20.02.2015


The photo is of German soldiers who served in the territory of Ottoman Empire during World War I. They were photographed with the bones of brutally killed Armenians near Hekimkhan. The date of the photo is also known, 18 November 1918.

The negative of this photo was given by German soldiers to the Armenian photographer Tsolak Dildilian in order to depict it.

This photo and its negative have an interesting story. The Armenian photographer Tsolak Dildilian, who pretended to convert to Islam, after depicting and giving the photo to the Germans have decided to keep the negative assuming that the relics in the photo might be of his relatives who where killed in the same place in mid 1915.

The Germans probably agreed, because it was no longer important to preserve its privacy. The war was over; Germany and its ally the Ottoman Empire were defeated in World War I.

During the years of the Armenian Genocide German soldiers had repeatedly photographed the Armenian refugees and genocide victims, though there was strict censorship law in the Ottoman Empire.

“Massacre of Armenians was carried out massively. This policy of extermination will discredit the name of Turkey for so long”.

Richard von Kühlmann
German Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
(1916-1917)

The source of the photograph collection of Tsolak Dildilian
From “100 Photographic Stories of the Armenian Genocide” book