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PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Chris Zakian
Tel: (212) 686-0710
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.armenianchurch-ed.net
April 11, 2014
___________________
History of Armenian Repatriation Focus of Talk at Zohrab Center
By Florence Avakian
The Second World War had ended, and Armenia, like the rest of the Soviet
Union, had suffered terrible losses. In the Soviet Union overall, 25 million
had perished, and in Armenia tens of thousands had died during the war.
With Soviet Armenia's prospects so reduced, a movement emerged under the
rubric of "repatriation"-that is, a return to the homeland-which was devised
by Soviet Armenian officials with the support of diasporan Armenian
organizations like the AGBU, the Armenian Progressive League, and the
Armenian National Council.
The putative goal was to repopulate and revitalize Soviet Armenia. Similar
repatriation plans were propagated in other Soviet republics. But the
hopeful dreams of many "repatriates" were ultimately at odds with the
reality awaiting them in the Soviet Union.
On Thursday evening, March 20, the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information
Center of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) sponsored
a multimedia talk titled, "Repatriation and Deception: Post-World War II
Repatriation to Soviet Armenia," featuring commentary, music, and images by
Hazel Antaramian-Hofman, the daughter of repatriated parents.
She was introduced by the Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, director of the
Zohrab Center, who called the mission of the center "the promotion of our
Armenian civilization."
In her presentation, Ms. Antaramian-Hofman detailed the experiences of
repatriates who came to Armenia beginning in 1946. She revealed that during
this period, more than 100,000 Armenians came by ship and plane from France,
Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Greece, Palestine, as well as the United
States, to settle in Soviet Armenia. The repatriates from America proved to
be "the least in number, but the most economically advanced."
The speaker told of one repatriate family's shattering experience in this
new world. "On the evening of March 11, 1949, in Soviet Armenia," Ms.
Antaramian-Hofman said, "in the presence of his wife and two young boys,
Alexander Khatchig Phillian was arrested by the Soviet secret police. His
son Crosby, at the time 15 years old, would always remember the night when
the uniformed men announced his father's arrest, and his mother cried, 'Is
this why we came to Armenia?'"
The life-altering experience gave the young former-New Yorker a mantra by
which to live in his newly adopted country: "Keep your mouth shut, and just
survive," Ms. Antaramian-Hofman related. It was not until the early 1950s
that the repression of the Armenian repatriates ended.
In her talk, Hazel Antaramian-Hofman revealed that the number of repatriates
was greater for Armenia than for the other Soviet republics. Memories of the
Armenian Genocide, and the idealistic hopes of diaspora Armenians for a
return to the historic Armenian lands of the former Ottoman empire, inspired
many of the families to join the repatriation movement.
Calling the repatriation "a poorly constructed program," she said it was
"the beginning of the cultural and economic disconnect for the former
diasporans. Soviet Armenia was never really home for them, and they
struggled to fit in." The speaker went on to describe how the repatriates
were often shunned and ridiculed for their different dress, manners, and
attitudes by the native population, and how their living quarters and food
were far diminished from what they were accustomed to in their former
countries.
In the discussion period of the talk, an audience member pointed out that
this was a time of great deprivation for the native Armenians, who saw the
newcomers as taking away available food and shelter. As the years advanced,
the repatriates played an important role in the advancement of Armenia.
Hazel Antaramian-Hofman was born in Soviet Armenia, the daughter of a father
born in America, and a mother born in France. Her parents repatriated to
Armenia during the Stalin era, and after the thaw instituted by Khrushchev,
Hazel at age five came to America with her parents, growing up in Wisconsin.
She received an M.A. in Arts and Design, and an M.S. in Environmental
Science, and is an award-winning artist, and writer. Part of her art
collection is included in the Armenian Museum at U.C. Fresno.
In 2010, Ms. Antaramian-Hofman began to document the repatriation to Soviet
Armenia, interviewing surviving repatriates, scanning photos, and conducting
archival research in the United States and Armenia. To date, she has given
four lectures on this topic across the United States, and is now presenting
talks in England. Currently, she is working on a brief narrative of her
project to accompany a commissioned 2015 theatrical production of the "Great
Repatriation" at Fresno State University, with playwright Richard Kalinoski,
playwright of the Genocide play, "Beast on the Moon."
###
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Chris Zakian
Tel: (212) 686-0710
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.armenianchurch-ed.net
April 11, 2014
___________________
History of Armenian Repatriation Focus of Talk at Zohrab Center
By Florence Avakian
The Second World War had ended, and Armenia, like the rest of the Soviet
Union, had suffered terrible losses. In the Soviet Union overall, 25 million
had perished, and in Armenia tens of thousands had died during the war.
With Soviet Armenia's prospects so reduced, a movement emerged under the
rubric of "repatriation"-that is, a return to the homeland-which was devised
by Soviet Armenian officials with the support of diasporan Armenian
organizations like the AGBU, the Armenian Progressive League, and the
Armenian National Council.
The putative goal was to repopulate and revitalize Soviet Armenia. Similar
repatriation plans were propagated in other Soviet republics. But the
hopeful dreams of many "repatriates" were ultimately at odds with the
reality awaiting them in the Soviet Union.
On Thursday evening, March 20, the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information
Center of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) sponsored
a multimedia talk titled, "Repatriation and Deception: Post-World War II
Repatriation to Soviet Armenia," featuring commentary, music, and images by
Hazel Antaramian-Hofman, the daughter of repatriated parents.
She was introduced by the Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, director of the
Zohrab Center, who called the mission of the center "the promotion of our
Armenian civilization."
In her presentation, Ms. Antaramian-Hofman detailed the experiences of
repatriates who came to Armenia beginning in 1946. She revealed that during
this period, more than 100,000 Armenians came by ship and plane from France,
Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Greece, Palestine, as well as the United
States, to settle in Soviet Armenia. The repatriates from America proved to
be "the least in number, but the most economically advanced."
The speaker told of one repatriate family's shattering experience in this
new world. "On the evening of March 11, 1949, in Soviet Armenia," Ms.
Antaramian-Hofman said, "in the presence of his wife and two young boys,
Alexander Khatchig Phillian was arrested by the Soviet secret police. His
son Crosby, at the time 15 years old, would always remember the night when
the uniformed men announced his father's arrest, and his mother cried, 'Is
this why we came to Armenia?'"
The life-altering experience gave the young former-New Yorker a mantra by
which to live in his newly adopted country: "Keep your mouth shut, and just
survive," Ms. Antaramian-Hofman related. It was not until the early 1950s
that the repression of the Armenian repatriates ended.
In her talk, Hazel Antaramian-Hofman revealed that the number of repatriates
was greater for Armenia than for the other Soviet republics. Memories of the
Armenian Genocide, and the idealistic hopes of diaspora Armenians for a
return to the historic Armenian lands of the former Ottoman empire, inspired
many of the families to join the repatriation movement.
Calling the repatriation "a poorly constructed program," she said it was
"the beginning of the cultural and economic disconnect for the former
diasporans. Soviet Armenia was never really home for them, and they
struggled to fit in." The speaker went on to describe how the repatriates
were often shunned and ridiculed for their different dress, manners, and
attitudes by the native population, and how their living quarters and food
were far diminished from what they were accustomed to in their former
countries.
In the discussion period of the talk, an audience member pointed out that
this was a time of great deprivation for the native Armenians, who saw the
newcomers as taking away available food and shelter. As the years advanced,
the repatriates played an important role in the advancement of Armenia.
Hazel Antaramian-Hofman was born in Soviet Armenia, the daughter of a father
born in America, and a mother born in France. Her parents repatriated to
Armenia during the Stalin era, and after the thaw instituted by Khrushchev,
Hazel at age five came to America with her parents, growing up in Wisconsin.
She received an M.A. in Arts and Design, and an M.S. in Environmental
Science, and is an award-winning artist, and writer. Part of her art
collection is included in the Armenian Museum at U.C. Fresno.
In 2010, Ms. Antaramian-Hofman began to document the repatriation to Soviet
Armenia, interviewing surviving repatriates, scanning photos, and conducting
archival research in the United States and Armenia. To date, she has given
four lectures on this topic across the United States, and is now presenting
talks in England. Currently, she is working on a brief narrative of her
project to accompany a commissioned 2015 theatrical production of the "Great
Repatriation" at Fresno State University, with playwright Richard Kalinoski,
playwright of the Genocide play, "Beast on the Moon."
###