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In the history of Rind, there are individuals whose lives, and even their deaths, became a sobering call and a harbinger of the coming struggle. Henrik Vardanyan was one such man—a person who, as early as the spring of 1988, foresaw the breath of the great war and tried to be ready for it.
Henrik Vardanyan was born on March 21, 1941, in the village of Rind. He was an electrician by profession, endowed with a sharp engineering mind and a talent for innovation. He worked at the Yerevan Large Panel House Building Plant as an electrical fitter. Although he lived in Yerevan with his wife and two children, his soul was always connected to his native village.
The Sumgait pogroms of 1988 were a turning point for Henrik. According to his contemporaries, he resembled a wounded lion throwing himself against the bars of a cage. He could not reconcile himself with the injustice, the atrocities committed against Armenians, and Moscow’s silence.
While many still pinned their hopes on the justice of the Soviet authorities, Henrik judged the situation soberly. He was convinced that this was only the beginning and that harder days were ahead. He often repeated that the border villages of Vayots Dzor—Khachik, Areni, Rind—must be ready to independently withstand enemy attacks. He knew every stone and bush in the area by heart and was developing defense plans.
Henrik was not one to be easily satisfied. He worked day and night on blueprints and schematics. His goal was singular: to create powerful, homemade defensive means and weapons that could bring about a turning point in the impending struggle. His hands, accustomed to cultivating the land and tending gardens, began to forge tools of vengeance and defense.
He operated in extreme secrecy, hiding his activities from relatives and fellow villagers, understanding the gravity of the moment.
On June 10, 1988, a powerful explosion was heard in Rind. Henrik Vardanyan was killed while testing an explosive device he had manufactured himself.
That explosion became a unique alarm. It awakened and sobered the villagers, suggesting that peaceful life was no longer secure and that they must prepare for defense. Although the operation he planned did not reach its completion, his dedication and foresight became a guiding light for future freedom fighters.
Henrik Vardanyan is among the first martyrs of the Artsakh movement, whose struggle began months before the battlefront officially opened.
He rests in the Rind cemetery.