ELIZA: A Memoir of Love and Resistance
translated by Arpena Sachaklian Mesrobian, compiled and with an introduction by Marian Mesrobian-MacCurdy
London: Gomidas Institute, 2021, illustrations, index, 204 pp.,
ISBN 978-1-909382-55-8, pb.,
UK£18.00/US$22.00
To order please contact books@gomidas.org
Eliza was born in Ottoman Cilicia into a family of merchants and parish priests. Although her family lost their ancestral home in Aintab during the Hamidian Massacres of 1895-96, they vowed not to be caught unawares again, enabling them to resist the Turkish mobs at the siege of Dortyol during the Adana massacres of 1909. These life-and-death struggles began the family’s lifelong affiliation with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Eliza’s charter membership in the Armenian Relief Society. After her marriage to Aharon Sachaklian, who had become a naturalized American citizen, Eliza and her husband left their families in Cilicia and emigrated to the United States where they raised their three children and became active participants in Armenian community affairs.
After World War I Aharon became the finance and logistics officer for Operation Nemesis, a secret campaign to assassinate the Turkish leaders responsible for the Armenian Genocide of 1915 who had escaped legal punishment. If Eliza knew of his involvement she never let on. Based on Eliza’s original memoir, this book was prepared for publication by her daughter and grand-daughter, Arpena Sachaklian Mesrobian and Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy.
Table of Contents
Dedication (4)
Introduction (5)
Aintab: Childhood Memories (61)
Family (70)
Massacres of 1894-96 (72)
Missis (76)
Beylan (88)
Deortyol (97)
Engagement and Marriage (110)
America (132)
To Beirut in 1937-38: Reunion (143)
Fifty Years (164)
Appendix: The Life of My Husband, Aharon Sachaklian (175)
List of Photos (201)
Notes (202)
Index (203)