The Resistance Network: The Armenian Genocide and Humanitarianism in Ottoman Syria, 1915–1918. Khatchig Mouradian

The Resistance Network is a well-researched, insightful, and valuable contribution to scholarship on the Armenian genocide. A key aim of Mouradian’s book is to “challenge explicit and implicit depictions of Armenians as passive recipients of violence on the one hand and of Western humanitarian assistance on the other, arguing for expanding our conceptualization of resistance to include subtler, more common forms of organized opposition and humanitarian action” (p. xvii). This is a worthy goal. As the author rightly points out, “Our understanding of the dynamics of mass violence would be flawed, or at best incomplete, without fully integrating the targeted group’s resistance into the narrative” (p. xvii). To do this, however, requires a carefully constructed definition of resistance, and the volume fell a little short here. After a very brief overview of definitions of resistance that Holocaust scholarship often employs, the author defines resistance as “actions carried out illegally, or against the sanction and will of the authorities, to save Armenian deportees from annihilation” (p. xx). While this definition makes sense within the context of the author’s focus on the resistance network in Ottoman Syria, it is incomplete. Defining resistance in such a restrictive way excludes any acts of resistance focused on saving Armenians who were not, or not yet, deported. This definition thus effectively excludes the best-known incident of resistance during the Armenian genocide, that of Musa Dagh—the collective resistance of thousands of Armenians prior to their planned deportation. There was a missed opportunity here for the author to develop a more complete and authoritative definition of resistance during the Armenian genocide, utilizing scholarship on the genocide itself, as well as the Holocaust to do so.

That said, the volume does provide valuable insight into the agency and resistance of Armenians and others during the genocide. It depicts the activities of a resistance network that “at its core, comprised of a few dozen dedicated Armenian religious and secular community leaders, Western missionaries and diplomats, and deportees who had arrived in Syria beginning in the spring of 1915” (pp. xxiii–xxiv). Outside this “core” were many others who “helped in any way they could” (p. xxiv): through the provision of humanitarian relief, through interceding with authorities to try to improve the conditions of deportees, through protecting individuals from deportation or redeportation, through establishing orphanages, and in countless other ways. Many of those who resisted paid a heavy price for doing so, including being incarcerated, exiled, tortured, and killed for their actions. Occasionally, the volume’s conceptualization of a resistance “network” is stretched beyond its limits. As the author himself acknowledges, some resisters acted completely independently of the network, while others were unaware of its existence. The title of the book perhaps implies more cohesiveness to the resistance than existed in practice. Nonetheless, the reader is presented with a detailed and thoroughly researched account of the agency and resistance of Armenians and others in response to the genocide in Ottoman Syria. This is a significant addition to the scholarship.

One of the most important contributions of the book is perhaps understated by the author’s definition of resistance. As Mouradian points out, more research is needed on the pathways of the deportations, the repeated deportations of Armenians who survived to reach the concentration camps in the desert, and the extirpation of survivors. In this volume, we learn a tremendous amount about how the deportation pathways operated, and about the experiences of those in the concentration camps. The author’s deep engagement with archival sources brings to light a great deal of information about the formation, operation, and dissolution of the Sebil, Karlık, Bab, and Meskeneh concentration camps, as well as transit camps such as Dipsi and Hamam. Vivid quotations from witnesses place us right at the scene, such as this excerpt describing an orphanage in Meskeneh: “I have seen, under a tent of 5 to 6 square meters, around 450 orphans, crawling pell-mell in the dirt and the vermin. These poor small ones receive 150 grams of bread per day, sometimes even [less] and it is more often the case that they go two days without having anything to eat. Also death makes among them cruel devastations. This tent sheltered 450 victims during my stay. Eight days later, at the time of my return, intestinal diseases had taken 17 of them” (p. 96).

Mouradian elucidates on how Armenians and others were able to intercede, even in these desperate conditions, to save the lives and improve the conditions of thousands of Armenians. Bribes were central to many such endeavors. In one case, for example, genocide survivor Yeranuhi Simonian described how her brother-in-law bribed an official to save her: “As my sister, with tears in her eyes, rushed towards me to embrace me, I pushed her away and withdrew. Countless fleas were swarming on my clothes. Deprived of water and soap for months, my body had become a nest for microbes. Finally, my brother-in-law counted ten gold coins into the hand of the officer, then they took me directly to the bath, and, throwing away my clothes and shoes, dressed me in new clothing” (pp. 70–71). The volume highlights the role of couriers bringing funds and supplies to the camps, to alleviate the conditions of the deportees. Many of these couriers were Armenians themselves, risking their lives to contribute to the resistance effort. US Consul Jesse Jackson, a key member of the resistance network, relied on “courageous distributors of relief, furnished by him and carrying large sums” (p. 129). Through these couriers, aid could reach “all the localities in the vicinity of Aleppo,” helping and relieving “thousands of exiles, starving in the deserts” (p. 129).

The concluding section of the volume provides the reader with insight into Der Zor, the final destination of many deportees and the site of large-scale massacres in 1916. One witness described a convoy of deportees from Kharpert in Der Zor: “Not a single peep or movement: All of them had turned into corpses on the burning sand field. Prodding them gently with our feet we tried to tell the living from the dead. Those who were alive asked for water…. They had nothing. They were bare naked” (p. 125). Yet even in such desperate circumstances as prevailed in Der Zor, Armenians resisted. In elucidating the contours of this resistance, this volume makes a notable contribution to Armenian genocide studies.