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

us too.” She said, “This commander sent two Turks, theycame and found us”. She said “We were like ghosts, dirty;fleas were falling from us...” She said “They took us to thisTurkish commander. He looked at us, and said “God waskind to these. Do not touch them.” Then they spoke Turkish,I did not understand. I spoke Kurdish to him; I said “wewere among those who are killed...” She said, “He put myselfon his horse and Paytsar – in front of him; my brotherwas walking behind us, on foot. He brought us to this Kurdishagha’s house... To the house of the same Kurd [we usedto live with]. She said, when this Kurdish ‘agha’ saw us, hedidn’t recognize us. We were like ghosts – hungry, dirty. Hesaid “you shall raise these two like the light of your eyes. Ifa hair be missing on them, I will come back and burn yourhouse”. He said that their family is at the Tapi village, “Ifthese get well a little we will take them to their relatives”.And so they left. Now about my uncle Karapet – this Kurdish‘agha’, along with two hundred Armenian young men,he told them “go to the pastures, it is safe there, until Turksleave”. But then he went and told their place [to Turks], sothey went and killed everyone.My mother said, in the morning Taveh washed us andThe book written by Almast Harutyunyan. cleaned the fleas, then she brought her clothes for us. Shewas a very kind woman. For one week she was secretlyfeeding us well. One day she said to her father-in-law “shallI take these to Tapi? I am tired of keeping them.” And he replied “You would do very well if you do this,take them away from us”... In the morning Taveh woke up, we took Paytsar on our shoulders and went.My mother said, “When I saw my uncle’s wife, and uncle’s son, they were in one family, [Turks] murderedeveryone [in their family], only those two survived. She said, “When I saw ‘mamy’, I embraced her,and was crying loudly...There was also another story. One of their nephews and a niece fell in love with each other and weremeeting in the stable every day. One day someone went there, saw something, he came and said “Thereis devil in our stable.” They went and saw it was Murad and Maro in there. They called a priest, but thepriest refused to wed them. He said “these two are cousins” and refused. This was before the massacres,they went to Tapi, mixed with Kurds, they got married there, but they didn’t have children. So, now mymother and her sister went to these. Murad was still an Armenian in his heart, but his wife was Turkish.My mother said they were staying in the stable. One day, she was holding Paytsar in her arms, Paytsarwas cold like ice. I said ”Mamy, Paytsar is very, very cold”. ‘Mamy’ understood that she died, but138