Why April 24th, or how the Jololian brothers reminded the world about the Armenian massacres
The Armenian Genocide has not broken the spirit of the Jololians. They have managed to not only be saved from that horrible crime, but also make their contributions to eternalization of the memory of the victims of the tragedy.
Every Armenian knows that April 24th is the day of remembrance of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, but few know that it was first marked in 1919 with a commemorative homily served in Constantinople at the initiative of Romanian-Armenian historian Hakob Sirouni (Jololian).
This is what Hakob’s relative, former president of the Armenian Medical Association of France and pharmaceutic Patris Jololian.
Patris Jololian is in Yerevan to participate in the two-day conference devoted to state figure of the Ottoman and Russian Empires Manuk bey Mirzoyan, who was of Armenian descent.
During the June 7-8 conference, Patris Jololian will talk about the activities of Hakob Sirouni and present articles devoted to Manuk by Mirzoyan taken from the relative’s personal archive.
Sirouni escaped the Armenian Genocide by a miracle. During WWI, he hid in the house of Greeks in Constantinople, and his brother and Patris’ father, Grigor were exiled.
In 1918, Siroun came out from the underground. In 1919, a group of Armenians led by Hakob created a special committee in Constantinople to organize remembrance events dedicated to the fourth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
“The committee confirmed the date — April 24th, and later this date was accepted by all Armenians around the world,” Patris Jololian said in an interview.
True, the 24th of April of 1919 was marked as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day with not too many people, and since Patriarch Zaven Yeghyaian of Constantinople felt bad, more large-scale events were moved to April 25th.
At the time, English and French troops were in the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and so the Turks did not hinder the Armenians’ initiative.
In 1922, Hakob Sirouni moved to Romania, while his brother, Grigor settled in France.
In Bucharest, Sirouni established the Armenian Culture Home and Armenian Arts Museum. He served the community and worked as a cameraman, publicist and lecturer. After WWII, he was charged with spreading nationalist ideas and exiled for 10 years.
In that period, Grigor Jololian started pursuing a career in photography and opened a photo gallery in Paris.
He has taken exclusive photos of great Armenian composer Komitas, Austrian writer and author of “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh” Franz Werfel, as well as unique photos of the funeral of General Andranik Ozanyan.
Later, he took photos of remarkable individuals such as Sean Conner and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
According to Patris Jololian, even though the brothers didn’t see each other often, they would always write letters to each other.
Hakob died in 1973, and his brother, Grigor died in Paris two years later.
ԱրLaura Sargsyan, Sputnik Արմենիա