization established in Cairo, Egypt, in 1906. First president: Boghos Nubar, the son of the prime minister of Egypt Nubar Pasha. In 1921, the union's headquarters was moved from Cairo to Paris. After World War I, the main goal of the AGBU was to preserve and promote Armenian language, identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian programs.

8 Passionate about technique, he corresponded with the Abdullah brothers, who belonged to an Armenian family of photographers of Sublime Porte. The printing house was modernised and considerably increased its editorial production during the titulature of Patriarch Yesayi Garabedian, who was elected in 1865 and died in 1885. Its purpose was to provide books for the students of the seminary which was created at the same time.

9 The Armenians had a long and close relationship with the American evangelical missionaries who managed several missions in the Armenian provinces of the Ottoman Empire (some of the missionaries were even Armenian-speaking). NER was the humanitarian extension of the missionary movement (Kieser 2010, 2018, 2019).

10 AGBU Central Archives/Cairo, Central Board of Directors, Paris, 25 May 1921–28 February 1923, letter of 13 February 1922 from the Cairo Executive Committee to B. Nubar.

11 Arch. Bibl. Nubar/Paris, manuscript, ‘L’orphelinat Vasbouragan de Jérusalem.’

12 Arch. Bibl. Nubar/Paris, Minutes of the Central Board Meetings, 20th meeting, 7 June 1922, ff. 93-94.

13 Arch. Bibl. Nubar/Paris, 21st meeting, 30 June 1922, f° 99.

14 Arch. Bibl. Nubar/Paris, 22nd meeting, 30 September 1922, f° 102.

15 Arch. Bibl. Nubar/Paris, manuscript, ‘L’orphelinat Araradian.’

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Raymond Kevorkian

Raymond Kevorkian, historian, president of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institut Foundation. His work focuses on the long term of history (curating exhibitions and museums in Byblos and Jerusalem) and the Armenian genocide and its consequences. Last publications: The Armenian Genocide, Paris: Odile Jacob, 2006; Comprendre le génocide des Arméniens, Paris, Tallandier, 2015 (with H. Bozarslan, V. Duclert); Collective and State Violence in Turkey, The Construction of a National Identity from Empire to Nation-State, New York: Berghann, 2021 (with S. Astourian).