Arpiar Aslanian ( hy, Արփիար Ասլանյան, 16 December 1895 – 15 February 1945) was a French anti-fascist of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

descent, communist, husband of the writer

Louise Aslanian Louise Aslanian (pseudonym ''LAS''; french: Louise Aslanian, Lass, hy, Լուիզա Ասլանյան; 5 May 1904 – 30 January 1945) was a French-Armenian communist and anti-fascist activist, writer, novelist, poet and a prominent figure in ...

, and a prominent figure in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

Early life

Arpiar Levonovich Aslanian was born on 16 December 1895 in

Etchmiadzin Vagharshapat ( hy, Վաղարշապատ ) is the 4th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is comm ...

, (

Russian Armenia Russian Armenia is the period of Armenian history under Russian rule from 1828, when Eastern Armenia became part of the Russian Empire following Qajar Iran's loss in the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828) and the subsequent ceding of its territorie ...

) in the family of Levon and Varvara Aslanians. He had an older brother, Derenik, and a sister — Arpik. His father, Levon, was a principal in a school and also worked in the Etchmiadzin monastery, where he was in charge of the library collections. Aslanian received a juridical education in

Tsarist Russia Tsarist Russia may refer to: * Grand Duchy of Moscow (1480–1547) *Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721) *Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of ...

and became a lawyer. Aslanian was a member of the

Dashnaktsutyun The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenia ...

. He had to leave

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

to avoid prosecution by

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

. Aslanian travelled to

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...

, where in 1923 he married Louise Grigorian, more than ten years younger than him.

Life in France

In 1923, the couple moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, taking with them Mania and Arshaluys (Louise's mother and sister, respectively). In Paris Louise wanted to continue her musical education playing piano. In order to let her do that, Aslanian, an educated lawyer, who was unable to practice in a foreign country, became a general laborer. In 1940 Aslanian joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

French Resistance

After the Nazis occupied France, the Aslanians joined the

in 1940. The Aslanians worked in an underground publishing house and actively engaged in supplying fighters of the French Resistance with weapons. Aslanians had connections with Resistance activists :

Missak Manouchian Missak Manouchian (Western hy, Միսաք Մանուշեան; , 1 September 1906 – 21 February 1944) was a French-Armenian poet and communist activist. An Armenian genocide survivor, he moved to France from an orphanage in Lebanon in 1925. ...

Mélinée Manouchian Mélinée Manouchian (born Melina Assadourian or Soukémian; hy, Մելինէ Մանուշեան; 1913 - 1989) was a French-Armenian ''résistante'' and the widow of Missak Manouchian. Biography She was born in 1913 in Constantinople as Melina ...

Arpen Tavitian An arpent (, sometimes called arpen) is a unit of length and a unit of area. It is a pre-metric French unit based on the Roman ''actus''. It is used in Quebec, some areas of the United States that were part of French Louisiana, and in Mauritius ...

Ayk Dpirian Ayk or AYK may refer to: People * Ayk Kazaryan (born 1993), Russian football player of Armenian origin Media * ''Ayk'' (daily), a Lebanese-Armenian daily newspaper Abbreviations * Aoyagi Metals Company * Arkalyk Airport (IATA: AYK), an airport in ...

Shag Taturian Shag, or Shagged, or Shagger, or Shagging, or Shags may refer to: Animals * Shag or cormorant, a bird family ** European shag, a specific species of the shag or cormorant family ** Great cormorant another species of the family People Pseudonym ...

and others.

Arrest, concentration camp, death

On 26 July 1944 both Aslanians were arrested in France by the Nazis. Louise's diaries and manuscripts were captured and destroyed, in particular, «Histoire de la Resistance» and «La Chute de Paris». On 15 August 1944, they were taken from

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or sus ...

. Arpiar was then transferred to the camp

Dora-Mittelbau Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying slave labour f ...

, while Louise was taken to Ravensbrück. On 15 February 1945, Aslanian, was killed at camp

. List of the memory Fund of the deported

was killed presumably in Ravensbrück after 2 February 1945.

References

External links