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THE INDEPENDENT TELLS ABOUT THE LAST SURVIVOR OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ARMENPRESS
11 July, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS: British famous Independent daily dwells
on last survivor of the Armenian Genocide living in Britain.
As Armenpress reports, Astrid Aghajanian was one of the few remaining
survivors who escaped Ottoman systematic annihilation.In 1915 Astrid's
father was shot and Astrid, her mother, grandmother and baby brother
were deported and force- marched into the Deir ez-Zor desert. On one
occasion the Turkish officers asked the Armenian mothers to hand over
their children, claiming they would be taken to an orphanage. Some
mothers parted with their offspring, in the desperate hope they would
be given a chance to survive. Astrid's mother, however, refused to
let her daughter go. Sometime later she and the other deportees heard
terrible screaming; the soldiers were burning the children alive.
Determined to keep her daughter and herself alive, Astrid's mother
decided to try to escape and they succeeded, they managed to make their
way to Aleppo. Here they had relatives and could finally begin picking
up the pieces of their shattered lives. When her mother eventually
remarried, Astrid's new stepfather changed her name from Helen to
Astghig (the Armenian form of Astrid).
The family moved from Aleppo to British Mandate Palastine in the
early 1920s, living first in Haifa, then in Jerusalem, Cyprus and
eventually to Great Britain.
Astrid was fond of comparing her turbulent life to that of spiders:
"You may destroy the spider's home, but he will always build it
again." Astrid will be remembered for her generous hospitality, her
creativity, her indomitable spirit and above all for her incredible
resilience in the face of adversity.
Born in 1913 Astrid Aghajanian died in 2012 May 11.
ARMENPRESS
11 July, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS: British famous Independent daily dwells
on last survivor of the Armenian Genocide living in Britain.
As Armenpress reports, Astrid Aghajanian was one of the few remaining
survivors who escaped Ottoman systematic annihilation.In 1915 Astrid's
father was shot and Astrid, her mother, grandmother and baby brother
were deported and force- marched into the Deir ez-Zor desert. On one
occasion the Turkish officers asked the Armenian mothers to hand over
their children, claiming they would be taken to an orphanage. Some
mothers parted with their offspring, in the desperate hope they would
be given a chance to survive. Astrid's mother, however, refused to
let her daughter go. Sometime later she and the other deportees heard
terrible screaming; the soldiers were burning the children alive.
Determined to keep her daughter and herself alive, Astrid's mother
decided to try to escape and they succeeded, they managed to make their
way to Aleppo. Here they had relatives and could finally begin picking
up the pieces of their shattered lives. When her mother eventually
remarried, Astrid's new stepfather changed her name from Helen to
Astghig (the Armenian form of Astrid).
The family moved from Aleppo to British Mandate Palastine in the
early 1920s, living first in Haifa, then in Jerusalem, Cyprus and
eventually to Great Britain.
Astrid was fond of comparing her turbulent life to that of spiders:
"You may destroy the spider's home, but he will always build it
again." Astrid will be remembered for her generous hospitality, her
creativity, her indomitable spirit and above all for her incredible
resilience in the face of adversity.
Born in 1913 Astrid Aghajanian died in 2012 May 11.