Vazken Andréassian

Did You Know?

• He founded the Marseille branch of Homenetmen in July 1924 and the first troop of Armenian Scouts in France.
• He was the brother-in-law of Vahan Cheraz and the grandfather of a hydrologist of the same name.
• He studied at the École nationale des arts et métiers in Aix-en-Provence, graduating in 1927.

Deportation and exile

After the Armenian genocide began on 13 June 1915, Turkish gendarmes came to Hazari under the pretext of protecting the Armenian population, but much of the local population was deported, exiled to Syria, or exterminated. Villagers who escaped, including the Andréassians, took refuge in Kurdish villages. After wintering in Akrag village, hunger drove the family to the Russian lines in Erznga. Andréassian moved to Tiflis, where he worked at the Hayasdan newspaper with Vahan Totovents. He studied briefly at the Edchmiadzine seminary, later closed due to the Russian Revolution, then moved to Vladicaucase. After the armistice ending World War I, he left for Constantinople, studied at the Central Armenian School under Kegham Kavafyan, and graduated in 1923.

Books

Andréassian authored several books in Armenian and French. His works include "Հայ սկաուտին առաջնորդը" (The guide of the Armenian Scout, 1947), "Վահան Չերազ և իր երգն Հայաստանի" (Vahan Cheraz, 1977), and "Անդրանիկ – Պետրոս Մարզպանեան" (Antranig, followed by Bedros Marzbanian, 1982). He also wrote the three-volume "Հազարիապատում" (Hazariabadoum, 1985–1994) and the French-language "Hazari : vie et survie d'un village arménien après juin 1915" (1995).