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Chris Graber writes home from Aleppo for the Wayland News. June 3, 1919.
Location
Aleppo, Syria
Year
1919
Item Detail
Graber had promised so many people at home a letter that he answered them all at once, through the paper's columns. He describes the 26-day crossing on the U.S.S. Pensacola with forty-two relief workers and about 6,000 tons of relief supplies, and his first months at Beirut, where the American Relief Commission had taken over the work of the American Red Cross. There he assembled Reo trucks, Chevrolet ambulances and Ford cars and helped wire a new hospital for contagious cases. On May 25 he was sent 255 miles overland to Aleppo. As superintendent of the Industrial Department there, he oversaw about 700 men, women and girls who spun, knitted, wove and sewed for the relief orphanages and refugee homes, for about 5 piasters, or 17 cents, a day. He calls Dr. Hurd's Armenian refugee camp "the most striking work here at Aleppo." It held 6,439 people on June 1. He closes on the danger that remained. Aleppo had been quiet since February, but massacres continued in some sections, and Armenians returning home were still being driven out by Turks or Kurds. Graber took charge of the camp himself at the end of July.
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
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Notes
Heading: "For the Wayland News." Dateline: "Aleppo, Syria, June 3, 1919." Written on Mennonite Relief Commission for War Sufferers letterhead, with the printed "Scottdale, Pa." struck through. Added in another hand: "Chris Graber", and in pencil, "A splendid letter".
Sources for the Item Detail:
• Chris L. Graber, diary, July 27, 1919 ("Was appointed O.C. Barracks to succeed Capt Hurd."), Christian L. and Mina Roth Graber Papers (HM1/209), Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen College, in this group.
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 letter, six pages in ink, on Mennonite Relief Commission for War Sufferers letterhead, dated Aleppo, Syria, June 3, 1919, and headed "For the Wayland News." Graber describes the voyage of 42 relief workers on the U.S.S. Pensacola, the cargo of relief supplies, the American Relief Commission's takeover of the American Red Cross work at Beirut, wiring a contagious-disease hospital, and the drive to Aleppo in a Ford he calls "Old Henry." At Aleppo he describes the Industrial Department's weaving factory, knitting department and sewing home, Dr. Hurd's Armenian Refugee Camp and its census of June 1, the three needs of the relief work (medical, industrial and orphanage work), and continuing massacres in the interior. The letter ends at the foot of the sixth page without a closing or signature.