Simon Vratsian (; 1882 – 21 May 1969) was an Armenian politician and activist of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. He was one of the leaders of the First Republic of Armenia (1918–1920) and served as its last prime minister for 10 days in 1920. He also headed the Committee for the Salvation of the Fatherland for 40 days during the anti-Bolshevik February Uprising in 1921. While in exile, he continued his political and educational activities in the Armenian diaspora and wrote several books, most notably his six-volume memoir Keankʻi ughinerov ("On the Path of Life") and his history of the First Republic of Armenia titled Hayastani Hanrapetutʻiwn ("The Republic of Armenia"). Biography Vratsian was born Simavon Grouzian was born in the village of Metz Sala (Bolshiye Saly) near Nor Nakhichevan in the Russian Empire (now Nakhichevan-on-Don) on March 24, 1882, Julian calendar (April 5). When he was five years old, his family settled among Cossacks in the Kuban region, although they soon returned to Metz Sala at the insistence of Vratsian's mother, who wanted her children to receive an Armenian education. After education at Armenian and Russian schools, he joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, also known as Dashnaktsutiun or the Dashnak party) in 1898, apparently by mistake while trying to join the rival Hunchak Party, which was holding a meeting in the same building. He received further education at the Gevorgian Seminary in Echmiadzin from 1900 to 1906. Vratsian returned to Nor Nakhichevan as an ARF operative and took part in the 4th General Congress of the Dashnaktsutiun at Vienna in 1907, where he supported the adoption of socialism in the party program. In 1908 he traveled to St. Petersburg to study law and education. He earned his teaching credentials but was instructed to flee Russia before completing his law degree due to increased repression of ARF members by the Tsarist authorities. He went first to Constantinople and then to Erzurum, where he was invited to train Armenian teachers at the Sanasarian Academy and teach history at a secondary school for girls. He then travelled to the United States in 1911 where he edited the Hairenik newspaper in Boston. In 1914 he made his way to the 8th General Congress of the Dashnaktsutiun in Erzurum the Ottoman Empire. He was elected to the party's Bureau (its top executive body) and mixed with the leaders of the Young Turks. In