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

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On November 13, 2009 Vasak Toroyan told the story of visiting his home village Arpi.sels, everything was left in the car. What shall I do? Well, I thought, I shall take off one of my clothes, Iwill tear it into pieces – either my shirt or my undershirt, I will fill it with soil and take it with myself –what else could I do? But I had a large handkerchief, it turned out to be quite large, so I took it out, filledwith some soil. I filled it with this soil, from our garden, the next order was – the stone.I took a stone this size from that one-meter wall, and from the soil too, they were the same stone... It isinteresting that this soil, which I took... there was a piece of something in it – a piece of a jug, or a pitcher...a clay piece, I don’t know, this could have been the jug of my grandma... Which one?...which grandma...I don’t know. I didn’t see it, it came by chance... It is also here, naturally, we are keeping it. I asked162
that person whether I could take a few nuts I said, “is this Toro’s tree?” He first said “yes” without hesitation,then I asked him again, I said “Is this certainly Toro’s tree?” He said “it seems to me, I don’t know,indeed”... That tree, it has some history attached to it... Simply, they killed Toro on that tree... that tree...Toro was ninety something years old, it was near their house, and the tree was near our house. Is thistree still there? ... I don’t know, was it that very tree on which they killed him? It was a large nut tree...We approached the tree , two of us; we picked a few nuts from that tree... but it wasn’t ripe then... Finally,I got this too... So, I already did everything as ordered, seems, I didn’t have any problems, becauseI had only this in my memory, everything else I did not remember. That I had to go to the church; thatI took incense and candles – everything was erased completely. I only remembered at some point that,when I come back, everyone else would be asking “what about our house?”... I only remembered this. SoI was asking randomly about this one’s house, and that one’s. For example, suppose “Iricok’s house, thehouse of the chaplain, their house”, or Avushokn’s... house – where is it? ... So I asked this all, and therewas no response. But it seems that someone said, this is Avushokn’s house, perhaps. I went to go there,I saw, at the door... there were two women standing there. When I came close, they simply ran away.They ran away into the house, there was no one left around, so I didn’t enter... Then one of them cameto me, asking “are you hungry?” ... in Armenian. I said, yes... by that time, it was already one week... Ihad lost probably some 10 kilograms at least... because I wasn’t able to eat anything, I was only drinkingtea. The tension was huge; it was terrible, very tense. I said “yes”, and went. I went back to the car,then I saw that they all gathered there, they brought something, some food – gatah, a bread loaf, yogurt,sugar, tea, there was something else – “chechil” cheese (a sort of cheese). That was it, perhaps... I cameclose, there was some conversation; this is all on the film, these conversations. It is interesting that I...I was talking calmly already; I was really very calm... I was talking, telling that the river is coming fromthat side, telling things like that. I managed to film this; this is all on film. And then I thought – do thesepeople speak Armenian, or not? I asked “who speaks Armenian here?” No one responded. That person,who came to me, they pushed him to me, telling “talk in Armenian”. I asked “do you speak Armenian?”He didn’t. Then, I don’t know where from, there came a soldier, with automatic gun on his shoulder. Hewas in military dress. Just out of fun, or what, I don’t know why, I asked him “Do you speak Armenian?You speak Armenian?” This has been filmed. He stood straight, that thing... weapon – he took it andstood still, didn’t say anything (pauses four seconds) Well, leave this... So, we come back...HKh – So, these people, weren’t they interested to know who you were, where you came from?VT – I am telling you, there was so much material for discussion, but I already did what I told, what Iwanted. Because everything else was erased, only this was left [in my memory]... I did this, everythingelse was erased completely. So, we were coming back... we came back... We were to come to Meydan, so Icould pick up my documents. We came, reached Meydan, it was dark already. So I see that they changed– the soldiers changed. These were a little older and, as far as I could tell it, they were higher in rank.They took us there, asking “who are you, what are you doing?” ... Yes, always, by the way, I would liketo point out the following: whenever we entered anywhere, it was hot, they always offered us some water,tea, both of them, they were offering... Finally he spoke, asked questions, and I was trying to explain163
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Published by:Institut für Internat
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ContentsForeword...................
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ForewordThe project “Adult Educat
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Aras, Yasin Aras, Welat Ay, Cenk Ce
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The main audience of this book is o
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“Wish they hadn’t left”:The B
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ed by 1915 and where memories of Ar
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1915 tends to be represented by int
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Yet to a large extent, Turkish inte
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this, we can’t. It’s impossible
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een very advanced in trade and craf
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How to Come to Terms with Phantom P
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It is always you who has to be nice
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to the way he was raised: “They f
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empathize with Armenians: “My aun
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Adil is not the only one marked by
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ness may be an attempt to overcome
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dernity and the oral transmission o
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A soup pot with spoons around itAt
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What if My Mother is Armenian?Ruhi
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If I were younger I’d get baptize
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with butter. We’ll serve the impo
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The time Salih and Gavrik are worki
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Turkey’s changing context is refr
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‘It was to be expected.’ And my
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against one another. The feet of th
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Fear of Losing a CityZübeyde was b
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half for me.’ But what do our Mus
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e discussed when the kids were arou
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possible by the difference in relig
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The Charm of AraratMehmet is a 62-y
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dogs protected the sheep against wo
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The Story of the “Night People”
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“I don’t know why, but my grand
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Research in Armenia:“Whom to Forg
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and can generally be located in Tur
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“Whom to Forgive? What to Forgive
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“Private Stories”After the esta
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Recalling MemoriesOral history diff
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In the village of Ujan, where the v
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The home-museum of Gevork Chaush in
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Memorial in the Ashnak village dedi
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other regions are entirely populate
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sources and materials for their mem
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Ergir’s Soil is Strong, Ergir’s
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Tatevik, the granddaughterof Mihran
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eral meanings in Armenian -”whole
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The Gospel with Golden Binding of S
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keeps a copper chalice that was bro
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In some families the passports of t
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at that time, Mustafa and Jamal, wh
Page 111 and 112: People were so frightened to lose g
Page 113 and 114: naked, they were decapitating every
Page 115 and 116: Water, Fire, Desert“There was an
Page 117 and 118: his mother dragged him behind her,
Page 119 and 120: Many of our narrators mention the R
Page 121 and 122: In the word-stock of the survivors
Page 123 and 124: in Kurdish villages, and helping th
Page 125 and 126: “Well, They Are Human Too”Even
Page 127 and 128: member this well, they said, the el
Page 129 and 130: speak to each other. Questioned by
Page 131 and 132: Hamze Ptshuk, survived from Hosnut
Page 133 and 134: “I don’t Know...”Why did this
Page 135 and 136: “My Dear Almast, Write it Down, W
Page 137 and 138: took his rifle and ran. The dog fel
Page 139 and 140: she didn’t tell it to me. In the
Page 141 and 142: elder guy in this house died and hi
Page 143 and 144: AH - Turks always killed to get int
Page 145 and 146: “My Father used to Tell us at Hom
Page 147 and 148: person... I have never seen him, bu
Page 149 and 150: gotten what you knew”. So, out of
Page 151 and 152: a paid Adult Residential Facility,
Page 153 and 154: It was probably after 60s... My fat
Page 155 and 156: the Vardevar 1 day . Even if we mak
Page 157 and 158: that this wasn’t a dream... and..
Page 159 and 160: was our historical village. Nich, I
Page 161: just filming around myself with no
Page 165: [Turk. wife]”. In the morning I t
Page 168 and 169: 4 Albert Mamikonyan,1953, in Kirova
Page 170 and 171: 11 Almast Harutyunyan,1920, Ujan vi
Page 172 and 173: 18 Eleonora Ghazaryan.1949, Ashnak
Page 174 and 175: 26 Nairi Tajiryan,1936, Egypt (Cair
Page 176: 33 Vazgen Ghukasyan,1933, Ashnak vi
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