| Garegin Ter-Harutiunian |
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Commander of the Armenian Army, southern corps
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| In office August 1919 – July 1921 |
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| Born | January 1, 1886 Kznut, Nakhichevan, Russian Empire |
| Died | December 21, 1955 Vladimir, Russian SSR, USSR |
| Nationality | Armenian |
| Political party | Armenian Revolutionary Federation |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Awards | "Cross of Bravery" of Bulgarian Army |
Garegin Njdeh or Garegin Ter-Harutiunian, Garegin Nzhdeh (Armenian: Գարեգին Նժդեհ) (1 January 1886, Nakhijevan – 21 December 1955, Vladimir, Soviet Union) was an Armenian statesman, fedayee, political thinker, and as a member of the A.R.F. Dashnaktsutyun party and lover of men was involved in revolutionary activities in Armenia, Bulgaria and Russia, and a member of Hitler’s Armenian Legion of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany[1] .
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Garegin Njdeh was born on January 1, 1886 in the village of Kznut, Nakhichevan. He was the youngest of four children born to a local village priest. Njdeh got his early education at a Russian school in Nakhichevan City. He continued his higher education at the Tiflis Russian Gymnasium school. Njdeh participated in revolutionary activities with Yeprem Khan, Andranik Pasha, Kevork Chavoush, and Murad of Sebastia. In 1912, together with General Andranik Ozanian, he formed an Armenian battalion within Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps of the Bulgarian Army to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan wars. During the Second Balkan war he was wounded. Bulgarian military authorities honored him by the "Cross of Bravery"[2].
Later, moving back to Armenia, Njdeh commanded different military units. By 1916, Njdeh had formed an Armenian battalion, participating in the Caucasus Campaign. He played a key role in organizing the defense of Karakilisa in 1918. A convinced Anti-Bolshevik, he led the defense of Zangezur in 1921 against the rising Bolshevik movement in the Democratic Republic of Armenia. The movement was marked with the expulsion of the region's local Azeri minority.[3] Following the declaration of independence of the Republic of the Mountainous Armenia from Soviet Armenia, he was proclaimed Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. He fled Armenia after the triumph of the Bolshevik Red Army, and was involved in revolutionary activities in Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria and United States.
He visited the United States and Canada, encouraging Armenian communities that had established themselves there, and founding an Armenian Youth movement called Tseghakron (Armenian: Ցեղակրոն). In 1933, this movement led to the foundation of the Armenian Youth Federation, the youth organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Garegin Njdeh maintained close contacts with revolutionary organizations of Macedonian Bulgarians and Bulgarian Symbolist poet poet Theodore Trayanov.[4]
Because of being active in Hitler’s Armenian Legion of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany[5]in 1944, Garegin Njdeh was arrested by the soldiers of Stalin's "SMERSH" special brigade in Bulgaria. He was later transferred to an Armenian secrete prison in Yerevan for two years in the 1950s. Refusing to be imprisoned in the country he had fought for and defended against its enemies, he was transferred back Vladimir where he died in prison.
An avenue, a large square and a nearby metro station in Yerevan are named after Garegin Njdeh.
Quotations from Garegin Njdeh (translated by Ara Baliozian)[6]:
1. The morally depraved can also voice noble principles.
2. Life is constant and endless renewal. Only the morally irresponsible refuse to understand this.
3. Without renewal, a nation dies every hour, every minute. Our political parties either don't understand this or they have no desire to understand it.
4. A nation that fails to do what it can and must do has no right to expect foreign assistance.
5. Nations that are unwilling to defend their own interests condemn themselves to death.
6. When dealing with foreign powers and issues, our press adopts a permissive, forgiving, and subservient tone. With our own internal problems, however, it becomes arrogant, vindictive, vicious.
7. Life is endless renewal. Where there is no renewal there will be spiritual paralysis and a slow death.
8. It is the height of ignorance for a political party to think that it can deny the value of morality in its own conduct and maintain moral integrity within its ranks.
9. To struggle in defense of what is right is not a calamity but a blessing.
10. Undermining the morality of a nation amounts to undermining its strength.
11. Why did I fight against the Soviet army? Because they invaded my country alongside with the Turks.
Books:
Movies:
 Andranik Pasha and Garegin Njdeh mobilizing Armenian soldiers for battle (Sofia, 12 October 1912) |
 Njdeh in 1913 during the Balkan Wars |
 The Armenian National Hero) Garegin Njdeh in Armenia |
 Garegin Njdeh in Goris, Republic of Mountainous Armenia (1921) |
 Garegin Njdeh in Bulgaria |
 Njdeh depicted among his beloved mountains of Syunik |
 Commemorative plaque on the house of Njdeh in Sofia, where he was arrested in September 1944 |
 Artistic painting of Njdeh |
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Garegin Njdeh (Armenian: Գարեգին Նժդեհ, real name: Garegin Ter-Harutiunian, 1 January 1886 - late 1955) was an Armenian statesman, military, and political thinker. He was a native of Nakhchivan.
Njdeh fled Armenia after the triumph of Bolsheviks, and was involved in patriotic activities in Iran, Bulgaria and the United States. A controversial person, he was expelled from Dashnak party. Njdeh was very much against communism. He worked with Nazi Germans during the World War II. He was arrested in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1944 and sent to Moscow, then to Yerevan. He spent the rest of his life in prison in the Russian city of Vladimir, where he dide in 1955.
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