It’s likely many of you have had this same experience: You live far away from your birthplace, in a very different social environment, and when you get the opportunity to return, you are euphoric about the journey. Your imagination takes flight, and you begin to form plans in your mind—meeting friends old and new, visiting places known and unknown, eating delicious authentic meals. Then, you reach your birthplace…and suddenly are faced with its negative aspects which, it seems, were set aside and forgotten in all that enthusiasm. The dreadful noise, indescribable traffic, terrible heat, damp air—it had slipped from your memory. At the end, you’ve only achieved a few of your plans and, satisfied with that little, you return to your country of residence.
It was as if I started my journey from Berlin to Beirut with those same initial feelings. One of the aims of my two-week visit to Lebanon this summer was to collect materials remaining from the Ottoman-Armenian era for the Houshamdyan website (www.houshamadyan.org). Our site has been up for over a year and it is our aim—through articles, photographs, sound recordings, and other multimedia tools—to reconstruct the Ottoman-Armenians’ rich legacy of the past.
This is why, when I was in Lebanon last February, I, along with the president of Haigazian Armenian University, Rev. Paul Haidostian, and the director of Haigazian’s Armenian Diaspora Research Center, Antranik Dakessian, decided to organize a three-day event in the Armenian Evangelical Shamlian-Tatigian Secondary School in Bourdj Hammoud in the summer. It was to be a collaborative event between the Houshamadyan Association and Haigazian University. Our group would, beginning in the morning, wait for local Armenians to meet us, bringing items linked to their memories. We would photograph these materials and return them to their owners. To generate interest in the event, we printed and flyers that were distributed through the Armenian churches and schools. Elke Hartmann (my wife and the chair of the Houshamadyan Association) and I would also give two lectures on the subject of our website and project.
This was our plan for when we reached Lebanon. We were excited by the initiative, and had already pinned our hopes on it. We had forgotten the other realities of the country—the unstable political situation, the terrible heat and dampness, the many effects of the war in Syria, the economic situation. And we felt their oppressive presence in those few days in Lebanon. The contradiction was obvious: We had come on the trail of the recent and distant past of the Lebanese Armenians, when at that same time, the present state of the country and its people was not very bright.
It is July 5, and the day of our first big disappointment. Elke and I are to give a lecture on Houshamadyan in Beirut’s Haigazian University. But we aren’t able to project our website on the screen set up in the hall. The reason? The whole of Lebanon has been having trouble with the internet for the last two days and it has stopped working altogether. So we are going to speak without being able to show the website live. The positive side is that over 50 people are there, and are listening to our lecture with interest. The same lecture is repeated a few days later in Bourdj Hammoud, in the Armenian Catholic Mesrobian School hall. The same number of people are present, with the same level of interest. Future TV’s Armenian department and Radio Sevan also conduct interviews with us.
All this has happened to prepare the atmosphere for the real day, the 10th of July—that is, the day when the event in the Shamlian-Tatigian is due to start. That Monday morning is extremely hot. We have to go from Antelias to Bourdj Hammoud. We’ve had another disappointment the previous evening, when we heard that the main road along the coast, which is the only way there, is going to be closed because of a demonstration at the road junction. Under these circumstances it will be impossible to reach Bourdj Hammoud before mid-day. But the demonstration doesn’t take place, and we get to Bourdj Hammoud at the right time.
The school’s directors have assigned a nice room to us, and Antranik Dakessian is already seated. Two female student volunteers, Sanahin and Arin, quickly join us. On the final day, Lory and Shogher, other volunteers, are also going to work with us. The first “customers” aren’t late, and bring with them the first treasures of memory. Among them is a small bell, a toy that had belonged to a little girl from Marash. She had taken it with her on the road to exile and brought it as far as Lebanon, where it is still kept by her family’s descendants. There is also a Bible brought from Sis. We photograph the first objects and scan the photographs with enthusiasm, then return them to their owners.
It is already mid-day. The temperature is 37° C. Although we have three electric fans in our room, we are hot and sweating. How can we stand this Bourdj Hammoud summer dampness? Only the members of our group remain in the room. We are convinced that it will be a rest period for us. I am already working out in my mind which shop I will go to and which tasty sandwich I will order. I still haven’t decided between a sujukh or chicken with garlic sandwich. I have missed both very much. At this moment Dzovig, followed by Garo, enter the room. Both are friends. When they see our “inactivity,” they immediately get out their cellphones, and begin phoning friends, asking if they know anyone who might have items of interest. They find three or four people, and hand the phone over to me so that we can discuss how to see the items.
Time passes. I’m forced to forget tasty sandwiches. An old lady, Mrs. V.A., enters the room, walking quickly with a flyer in hand. Her family is from Sis; she has lived her whole life in the New Sis quarter of Bourdj Hammoud. She is taciturn. She’s brought two wonderful photographs with her: One is of her entire family in Sis, and the other is of her mother, with her two sisters, photographed in Adana. We ask her the usual questions concerning the identity of the people in the photographs, scanning them at the same time. Many of the people appearing in the photographs were killed in 1915; Mrs. V.A. is named after one of those innocent victims. The others emigrated to Argentina and Brazil after the end of the First World War. We have the impression that it is difficult for Mrs. V.A. to talk about all this again. She hurries to leave. We quickly try to return the photographs. “What am I going to do from now on? You keep them,” she replies. We are dumbstruck, and cannot even utter a word of thanks. She leaves with the same quick steps… We look at one another; it is an emotional moment for all of us. Two photographs, two fragments, remain on the table, surrounded by all of us, while their owner has left, never to return. It seems that Mrs. V.A. had been waiting for us for years, for this moment, to give us these family relics and…leave.
Fortunately Shogher and Movses arrive a little while later and extricate us from the oppressive situation. Both of them are friends of the Houshamadyan website; originally from Lebanon, they now live in Brussels, Belgium. They have brought with them Movses’s mother’s family’s (Garoian) family album, rich with photographs taken in Beylan and Kirik Khan in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Movses has also brought various articles belonging to the Garoians. Both these places were part of the sandjak of Alexandretta (now called Hatay); the entire area only became part of Turkey in 1939. The Garoians, like thousands of other Armenians, left their ancestral homes and re-established themselves in Lebanon. Movses personally tries to give the details of the photographs. It proves to be a difficult task. His cellphone comes to his aid several times, as he uses it to talk with his elderly aunt (his mother’s sister) and ask for clarification of various details. It is obvious that the explanations don’t satisfy Movses, who had decided that all of the album’s “secrets” should be passed on to us. Disappointed with his aunt, he makes another call and this time, in a decisive voice, says, “What’s mother doing? Bring her here.” A short time later his mother arrives. She is younger than her sister, comparatively speaking, but succeeds in naming the people in the photographs, as well as adding personal recollections. It is possible, through the Garoians’ personal album, to reconstruct the life of an ordinary family: marriage, birth, picnics, family events, then the sad times of exile, the beginning of a new life in Lebanon.
Our next appointment is on July 12. It is going to be a very full day. People arrive bringing with them photographs from Malatya, Adana, Marash, Urfa, Nigde, Kayseri. One brings a Bible in Turkish, with the text in the Armenian alphabet, that was printed in Istanbul; its owner brought it from Marash. B.E. also arrives; he is a friend and hands us five old photographs, one of which shows two Armenian soldiers in Ottoman Army uniform. B.E. gifts us all of the photographs and adds, “If only you’d come here a few years earlier. I threw away a lot of papers and other photographs.” We are amazed, but have heard similar stories of things thrown away over the last few days. In the case of B.E., at least a few photographs were saved. Then I meet Mrs. S. She is carrying a bag and somewhat hesitantly says, “I’m not sure that these will interest you, but have a look at them.” There, rolled up in the bag, are over 40 thick papers. I take one out and listen to her stories at the same time. Her grandfather had been the owner of a carpet factory in Kayseri. When they were exiled from the city, he took the carpet weaving patterns and prototypes with him. Now they are in my hands, wonderful relics of an ancient craft. Many different patterns of eastern carpets are drawn beautifully, in color, on these thick pieces of paper. We could consider our day’s work to be satisfactory with just these, but in the afternoon another delightful surprise awaits us.
The temperature has again risen to 37° C. These are the hottest hours in Bourdj Hammoud. A taxi enters the schoolyard. A small woman emerges from the sun-drenched taxi, bathed in perspiration, and says, “Come and help me. This heat will make us mad, but I’ve come for Houshamadyan…” All of us stand around her. The trunk of the taxi opens and we take out a large traveling suitcase, which we bring into our workroom. We are to spend the next few hours, until evening, with Mrs. H.Kh. and the treasures she has brought. She had heard about us from people around her, had collected the legacy left by her forefathers who lived in Kharpert, added other things obtained from neighbors and relatives, and brought them all to our Bourdj Hammoud center. It is a rich treasure, containing many things from the 19th century, all of them beautifully looked after: old photographs; land deeds (tapu); a family tree starting in 1654; a wedding dress from Harpout; a silver belt from Van; a woman’s cap, with its various ornaments; a silk skirt from Harpout; a scarf; a printed cloth; a baptismal box.
The third day is, by now, a usual one; we look at the remains of treasures. Mrs A.F. donates two cloth dresses left from her mother’s dowry, who was born in Sis. Among the things brought to us was an Armenian’s graduation certificate from St. Paul’s College in Darson (Tarsus) about 60 cm. (2 ft.) long; a spice mill from Tomarza; and copper vessels from Beylan, Urfa, and Sis. We receive, as a gift, a scarf made in Gürün. All of these things have their micro-histories. We record every detail of them. It is possible, through the stories of a belt, a scarf, a wedding dress, a photograph, or a Bible, to reconstruct the movement through time of a whole family and—why not—that of a village, town or community. Clearly each item has the passage of life in it, a family history, whose roots extend back to its ancestral homeland. Then the Great Crime (Medz Yeghern) took place and the articles, with their owners, moved away; many of the owners were killed, while others, like them, survived and finally settled in Lebanon.
Our three-day-long endeavor has ended. We say goodbye to Bourdj Hammoud and Lebanon, and decide to repeat our initiative in the near future. Our first attempt to find Ottoman-Armenian treasures is a success. Not only have we collected various materials, but have also succeeded in awakening the idea of finding such legacies, and realizing their importance, among many people. We are convinced that in a place like Lebanon (the same can certainly be said for Syria) one relic from an ancestral home can be found in almost every family. Many might say that that this initiative should have happened decades ago. Yes, we agree! But our three-day experience is enough to convince us that it is still not too late. Hidden treasures still exist. We must excavate them, invite their owners to understand what they are, list them, digitize their images, record each of their stories, and find ways of preserving these materials to immortalize them.
After leaving Lebanon, we hear that the temperature has reached 40° C, that the continuing war in Syria has become fiercer, that thousands of refugees have flooded into Lebanon. The treasures that we sought are still there, with many Lebanese-Armenian families. At the same time, we know the process of throwing things away continues, and perhaps other disasters will annihilate these treasures that symbolize the history of the Ottoman-Armenians—our forefathers—once and for all.
Translated from Armenian by Ara Stepan Melkonian
Vahe Tachjian
Latest posts by Vahe Tachjian (see all)
- Bourdj Hammoud, 37° C: On the Trail of Ottoman Armenian Treasures - August 2, 2012
Thank you for doing this critical work. Your website is a great resource and beautifully done. We need more Armenians to put time to such efforts. It is even more important that Armenians know where they can send letters, old books and family bibles, photographs, film and audio recordings, artwork, diaries, and other old hand-me-downs that belonged to their grandparents. Even if we cannot read what we find (because it is in Turkish, Armenian, etc.) someone can. Several Armenian family members and friends have translated letters and photo inscriptions and even parts of books for me. In the US we have Project SAVE for old photos and there are a few Armenian Museums and libraries (including those at Columbia University, University of Michigan, Tufts, University of Southern California).
Thank you for the wonderful and difficult job “Houshamadyan” is doing.Thank you Hazar shnorhagaloutyunner !!!I love it.
I was very happy to meet Houshamadyan and Haygazian teem in Bourj Hamoud, and to share with them my ancestors “treasures”, like the small bell ,that Vahe mentioned, a toy that had belonged to a little girl from Marash. and brought to Lebanon (belonged to my grand mother).
When the Houshamdyan newsletter arrives in my mail-box, I make a cup of tea, and everything else in my life goes on hold until I have read every single word and looked at every single photo. It is such a joy to receive it. They have promised me that they will eventually put out a coffee-table book. I can hardly wait!
Sheri, thanks for this additional, very valuable information. I have a stack of old recordings, my father’s books from the 30s, and wonder of wonders, I actually have my grandmother’s sterling silver wedding belt. It is all hand- made, exquisitely engraved with pictures of buildings. How she ever managed to save it is beyond me. Her husband was a doctor in Kharput, and he was murdered right at the beginning of the genocide. After the genocide, she married my grandfather, whose wife had also been murdered. She was the only grandmother I knew. Her name was Kghetsig, and she was, as her name says, very beautiful. She had three small children, one a very young baby. When the forced deportations started, her mother took the baby. My grandmother never saw them again. She carried one child and led the other by the hand. One of her little girls died of starvation in her arms; her body was left in a ditch by the side of the road. She lost her other small daughter during the atrocities of the death march. Some years after the genocide, the Red Cross found her lost daughter, Shamiram. She had a very unique strawberry-red birthmark that identified her. A Kurdish family with several children of their own had found Shamiram and taken her in as one of their own. She was 8 years old when the Red Cross arrived to return her to her birth mother. She remembered no other family except the Kurdish one that had taken her in. She screamed and fought as the Red Cross pried her from her adoptive mother’s arms. All the children in the family threw stones and pulled at the skirts of the Red Cross women, as they removed the hysterical child away from the only mother she knew. When Shamiram was in her 80s, I remember her sitting quietly, her hands folded in her lap, unbidden tears running silently down her face, as she said to me, “I wonder if they remembered me after I was gone. I wonder if they missed me. I remember them all. I remember them still”
This is the story that goes with my grandmother’s wedding belt.
Dear Peruz, thank you so much for your commets, this are really rewarding words. please send us a picture of that gorgeus belt, we would love to include it in our digital tressors. See the deatils in my comment down!
Great story, I forgot how humid it was in Beirut in the summers. I was most fascinated with the diploma from Tarsus St. Paul college (Diplom of Haydostian). I have been collecting information about it and on Thomas Christie who was the president of the school and great benefactor of Armenians in the region. His signature is still legible on the diploma. I am in the process of writing an article about him, hopefully someone will be interested in publishing it. Gregory Ketabgian.
Would Gregory Ketabgian please contact me for info re Thomas Davidson Christie and his family? I think I can help him.
My father was Sisetzi; he survived the exiles.
My great Grandfather was Thomas Davidson Christie, I am the grandson of Paul T. Christie. I have been researching and gathering information about the Christie’s since 1995. I have read Carmelite’s diaries that cover 1915 to 1920, the period when Thomas was not in Tarsus. I have information.
Chris
I AM SOOOOO HAPPY TO SEE THAT WE ARMENIANS WHO CONSIDER OURSELVES ONE FAMILY, HAVE NEVER GIVEN UP–T-H-A-N-K-S TO ALL THE GENERATIONS OF ARMENIANS THAT HAVE COME FORTH TO LET THE WORLD KNOW OF OUR MANY, MANY HORRIBLE HAPPENINGS TO US BY THE TURKISH GOVT…YES, WE HAVE SURVIVED – JUSTICE, NO MATTER HOW SLOW, WILL HAPPEN….AT 81, I CONTINUE TO HELP WHENEVER I CAN.
Very important work being done by Houshamadian and Vahe Tachjian. I have also left Bourdj-Hammoud long time ago but have not forgotten the heat and the dampness. Would love to cooperate. Any plans to come to Yerevan? Or I can send photos of what I possess… Please let me know!!
Dear Armineh Haladjian, in name of houshamadyan thank you very much for your comments. For the moment we have no plans to come to Yerevan at the short term. But we are working developping different possibilities for later. We will be very glad to get the high resolution fotos of the objects you have. (I’m the art director of the houshamadyan homepage) if it’s possible, the best is to fotograf with natural light and with a simple background as one colour wall.
Congratulations, very impressive and wonderful work.
Please keep contact with PROJECT SAVE
Director Ruth Thomasian
Tel: 617-923-4542
Fax: 617-924-0434
E-mail: archives@projectsave.org
http://www.projectsave.org
You can work together as a team.
God bless your mission.
Dear Armineh Haladjian, in name of houshamadyan thank you very much for your comments. For the moment we have no plans to come to Yerevan at the short term. But we are working developping different possibilities for later. We will be very glad to get the high resolution fotos of the objects you have. (I’m the art director of the houshamadyan homepage) if it’s possible, the best is to fotograf with natural light and with a simple background as one colour wall.
Dear Peruz, thank you so much for your commets, this are really rewarding words. please send us a picture of that gorgeus belt, we would love to include it in our digital tressors.
We are counting on the efforts of the individuals and institutions of the WHOLE WORLD that are inspired to send the materials that are feeding our homepage.
Please contribute to our project sending the pictures to houshamadyan@gmail.com or if you like to donate originals for our archives to our office adress:
Houshamadyan e. V.
Berliner Str. 100
D-13189 Berlin
Thank you for a very interesting article.
I am a 1968 graduate of Tarsus American College, originally established as St. Paul’s Institute in 1888.
I may be able to provide information about Dr. Thomas Christie to those interested.
Can I get a copy of the graduation certificate from St. Paul’s Institute for the Alumni Magazine?
Thank you.
Dear Vahe,
I would like to congratulate you for your work. You are doing more than collecting and publishing photos of artifacts of our ancestors. You are conducting a work of reconsiliation, as the above comments show.
I have a few items, such as silverware, embroidery, a small spinning loom. Would you be interested?
Sincerely,
Catherine
GREAT WORK DEAR VAHE,
Do carry on with your good zeal and get together all such memorabilia,which will proove Armenian presence on those lands in the past.
Meanwhile Prof. Richard G.Hovhannissian told me that a Vahe Tashjian in Berlin might be able to help me get to the bottom of my endless search for recuperating Reaal Estate in Budapest as my and my sibling inheritance.
Could you please let me know about your knowledge about that .
My email is gayzagpal”aol.com and often post my viewpoints onm this site.
Thanks in advance,
Best rgds
Reconciliation does not mean surrender.