This book seeks to pay tribute to the Swiss people's unprecedented solidarity

with the Armenians in their most trying times. After providing a comprehensive

overview of Armenian history and the events leading to the massacres

and genocide perpetrated against the Armenians, the author explains how

it came to be that the Swiss people took a stand alongside their Armenian

brothers and sisters in the Christian faith.

A stark contrast emerges between the merciless policy of annihilation implemented

by the Ottoman Empire and the shining examples of sel_ essness

provided by aid workers from Switzerland, who - as doctors, nurses and educators

gave the Armenian people formidable assistance in the most adverse

of circumstances.

Two examples, among many, should be mentioned - Sister Beatrice Rohner

(18761947), from Basel, who su_ ered a mental breakdown following all the

horror she experienced as a teacher and director of an orphanage, and Jakob

Künzler (1871-1949), from Walzenhausen. Having been acquainted with

Künzler, while Swiss vice-consul in Ja_ a, Carl Lutz found him to be a great

inspiration for his own heroic e_ orts saving Jews in Budapest in 1944.

The Author of this book endows his Swiss 'witnesses for humanity' with a

lively voice, without any loss of scholarliness, as is demonstrated by copious

footnotes and references. His extremely wide-ranging research integrates

previously unseen material from Swiss archives for the _ rst time and forms

the basis of this comprehensive work, which constitutes a signi_ cant enrichment

of the subject.