Grandma's Tattoos

Filmmaker Suzanne Khardalian makes a journey into her own family's history to investigate the terrible truth behind her grandmother's odd tattoos and, in the process, unveils the story of the Armenian women driven out of Ottoman Turkey during the First World War.

During the First World War, millions of Armenians were forced out of their homes in the then Ottoman empire, into the deserts of Syria and Iraq.

Almost 2 million people died in what Armenians describe as a genocide, although Turkey rejects this accusation.

Everybody in the family seemed to know the story, but no-one ever spoke about it.

MY 2c - Ara Natarian

Unfortunately, every Armenian family (especially in the diaspora) has horror survival stories like this to tell. But the Armenian Genocide has not been recognised by most of the world and has been swept under the rug. We never had out Nuremberg Trials. This event was the template of all future genocides, especially the Jewish Holocaust. Hitler, after all, when trying to convince his fellow Nazis about killing Jews said "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?". The Nazis started the killings one by one, by firing squads, after a while, many German executioners starting to be affected by this, even Himmler almost threw up at an execution and was not as effective, so they came up with the idea of mass extermination by gas. But the Ottoman Turks and Kurds had no problems butchering us one by one by hand, ripping out unborn babies and crucifiying women. Eventually Armenians fought off the Ottoman Armies, with the help of the great Soviet Red Army, and established their own independent state, later logically joining the USSR.

Here are summarised stories of each of my grandparents that I have written down.

My grandfather (my father's father), Abraham Natarian, was a genocide survivor, he ended up in an orphanage in Greece. His father, Hovsep, was killed by the Turks who blew up his home while he was inside, somehow my grandfather escaped to Greece, to an American orphanage, where they picked him up and took him in, God bless American for that. My grandfather Abraham then travelled to Lebanon because he knew his sisters were there. He married my grandmother Iskouhi in Tripoli and eventually moved to Australia in the 60's.

My grandmother Iskouhi Giragossian, (my father's mother) who died before I was born (was from Bitias near Musa Dagh) and a University educated woman, a Protestand and Bolshevik (my grandfather hated that as he was loyal to the Armenian Apostolic Church). She survived the famous and heroic 40 Days of Musa Dagh along with her mother Marie, but not father. Eventually French ships saved them from the Mediterannean coast (ancient Cilician Armenia), They were taken to Port Sayeed in Egypt (a temporary refuge for Armenians at the time) and she got Tent #no,1 and then they migrated to the new Armenian communities in Lebanon. Later, coming to Australia.

During the genocide, my grandfather (my mother's father) Sarkis Pailagian was taken to an orphanage by his mum, with his 2 brothers, Hamaprtsum and Goryun. She walked with them hand in hand, knowing this is the last time she will see her sons. When she left them at the gate they ran back crying for her but she knew this was the only way they would survive and have hope, the orphanage would not accept Hampartsum because he was too old so he had to leave with his mum.

Having no where to go, Hampartsum's mother was eventually found and killed, he was taken to a Turkish family to be a servant and be Islamified and Turkified which was common at the time. After a few years, in that Turkish family was a woman, an Armenian servant taken by the Turks to be Turkified and Islamised. She realised there was something different about this boy and one day approached him and said in Armenan “toon huy es?” and Hampartsum had almost forgotten his culture and language but he remembered his mother and brothers, memories came flooding back and realised he is Armenian, this woman agreed to help him escape and he did. He ended up in Syria. Hampartsum was found and was being looked after by an Armenian family who took him in, and they thought they would put an advertisement about this boy, and lo and behold his 2 brothers (Sarkis and Goryun) found the add and took him in, in Amman, Jordan, they gave him a job, helped him find a wife and looked after him, even though he was quite older than them. Goryun then went to Soviet Republic of Armenia, Sarkis stayed in Jordan then Australia, and Hampartsum went to Montreal.

The only story I currently know about my grandma Araxi Pailagian's mum, Santoukht, was that she remembers being chased by Turks with guns and she had to jump in the lake and hold her breath for as long as she could. She later had 5 children, one being my grandmother who was born in Syria, moved to Amman, Jordan and eventually the Great Southern Land of Australia.

#history