History is written by the victors. – attributed to Winston Churchill, author unknown
Once I realized that for 100 years a key objective of the government of Turkey has been to hide from the world knowledge of a systematic campaign to rid the Ottoman Empire of its Armenian citizens, I was less embarrassed by my ignorance and far more angry. From 1915 – 1923 between a million and 1.5 million citizens of Armenian descent were systematically forced out of their homes, subjected to death marches, crammed into railway cars, raped, tortured, starved and placed in concentration camps. Sound familiar? While it isn’t clear which nation came up with the techniques, among those aligned with the Turks and serving alongside them throughout WWI were the Germans.
Sometime within the last decade I first realized I knew next to nothing about what is now called the first genocide of the modern era. I’ve been learning, bit by bit, but I didn’t started with history books. An unexpected encounter at a B&B in Harpers Ferry, WV, was the beginning. But it’s Chris Bohjalian’s The Sandcastle Girls and Aline Ohanesian’s Orhan’s Inheritance (see post Part 2) that set me on the path to understanding.
IN A NUTSHELL
- The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday, 2012)
- In 40 words or less: A young woman travels to the Ottoman Republic in 1915 to aid Armenian refugees. Her experiences with all those she meets change the course of her life. Strong historical underpinnings provide critical insights.
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Locale: Ottoman Empire, Aleppo, USA
- Time: 1915-16 and 2012
- Read this if you have limited knowledge of the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks from 1915-23. Fans of Bohjalian will be thrilled with the balance between storytelling and history.
In The Sandcastle Girls, Bohjalian’s 15th novel, Elizabeth Endicott is a Mount Holyoke-educated young woman arriving in Aleppo with her father to provide food and medical aid to Armenian women and children. While staying at the U.S. consul’s residence, she volunteers in the local hospital, shelters an Armenian woman and an orphaned girl. She comes into contact with German soldiers and Turkish conscripts, and an Armenian engineer who changes her life.
Bohjalian begins the story with Laura Petrosian, a writer and the granddaughter of Elizabeth and Armen. In 2012, a friend contacts her about a haunting photo of a woman with the last name Petrosian in an exhibit about the victims of the Armenian genocide. Despite her grandparents’ deaths years earlier, she begins an exploration of their past.
Having carefully researched both the human and political elements of the Turkish actions, Bohjalian chose Aleppo as the primary setting. Aleppo was the largest city on the route of the forced marches of women and children, the location of foreign consular services and a primary site for missionaries and volunteers trying to provide aid and support. By taking his characters beyond Aleppo, the results of the death marches and the actions of the military can also be seen.
Bohjalian is primarily a storyteller and much of the novel focuses on Elizabeth’s relationship with Armen, the Armenian engineer, and woman and child living in her quarters. Through these four the high personal costs of this tragedy are brought home. As the grandson of survivors of the Armenian genocide, Bohjalian has done honor to his grandparents and the millions whose stories were scarcely known. Historical fiction is at its best when it can serve this higher purpose.
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