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Diary of Chris L. Graber, relief worker in the Antioch district. January–February 1920.
Location
Antakya (Antioch), Turkey
Year
1920
Item Detail
Graber wrote this diary at Antioch, where he had been sent at the end of 1919 to open relief work for the American Committee for Relief in the Near East. It runs from January 1 to February 5, 1920, much of it on the committee's "White Star" letterhead. He boarded with a Scottish couple, the Bones, called on the French military governor, and worked through an interpreter, Mr. Dumit. His first task was to replace padded relief lists with lists of people he had visited himself. At Suadia (Samandag), at the mouth of the Orontes, he cut a list of 1,500 names to about 300 and noted that a widow had died of starvation three days earlier. She left three orphans. He then paid out relief family by family in Antioch, Suadia and the Armenian villages of the district, arranged free clinics with Dr. Yakub, and set up credit for poor farmers to buy silkworm eggs. The six Armenian villages on his list were the villages of Musa Dagh, whose people had refused deportation during the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and held out on the mountain until French warships took them to Port Said. Graber found them in better shape than the poor of Antioch and Suadia. The diary also records fighting between French troops and armed bands around Antioch, with a curfew, shooting in the town and the loss of nearby Hamam.
Context
Christian L. Graber (1895–1987), known as Chris, was a Mennonite from Noble, Iowa. A conscientious objector during World War I, he was held at Fort Riley, Kansas, until his discharge in January 1919. On January 25, 1919, he sailed from New York for Beirut on the relief ship Pensacola with the first group of Mennonite volunteers sent to work under the American Committee for Relief in the Near East. He worked in the Beirut transport department until late May, then went to Aleppo, where he ran the relief industries and, from July 1919, the Armenian refugee barracks. At the end of 1919 he was sent to open relief work in the Antioch district. He later spent many years as business manager of Goshen College.
This document is one of three from Graber's papers at the Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen College: his diary for 1919, his diary for January and February 1920, and a letter he wrote from Aleppo in June 1919 for the Wayland News. Together they record the work of a relief mechanic and supply man day by day, from the bread lines of Beirut to the refugee barracks at Aleppo and the villages around Antioch.
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Holding Institution
Mennonite Historical Library (Goshen College)
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External Link
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Attribution
Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen College. Christian L. and Mina Roth Graber Papers (HM1/209).
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Rights
This material is protected by copyright. Permission has been granted for its non-commercial research and educational display by NERHS. Uses beyond this permission may require permission from the rights holder. Users are responsible for determining rights status and compliance with applicable law. If you believe you hold rights in this material or have information about rights holders not currently reflected, please contact [email protected].
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Notes
Archive label on the first sheet: "Hist. Mss. 1-209 7/38 / Christian L. Graber Collection / WPR: Diary - 1920". Heading of the diary: "Diary 1920 / Chris Graber."
Diary, January 7, 1920: "Formerly they received according to their list so it was quite padded." January 8: "Worked on the Suadea list yet all day reducing it from 1500 to about 300. ... A woman (widow) was buried 3 days ago who died of Starvation. She left 3 orphans." January 9: "the people here all fought the Turks and instead of being deported were taken by French battleships to Egypt." February 4: "(1) Kebosea (2) Vakft (3) Kuderbek (4) Yugonluk (5) [Hububflea?] (6) Batias are Armenian."
Sources for the Item Detail:
• "Musa Dagh," Wikipedia, History section ("the six Armenian villages of the Musa Dagh region" ... "refused deportation and fell back upon Musa mountain" ... "evacuated 3,004 women and children and over 1,000 men from Musa Dagh to safety in Port Said"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_Dagh
About this group: Christian L. and Mina Roth Graber Papers (HM1/209), Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen College.
• Mennonite Archival Information Database, finding aid for the Christian L. and Mina Roth Graber Papers 1840-1973, US GCA HM1/209, biographical history ("C. L. Graber was a pastor, businessman, and longtime business manager at Goshen College."): https://archives.mhsc.ca/index.php/christian-l-and-mina-roth-graber-papers-1840-1973
• Orie O. Miller, "Our Relief Work in the Near East and Russia," in J. S. Hartzler, Mennonites in the World War (1921), p. 196 ("the invitation of the American Committee for opening work in Turkey and for sending over a group of workers, be accepted"), p. 197 ("On January 25, 1919, the first group of nine, sailed from New York on the Relief ship "Pensacola" direct for Beirut, Syria. ... Chris Graber of Noble, Iowa") and p. 204 ("Chris Graber was stationed in Beirut until the latter part of May, working principally in the transport department. He was then transferred to Aleppo ... and then was placed at the head of the Armenian refugee work in that city." ... "he was sent to open work in the Antioch district"), Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/mennonitesinthew00hartuoft
• Chris L. Graber, diary, January 1, 1919 ("Was at Ft. Riley Kansas. Signed a few discharge papers.") and December 30, 1919 ("left for Antioch at 5 A.M. in a funny carriage"), in this group.
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Document Contents
Handwritten diary, 23 pages in ink, much of it on letterhead of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East ("The White Star"), preceded by an archive label sheet. Entries run from January 1 to February 5, 1920, followed by a heading for February 6 with no entry. The continuation of the January 4 entry is missing from the copy.
January 1 to 4, Antioch: calls from the Armenian prelate and the Armenian National Union, visits to poor homes, record forms, a call on the French military governor, board with Mr. and Mrs. Bone, credit for silkworm eggs, and a talk at Sunday service on "Walking with God."
January 5 to 9: by horse down the Orontes to Suadia and the Armenian villages of Kebosea, Vakft and Khuderbek, checking the relief lists. The Suadia list is cut from 1,500 names to about 300.
January 10 to 27, Antioch: a curfew, shooting in the town, the arrest of a leading Muslim, 1,200 French troops arriving, home visits in the Greek, Greek Catholic and Armenian quarters, a free clinic with Dr. Yakub and arrangements with the druggist, relief paid out family by family, a visit from Capt. Edgar, news that armed bands had taken Hamam, and the first clinic day (January 26).
January 28 to February 4: back to Suadia, relief paid out there and at Kebosea, Vakft and Batias, a visit to Dr. Avedis at Yugonluk, and a night in a woodshed at Batias. Back at Antioch, a letter from Major Nicol saying Graber can come to Beirut to be demobilized.
February 4 and 5: the January report, a list of the district's six Armenian villages (Kebosea, Vakft, Kuderbek, Yugonluk, Hubublea and Batias) and its two Syrian towns, and a walk to the old bridge and rock tombs outside Antioch.