Knowledge, Culture, Responsibility: In Conversation with Prof. Drost-Abgarjan
Prof. Dr. Drost-Abgarjan is one of the defining figures of Armenian Studies in Germany. Following her studies in Armenia, she came to Germany in the 1980s and built an impressive academic career at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. As a co-founder of the Mesrop Center for Armenian Studies and a long-standing professor, she dedicated herself with great commitment to researching and teaching Armenian culture and history. In this interview, she speaks about her personal path, the importance of German-Armenian cooperation, as well as current challenges and future perspectives for academia and the community.
Professor Drost-Abgarjan, you came from Armenia to Germany to study and built your academic career here. What brought you to Germany back then, and what motivated you to stay?
I came to Germany by marrying the German physicist Dr. Wolf-Gernot Drost, whom I had already met as a student in 1975 within the framework of the university partnership between the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Yerevan State University, which also existed during the GDR era.
Immediately after arriving in Germany for permanent residence on June 15, 1985—which I was granted upon our marriage in 1983—I received an invitation from the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. As a newly graduated scholar with a doctorate, I was invited to present the results of my research on Armenian-Byzantine literary relations at an upcoming international conference in September marking the retirement of the renowned Byzantinist Prof. Dr. Johannes Irmscher, titled "Byzantium – Viewed as Polyethnic and Polyglot." I accepted the invitation, and that is how my academic career here began.
Professor Irmscher maintained good academic contacts with both Yerevan and Moscow. He had heard from my academic advisor—the famous Byzantinist at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and later Professor of Slavic Studies at the University of Vienna, Prof. Dr. Sergey S. Averintsev—that I had relocated to Germany.
Right after my presentation in Berlin, the Head of the Chair of Byzantine Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg (renamed after the reunification to the Seminar for "Science of the Christian Orient"), Prof. Dr. Peter Nagel—who was also the chairman of the International Association for Coptic Studies—invited me to collaborate in the field of Armenian Studies.
Thus, just three months after my arrival in Germany, I was employed at the University of Halle, where I completed my habilitation following my postdoc residency and held the first extraordinary professorship for Armenian Studies until my retirement (2010–2021).
You were a co-founder (1998) and long-standing director of the Mesrop Center for Armenian Studies at Martin Luther University. Can you tell us how the idea for the center came about and what unique challenges you overcame during your many years of work there? Since retiring, do you still maintain contact with the Mesrop Center?
The MESROP Center for Armenian Studies was established on September 6, 1998, in the context of the cultural agreement (1996) between the State of Saxony-Anhalt—acting on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany—and the Republic of Armenia. The preparatory work for this was carried out by the Armenian Studies working group that had been active since the 1980s at the University of Halle-Wittenberg, based at the Dr. Johannes Lepsius Archive within the Faculty of Theology under the leadership of the scholar of Eastern Christian Studies, Prof. Dr. Hermann Goltz. He became the center's first director. Among other things, its objective was to establish an independent Chair of Armenian Studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg in order to strengthen Armenian studies in Germany and bring Armenian culture closer to German society. With my habilitation in the field of Languages and Cultures of the Christian Orient, with a special emphasis on Armenian Studies, the necessary academic qualification—and thus the formal basis for establishing an Armenian Studies professorship—was created. This initially allowed for the founding of an endowed professorship (through the DAAD program to strengthen regional studies) and, later, an extraordinary professorship within the Seminar for the Christian Orient and Byzantium at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg.
Following the untimely death of Hermann Goltz in 2010, the center was transferred to the Faculty of Philosophy alongside my professorship, and I was appointed as his successor at MESROP.
The study of the Christian Orient is an interdisciplinary, cultural-scientific "minor subject" (*kleines Fach*), under which Armenian Studies is structurally integrated at German universities. Following the retirement of its academic representatives, this subject was cut at the universities of Munich, Bonn, and Tübingen. As a result, the University of Halle remained the only university where this field continued to be cultivated. However, due to financial bottlenecks in our federal state, our subject was always under existential threat. The greatest challenge for me was—with the support of my colleagues—to protect the field of "Christian Oriental Studies" and my own professorship (both of which represented a unique selling point in Germany) from drastic budget cuts, and to justify the special status of Armenian Studies in Germany's academic landscape to political and scientific decision-makers.
Since my retirement, I no longer maintain contact with MESROP, as its independent character as a center of competence was altered, and it has reverted to functioning as a subsidiary structural unit under the main chair of the Seminar. My vision—which I pursued for five years as the acting head of the Seminar during the vacancy of the main professorship—to expand the scope of the Seminar by adding further professorships, was not shared by the Seminar's new leadership.
Originally, alongside the interdisciplinary research of Armenian culture and history in international and ecumenical cooperation, the center aimed to manage the transfer of knowledge about Armenia outside the university setting. It sought to introduce Armenian culture to the broader public through academic conferences, cultural events, and publications, while networking Armenian research within the German-speaking world and providing institutional support. Its duties also included consulting (including political consultation) and providing expertise on Armenian studies within Europe.
The current approach of the Seminar's leadership—which attempts to cover all six languages and regions of the Christian Orient together (Egypt, Assyria, Ethiopia, the Arabic-speaking Near East, Georgia, and Armenia)—is, logically, unable to cultivate each region with the necessary depth on its own. This is precisely why securing at least a second professorship, which would alleviate the burden on the main chair, would be essential. Nevertheless, I do not lose hope that German science policy will eventually find an understanding of this matter.
The foundation for this is the recommendation by the German Council of Science and Humanities (*Wissenschaftsrat*) representing the federal and state governments, which advises recognizing the special status of Armenian Studies in Germany and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the field through a full-time, tenured professorship. Perhaps one day this recommendation will fall on fertile ground. For this reason, I continue to work toward this goal alongside those colleagues and institutions that share this vision with me.
You have supervised numerous international projects and publications. What significance does the cooperation between Armenian and German scholars hold for you, and what opportunities do you see in it for the future of Armenia?
The cooperation between Armenian and German scholars was highly productive prior to and up until the beginning of the First World War. An entire galaxy of Armenian students came to German-speaking universities in Germany and Switzerland. They came from Eastern and Western Armenia—from Armenian territories that were under Tsarist, Ottoman, or Persian foreign rule. Under academic supervision and in collaboration with their German mentors, they participated in international research across various scientific disciplines. The most famous graduates of German universities were Khachatur Abovyan—who inspired the German physicist Friedrich Parrot to explore Mount Ararat—and Komitas, who researched medieval musical notation alongside Berlin music professor Oscar Fleischer and co-founded the International Music Society and its journal to promote, among other things, ethnomusicological studies.
Furthermore, Karapet Ter-Mkrtchian and Yervand Ter-Minassian—students of Adolf von Harnack and Friedrich Loofs—made sensational discoveries in Armenian manuscripts. They edited vital early Christian textual sources in the fields of theology and church history that had survived exclusively in the Old Armenian language. The philologists Garegin Hovsepyan and Manuk Abeghyan, as well as the historian Hakob Manandyan, also earned their doctorates in Germany. The representatives of this generation went on to found the Armenian higher education institutions in the independent First Republic of Armenia, modeling them after the educational system in Germany.
However, the bond between the scholars of both countries was torn apart by Germany’s political alliance and comradeship-in-arms with the Ottoman Empire during the First World War and during the genocide against the Armenian citizens of that empire.
It became necessary to bind together what had been torn apart and to carry it forward. This was a deep commitment of my father, the historian and philologist Gevorg Abgarjan, which he passed down to me. His doctoral advisor was the respected orientalist, philologist, literary scholar, source expert, and member of the Armenian Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Karapet Melik-Ohandzhanyan, who had studied at the Royal Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin under the Armenologist, Iranist, and Indo-Europeanist Josef Markwart. Through him, my father became familiar with the German school of classical philology and Armenology, and he continued the achievements and traditions of this school through his research in Armenia. In numerous publications, he informed Armenian society and the scholarly community about Armenian Studies in Germany. Together, the two were involved in the institutional development of the Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Yerevan.
Already during my childhood, my father told me that alongside the German military advisors to the Young Turk triumvirate—which had conceived and executed the Armenian Genocide—there was also a Protestant theologian, Johannes Lepsius. He was the first to document the Hamidian massacres of 1894/1896, as well as the continuation of this crime against humanity in 1915/1917, making them known in Europe. After his failed attempt to halt this demonic plan of the Sublime Porte, Lepsius—being the son of Germany’s first professor of Egyptology, Richard Lepsius, who was a friend of Nubar Pasha—founded a relief alliance and initiated several aid campaigns in Europe to save the survivors of the genocide.
When I came to Germany and Halle and discovered that a substantial portion of the Lepsius archive was located at this university, I joined the working group of Prof. Hermann Goltz, whose objective was also the revival of German-Armenian academic relations. Within the framework of a Volkswagen Foundation project, he published the archival materials in a three-volume edition in Munich. In doing so, he contributed significantly to the recognition of the genocide in Germany by providing documents and scientific consultation to the German Bundestag, which led to the first Bundestag resolution on the genocide in 2005. This initiated the decade toward the formal recognition of the genocide for its 100th anniversary on April 24, 2015—first by Federal President Joachim Gauck and Bundestag President Norbert Lammert—and reached a successful conclusion a year later with the new Bundestag resolution in June 2016.
The establishment of the Lepsiushaus in Potsdam in 2011 was also achieved through the efforts of this Armenological working group at the University of Halle. Today, German and Armenian scholars work together to study and document the history of the genocide, countering the perpetrators' policy of denial with scientifically verified expertise.
In cooperation with the Berlin State Library (Meliné Pehlivanian / Oriental Department), which houses the most extensive collection of books and manuscripts on Armenology in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Halle working group organized the first Armenologist Day in Germany in 2010 (modeled after the "Syriologist" and "Coptologist" days). During the library’s ongoing exhibition on cultural encounters with Armenia from the 15th to the 20th century, the leadership of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia returned German book collections—which had been transferred to Armenia as spoils of war after the end of World War II—to the State Library.
Another wish of my father was the publication of the life’s work of Josef Karst, a student of Heinrich Hübschmann. Karst's Armenian student, Sahak Keshishyan—who translated the primary work of Grigor Narekatsi into French—had brought this material from Strasbourg to the Matenadaran in several card index boxes and folders for preservation, research, and publication. As a result of German-Armenian scientific cooperation involving 25 scholars (including Armenologists, Germanists, Indo-Europeanists, Iranists, Arabists, and Turkologists) from Germany, Austria, and Armenia, and with the support of the same foundation, a 5-volume edition of the *Etymological Dictionary of Middle Armenian* was produced, which will soon appear in the renowned Belgian *Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium* series (Peeters Publishers).
Another long-term German-Armenian project was the German translation of the 1,600-year-old hymnal of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which preserves the theological thought of early Christianity. My colleague Hermann Goltz immediately seized the opportunity to carry out this large-scale project alongside me—a theological-philological and German-Armenian collaboration—for the parallel edition of the hymnal "*Sharagnots*". This will also soon be published in the prestigious series *Patrologia Orientalis* in Rome, at the Pontifical Oriental Institute under the direction of Professor Philippe Luisier.
At the suggestion of the Government of Armenia, editorial work is currently underway on the German translation of Grigor Narekatsi’s primary work, the *Book of Lamentations*, to mark the 10th anniversary of this Armenian theologian being elevated to a Doctor of the Universal Church by the Vatican.
These examples of German-Armenian scientific cooperation demonstrate how the hidden treasures of Armenian culture are reclaiming their rightful place in world culture, making them accessible to the international specialist community and general readership alike.
The future of Armenia—which stands out neither for oil reserves nor for economic or military strength—lies within its culture.
You have played an invaluable role in establishing the Armenian community in Halle, acquiring a church, and representing the community in cooperation with German institutions. How do you assess the current activities of the Armenian community in Halle today, and do you see any new developments or prospects?
Thank you very much for your kind recognition! Yes, indeed, I am an eyewitness to the birth of the first Armenian church congregation in East Germany following the reunification of Germany and the consecration of its first very own church building (*Surb Harutyun* / Church of the Resurrection) in Germany. The Armenian Community of Saxony-Anhalt is an active member of the ACK (*Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christlicher Kirchen* / Association of Christian Churches) in Saxony-Anhalt and maintains ecumenical cooperation with the other Christian churches in our state.
The founding generation of the congregation restored, remodeled, and maintains the operations of the former St. Mary's Catholic Church and its rectory entirely through their own efforts. In 2015, they erected a *khachkar* (cross-stone) to honor the memory of the victims of the genocide and the German helpers of the survivors.
Through several educational initiatives (a Sunday school offering language, dance, and ceramic art classes), the community attempts to preserve the Armenian identity of its members. Since the launch of Free Radio "Corax" in the Halle area in 2000, there was a regular broadcast of the program "Radio Yerevan," which is unfortunately currently on hiatus due to the departure of the dedicated students involved.
In cooperation with the Chair of Armenian Studies and its university students, the cultural and integration departments of the city of Halle, the Cultural Community of Leipzig, and the Halle-Gyumri Sister City Association, the congregation supports numerous events dedicated to Armenian culture and religion. It regularly participates in the Intercultural Week in Halle and the Long Night of the Churches, welcoming interested fellow citizens and institutions who wish to learn about the Armenian Church and culture. On major feast days of the liturgical year, the church is packed to capacity, as many Armenian families travel from across the eastern federal states to keep their connection to their own culture and church alive.
However, it will be necessary to involve the new generation of Armenians—who have been socialized in Germany, speak fluent German, and navigate the local social and official structures better than their parents—more deeply into community life and entrust them with responsible positions on the board. This would, among other things, make state resources and programs more accessible to the community. The shortage of Armenian parish priests in Germany (5 clergymen for 16 congregations) and their constant rotation in Halle are further obstacles in the effort to encourage more German citizens of Armenian descent to participate in community life. With the appointment of the new priest to the vacant position in Halle (Der Hakob Hakobyan), who has initiated targeted work with young people, there is renewed hope that community life will become somewhat more vibrant.
Which developments or projects in Armenia or within German-Armenian cooperation would you particularly like to promote in the coming years to strengthen young people, culture, and science?
An encouraging development is Germany's adoption of the Armenian TUMO model (Tumanyan Centers)—extracurricular, free digital education centers for technology and creativity—with branches in Berlin (since 2020), Mannheim (2024), Hirschaid (Bavaria), Lüdenscheid (NRW), Essen, and Saarbrücken (as of 2026, further centers are planned in Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Halle). It would be wonderful to establish specific project or program units for students of Armenian descent within these centers.
Educational and cultural committees have been established at the Armenian Diocese in Cologne. Their goal is to draft guidelines and handbooks for parish work and Sunday schools, as well as to try to introduce Armenian language instruction—alongside subjects on Armenian culture and religion—into German schools, following the model of Jewish, Orthodox, and Oriental-Christian communities.
Another development worth supporting would be to realize the vision of Johannes Lepsius, whose 100th anniversary of death is being commemorated this year. His plan was to unite two institutions under one roof at Pfingstberg in Potsdam, near the famous Cecilienhof: a German-Armenian Academy and the German-Armenian Society, both of which were intended to have a German-Armenian dual leadership. The synergies of these institutions at the Lepsiushaus research and cultural center—which has been active since 2011 in the villa of the famous "German advocate for the Armenian people"—could also serve as a training ground for young people in our society.
In Halle, the federal institution "Future Center" (*Zukunftszentrum*) is currently being established, which aims to address the post-socialist transformation processes in Germany and Eastern Europe. Here, too, the Armenian example and Armenian topics could prove highly productive for both the project itself and for early-career scholars and cultural practitioners.
To train the next generation of Armenologists, the continuation and academic elevation of a Chair of Armenian Studies at a German university remains indispensable. A support association for the preservation of Armenian Studies in Germany has already been founded in Halle and has potential for expansion.
Looking ahead, a pioneering step for German-Armenian cooperation among the younger generation would be the establishment of cultural centers in Europe, akin to the famous "Goethe," "Cervantes," or "Confucius" centers. The MESROP Center at the University of Halle was a pilot project that deserves to be continued.
Immense potential for the future lies within the already existing collaborations between German and Armenian writers (joint translation workshops and publications); between composers and musicians from both countries (joint conferences and concerts involving German musicians, the Komitas State Conservatory, and the Komitas Museum-Institute); between archaeologists, museologists, and heritage authorities; between libraries and manuscript restoration departments; as well as the academic links between the German Max Planck and Leibniz Institutes with the Academy Institutes of Armenia and the Matenadaran, and finally, university and city partnerships (Halle-Gyumri / Leipzig-Yerevan / Naumburg-Armavir).
The interview was conducted by Dr. Sirarpi Movsisyan.