Armenian prisoners from Zeitun in Marash, 1915

The photograph shows Armenian prisoners who were transferred from Zeitun to Marash in 1915. According to the source, some of them were shot shortly after the picture was taken. Dozens of men in traditional dress are seen, kneeling in the front rows and standing behind. Bayonets are visible in the background.

The photograph is connected with the Armenian Genocide (1915–1916), which the source describes as the first ideologically motivated genocide of the 20th century. Deportations from Zeitun began on 8 April 1915. Armenian men of working age were often disarmed, sent to labour battalions and systematically killed, while women, children and the elderly were deported en masse to the Syrian desert, where many died of hunger, thirst, disease and attacks.