Zaruhi Bahri

Zaruhi Shahbaz Bahri (; 31 May 1880 – 13 May 1958) was a prominent Armenian writer, social worker, and community activist. In 1913, she was one of the founding members of the Armenian Red Cross of Constantinople. In the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide, and having lost several family members, Bahri remained in the Ottoman Empire to assist in the relief effort for those who survived the genocide. She eventually fled to Romania and ultimately to France in 1928 where she remained the rest of her life. While in France, she wrote six novels and continued to engage with the local Armenian community.

Life Zaruhi Shahbaz Bahri was born in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire on 31 May 1880 to a family of ethnic Armenians. She started to become active in the local Armenian community after the Adana massacre of 1909. She also taught Armenian orphans how to sew and embroider. During the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, she was instrumental in providing aid and assistance to ethnic Armenians that served the Ottoman army.

During the Armenian Genocide, Bahri lost several of her family members including her brother and sister. Her sister, Adrine, was deported from the town of Amasya and was ultimately killed. Her brother, Parsegh Shahbaz, a prominent member of the Armenian intellectual community of Constantinople and member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, was deported as part of the deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915 and was ultimately killed.

She died in Paris on May 13, 1958, and was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery. In accordance to her wishes, her children took her ashes to Armenia and buried them on the premises of Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the Mother Church of the Armenian Apostolic Church in 1987.

Works Parantsem: Jampanerun Yergaynkin (Paris: Der Hagopian, 1946) Dakre: Vospori Aperun Vra 1875–1877 (Paris: Der Hagopian, 1941) Dayyan Kevork Bey gam Badriarkarani Poghotsin Pnagichnere: Vospori Aperun Vra 1895-1898 (Paris: Le Solei, 1952) Muygerun Dag (Beirut: Madensashar “Ayk,” 1956) Louisette ou Osmose (serialized in Aysor: 1952) Ambrob (serialized in Azad Khosk, Paris: 1940) Bahri also edited and wrote the introduction of the book that her son Gerard Bahri wrote, Vahan Maleziani Gyankn u Kordse: Hushamadyan Ir Utsunamyagin Artiv (1871-1951) (Paris: Le Solei, 1951)