Emblem of the Republic of Armenia Soviet Socialist © fr.wikipedia.org
The vicissitudes of an Armenian after the Second World War
by Anoush Garsanzian
Deportate, spurge, profughe , No. 4, March 2006
Entering the orbit the Soviet Union, the Republic of Armenia hired 600,000 men in the Second World War, of which 200 000 were Armenians from the diaspora, and this one with ulterior objective: to save what remained of the great Armenia. Many never returned from that conflict, while the few who managed to save their skins were placed under surveillance, and if they showed too agitated, exiled to Siberia by the Stalinist government, anxious to prevent the reconstitution of a ruling class Armenian.
The Armenians, who have always maintained the historical memory of their people, to which they educate their children, who suffer and have fun, now as before, remember it well.
12 and 13 June 1949: two dates indelible in the minds of Armenian and that of Mrs. Emma Gevorghian, petulant septuagenarian 77, who lives in the village of Panik (Artik region). The night of 12 to 13 June 1949, Emma was at home with her son born recently, her husband was then in Russia.
"At midnight the bell rang at the door and I, who was not yet fully awake nor aware of what was happening, I found myself facing the mayor with two policemen. They ordered me to get dressed and take my baby for 15 days with the minimum for a business trip. I was lost, I could not understand what was happening. I took a short stack, I've wrapped my baby and I joined the truck that was waiting outside, not knowing where he was taking us. I did not know what was happening and why. That night, dozens of other families were deported from the village: only four of them returned, we have had no news of others. We, Armenians Oriental could not imagine that the Russians can behave so badly and for us they had always been saviors, friends, brothers! "
At night, they transfer Emma truck in a freight train:
" Lots of ordinary people were charged the train with their children, without a word, without complaint, sad faces crying without shedding a tear. Where do they take them and why? ... What did they do? ... "
Such were the questions that came and went in Emma's head without being able to find a plausible explanation, logical.
"On the sidewalk, police hurried and pushed women into the cars, one of them dropped, another weeping, and then, once inside, they closed the doors and nobody could know anything, nor humbly ask the reason for such acts. "
Mrs. Emma remembers her aunt, they had put in a car next to her, passing her and throwing a bowl:" Emma, "to wash the breakfast! It will serve you! "
" We left, but without knowing where ... Nobody flinched, nobody cried, even if we suspect a little of what would happen then ... No one spoke to anyone, everyone had plenty to discovered, but had not the courage to ask ... or inform. During the journey a woman began to have pain after the blows received during a transfer, another is dead. He had to stay together until the next stop, which never happened, in order to free themselves from the corpses of those who died, and also to give orphaned children in various orphanages on the road to ... nothing. They gave us food once a day, food that looked like dirty water or just as, given the smell. Women in the car got a terrible smell, due to the natural needs met standing vision indescribable. "
The trip lasted a month, the car lost 30% of women of held, they do support neither hunger nor heat, nor a long trip in such conditions. A month later, the train arrived in Siberia in the village of Altaj. There they separated the men and sent them in different places, separated again. Mrs Emma was with a dozen families who already knew before this adventure, an adventure which was also mixed with an Armenian family in Lebanon, returned diaspora in Armenia, in the hope of a better life and who, unlike suddenly found himself exiled to Siberia for no reason or motive.
" Good people. They had two son. Two of their wives and children died in distant Siberia and one saved his skin, all this large family. He lived to be able to tell me about the suffering of a life filled with hope, ended tragically. We lived in one room, which served as a dormitory for the night all but a bathroom, dining room and lounge. I could not speak because of fear, I became silent and only after a long period that I started to talk. I wanted to write myself a letter to Armenia to tell them where I was and what I did, but Of course, everything being controlled by the police, I could not write to them that I was wrong, I was in a terrible situation! "
Four months later, the husband of Emma went in search of his wife and son to get them out of hell Siberia, but not having the right to do it was also deported and remained there.
Mrs. Emma then asked her husband the reason for all this, why a man looking for his family could in turn be deported. So it taught him that all those who made war and, for a particular reason, had surrendered to the enemy or had been captured, had no choice: not to return to their homeland. Only remaining way to deportation. Anyone returning to Armenia, as defeated or victorious soldier, was sentenced to exile in a faraway place, a fate undeserved and heavy unknowns. They stayed eight years in this difficult situation. Winter lasts about seven months in Siberia, with temperatures reaching - 40 ° C. Winds and snowstorms are the daily lot.
"Only men were able, they were united together, to go outside to brave the storm together to bring some wood and food for their families. They ate little, but he had to eat to survive. So we started making our own bread at home and raise chickens. From time to time, they took the men for questioning in the barracks, to know God knows what ... It is not known. It was forbidden to speak a language other than Russian and no one spoke Armenian as when we were home alone, but always at our heels ... afraid that somebody might hear the words not spoken Russian. It Thus were born in exile that my son Kolya and Valya, Russian first names. We could not give that Russian names to our children. They had no right to think of giving these beautiful Armenian names to our children. We could not even think about it ... Not far ... We lived in an area of 20 square meters. Everything had become difficult to treat, have medications and a lot of things. It lasted like this until the death of Stalin ... "
Stalin's death has also left a strong impression in the mind of Emma
"When the news of his death arrived, we all started crying, tears of joy sad. The sad eyes of those that have suffered and never profited could not keep from crying. But in our heart they all say, "Finally! With Stalin's death they all began to hope to return to their homeland, Armenia, but many have not had the courage to do so, fearing that during the trip should something happens to them and that s By taking their brothers and sisters they had left in Armenia. "
Finally, in 1956, Emma, her husband and their three children back to Armenia.
"In Armenia, long after Stalin's death, his shadow a reign of terror. That's how nowhere, my husband could find work, I started working the land in the village and he, finding nothing to do in his homeland, went back to work in Russia, where he died, five years after. "
Today, Mrs. Emma is 77 years old, she lives with her youngest son and his nephews. In his eyes read the long, difficult nights that she has suffered, but she is happy now: at least his life is worthy and above all she is alive, which is much, seen so many people who were with her have died without seeing their homeland.
"Life is always beautiful! "She says.
___________
Source: http://www.unive.it/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=21730
Translation from Italian: © George Festa - 02.2011
Courtesy of Bruna Bianchi (Università Ca 'Foscari, Venice).
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