My Grandparents’ Odyssey: From Urfa and Germir to Beirut


My Grandparents’ Odyssey: From Urfa and Germir to Beirut 

My Grandparents’ Odyssey: From Urfa and Germir to Beirut. Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, Antelias, 2016, 156 pages. Richard and Tina Carolan Literary Fund No: 18

 This book focuses on the memoirs of two Armenian Genocide survivors: Pergruhi Sahagian and Hovsep Alahaydoyan. Upon the order of deportation by the Ottoman government, Pergruhi and her family who lived in Germir, Caesarea, set out on an incredible odyssey that takes them through Konya, Manisa, Izmir, Kalamaria, Port Said, finally reaching Beirut. Phar­macist Hovsep Alahaydoyan who worked in the German Mission Hospital in Urfa, goes through another ordeal including imprisonment and persecution and finally settles down in Beirut, Lebanon, where the two sur­vivors meet and marry. By including articles from the New York Times archives, the book attempts to bridge the gap between personal narratives and historical events taken place mainly between the years 1915 and 1923.

 


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