The AGBU’s relations with Soviet Armenia constitute one of the most turbulent and fascinating chapters in its history. The first phase of the Union’s relations with the Soviet regime ran for about fifteen years, from 1922 to 1937. Throughout this decade and a half, it was optimistic, elaborating vast construction projects in the hope that they would eventually make it possible to settle tens of thousands of refugees and orphans in Soviet Armenia. All its networks were mobilized for the purpose; the organization marshaled the bulk of its resources to construct villages and public works inside Armenia.
The Union’s officers were long persuaded that Soviet Armenian leaders were motivated by patriotic feelings and the desire to develop their fatherland. The AGBU leadership firmly believed, in other words, that its strategy of working hand-in-hand with Soviet Armenia would open up new prospects for the thousands of Armenians living in Syrian, Lebanese or Greek camps. Hence they were bitterly disappointed when, in the early 1930s, the country’s Communist leaders suddenly struck a distinctly less cooperative stance and freely criticized the Union without pulling their punches. What happened next was less surprising. In 1937, at the height of the Stalinist terror, the Soviets cut off relations with the Union for good and all. They then brought all running resettlement and construction projects to a screeching halt, dampening the enthusiasm that had been kindled by these projects, which were ... Read all
The AGBU and Soviet Armenia
This is probably how the members of the AGBU imagined the future Nubarashen, the biggest of the Union's charitable undertakings in Soviet Armenia.
“The Nubarashen of Tomorrow,” 1927 engraving used in the fund-raising campaign (Coll. Archives Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
AGBU’s Humanitarian Strategy and Soviet Armenia - An Armenian Destiny (Video)