__NOTOC__ Jakob Künzler (March 8, 1871 – January 15, 1949) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

doctor who resided in an

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mission in

Urfa Urfa, officially called Şanlıurfa (), is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. The city was known as Edessa from Hellenistic period, Hellenistic times and into Christian times. Urfa is situated on a plain abo ...

and who witnessed the Armenian genocide. Born in Hundwil,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, he worked in the canton

Appenzell Appenzell () was a cantons of Switzerland, canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen, in existence from 1403 to 1597. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered ...

and made a living as a carpenter. Afterwards he was trained in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

as an evangelist deacon (''Krankenpfleger''). In 1899 he traveled to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, where he found his own place to work. He continued to study medicine until he became an independent operating surgeon, and later in 1905 he married Elizabeth Bender, daughter of a Christian missionary and granddaughter of an Ethiopian princess. From 1915 to 1917 Künzler became an eyewitness to the

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

, the subject of his 1921 book ''In the Land of Blood and Tears''. Despite mortal danger he helped provide, when he could, for thousands of Armenian orphans and resumed his hospital enterprise in Urfa. He was a Swiss pharmacist who had remained in Turkey serving the sick and wounded, non-Muslims and

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s alike, in a hospital in Urfa who documented accounts of massacres of various Armenian labor battalion companies.America and the Armenian Genocide of 1915, by Jay Murray Winter – p. 66 In October 1922 he closed his hospital he worked in and moved his family to Ghazir, near

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, where later he opened a center for orphans. Later he established a settlement for

Armenian 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 around the ...

widows in Beirut and a lung sanatorium in Azounieh. Jakob Künzler observed in August 1915: Künzler also witnessed the deportations of Kurds, of which he wrote: He died in Ghazir,

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. He was buried and remains interred in the French Protestant Cemetery of Beirut.

Prizes and honors

* 1947 award by the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

* 1959 memorial in Hundwil * 1971 earnings/service medals of the Lebanese government * 1971 memorial in Hundwil and Walzenhausen, Switzerland (1971).

Literature

* 1929: ''In the Land of Blood and Tears'' * 1959: ''Jakob, the Resource in the Service of Life''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kunzler, Jakob Swiss surgeons 1871 births 1949 deaths Witnesses of the Armenian genocide Swiss expatriates in Lebanon

Prizes and honors

Literature

See also

References

External links