We Survived: We Are Alive, Well and Undaunted by Turkish Terror. BUT We Will Never Forget. Armenian Immigrants Rebuilding their Lives in America.

A Scroll Photograph Taken on 16 August 1931 by K.S. Melikian at a Picnic for Körpetsis and Friends Shows Armenians Who Have Gotten on with their Lives

Special to Groong by Abraham D. Krikorian and Eugene L. Taylor

LONG ISLAND, NY

We have made a point of emphasizing the great value of the K.S. Melikian Collection recently deposited in the Library of Congress Prints and Photograph Division. While many photographs go back as far as the Old Country in Eastern Asia Minor, others deal with the recovery of the Armenian communities that had been so devastated in the “Erghir” (the Land, the Earth) in Turkey as a result of the Turkish genocide against the Armenians. By actual count, some 85% of the Körpetsis, people from Körpe village, lost their lives (see Badmuhtiuhnuh Keorpe Kiughuh - The History of Keorpe Village [1]

The decision was made in 1931 to have a gathering to celebrate what amounted to their resurgence as a people. Panoramic photography, also known as circuit photography or yards long photography, began gaining popularity in the early 1900’s. Using a camera loaded with a large format film, it allowed the photographer to take pictures up to 20 feet long and at a 360 degree point of view. The flexibility offered by this photographic procedure made it the ideal way to take photographs of rather large groups. Mr. Melikian took some of these.

The ‘Scroll” picture here derives from a copy given to ADK by a cousin residing in Lowell, Queena Boyajian. It was ironed as flat as could be sandwiched between sheets of high quality Paris Bleed Proof art paper. It turned out that the scroll could be sectioned into ten parts for scanning on a flat bed scanner. These had sufficient overlap so that no one was cropped out. Some crops were made so as to allow family groups to remain in close proximity as the photograph allowed.

Efforts were made to number those in the photograph. A spread sheet was generated and circulated along with prints of the sections to several people who agreed to attempt identifications. This was done at a time when nearly all the adults in the photograph had passed away. Some of those who were kids in the photograph, now mature and long grown-up, did their best to affix names to the numbers. In some cases, by no means complete, in the “Married to” column the names of children may be given. (There are opportunities for others to make connections. It will be easy, and should present no real challenge. Those claiming interest in genealogy can do this little bit.) It needs to be stated that the men in this photograph were for the most part, already in America when the genocide began. Some had come over as bachelors. Others had left a wife and often a child, with the intention of working and saving enough money to bring them over. A few even thought they would earn some money and be able to go back ‘home’ and re-start a life. There are exceptions to these generalizations. One was ADK father’s first cousin Mesrop Keri (no. 100). He was taken into the Turkish army, experienced much and eventually ended up in America. His story is both typical and atypical. We have a great photograph of him in uniform.

Unfortunately, not all the people who came from the village of Körpe are in this photograph. A few examples follow. ADK’s parents are not in it since son Garabed (ADK’s brother Charlie, who passed away May 28, 2013) had an earache and they stayed home in Holden, Massachusetts. Daughters Armenouhie and Anahid, ADK’s older sisters, now 91 and 89, were taken by Hagop Keri [‘Uncle Cousin’] Tashjian and his wife, Nourkhan Kergin [‘Uncle Cousin’s wife’] along with their kids to the gathering (see nos. 143, 144; nos. 136-142). ADK’s Mother’s Mother’s brother, i.e. Mariam Babajanian Tashjian’s brother Kapriel, her Uncle Kapriel Babajanian of Binghamton, New York who had lost his entire family in the Genocide and never remarried, is not in the photograph. ADK’s father, and Mesrop Karee no. 100 and Gunkahayr (Godfather) Nigoghos Boghosian (no. 118) and Krikor Pilibosian (no. 187) from the village of Hogheh close to Körpe, and Kapriel Babajanian of Binghamton (and others not in the photo because they lived in Philadelphia etc.) had volunteered for service in the French Légion d’Orient, as were gamavohrs (volunteers). Baron [Mr.] Sarkis Kazarian (no. 26) and Hagop Karee (no. 143) served in the US Army. Baron Sarkis had been gassed in France. Hagop Karee did not see action.

Baron [Mr.] Haroutune Shabouian and his family were not present either. He was to write the only available history of the village. Detailed notes for another one was written but tragically lost through carelessness and stupidity.

Mr. Melikian labeled the scroll and dated it as August 16, 1931 and pointed out that it was a gathering of Worcester [Ousdoor’ee] and Lowell [Lovel] people originally from Keorpe village in Kharpert “ungeroo’tuyan” [fellowship; kegha’tsis or fellow villagers, first started in Worcester in 1904]. The exact location where the photo was taken in Lowell is not known. A picture of the partially opened scroll can be seen below followed by 10 cuts from the scroll starting on the left. The height of the print is 8 ½ inches and the length is, as the name implies, a yard long.

Identifications in this picture derive from a group effort spearheaded by ADK with so many others that details would fill a book. Both those dead or alive will know that they remained true to their heritage. We thank everyone and her cousin for the help in filling out this Spreadsheet. Indeed, we say “her” because we relied largely, but not exclusively, on the fairer sex for generously responding to the call to rally round this project. Sadly, many have since passed on. We apologize for any errors and stand ready to make additions or corrections to the Master List. Clearly we have ‘sat on this long enough.’ As the old timers might have asked “Ahl heh’rick ch’eh!” [Is it not enough?] We hope that they would have also said, Shidag, shidag ehr’erehn [they’ve done it correctly] or at least would have said, “Gur’tsadz’ihn chahp’uh ehreren [The have done as much as they could].

Endnotes

[1] Haroutune Shabouian’s book on the “History of Kerope/Körpe” lists all families to the extent possible. This book was surely a labor of love but as is the case in most efforts of that sort, it is not totally reliable. Exactly why he called it Keorpe rather than Keropeh, the correct Armenian form remains unanswered. This probably is merely the result of trying to get the Turkish ‘sound’ into the Armenian spelling. The volume lists the various households of this purely Armenian village by house number. There were no Catholics or Protestants. He started writing this in 1958 or 1959 and completed it around 1963 to 1965. It is handwritten in Armenian, and was reproduced in photo offset. We should be very glad that he took it upon himself to write the book. He admitted that there may be have been errors but an effort has been made to verify facts. And, of course, there is the problem that informants were sometimes mistaken about their own particulars - dates of immigration for instance. There is one absolutely critical and perhaps unique feature of the book - (we know of no other village history, and quite a few were written by Diasporan Armenians) - that has the feature. There may be, but we are not aware of it/them.) Briefly, at the end of the volume there is a household tabulation that gives the names of the people in each household, starting with the oldest male followed by age and status. Then the oldest female is given, again followed by the others. The challenge is that one cannot tell for sure which female goes with each male and so forth. Ages are given for all. These are largely conjectures since many did not know exactly when they were born. The tally at the right hand side of an entry merely is an ongoing accounting of the number of souls/bodies in the village. As each name is entered, the tally goes up by one.

The beautiful feature of the village history is that it is a history that deals with the common people - everyone was fitted in, or, more accurately, at least named in a family context.

The entry on Körpe village in Vahe Haig’s massive on Kharpert may be found reproduced in full in our article entitled “A Family Photograph from Korpeh, Kharpert, Old Armenia Bears Forceful Witness to the Genocide”** **Armenian News Network / Groong July 10, 2015. This article includes a brief bibliography, photographs and relevant maps. See http://groong.usc.edu/orig/ak-20150710.html