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Treasures of NAASR's Mardigian Library:
Genocide Survivor Memoirs in Armenian & English, 1918-1955
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It is often said that Armenians remained mostly silent about the Armenian Genocide until the fiftieth anniversary in 1965. Although there can be little argument that there was an explosion of memoirs and historical works on the Genocide after 1965, and that many survivors did opt to remain silent, it is also evident that from the time when the Genocide itself was still going on, Armenians pursued opportunities to tell their stories of personal survival and the destruction of their communities, mainly in the Armenian language but also in English and other languages.
In this feature we highlight a group, by no means exhaustive, of memoirs by survivors of the Armenian Genocide published in Armenian and English between the years 1918 and 1955. In these memoirs we hear the voices of women and men, clergymen and political activists, natives of the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire and of western Asia Minor, Protestant and Apostolic, intellectuals and “average” women and men, as well as one non-Armenian, an Assyrian whose people suffered largely the same fate as the Armenians.
While a few of these memoirs achieved a measure of fame, more of them are obscure; but, of course, fame is not a measure of their value. Each book has value as a historical document and as a carrier of memory; and taken as a group, they may call into question the concept of “the silent generation” and most definitely expose the calumny of genocide deniers that Armenians only began to tell their tales when it became politically expedient and fashionable to do so. We dedicate this feature to all of those who told their stories as well as to those who did not or could not; to all of those who survived, as well as all who were lost, whether their final resting place is known or not.
Note: We have used the Library of Congress Western Armenian transliteration scheme for Armenian-language works below, in keeping with the fact that they were all written in that language and published by Western Armenian diasporan presses. (They are, however, catalogued in our library according to Eastern Armenian transliteration.) We have also "regularized" names in the descriptions of the books whenever possible.
In the photo above: Ester Mugerditchian and her family.
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Author: Digin [Mrs.] Estʿer Tʿ. Mgrdichʿean = Տիկին Եսթեր Թ. Մկրտիչեան
Title: Turk‘ioy Kehenēn Hay Endaniki Mě Hrashali Pakhusdě = Թուրքիոյ Գեհենէն Հայ Ընտանիքի Մը Հրաշալի Փախուստը [The Miraculous Escape of an Armenian Family from Hell in Turkey]
Publication Information: Aghekʿsantria [Egypt]: Dbakrutʿiwn Aram Sdepʿanean, 1918
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Fr. Krikor Guerguerian
Author: Esther Mugerditchian
Title: From Turkish Toils: The Narrative of an Armenian Family’s Escape
Publication Information: New York: George H. Doran Company [1918]
NAASR Mardigian Library
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The main part of this small book takes the form of a letter from Esther Mugerditchian (1869-1948) to her husband, Tovmas K. Mugerditchian, a long-serving member of the British Oriental Consular Service who beginning in 1904 was Vice-Consul in Diyarbekir. The book has detailed information about Diyarbakir and Kharpert and tells the story of Esther and her six children’s deportation to Erzurum and then to Tiflis in Georgia.
The English text was originally published serially in The Armenian Herald (July-September 1918) and subsequently as a pamphlet. Tovmas Mugerditchian’s (1859-1945) own important book, Dikranagerdi Nahanki Charterě ew Kʿiwrderu Kazanutʿiwnnerě (= Տիգրանակերտի Նահանգի Ջարդերը եւ Քիւրտերու Գազանութիւնները), was published in Cairo in 1919 and with an English translation appearing in 2013, The Diyarbekir Massacres and Kurdish Atrocities, edited by Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute). The Mugerditchians eventually immigrated to the U.S. and lived out their days in Fresno.
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Title page and author portrait from Turk‘ioy Kehenēn Hay Endaniki Mě Hrashali Pakhusdě
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Author: Aurora Mardiganian, interpreted by H. L. Gates
Title: Ravished Armenia; or, “The Auction of Souls”: The Story of Aurora Mardiganian, the Christian Girl Who Survived the Great Massacres
Publication Information: New York: International Copyright Bureau, 1919
Probably the best-known book in this list of memoirs, Ravished Armenia is Aurora (Arshalouys) Mardiganian’s (1901-94) story as “interpreted” by journalist Henry Leyford Gates. Mardiganian was born in Chmshgatsak in the Kharpert region and experienced the full horrors of the Armenian Genocide, eventually escaping to the Caucasus and thence to America, where she encountered Gates. Gates also wrote the script for the film Ravished Armenia (or Auction of Souls), starring Mardiganian as herself, released by First National Pictures in 1919 and deployed by Near East Relief to raise awareness and funds for Armenians and others in need in the aftermath of World War I. Mardiganian achieved temporary but genuine fame but was exploited by Gates and his wife Eleanor Brown Gates, who was appointed as Mardiganian’s legal guardian.
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The copy of Ravished Armenia shown here includes 16 stills from the film, most of which is lost, and is inscribed on the cover by Gates to journalist Boyd Gurley, noting that Gurley “probably won’t believe all that’s written within.” For a great deal more, see Hayk Demoyan, Aurora’s Road: Odyssey of an Armenian Genocide Survivor (2015) and Anthony Slide, ed., Ravished Armenia and the Story of Aurora Mardiganian (2014).
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Abraham Der Krikorian and Eugene Taylor
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Film stills included in Ravished Armenia
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Author: Ampʿopʿetsʿ[Summarized by] Sarkis S. Dēmirjean = Ամփոփեց Սարգիս Ս. Տէմիրճեան
Title: Chʿors Daruan Daṛabankʿ Ewtogiatsʿi (Tʿokʿad) Ōr. Tʿēpʿerig Chʿalěkeani Akʿsori Geankʿēn = Չորս Տարուան Տառապանք Եւդոկիացի (Թոքատ) Օր. Թէփերիկ Չալըգեանի Աքսորի Կեանքէն [Four Years of Suffering of the Life of Exile of Miss Teperig Chalekian of Tokat]
Publication Information: Niw Eork‘: Dbakrutʿiwn Hayg, 1920
In the introduction, Demirjian explains that this book is not fiction, but rather the true story of Teperig Chalekian from Tokat, from her deportation until her arrival in New York. We take this to be the “Teberig Tchalukian” who arrived in New York in October 1920 at age 20 on the Presidente Wilson. Further research may disclose more about her life.
NAASR Mardigian Library
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Author: Rev. Joseph Naayem
Title: Shall This Nation Die?
Publication Information: New York: Chaldean Rescue, 1921
This memoir by Joseph Naayem, a scholar and priest in the Chaldean Church born in Urfa (Edessa), is one of the most important sources on the genocide of the Assyrians (Seyfo) and also provides valuable information on the parallel destruction of the Armenian and Greek communities of the Ottoman Empire. Naayem’s book was likely the first, and is perhaps still the best known, first-hand account in English by an Assyrian survivor. The publication includes a preface by Lord Bryce and an historical essay by the noted biblical scholar the Rev. Dr. Gabriel Oussani.
NAASR Mardigian Library
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Title page and author portrait, Shall This Nation Die?
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Author: Krikoris Dz. Vart. Balakʿean = Գրիգորիս Ծ. Վարդ. Պալաքեան
Title: Hay Koghkotʿan Truakner Hay Mardirosakrutʿenēn = Հայ Գողգոթան Դրուագներ Հայ Մարտիրոսագրութենէն [Armenian Golgotha: Episodes of Armenian Martyrdom]
Publication Information: Vienna: Mkhit‘arean Dbaran, 1922
Hay Koghkot‘an, published in two volumes (1922 and 1959), has long been recognized as one of the most important eyewitness accounts of the Armenian Genocide. Krikoris Vartabed Balakian was among the initial group of Armenian intellectuals arrested on April 24, 1915, but unlike most of those arrested, Balakian survived and went on to fulfill his pledge to bear witness to all he had seen and experienced during his four-year ordeal. The book has been translated into English by Aris Sevag and Peter Balakian, great-grand-nephew of the author, and published in 2009 as Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918 (Alfred A. Knopf).
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Dickran Boyajian
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Map from Hay Koghkotʿan showing Bishop Balakian's journey into exile.
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Author: Pʿayladzu A. Kapdanean = Փայլածու Ա. Գաբտանեան
Title: Tsʿawag = Ցաւակ
Publication Information: Niw Eork‘: Armenia Dbaran, 1922
A teacher at an Armenian school in Samsun, Pailadzo Captanian (1882-1968) in this valuable memoir describes her deportation, leaving behind her two children and giving birth to her third child on the way to exile whom she named Tsʿavag (meaning sorrow or pain). She returned to Constantinople in 1918 and was reunited with her children.
According to Raymond Kevorkian’s The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History, “Captanian was one of the rare survivors from Samsun to have reached Aleppo.”
A French version was published in 1920 as Mémoires D’une Déportée Arménienne, and according to the preface to the Armenian edition, written by Armen Garo, it attracted the attention of the French press of the time. She subsequently immigrated to the U.S., where she published the Armenian edition of the memoir, and, remarkably, inspired the creation of the iconic and incredibly successful Rice-A-Roni, “The San Francisco Treat.”
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Harry and Araxie Kolligian
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Author: Krikor M. Zahigian, with a foreword by Henry Turner Bailey
Title: One Page of Armenia’s Tragedy: A Story of the Years Wherein We Have Seen Evil; the Testimony of an Eye Witness Krikor M. Zahigian
Publication Information: Pacific Palisades, Calif.: K.M. Zahigian, 1923
This short memoir by Zahigian, who, like Aurora Mardiganian, was a native of Chmshgatsak, begins with an account of the impact of the early phase of the Genocide on Yeprad (i.e., Epʿrad or Euphrates) College where the author was a student at the time. He describes the arrests and violence in his town, his own arrest, deportation, re-imprisonment, and eventual escape to hide among the Kurds in Dersim, from which he was able to flee to Erzinjan when in 1916 it was captured by the Russian army. After working at a Near East Relief orphanage in Alexandropol (Gyumri), for the Armenian Relief Committee in Moscow, and for Near East Relief in post-war Constantinople, Zahigian emigrated to the U.S. in November 1920 and settled in Cleveland, Ohio.
NAASR Mardigian Library
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Author: Kuzhag Sepasdioy (G[arabed]. Kapigean) = Գուժակ Սեբաստիոյ (Կ. Գաբիկեան)
Title: Egheṛnabadum Pʿokʿun Hayotsʿ ew Norin Medzi Mayrakʿaghakʿin Sepasdioy = Եղեռնապատում Փոքուն Հայոց եւ Նորին Մեծի Մայրաքաղաքին Սեբաստիոյ
Publication Information: Bostʿěn: “Hayrenikʿ”i Dbaran, 1924
The book is a memoir of a survivor from Sepasdia (Sivas), and has come to be recognized as one of the most important sources on the Genocide. (See, for example, the numerous references to the work in Kevorkian’s The Armenian Genocide and in Khatchig Mouradian’s The Resistance Network.) In 1919, Kapikian wrote and published his text in the newspaper Eridasart Hayasdan, with the book appearing in Boston in 1924. A very abbreviated English translation was published in 1978 as Yeghernabadoum: Story of Genocide: An Account of the Deportations and Massacres of the Armenians of Sebastia and Lesser Armenia (Pan-Sebastia Rehabilitation Union).
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Armen Loosararian
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Opening page of Eghernabadum and portrait of the author.
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Author: Dokʿtʿ. [Dr.] A. Nakkashean = Տոքթ. Ա. Նագգաշեան
Title: Ayashi Pandě 1915 Abril 24in G. Bolsēn Tserpagaluelov Ayash Daruadz ew Nahadaguadz Mdaworagannerě = Այաշի Բանտը 1915 Ապրիլ 24ին Կ. Պոլսէն Ձերբակալուելով Այաշ Տարուած եւ Նահատակուած Մտաւորականները [Ayash Prison, the Intellectuals Arrested in Constantinople April 24, 1915, taken to Ayash, and Martyred]
Publication Information: Bostʿěn: Dbakr. “Hayrenikʿ”i,1925
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NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Eunice Gick
Author: Dokʿtʿ. [Dr.] A. Nakkashean = Տոքթ. Ա. Նագգաշեան
Title: Hishadagner Truakner Geankʿis Badmutʿenēn = Յիշատակներ Դրուագներ Կեանքիս Պատմութենէն [Memories of Episodes from My Life Story]
Publication Information: Niw Eork‘, 1931
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Eunice Gick
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Title: A Man Who Found a Country
Publication Information: New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1940
Dr. Avedis Nakashian (1868-1943), like Krikoris Balakian, was one of the April 24, 1915, arrestees who survived to tell his story, publishing memoirs both in Armenian and in English. Nakashian was born in Aintab and was educated at the American College in that city and attended medical school at the American University in Beirut. He began the practice of medicine in Urfa. At the time of the outbreak of World War I he was in Constantinople and served in the Ottoman Parliament. After his arrest on April 24, 1915, Nakashian was among those sent to Ayash in the interior where he was held until July 23 when he was released and allowed to go back to Constantinople, for which he credits the influence of Amb. Morgenthau. He was then drafted into the Ottoman army to serve as a medical officer. Nakashian would come to the U.S. in the early 1920s and reestablished a medical practice in New York. Although the English version of his memoir tends to emphasize the “exotic east” elements of his life story (as the striking dust jacket suggests), in their totality his writings are an important source.
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Dr. Mark Saroyan
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Author: Marie Sarrafian Banker
Title: My Beloved Armenia: A Thrilling Testimony
Publication Information: Chicago: The Bible Institute Colportage Ass’n, 1936
The author was born in Munjusun near Gesaria (Kayseri) and educated at the American Missionary School for Girls in Talas before moving on to the American College in Smyrna where she began to learn about the fate of her fellow Armenians in the interior. Although she depicts the precarious situation for Armenians in Smyrna at that time, few were deported, and she was able to remain there till the end of the war. At that time, she traveled to Aleppo to assist the refugees there. Banker’s memoir is deeply imbued with her faith which shaped her life’s path. Marie’s brother Oscar (Asadoor), who achieved prominence as “the father of automatic transmission,” also later published a memoir of his own, Dreams and Wars of an American Inventor (1982).
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Avedis Derounian
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Title page and author portrait, My Beloved Armenia
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Author: Nazarētʿ Pʿiranēean = Նազարէթ Փիրանէեան
Title: Kharperti Egheṛně = Խարբերդի Եղեռնը [The Great Crime in Kharpert]
Publication Information: Bostʿěn, Mēs.: “Baykʿar”i Dbaran, 1937
Much like Kapikian’s Eghernabadum, Nazaret Piranian’s (1893-1948) volume is a key source, in particular for the Genocide as it occurred in Kharpert, although also like Kapikian’s book it is only in recent times that its value has been recognized by scholars; a further similarity is that Piranian’s book originally was published serially, in the Baykʿar (Payk‘ar) newspaper. Kharperti Egheṛně is both Piranian’s personal memoir beginning in November 1914 of his recruitment, imprisonment in the “Red Konak” in Mezireh, and the history of the deportation of Armenians from the region based on eyewitness testimonies. Raymond Kevorkian calls it “the most comprehensive and reliable source” on the Genocide in Kharpert. In his preface, writer Yervant Mesiayian observes: “Nazaret Piranian is warning to us ‘Don’t ever forget.’ This warning comes from the reminiscences of the terrible yeghern, which undoubtedly lighten fair passions of vengeance and fury, but also a deep awareness of Armenian fate, which we may rule just if we keep aflame in ourselves the sense of justice spiked by the Crime [Vojir] and the idea of right” (translation by Dr. Vartan Matiossian).
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of George Kolligian; signed by the author.
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Author: Agnacia Manuelian; narrated by E. Mildred Britten Austin
Title: Unending Journey: Being the Story of Agnacia Manuelian
Publication Information: London: Thornton Butterworth Ltd., 1939
Manuelian was born in Yeni-Bazar, inland from Smyrna, and as such the memoir is somewhat unusual for being by an Armenian from Western Asia Minor; yet it is rarely referred to. It is interesting to note that the book was published on the eve of the outbreak of World War II in Europe, less than a quarter century after the events described, yet Manuelian’s co-author E. Mildred Britten Austin, felt obliged to write in the foreword that “The mass deportations which annihilated the Armenian people are still a somewhat dimly recollected horror in the minds of those who remember the War and its aftermath.” This little-known book deserves rediscovery.
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Dr. Gregory Adamian
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Author: Vahram Dadrean = Վահրամ Տատրեան
Title: Tēbi Anabad (Pʿrtsʿuadz Ēcher Ōrakrēs) = Դէպի Անապատ (Փրցուած Էջեր Օրագրէս) [Towards the Desert (Pages Torn from My Diary)]
Publication Information: Niw Eork‘: Gochʿnag Dbaran, 1945
The book presents the diary of Vahram Dadrian (1900-48) from Chorum in the Ankara area, covering 11 May 1915 to 26 June 1919. Dadrian immigrated to the U.S. in the 1930s, settling in Fresno, and published a number of novels in addition to this diary/memoir. An English translation by Agop J. Hacikyan was published in 2003 as To the Desert: Pages from My Diary (Taderon Press).
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Dr. Mark Saroyan; signed by the author
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Author: Leon Z. Surmelian; introduction by William Saroyan
Title: I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen
Publication Information: New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1945
Leon Zaven Surmelian’s (1905-1995) I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen is one of the most enduring English-language survivor memoirs, perhaps because it is the work of an accomplished writer. Unlike most other books listed here, with the exception of Ravished Armenia, I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen was also commercially successful, going through several printings, including a “special non-royalty edition, with an Author’s Note and a map” that was distributed by the Armenian National Committee. This author’s note, dated January 1946, takes up the then current cause of returning to (Soviet) Armenia the districts of Kars, Ardahan, and Ararat and the “extension of the Armenian frontier to the Wilson Line,” which would have placed, inter alia, Surmelian’s native city of Trebizond under Armenian control. While this did not occur, Surmelian’s brilliant memoir lives on, and in 2020 was finally given new life in a second edition by the Armenian Institute (London). This copy from NAASR’s library belonged to NAASR Founding Chairman Manoog S. Young and is inscribed by the author to Young’s father-in-law Henry Johnson.
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Manoog S. Young; signed by the author
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Author: Zawēn Arkʿebs. [Zawēn Dēr Eghiayean] = Զաւէն Արքեպս. [Զաւէն Տէր Եղիայեան]
Title: Badriarkʿagan Hushers Vawerakirner ew Vgayutʿiwnner = Պատրիարքական Յուշերս Վաւերագիրներ եւ Վկայութիւններ [Patriarchal Memories: Documents and Testimonies]
Publication Information: Kahirē: Db. Nor Asdgh, 1947
Archbishop Zaven Der Yeghiayan (1868-1947) was Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, 1913-22. He was deported to Mosul in 1916. This memoir is a detailed eyewitness account of events during the Genocide and his attempts to stop it. He passed away before he had the chance to see his book published. Not only is Patriarch Zaven’s memoir an invaluable source but also he was responsible for saving countless crucial documents of the Armenian Patriarchate in Constantinople. An English translation by Ared Misirliyan, My Patriarchal Memoirs, was published in 2002 (Mayreni Publishing).
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Fr. Krikor Guerguerian.
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Author: V[ahan] Minakhorean = Վ. Մինախորեան
Title: 1915 Tʿuaganě Arhawirkʿi Ōrer = 1915 Թուականը Արհաւիրքի Օրեր [1915-Days of Terror]
Publication Information: Venedig: S. Ghazar, 1949
Vahan Minakhorian, a prominent revolutionary political activist, was originally from Ganja and was working as an educator and activist in Samsun at the time of the Genocide. His memoir was first published in the periodical Vem. The book is Minakhorian’s memoir of the Armenian Genocide with detailed information about what he witnessed. As Simon Vratsian writes: “He imagines one of the darkest and most tragic pages in Armenian history—the Great Genocide—as no one has ever imagined it, with its terrible kinship of events, deep psychological penetration, extraordinary power, and sincere artistic inspiration.”
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Fr. Krikor Guerguerian
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From 1915 Tʿuaganě Arhawirkʿi Ōrer with photo of the author
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Author: Papgēn Injēarabean = Բաբկէն Ինճէարապեան
Title: Medz Egheṛni Shrchanin Hay Orpi Mě Otisaganě = Մեծ Եղեռնի Շրջանին Հայ Որբի Մը Ոդիսականը [Odyssey of an Armenian Orphan During the Great Crime]
Publication Information: Paris: Imprimerie H. Turabian, 1951
Papken Injarabian (1906-2010) describes his family’s deportation from Amasia, how his father was killed, his mother died on the road to exile, his sisters were abducted, his brothers killed, and he became Azo and worked for Kurds until, with one other Armenian boy, he escaped to Urfa and then later to Lebanon. The introduction is by Rev. Karekin Sislian of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Paris, who writes that “I have read many heart-rending accounts of the Armenian Genocide, some written in more refined language. However, I have to confess that none has moved me as much as Azo’s story.” An English translation by Elisabeth Eaker was published in 2015 as Azo the Slave Boy and His Road to Freedom (Gomidas Institute).
NAASR Mardigian Library
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Author: Mardiros Tʿashjean = Մարտիրոս Թաշճեան
Title: Sew Husher Mghtsawanchayin Eōtʿě Darineru (1915-1922) = Սեւ Յուշեր Մղձաւանջային Եօթը Տարիներու (1915-1922) [Black Memories of a Seven-Year Nightmare]
Publication Information: Bēyrutʿ: Dbaran “Sarkisean”, 1952
In his introduction, the author, originally from Malatia, explains that he decided to publish his memoir of seven and a half years of fugitive life in order to pass accurate information on to upcoming generations. Tashjian witnessed events including the arrival of deported Kharpert Armenians to Malatia and the conversion of many Armenians to Islam. He himself converted and eventually left Malatia for Aleppo and then emigrated to America. He tells the reader that “I am not a writer, but after 37 long years, each word a stone pressing on my heart, I could partially succeed.”
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Fr. Krikor Guerguerian.
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Author: M[grdichʿ] Ēsmērean = Մ[կրտիչ]. Էսմէրեան
Title: Akʿsori ew Baderazmi Gragnerun Mēchēn = Աքսորի եւ Պատերազմի Կրակներուն Մէջէն [Between Exile and the Flames of War]
Publication Information: Bostʿon: Dbakrutʿiwn Hayg Y. Tʿumayean, 1952
In the preface, the author says that he wrote his memoir twenty years before the book was published, in the 1930s. He tried to be a close eyewitness to all events and urged all Armenians who passed down this same path also to write their memoirs. The author was born in Kelkit-Chiftlig (Kaylked) in Trabzon vilayet.
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Fr. Krikor Guerguerian; signed by the author
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Author: Kapriēl Tʿakworean = Գաբրիէլ Թագւորեան
Title: Korsh Kaylě Gadgher ēr 1915 Vgayutʿiwnner u Dbaworutʿiwnner = Գորշ Գայլը Կատղեր էր 1915 Վկայութիւններ ու Տպաւորութիւններ [The Gray Wolf Was Angry: 1915 Testimonies and Impressions]
Publication Information: Kahirē: Dbaran Husaper, 1953
The author moved to Scutari [Üsküdar] from Talas (near Gesaria/Kayseri) in September 1914 to take a new job as director/principal of the educational institute of Surp Khach [Holy Cross]. He describes the events of Easter 1915 in Scutari, his arrest, imprisonment, and deportation. Takvorian also wrote other works, including the memoir of his earlier life, Erazank‘i u Daknabank‘i Dariner: 1908-1915 ew Kaghap‘ari Akhoyeanner Vahan S. Kʻiwrkʻchean u Kēork S. Vishabean (= Երազանքի ու Տագնապանքի Տարիներ: 1908-1915 եւ Գաղափարի Ախոյեաններ Վահան Ս. Քիւրքճեան ու Գէորգ Ս. Վիշապեան), published by Husaper in Cairo in 1961, and which is also in the NAASR Mardigian Library.
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Fr. Krikor Guerguerian
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Author: Harry J. Toomajan, M.D.
Title: Exit from Inferno: The Odyssey of an Armenian American
Publication Information: Waukegan, Ill: Trustees of the H. J. Toomajan Estate, 1955
Harutioun “Harry” Toomajan was from the village of Koulakegh in the Kharpert region and was a student at Euphrates College in Kharpert when the war began. When the arrests and killings began in Kharpert, Toomajan was able to hide for a time and was sheltered by a local Turk as well, writing that “had there not been some good Turks throughout Turkey, the survival ratio of the Armenians would have been nil.” Eventually he escapes to Dersim and then to Erzinjan when it is taken by the Russians, and then to Erzurum, the Caucasus, and through Russia to Scandinavia and finally the U.S. Toomajan writes that “today or tomorrow or in years and years to come—all the spirits of the Armenians—here, there, and everywhere—in the fields, on the mountains, and in the valleys—will come to life again and live in the land where their ancestors lived for thousands of years so that the sacrifice of a nation will not be permanently recorded in history as a total loss.”
NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Fr. Dajad Davidian
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Map showing Harry Toomajan's "exit from inferno" |
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