EXCLUSIVE: Keeping Up With The Kardashians circa 1900! How Kim's ancestors heeded prophet's warning of looming slaughter to escape rural Armenia for a new life in the U.S.
Kim Kardashian's ancestors escaped before Armenian Genocide of 1915
A prophet warned them 'terrible times' and war was coming - and both did
More than one million people eventually died in the invasion that followed
But Kim's great, great grandfather Saghatel Kardashian heeded prophecy
So did Hovhannes Miroyan on the other side of her incredible family tree
A hundred years after the atrocity, their distant relatives became TV stars after ancestor left for the U.S. and became a garbage truck driver
Kim now planning to visit Armenia on the tragedy's hundredth anniversary
MailOnline discovered a treasure trove of pictures of the Kardashian family
By Will Stewart for MailOnline
PUBLISHED: 08:25 GMT, 6 February 2015 | UPDATED: 15:05 GMT, 6 February 2015
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The extraordinary escape from the 'Armenian Genocide' of Kim Kardashian's ancestors - thanks to a 'prophet' who urged them to uproot to America - can be revealed today for the first time.

MailOnline has unearthed a treasure trove of images showing the reality TV star's ethnic Armenian forebears who fled the tsarist Russian empire in the early 20th century, many of whom obeyed the advice of the sage.

Known at the time as the Kardaschoffs, in Russian style, the family made their way from their home village of Karakale in the late 19th Century to German ports. From there, they travelled to a new life in America on the passenger vessels SS Brandenberg and SS Koln.

By doing so, they escaped the triple horror of the First World War from 1914-18, the 'Armenian Genocide' starting in 1915 - exactly a century ago this year - and the Russian Revolution in 1917.



One hundred years after the deadly holocaust decimated their ancestral home, the Kardashians have become one of the most influential families in America.

The most famous of which is Kim who has chosen this year, on the hundredth anniversary of the atrocity, to visit Armenia for the first time.

But her lavish lifestyle, the expensive houses, an army of followers who hang on her every tweet, the marriage to a musical superstar would not exist if her ancestors had ignored the warning of a child 'prophet'.


Family tree: Luciag's (centre in a dark dress) daughter Vartanoosh Miroyan (left, front row) eventually gave birth to Helen Arakelian, whose own marriage joined two immigrant families who fled the same atrocity


Glamorous: It is quite possible that Kim Kardashian got her star power from her 'dynamic' grandmother Helen (daughter of Vartanoosh) who is pictured left on her wedding day


Slaughter: Many Armenians who refused to heed the warnings of impending war and revolution were killed


Flight: Luciag (pictured, centre) and Hovhannes wed in Erzurum, which is now in Turkey, in 1867 but escaped along with their daughter Vartanoosh Mironyan, born in 1886, in the early 20th century

The glamorous and 'dynamic' Helen wed Arthur who ran the largest meat-packing business in southern California.

Helen's son Robert, a celebrity lawyer who died of oesophageal cancer in 2003, married Kris Houghton and fathered the 21st Century's biggest reality TV stars Kourtney, Khloe, Robert Jr and most famous of all - Kim.


Marital bliss: Kim's paternal grandmother Helen Arakelian (left) married Arthur Kardashian (right) in California. He was the son of Tatos Kardashian, also from an Armenian Molokan family




Lasting love: Helen and Arthur died in their adopted home of California in 2008 and 2012 respectively


Legacy: Robert Kardashian (centre), the son of Arthur and Helen, fathered reality TV stars Kim (right), Khloe (bottom left) and Kourtney (top left) before he died in 2003


Success: From the rustic plains of Armenia, the hard work and determination of Robert's ancestors have ensured that Khloe (left), Kim (second from right) and Kourtney (right) can enjoy fame and fortune


Declaration: Kim's great grandfather Tatos Kardashian arrived in the United States in September 1913


New start: 17 at the time, Tatos changed his name to Tom having fled his home country of Armenia after a terrifying prophecy that his people would be killed heeded


US citizen: Tatos - or Tom - sailed on the SS Koln from Bremen to arrived in America one month after his parents Saghatel Kardashian and Hrepsema Yurbashian did


Escape: Tatos' parents Saghatel and Hrepsema fled the 'Armenian holocaust' aboard the SS Brandenburg
'Steerage passengers were jammed together much like cargo down below,' said researcher Margaret Odrowaz-Sypniewska.

Their escape would undoubtedly save their lives. With the world engulfed in war, and Russia beset by revolution, the forces of the Ottoman empire moved in on the region.

It became embroiled in what is variously known as the Armenia Genocide, the Armenian Massacres, and the Armenian Holocaust.

'When the Turkish army marched through the area in 1917, they committed unspeakable atrocities against the Armenian people in all the villages, including Karakale', said Ms Keosababian-Bivin.

'The Armenia Genocide began and every inhabitant of Karakala perished,' wrote Matthew W Tallman, citing another Kim relative, Demos Shakarian, whose grandfather of the same name became a prominent Pentecostalist preacher in Los Angeles and was also Kim's great great grandfather.

'Efim's prophetic words saved many lives in Karakale.'
Another account recorded: 'The great World War One broke out, and in the terrible onslaught, when Turkey overran Armenia, every soul in Karakala was wiped out.'

Kim went on the record in 2012 to call for a wider understanding of the tragedy that befell the Armenian people.

'It's time to recognise the Armenian Genocide,' she said. 'Until this crime is resolved, the Armenian people will live with the pain of what happened to their families.'
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