Speaking to One Another - The International Raoul Wallenberg ...

his mother dragged him behind her, while she was holding the younger child in her hands. When they climbed thehill he saw that the church was burning. He used to tell that, as a small kid, he was excited to see the fire, withoutunderstanding what it was. As an 8-9 year old child, what could he understand then? But he says, this scene is stillvivid in his memory and he remembers how [Turks] were beating them and pushing them into the church. Turks,yes. This happened in Marash, this is story of Marash” (from Anahit Bardakchyan’s story).The childhood of Badalyan Grish and his sister Nranhat was very difficult. Up until this day, they stillburst into tears when remembering the story of their mother - “adeh”:“My mother lived in Verin Sipan. On that side of the mount Masis... Nearby Masis. When the war started (shemeans the massacres) the men went into the caves. Someone would come at night and bring some food for them.My mother tells, her brother came to take some bread, my mom got up to dress, and then she heard some crashingsound. When she got out she saw that they killed her brother. Arshavir was his name. My mother cried, saying,“go, lao, they killed my Arsho” ... clothes, footwear spread apart... She only had that one brother. My mother tells,when her brother died, his wife was pregnant. They went over the village, looking to find some bread, brought ithome, but my mother’s mom was missing. Her mother was lost. Her mother was very beautiful, they thought Turkscame and took her. Her brother’s wife said “Shusho, there is some smell in the house”. My mother told her, “dear,we were together, where from should I know what it is?” They opened the tondir and found my mother’s mom init. Turks came and forced her into the tondir... At that time Kurds came to their village, killed everyone, all the menwent into the mountains. My “adeh” (mom) said: “Andranik sent his Fidayees, told them to go to the village, tellthat Turks will slaughter [everyone] soon, because nemets 1 are giving force and weapons to Turks.” Understand?So two or three Fidayees came, gathered all the men in the village. It was in the spring. They said, “dearest people,Andranik sent us to tell you to go to Van – you would be safe in Van.” She said they didn’t believe them. It wasspring. It was time to plow and saw the fields. A few days later they killed everyone who got out. The Kurds killedthem. My adeh’s father was killed too. Ghazar was her father’s name, and her mother’s name was Maro. Theygathered all the men from three or four villages – one of them was Armenian, one – Turkish, and the other one wasNemets. She said, they gathered everyone and said “Dearest people, do not flee, there is no war, no fight...” Theygathered a meeting at the cowshed, telling that there was no war, to live in peace and do the plowing and sowing.By that time they brought fire, lit it on four sides, spilled some oil on it and burned it all. With all these people atthe cowshed... My mother tells, for three or four days they were still seeing this green and red fire... These peoplewere incinerated alive in the cowshed. Turks did the same thing to our fellow Armenians. And now they want tobring Turks and make them friends with us. They are Muslims... So, they killed the men and women were left alone.When they were seeing small beautiful girls, they were taking them; those who were a little crippled 2 like us - theysaid they were not killing those. They were saving bullets to spend on us. Her sister also died there. Nargiz was hername. They were two sisters and one brother. Only my mom Shusho was left alive. To say it short, only my momwas left alive from the whole family. Then she named her own son Arshavir, and her daughter – Maro. These werethe names of her uncle and mother. So we took our grandma’s and her brother’s names”.1 Germans2 Grish Badalyan’s mother was lame117