General Info

Haroutun (Harry) Hagopian was born in 1895 in Bursa, Turkey during a very difficult period in history. The minority Armenian population in Turkey (at the time known as the Ottoman Empire) was pushing for equal rights and coming under attack. The Ottoman Empire, already crumbling, started what would become the first genocide of the 20th century killing 1.5 million Armenians. Haroutun was one of the survivors along with his wife, Cariana, but she lost her entire family. As an adult, Harry moved to Istanbul to become a pharmacist and soon after was conscripted by the Turkish Army to serve in the medical corps during World War I. Since all Armenians in the military were scheduled for execution after the war, Hagopian went AWOL and escaped to America in 1921.