Promenade 18 - Captain Klein and the Armenian Camp

Fritz Klein - Campaign Memories Aleppo, April 8, 1916 Hundreds of corpses, skeletons and fresh burial mounds marked our path. Just outside Aleppo, we pitched our tents near an Armenian camp set up at the base of a mountain when a huge downpour began. Here our group had a gruesome experience. The torrent of rain, along with the torrents of mountain water, poured down on the Armenian shelters and splashed some of the Armenians into the Euphrates River. It had become pitch dark, the air trembled with lightning. Thunder and horrible cries for help from the drowning people. We ourselves were fighting for our lives, help was out of the question. After two hours the turmoil of the elements had subsided, but it remained dark. The Turkish gendarmerie used this time to rob the remaining Armenians of the rest of their belongings. The next day we were begged for bread by two completely demolished young girls.

Speaker: Aaron Snyder Text: Fritz Klein / Campaign memories Image: Postcard from Aleppo / Captain Klein to Pedro Hermann Blumenau / Private Archive Jutta Blumenau-Niesel