The story of the Yaghdjian family, from Athens, is surely unique among the many family histories that we have published on our website.
Thanks to the testimonies of Siranoush Yaghdjian and Haritini Andridzaki, we learn the history of a family that lived a prosperous life in the village of Keserig/Kesrig (present-day Kızılay, Kharpert/Harput region), but which was cruelly uprooted during the years of the Genocide. The surviving members of the family eventually found shelter in Greece.
In Greece, the family started a new life. After short stays in various areas, the Yaghdjians settled down in Corinth, where they founded a furniture factory. During the years of the German occupation of Greece (1941-1944), when the country was in the throes of a famine and a food shortage, the family converted this factory into a flour mill and oil press, thus providing an essential
humanitarian service to the local population.
Not all members of the family who survived the Genocide made their way to Greece. Siranoush remained in the Harput/Kharpert area and married Fikri Sakup, a Turkish official. However, she and her family remained in touch. Siranoush and her mother, who lived in Greece, corresponded regularly. The Yaghdjian collection, presented here, contains some of the photographs and letters that Siranoush sent to Greece.
Here is the link to the
page:
https://www.houshamadyan.org/oda/europe/yaghdjian-collection.htmlThe article was translated into English and Turkish respectively by Simon Beugekian and Sevan Deirmendjian.
This page was also made possible thanks to the efforts of the Armenika newspaper of Athens and the Athens chapter of the Hamazkayin Cultural Association. The workshop during which Houshamadyan obtained these materials was sponsored by the German EVZ (Remembrance, Responsibility, Future) Foundation.
Best wishes,
Houshamadyan Editorial Board
