Krikor Guerguerian (12 May 1911 (

Gürün Gürün is a town and a district of Sivas Province of Turkey. The mayor is Nami Çiftçi ( MHP). History Toponymy The current name Gürün is most probably a corruption of the ancient name Tegarama, a city in Anatolia during the Bronze Age. ...

) – 7 May 1988 (

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

)) was a Reverend Father of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He is known for the ''Krikor Guerguerian Archive'', a collection of documents concerning the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

Early life

Guerguerian was the youngest of sixteen children. He had eight sisters and seven brothers. Only six survived the

. During this genocide, he witnessed his parents' murder. He and a brother escape to

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in 1916, where he entered an orphanage. In 1925, he entered the Zımmar ( Bzemmar) Catholic Monastery-School in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. In the early 1930s, he earned a degree at St. Joseph University in Beirut. After this, he went to

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to enter Levonian University to study theology. He became a Catholic monk in 1937. The same year he began his doctorate on the Armenian Genocide.

Career

After becoming a monk, he settled in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, where his younger brother lived and worked as a priest. Around 1952, he met Kürt Mustafa Pasha in Cairo. Mustafa Pasha was a former presiding judge at the Istanbul 1st Military Tribunal, which ruled in the trials against

CUP A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

members. Mustafa told him that the copies of judicial documents were sent to the Constantinople Patriarchate of the

Armenian Church Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

. Guerguerian attempted to learn where these documents were sent. He found them in the Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Armenian Church and photographed the documents. Later, he moved to the US where he worked as a priest. Copies of these documents are housed in the ''Krikor Guerguerian Archive'' of

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

Publications

''Yozghati Hayaspanutean Vaweragrakan Patmutiwne'' (Documentary History of the Armenocide in Yozgat)

References

External links

Biography of Krikor Guerguerian
Armenian genocide survivors Saint Joseph University alumni Roman Catholic monks {{DEFAULTSORT:Guerguerianl Krikor