Garegin Nzhdeh, 1913

Garegin Nzhdeh (Ter-Harutyunyan) is a national hero of Armenia, a military leader and a philosopher. The photograph dates from 1913. “If you want to see the future of a nation, look at its youth.” His knowledge of military strategy was highly valued, but even more important was his role as a thinker whose works largely shaped the national ideology.

He was born in Nakhijevan. He left his law studies in Saint Petersburg to go to the Caucasus and take part in the battles for the liberation of Armenia, and later completed his education at a military school in Bulgaria. At the battle of Gharakilisa (now Vanadzor) he commanded the Armenian-Yezidi division of the Russian army, and was then appointed commander of the southern forces of independent Armenia. He fought against the Bolshevik decision to hand Syunik and Artsakh over to Azerbaijan and held Syunik and some areas of Artsakh and Nakhijevan, which became part of the short-lived Republic of Mountainous Armenia.

After leaving Armenia he founded the Armenian Youth Federation in the United States and then moved to Bulgaria. He left many letters, books and hundreds of aphorisms. The Soviet authorities arrested him under the pretext of negotiations, and he died in Vladimir prison. A few years before Armenia regained independence his remains were brought back to the homeland and, according to his wish, laid to rest on Mount Khustup in Syunik.

The photograph shows a man with a moustache in a white fur papakha, with cartridge belts across his chest and waist and a rifle in his hand.