Activities of Armin T. Wegner Society of USA

Launched a new website for the Armin T. Wegner Society of USA.

The Society purchased a handwritten note through e-Bay, written by Wegner to Shalom Ben-Chorin, the German-Jewish philosopher and writer. The document was discovered in an antiquarian shop in Jerusalem.

Robert Stilson of Capital Research Center published a favorable recension of “Five Fingers over You.”

Provided photo to be used in Denis Donikian’s book “Encyclopédie thématique du génocide arménien” (Thematic Encyclopedia of the Armenian genocide), Editions Geuthner, Paris.

Wegner’s best seller “Fünf Finger über Dir” (Five Fingers over You) was translated into English and published in May.

Provided photo material to Maurice Missak Kelechian for a PowerPoint presentation on Armin T. Wegner at Ararat – Eskijian Museum in Mission Hills in Los Angeles.

Provided the English translation of Armin T. Wegner – Franz Werfel correspondence to Harut Sassounian (“California Courier”) for an upcoming article; and, the type-written German original to Ulrich Klan, Chairman of the Armin T. Wegner Gesellschaft in Wuppertal in Germany, for an upcoming book by him.

Wire transferred 300.- Euros to Deutsch-Türkisch-Armenischer Freundschaftsgesellschaft e. V. in Berlin, in support of their humanitarian activities, in particular helping German-Turkish author Dogan Akhanli.

Article published in Armenian Observer, March 29, 2017 issue, under the title “Armin T. Wegner’s Works Published in Persian.”

Armin T. Wegner’s photo rediscovered. In 1967 Armin and James Karnusian were photographed at Karnusian’s residence. The Armenian Observer reprinted ATW e-newsletter and added a short biography to it. (Armenian Observer, Sept. 13, 2017)

Provided photo and text material to Mackenzie Buessing and his colleagues at Seaman High School in Topeka, Kansas. The material will be used in a short documentary film to be submitted to National History Day Competition.

Provided information and entries to IMDb (International Movie Database) regarding recipients of the Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award.

Introduction of Armin T. Wegner to Iranian readers. Provided numerous photos and text material to deliver a 35-page long article in “Payman,” a Persian language quarterly magazine, dedicated to Armenian cultural-anthropological topics, sometimes related to Persian society.

A congratulatory letter was sent to the president of Bundestag Prof. Dr. Norbert Lammert for the decision of Bundestag in recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Provided information to Guillaume Clere, the co-author of the documentary film “Turkey, the Legacy of Silence,” for French TV channel “Toute L’Histoire.”

Shipped the Armin T. Wegner photographic exhibition to Houston, Texas, for an exhibition presented by Holocaust Museum Houston from April to August, 2015. Director of Exhibitions: Carol Manley. ATW Society of USA produced the exhibition.

PowerPoint presentation at the closing of the traveling exhibition of Armin T. Wegner images at the Holocaust Museum Houston in Texas on August 4.

Provided photo material to Olga Pryshno, head of public relations department of Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine.

Provided photo and text material to Jeremy Maron, PhD, Researcher – Curator of Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. The material would be used in a documentary film.

Provided photo and text material to Shiraz Iskenderian of Melbourne, Australia. The material was used in the commemorative book on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Armenian Genocide.

Provided Genocide photos to Ara Topouzian of Detroit, to be used in a documentary film about the history of Armenian Music.

Provided photos and information to Masako Nakazato, researcher at Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, producing a TV program called “20th Century Project II.”

Co-operation with Armenian American Medical Society in presenting Heroes and Healers. Provided edited footage of Armin T. Wegner’s state funeral in Tsitsernakabert in Armenia.

Provided photo and text material to Vahagn Avedian, PhD, Candidate in History, Lund University; Chief Editor for armenica.org, History of Armenia.

Provided photo and text material to Alan Whitehorn, emeritus professor of political sciences of Canada. He needed the photos and texts for his book “The Armenian Genocide: The Essential Reference Guide.”

Provided text material to Beverly Newman, Ed.D.m director of The AL KATZ Center for Holocaust Survivors & Jewish Learning, Inc., Sarasota, Florida.

Provided information regarding Wegner’s camera to Gabriel Carlyle and Emily Jones at “The World is My Country.”

Provided information regarding Wegner’s images to Elizabeth Gorman, a producer for Al Jazeera, working on documentary films on WWI.

Following the footprints of Armin T. Wegner in Iran, the Society, with the help of friends in Iran, discovered the location, where Wegner had witnessed the premiere of a Persian play in 1927, which he later reflected in his best seller novel “Am Kreuz der Welten” (In the Crossroad of the Worlds). Wegner dedicated six pages to that occasion under the subchapter of “Der doppelte Vorhang” (The Double Curtain).

Translation of “Der doppelte Vorhang” (The Double Curtain) into English.

Provided photo material to Sato Moughalian of New York, flutist and artistic director of “Perspectives Ensemble.” She will use the photos for her website about her perished grandparents during the Armenian Genocide.

Produced commemorative photo albums reflecting the history of Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award and provided copies to the City of Wuppertal, ATW Gesellschaft in Wuppertal and distinguished dignitaries on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Armin T. Wegner.

Provided photo material to “NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.” A guidebook for teachers on the subject of genocide. The book would be distributed free of charge among teachers in 28 mainly European countries.

Provided photo material to filmmaker Shahane Bekarian in Australia. The photos will be used in his short documentary about his grandfather, a Genocide survivor interviewed in 1986.

Provided photo material to Ruben Karapetyan of Yerevan, a student in Israel. Ruben attended Design College “Seminar Ha Kibutzim”. He needed the photos for his interactive website about Armenian Genocide.

Provided photo material to Adam Jones, Ph.D., associate professor, Political Science, University of British Columbia, Canada. Photos were used in two books: Evoking Genocide: Scholars and Activists Describe the Works That Shaped Their Lives (The Key Publishing Co., 2009); and The Scourge of Genocide: Essays and Reflections, (Routledge, 2013).

Provided assistance to filmmaker Eric Friedler as he arrived in Hollywood to receive the Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award.

Provided Armin T. Wegner images to filmmaker Anush Avetisyan of Chevy Chase, Maryland for “Enduring Genocide: Armenians Seek Reconciliation,” a documentary film broadcast on the Montgomery County’s cable TV.

Provided photo material to “Association for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe,” a special exhibition on the book burning in 1933 planned for 2012 at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.

Provided accommodation to Armin T. Wegner’s granddaughters Giulia and Fiammetta Wegner, as they arrived in Hollywood to co-present the Armin T. Wegner Award to filmmaker Bryan Single.

Photo exhibition in Montreal, Canada, presented by The Montreal Holocaust Museum Centre and Armenian National Committee of Canada. ATW Society of USA produced the exhibition. April 20 to May 15, 2010.

Provided selected images made by Armin T. Wegner to Dr. Bengt Nilson, Editor, Association of History Teachers in Sweden.

Provided selected exhibition photos to Nina Krieger, Education Director of Centre for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota for teaching purposes.

PowerPoint presentation of “Armin T. Wegner and the Armenians in Anatolia 1915 – 1916” by the invitation of Armenian Student Association at UCLA.

Second bronze statue of Wegner, Commissioned in 2007, was completed. This bigger size statue was intended for the city of Berlin, preferably in Kaiserdamm 16, in front of his last residence, where he was arrested (presently in the storage of State University of Yerevan.)

Photo exhibition in Vancouver, Canada, presented by Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and Armenian National Committee of Canada. ATW Society of USA produced the exhibition. January 26 to May 22, 2009.

Acquired the first edition of Wegner’s poem book “Zwischen Zwei Städten” (1908) in Munich, autographed and numbered by Wegner.

Published an article about the design of the coat of arms of Wegner’s ancestors by studying old portrait paintings at the courtesy of Armin T. Wegner’s niece, Dr. Andrea Seitz (born Wegner) of Nienhagen near Baltic Sea.

Provided selected images and text from the exhibition “Armin T. Wegner and Ottoman Armenians,” as teaching material, to Wolf Gruner, professor of history at USC.

Lecture at Pasadena Chapter of The Knights of Vartan on the occasion of the 94th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on ATW.

Cooperation with director Eric Friedler and producer Silke Schütze, Providing audio/video material along with text and photos for the production of documentary film for ARD, “Aghet – Ein Völkermord.”

Provided selected images to Mrs. Margaret Markarian in Cincinati. She combined the photos with her paintings based on her mother’s experiences during the Armenian Genocide. The exhibition was titled “Miriam’s Odyssey – Testimony of an Armenian Legacy.”

Provided accommodation to filmmaker Lucy Martens as she arrived in Hollywood to receive the Armin T, Wegner Humanitarian Award.

Restoration of Sibyl Anusch Stevens’s birth certificate (Wegner’s daughter) to its mint condition, on the occasion of her 85th birthday.

Providing ATW photographs for the Permanent Genocide Museum in Mexico.

Armin T. Wegner e-Newsletter came to life.

Lecture about Armin T. Wegner at the 80th birthday celebration of sculptor Alice Melikian in Hollywood and presentation of the certificate of appreciation sent by principal Detlef Appenzeller, for the bronze statue that Alice sculpted for the Gymnasium Bayreuther Strasse in Wuppertal/Germany.

Translation of Thomas Hartwig’s movie script of “Anush” into English.

Creation of the Armin T. Wegner website.

Commissioning a bronze statue of Wegner and donating it to the City of Wuppertal, on the occasion of Wegner’s 120th birthday.

Lecture at the Buddhist Temple alongside historian Prof. Taner Akçam in Los Angeles.

ATW related Articles published in Los Angeles Armenian papers.

Digitizing of Wegner’s speech, broadcasted by Radio Beromünster in Berne/Switzerland in 1968.

Partial translation of “Armin T. Wegner – Ein Dichter gegen die Macht,” the Wegner biography book by Reinhard M.G. Nickisch into English.

Acquiring of the original two-page letter written by ATW to Limes Verlag regarding Carl Hauptmann and the publication of his and ATW’s work. Positano, 1955. Purchased from “A. Meixner Fachantiquariat für Originalhandschriften.”

Translation of Wegner’s “Wasif und Akif” (a play) into English.

Creation of cartoon characters for Wasif and Akif (projective animation film).

Discovery of unpublished (non-Wegner) Genocide photos in German archives.

Photo exhibition in Yerevan. The only photo exhibition during the 90th Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in Armenia.

Video interview of German actor Krikor Melikian in Berlin, as he goes through his memories of his friend Armin T. Wegner.

Presentation of Wegner’s work at the “Larry Zarian Live” TV program.

Presentation of Wegner’s work in the TV program Armenian National Network “ANN.”

Recovery of two Wegner Genocide photos, missing from Marbach Archives. The photos had disappeared during the back-and-fort transportation of the exhibition to Holocaust Museum in Washington.

Protest letter addressed to Minister President Matthias Platzeck of Brandenburg district in Berlin, regarding the elimination of Armenian Genocide from history books in Berlin. He responded favorably.

Translation of Wegner’s 10 page letter addressed to Franz Werfel into English.

Translation of Franz Werfel’s reply to Wegner into English.

Partial sponsorship of “Andouni / Vertrieben” concert in Köln.

Creation of a database by source-and-date of all publications by or about Armin T. Wegner.

Armin T. Wegner Society of USA was officially established and registered.

Photo exhibition in Los Angeles titled “Armin T. Wegner and the Ottoman Armenians, 1915 – 1916”. Mischa Wegner was invited as guest speaker.

Cooperation with Mischa Wegner and Armin T. Wegner Gesellschaft in Wuppertal, Germany.

Providing memorabilia to Armin T. Wegner museum (“Wegner Zimmer”) in Wuppertal Public Library.

Visiting Sibyl Stevens (Wegner’s daughter) in Wroxham in UK and having her identify hundreds of photographs made by Wegner (Marbach Institute photos).

ATW postal stamp project initiated, prepared, and presented to Armenia.

Inquiry letter to “Phaidon” publishing house in UK for ignoring copy rights of ©Wallstein Verlag and publishing a copyrighted image photographed by ATW in their coffee table book “CENTURY.” It is a massive photo album (about 10 pounds). It was published in 1999 and reprinted in 2000. They didn’t respond. It’s up to Wallstein Verlag to pursue the case.

Promoted the idea of “Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award.” Arpa International Film Festival adopted the idea by acknowledging filmmakers, whose projects deal with subjugated peoples, forced deportations, massacres, ethnic cleansing and genocides.

Digitally cleansing and restoring all Wegner’s Genocide photographs.