The book "Armenian Children's Home of Struga" by Arsen Arzumanyan

Correspondent of the Bucharest magazine "Ararat", Bucharest. Doctor of Sciences Arsen Arzumanyan "The Armenian Orphanage in Strunga". The book "Testimonies of Broken Destinies" is an extensive study by the author of the remarkable story of the Armenian orphanage in the village of Strunga, Romania. The Romanian and Armenian versions of the book were published in Bucharest in 2023 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the orphanage. The work is unique in its research sources. For the first time, the archives of the orphanage and hundreds of articles from Armenian periodicals published in Bucharest, which touched on the issues of the foundation, creation and liquidation of the orphanage, were studied and analyzed. Most of these periodicals were found and saved from oblivion only in Romania. The research materials also revealed valuable information about a previously “unknown” Armenian tomb-chapel that existed in the vicinity of the orphanage, the connection of which with the orphanage and its inhabitants is presented in the book with remarkable episodes. This is the family tomb of the Church of Ince Hakob, a famous Armenian landowner of that period and one of the founders of the village of Strunga, built in 1923, which will become the Chapel of the Holy Martyrs. Although the orphanage, which sheltered 200 children who survived the Genocide, did not exist for long, it left a deep mark on the memory of Romanian Armenians. The founding of the Armenian orphanage in Strunga, its daily life, the numerous events surrounding it, including the disagreements that arose in the Romanian-Armenian community about the future of the orphanage, the fates of a number of children and other stories will deeply touch the readers. At the end of the book, a registry of the orphanage is presented with photographs and personal data of the children.