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Sept 3 2011
`Grandma's Tattoos' - movie about forgotten women of Armenian genocide
September 03, 2011 | 02:27
STOCKHOLM. - `Grandma Khanoum was not like others. As a child I
remember her as a wicked woman. She despised physical contact. This
was a grandma who never hugged or kissed. And she wore gloves, which
hid her hands and the tattoos. They hid her secret, this is how
Suzanne Khardalian, Stockholm, describes her grandmother, Asbarez
reports.
Khardalian is the director and producer of riveting new film
`Grandma's Tattoos' that reveals the veil of thousands of forgotten
Armenian women, who survived the Genocide but were forced into
prostitution and were tattooed to distinguish them from the locals.
`As a child I thought these were devilish signs that came from a dark
world. They stirred fear in me. I had no idea of these tattoos or who
had done them and why. But the tattoos on grandma's hands and face
never spoke about it,' explains Khardalian.
`Grandma's Tattoos' is a journey into the secrets of the family.
Eventually, the secret behind Grandma Khanoum's blue marks are
revealed. According to the director, her grandma was abducted and kept
in slavery for many years in Turkey. She was also forcibly tattooed as
a property. The discovery of the story has shaken the author. Grandma
Khanoum's fate was not an aberration. On the contrary, tens of
thousands of Armenian children and teenagers were raped and abducted,
and kept in slavery.
In 1919 the Allied forces reclaimed 90,819 Armenians, young girls and
children, who during the World War I years, were forced to become
prostitutes to survive, or had given birth to children after forced or
arranged marriages or rape. Many of these women were tattooed as a
sign that they belonged to abductor. European and American
missionaries organized help and picked up and saved thousands of
refugees who later were scattered all over the world.
Sept 3 2011
`Grandma's Tattoos' - movie about forgotten women of Armenian genocide
September 03, 2011 | 02:27
STOCKHOLM. - `Grandma Khanoum was not like others. As a child I
remember her as a wicked woman. She despised physical contact. This
was a grandma who never hugged or kissed. And she wore gloves, which
hid her hands and the tattoos. They hid her secret, this is how
Suzanne Khardalian, Stockholm, describes her grandmother, Asbarez
reports.
Khardalian is the director and producer of riveting new film
`Grandma's Tattoos' that reveals the veil of thousands of forgotten
Armenian women, who survived the Genocide but were forced into
prostitution and were tattooed to distinguish them from the locals.
`As a child I thought these were devilish signs that came from a dark
world. They stirred fear in me. I had no idea of these tattoos or who
had done them and why. But the tattoos on grandma's hands and face
never spoke about it,' explains Khardalian.
`Grandma's Tattoos' is a journey into the secrets of the family.
Eventually, the secret behind Grandma Khanoum's blue marks are
revealed. According to the director, her grandma was abducted and kept
in slavery for many years in Turkey. She was also forcibly tattooed as
a property. The discovery of the story has shaken the author. Grandma
Khanoum's fate was not an aberration. On the contrary, tens of
thousands of Armenian children and teenagers were raped and abducted,
and kept in slavery.
In 1919 the Allied forces reclaimed 90,819 Armenians, young girls and
children, who during the World War I years, were forced to become
prostitutes to survive, or had given birth to children after forced or
arranged marriages or rape. Many of these women were tattooed as a
sign that they belonged to abductor. European and American
missionaries organized help and picked up and saved thousands of
refugees who later were scattered all over the world.