Khanjian was born in the city of Van , Ottoman Empire ( today eastern Turkey ) . With the onslaught of the Armenian Genocide , his family emigrated from the city in 1915 and settled in Russian Armenia . In 1917-19 , he was one of the organizers of Spartak , the Marxist student 's union of Armenia . He later served as the secretary of the Armenian Bolshevik underground committee
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Aghasi Khanjian