Aram I receives granddaughter of Papa Künzler

YEREVAN, JULY 16, ARMENPRESS. Ida Alamuddin – director of the Armenian orphanage in Ghazir and granddaughter of Papa Künzler - visited the head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I together with her two sons. Armenpress learned this from the official website of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia. A number of topics connected with Papa Künzler’s life and activities were touched upon during the meeting. The head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia informed that he personally will take part in the ceremony on the centennial of the Armenian Genocide dedicated to Papa Künzler. Alamuddin said that she will also participate in the ceremony.

Papa Künzler and his wife Elizabeth returned to the region as part of the Near East Relief program to evacuate orphans from Turkey, and together they managed to transfer 8,000 displaced children into Syria and Lebanon. In 1923 they took charge of an orphanage at Ghazir in Lebanon, close to Beirut. Later that year his arm was amputated. Yet for an additional 25 years "Papa Künzler" looked after the welfare of his charges.