Nazi collaborator monuments in Armenia

Armenian nationalist Garegin Nzhdeh, whose soldiers served the Third Reich, has 20 streets named after him

Left: Garegin Nzhdeh monument, Gyumri (Wikimedia Commons). Right: Nzhdeh monument, Kapan (Wikimedia Commons). Image by Forward collage

By Lev Golinkin January 27, 2021

This list is part of an ongoing investigative project the Forward first published in January 2021 documenting hundreds of monuments around the world to people involved in the Holocaust. We are continuing to update each country’s list; if you know of any not included here, or of statues that have been removed or streets renamed, please email editorial@forward.com, subject line: Nazi monument project.

Yerevan — In 2016, Armenia’s capital triggered international headlines after erecting this giant monument to nationalist Garegin Nzhdeh (1886–1955) in the center of Yerevan, where Nzhdeh also has a street and a central square.

Left: Garegin Nzhdeh (Wikimedia Commons). Right: Nzhdeh statue, Yerevan (Wikimedia Commons). Image by Forward collage

Nzhdeh placed the Armenian Legion at the disposal of the Nazis; these soldiers served the Third Reich in the Caucasus, Crimea and France. See report in the Jerusalem Post.

Left: Garegin Nzhdeh monument, Gyumri (Wikimedia Commons). Right: Nzhdeh monument, Kapan (Wikimedia Commons). Image by Forward collage

Gyumri, Kapan and eighteen other locations — Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city, honors Nzhdeh with a street, prominent statue (above left) and bust in the city’s Victory Park (below left). Kapan, above right, also has a Nzhdeh street and a memorial, erected 2003.

There are additional Nzhdeh streets in Agarak, Aparan, Artik, Ashtarak, Burastan, Byuravan, Chambarak, Dvin, Goris, (which also has a memorial, bottom right, and separate plaque), Mrgavan, Mrgavet, Nshavan, Sisian, Stepanavan, Vanadzor, Verin Artashat and Yeghvard. Nzhdeh also has a village named after him. See the Bulgaria section for a Nzhdeh plaque.

Left: Garegin Nzhdeh bust, Victory Park, Gyumri (Wikimedia Commons). Right: Nzhdeh memorial, Goris (Wikimedia Commons). Image by Forward collage

Lev Golinkin is a regular contributor to the Forward whose work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC, The Boston Globe, Politico Europe, and Time.com. His memoir, A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, chronicles his immigration from Ukraine.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO