Bakhtiarian Hagop

was born in 1909.  His father was killed in 1915.  His mother converted the rest of the family to Islam so they wouldn’t get killed.  They then fled their village and became Christian again.

Balian Kevork

has lost both his parents and all of his relatives during the Armenian Genocide.  He was the only survivor from his village.  He grew up as an orphan in Egypt and then moved to America.

Kachian Rahan

was born in 1911. When the Turks killed her father, she and her sister went and found his head and buried it.  She ended up in the Sayda orphanage.

Hagopian Sarkis

was an orphan who grew up on the streets until one day he was put in an orphanage, sent to Lebanon and then to France in 1932.

Hartunian Vartan

and his family were saved by Dr. E. Stanley Cur, a missionary who hid them behind a truck and helped them cross Syria.  Before that, in 1920, he remembers hiding in the Marash church which was burning with 2000 inside.  Then, the family was saved again by Dr. Wilson who helped them get to Greece. At the age of 7, he arrived in America where he grew up to become the minister of an Evangelical church.  He preaches often about the Genocide and why we should not hate the Turks.

Abrahamian Souren

was born in 1907. HE lost his three uncles and his father 1915.  During the deportation, he witnessed the death of his sister-in-law and he lost both his grandmothers.  He’s the author of the book From Van to Detroit.

Boghosian Rose

was born in 1905.  She was deported from Adapazar to the Arabian deserts where she lost all of her family.  She has seen horrifying scenes in the desert and she’s lived with the survivor guilt all her life.  She was taken to France with many other orphans in 1922.  She then came to America.

Dedekian Armineh

was born in 1915.  That year the Turks killed her father.  She was a newborn during the deportation.  Before reaching the Arabian deserts, her mother found a job in a hospital and that’s the last thing she knew about her mother.  She doesn’t know what happened to her after that.  She became an orphan and her paternal family found and raised her until one day her mother found her in America!

Semerdjian Sahag

was born in 1911.  He stayed in Der Zor, the Arabian desert for 6 months.  His father and uncle were taken away by the Turks and never came back.  They tried to kill him too but his mother saved him.  His brothers and aunts went to Istanbul with him.  Then they all went to America.

Semeroff Mary

was born in 1906.  Her family was deported with wagons.  On their way to the desert, they lost their grandfather.  They had nothing to eat or to wear.  Her three brothers were killed in front of her eyes.  She was left with her mother.  An Arab man found her and her mother and saved them.

Melkonian Harry

lost his sister and mother during the 1915 deportation.  They had gone to a fountain and they never came back.  He was adopted by a Kurdish family.  One day, an Armenian man who knew him took him away from that Kurdish family.  He ended up in Syria and the was sent to America.  He was born in 1905.

Esseryan Arika

was born in 1905. She was deported to Syria.  In 1918, she and her family went back to their village.  In 1920, they were forced to leave again.  She remembers how an 8-month old baby died in her arms.  In1924, Arika was taken France and then to America.  She just wants the world to know that the Genocide was an organized ethnic cleansing and not part of any war.

Assadourian Hagop

was born in 1903 or 1906.  He’s not sure about his age but he knows he was 3 when he lost his father.  There were 331 Armenians in his village.  Only 29 survived and he’s one.  During the deportation, he had to throw the corpse of his mother down a valley. He became an orphan.  He’s the author of the book The Grandchildren of Hovagim.

Krikorian Arisdineh

was born in 1907.  During the 1915 forced marches, she lost her younger sister and her mother.  She was in Georgia when, in 1921, her father found her and decided to take her back to Istanbul.  She ended up in an arranged marriage and was sent to America.

Der Parseghian Alice

and her family fled to Armenia during the Genocide.  From there, her uncle joined the family, put them in a train and went to Georgia.  In 1916, they arrived to Ellis Island.  During the interview, she talks about why she hates Turks and why she thinks the Turkish government hasn’t recognized the Genocide.

Mempreian Vergin

was born in 1910.  She only remembers her uncle and cousins being tied together, they were going to get killed.  She escaped from the Turks and joined an orphanage.  In 1925, she went to Egypt.  She doesn’t remember her father or mother.  She believes that the Turks should apologize.  She says she will never forgive them.