Zabel Yessayan: The Writer Who Witnessed the Genocide

In the shadow of the Armenian Genocide, one woman risked everything to document the truth. Zabel Yessayan was a novelist, journalist, and activist who traveled to the Ottoman interior in 1915 to bear witness to the deportations and massacres. Her book 'In the Ruins' remains one of the most harrowing firsthand accounts of the genocide. But Yessayan's story doesn't end there: she fled to Paris, was blacklisted, and eventually died in obscurity in Soviet Armenia. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Yessayan's life, her friendship with other Armenian intellectuals, her role in the feminist movement, and why her work is only now being rediscovered. They discuss the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated literary scene, the ethical dilemmas of bearing witness, and the ongoing fight for recognition of the genocide. Along the way, they touch on the Hamidian massacres, the Young Turk regime, and the Armenian literary renaissance of the early 20th century. This is a story of courage, words, and the power of testimony. #ZabelYessayan #ArmenianGenocide #InTheRuins #OttomanEmpire #1915 #Feminism #Witness #Literature #ArmenianLiterature #YoungTurks #HamidianMassacres #Paris #SovietArmenia #FexingoHistory #History #GenocideStudies #Testimony #WomenInHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo