During World War II, the AGBU renewed its contacts with Soviet Armenia, after the abrupt 1937 break in its relations with the Soviets. How is this turnabout to be explained, given that the cooperation of the 1930s had suddenly ceased when Yerevan unilaterally broke off relations with the AGBU? The answer is to be sought, first and foremost, in the new strategy that the USSR adopted vis-a-vis the Armenian diaspora in the first years of the War. The enormous human and material losses sustained by the Soviets in the conflict with Nazi Germany led the country’s Communist leaders to reassess their relations with the outside world. It was, in the final analysis, the threat embodied by the Hitler re¬gime that had forced the Western powers and the Soviets, although they were ideological adversaries, to undertake something of a rapprochement and join forces in a military alliance. After the Americans entered the war against Nazi Germany, an atmosphere of détente was especially conspicuous in the United States, where Soviet diplomats, now welcome guests, made frequent public ap¬pearances to plead for ... Read all
“Repatriation”and AGBU’s Cooperation with Soviet Armenia
Vice-President of the AGBU Léon Guerdan, a French journalist and writer who took refuge in the United States, accompanying General Charles de Gaulle during the General's visit to New York. Guerdan led the committee charged with raising funds for the “repatriation” (Collection of the Guerdan family, Arch. B. Nubar/Paris).
A receipt issued to Vahe Antranigian, a French donor to the repatriation fund-raising campaign (Arch. B. Nubar/Paris).
The letterhead of the “repatriation” fund-raising commitee, headed by Léon Guerdan (Collection of the Guerdan family, Arch. B. Nubar/Paris).