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The legacy of the German general, Otto Liman von Sanders, remains highly contested in the history of twentieth-century Europe and the Middle East. Noted for leading the 5th Ottoman army’s successful defence of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli in 1915, his role in opposing the Young Turks’ genocide policy and safeguarding Greeks, Armenians, and Jews is overshadowed by his imprisonment for war crimes in 1919. In this enlightening reassessment of Liman von Sanders’ life, Muriel Mirak-Weissbach uses previously-unpublished archival materials to uncover new dimensions to this story and, in doing so, explores wider ethical questions concerning the role of the individual in global crises, the nature of morality in military conflict, and the limitations of justice.
“Mirak-Weissbach, born in the United States but the daughter of two Armenian refugees whose parents were killed during the genocide perpetrated by the Young Turks, wished to honor this person who defended her people and, in writing the volume, also gave a precious historical testimony on the lacerating ambiguity that accompanies tragic events such as wars, when heroism and cowardice, moral rigor and cowardly betrayal are mixed in intrigues in which distinguishing the wheat from the chaff is sometimes very difficult if not impossible.” • Frontiere Rivista Di Geocultura
“This is a very valid inquiry into a multifaceted, fascinating German general during a late-Ottoman era of extremes… Based on primary sources, the author succeeds in giving a sober, but poignant portrait of a man of “honor” in times of disregard for human dignity.” • Hans-Lukas Kieser, University of Newcastle, Australia
“The author frames her story as an effort to salvage the reputation of this remarkable person, which she does. Her account of his repeated refusals to obey deportation orders from the Young Turk regime is well-documented, gripping, and fast-paced; the behind-the-scenes drama of his imprisonment on Malta appears here for the first time. A book devoted to Liman von Sanders and his “honor” is ideal to assign in upper-level classrooms, for it provokes the question: What would it take to stop genocide?” • Margaret Lavinia Anderson, University of California Berkeley
Muriel Mirak-Weissbach is a graduate of Wellesley College and a Fulbright scholar, who completed her graduate studies at the State University of Milan. She has published articles on politics and culture in the Arab and Islamic world, and on Armenia, as well as essays on literature and philology. Her recent publication include; Through the Wall of Fire, Armenia - Iraq – Palestine: From Wrath to Reconciliation (2013), and Madmen at the Helm: Pathology and Politics in the Arab Spring (2012). In 2012 she and her husband established the Mirak-Weissbach Stiftung, a small foundation supporting cultural, educational, and social projects in Armenia.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Notes on Text, Translation, and Spelling
Chapter 1. Constantinople 1913
Chapter 2. Gallipoli 1915
Chapter 3. Genocide 1915-1918
Chapter 4. Malta 1919: February–April
Chapter 5. Malta 1919: April–August
Chapter 6. Germany 1919
Chapter 7. Yerevan 2019
Chapter 8. Conclusion: Honor
Appendix I: Letter from Liman von Sanders to the Swiss Government with First Enclosure: Letter by Dr. Constantin Makris to the High Court Martial of Malta
Appendix II: Second Enclosure: Document by Liman von Sanders. The Occurrences Which Led to the Partial Evacuation of Aivalik
Appendix III: Chronology
Bibliography
Index