Գերմանա-հայկական ընկերության հիմնադրումը

Abstract

In the 90s of XIX century since the period of the Hamid massacres German intellectuals Joh. Lepsius and his friends known for their support of Armenians never broke off ties with the Armenian people, but instead, tried to deepen them and put on a firm and lasting ground.

Getting in touch with Armenians and noticing and appreciating their high mental abilities and skills, the German activists had come to the conclusion that the Armenians were able to take the development of the whole East on themselves.

Therefore, they exhorted official Germany, having great interests in the East, to establish close ties with the Armenian people by making them its partner in the East. Official Germany took notice of these views after Turkey’s defeat in the war against the Balkan countries as the hopes that German policy linked with Turkey were not justified.

It was in this period that Joh. Lepsius and his friends decided to set up a GermanArmenian Society to encourage a rapprochement on the cultural basis.

After a year-long preparatory works, on the 16th of June 1914, in the hall of the Berlin Ethnology Museum officially opened the company’s first session, which announced the establishment of the company. The Company was named German-Armenian Association (“Deutsch-Armenische Gesellschaft”) and Joh. Lepsius was elected the first President of it. On the 1st of July 1914, the first and the only edition of the periodical of the Association “Mesrop” was published in theArmenian and German languages. The Association became a bridge between the Armenian and German peoples in an attempt to open up great prospects for both nations.