An Armenian Boy's Memoir of Survival
In 1915, when the story begins, the surge to exterminate the entire Armenian population of Ottoman Turkey was at its peak. The strategy of the Turkish government was to arrest and kill the men in the villages and then deport the women and children on the pretext of "temporary relocation;' a well-documented prelude to annihilation. The historically Christian Armenians were considered infidels by their Muslim rulers, and although some survived by converting to Islam, or in other ways, the number of Armenian deaths is generally put at 1.5 million.
Aram Haigaz was fifteen when Shahin Karahisar was attacked, and was with his people as they fought to defend themselves against the Turkish battalions for almost one month ...
