page_title: Garegin Nzhdeh
section_title: Life in prison and death
hierarchical_section_title: Garegin Nzhdeh / Life in prison and death
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Tafel in Bulgarisch und Armenisch auf dem letzten Wohnsitz von Garegin Nschdeh in Sofia English: Commemorative plaque in Bulgarian and Armenian on Garegin Njdeh's house in Sofia. Translation: "Here, until 9 September 1944, lived the Armenian national hero, hero of the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps, and citizen of Bulgaria, general Garegin Njdeh, perished in Siberia in 1955" Français&#160;: Plaque en bulgare et arménien sur la dernière demeure de Garéguine Njdeh à Sofia
context_page_description: Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan better known by his nom de guerre Garegin Nzhdeh, was an Armenian statesman and military strategist. As a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, he was involved in national liberation struggle and revolutionary activities during the First Balkan War and World War I. Garegin Nzhdeh was one of the key political and military leaders of the First Republic of Armenia, and is widely admired as a charismatic national hero by Armenians.
  In 1921, he instrumented the establishment of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia, an anti-Bolshevik state that became a key factor that led to the inclusion of the province of Syunik into Soviet Armenia. During World War II, he assisted the Armenian Legion of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany, he hoped that if Germany succeeded in conquering the USSR, they would be able to grant Armenia independence.
context_section_description: In 1947 Nzhdeh proposed an initiative to the Soviet government. It would call for the foundation of a pan-Armenian military and political organization in the Armenian diaspora for the liberation of Western Armenia from Turkish control and its unification to Soviet Armenia. Despite the reputed great interest shown by the communist leaders to this initiative, the proposal was eventually refused.
  Between 1948 and 1952 Nzhdeh was kept in Vladimir Prison, then until the summer of 1953 in a secret prison in Yerevan. According to his prison fellow Hovhannes Devedjian, Nzhdeh's transfer to Yerevan prison was related to an attempt to mediate between the Dashnaks and the Soviet leaders to create a collaborative atmosphere between the two sides. After long negotiations with the state security service of Soviet Armenia, Nzhdeh and Devejian prepared a letter in Yerevan prison (1953) addressed to the ARF leader Simon Vratsian, calling him for co-operation with the Soviets regarding the issue of the Armenian struggle against Turkey. However, the communist leaders in Moscow refused to send the letter and it only remained a latent document.
  After receiving a telegram from the Soviet authorities, announcing his death, Nzhdeh's brother Levon left Yerevan for Vladimir to take care of his burial service. He received Nzhdeh's watch and clothing but was not allowed to take his personal writings, which would be published in Yerevan several years later. The authorities also did not allow the transfer of his body to Armenia. Levon Ter-Harutiunian conducted Nzhdeh's burial in Vladimir and wrote on his tombstone in Russian "Ter-Harutiunian Garegin Eghishevich (1886–1955)".
caption: Commemorative plaque on the house of Nzhdeh in Sofia, where he was arrested in 1944
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