Chapter Two
Mannig’s Story:
The Armenian Genocide
Spoken by Mannig Dobajian Kouyoumjian, a survivor
of the Armenian Genocide and written by Aida
Kouyoumjian, Mannig’s daughter
Between 1915 and 1923, the Ottoman government,
led by the Turks, systematically targeted and killed
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Ultimately, 1.5
million Armenians — half of the Armenian population —
were murdered. This period is now widely regarded as the
first genocide of the 20th century.
Below is the story of one Armenian woman who survived
the genocide, immigrated to the United States and came
to live in Seattle.
Mannig, my mom, and her family of eight suffered
through the Armenian Genocide. Only Mannig and one
older sister survived to tell their stories.
When my mom became a U.S. citizen in 1982, my
siblings and I celebrated her achievement with 150
friends and relatives on Mercer Island. The atmosphere
was colorfully festive with Armenian-Arabic-American
cuisine, folk songs and dances.
Then, Mannig took the microphone and told her story.
Mannig’s Story
“I was six years old when we were deported from our
lovely home in Adapazar, near Istanbul. I remember
twirling in our parlor in my favorite yellow dress while
my mother played the violin. It all ended when the
Turkish police ordered us to leave town.
“The massacre of my family, of the Armenians, took
place during a three-year trek of 600 kilometers across
the Anatolian Plateau and into the Mesopotamian Desert.
I can’t wipe out the horrific images of how my father and
all the men in our foot caravan were whipped to death;
my cousin and all other males 12 years and older were
shoved off the cliffs into the raging Euphrates River. My
grandmother and the elderly were shot for slowing down
the trekkers. Two of my siblings died of starvation; my
aunt of disease. My mother survived the trek only to
perish soon after in an influenza epidemic.
“Of my family, only my sister and I were still alive. The
Turkish soldiers forced us, along with 900 other starving
children, into the deepest part of the desert to perish in
the scorching sun. Most did.
“But God must have been watching over me. He placed
me in the path of the Bedouin Arabs who were on a
search and rescue mission for Armenian victims. They
saved me. I lived under the Bedouin tents for several
months before they lead me to an orphanage in Mosul.
I was sad about our separation, but the Bedouin assured
me that the orphanage was sponsored by good people.
“To my delight, I was reunited with my sister at the
orphanage. She, too, was saved by the Bedouin. The
happiest days in my life were at the orphanage. We had
soup and bread to eat every day and were sheltered under
white army tents donated by the British.
“Above all, my sister and I were family again.
“There, I met the love of my life — one of the Armenian
philanthropists who visited us often and provided
education to the orphans. He was kind, generous and
very handsome.
“Marrying him turned my life around like Cinderella.
Overnight, I went from the meagerness of the orphanage
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Every Wednesday through June 11, we hope you’ll join us for Stories Among Us: Personal Accounts of Genocide, exploring past and present atrocities
through the oral histories of genocide survivors in our region. Produced in partnership with the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center.
v
Define “hope,” “faith” and “perseverance” and
determine how they were applied to Mannig’s story.
What other life skills did she encompass in order to
rebound from a devastating situation and be able to live
a fulfilling life? Can you find an example of these life
skills in a story from today’s newspaper? Compare and
contrast the stories, and discuss.
v
Mannig stated, “I started from scratch in this country, as
you Americans say.” Do you believe that Americans do
start from nothing and work their way up? What outside
influences and personal traits influence whether people
are successful or not? Think of several people you know
and their personal and financial situations; does “starting
from scratch” ring true in their personal stories?
Think About it
The Seattle Times Newspapers In Education presents
2
PHOTO: Mannig Kouyoumjian. Printed in the Journal-
American, April 20, 1985.
Stories Among Us:
Personal Accounts
of Genocide
into the affluence of his mansion in Baghdad, Iraq. We
raised three wonderful children and lived a good life.”
In 1958, Mannig’s husband died suddenly from a
heart attack.
“With my daughters in college in the United States and
my son in Germany, I was once again without family.
“When my daughters became U.S. citizens, I was able to
immigrate to America. I was 60 years old when I settled
in Seattle.
“I ‘started from scratch’ in this country, as you Americans
say. I worked as a housekeeper and later in the cafeteria
of the UW Undergraduate Library. It was there that I
‘was discovered’ and hired as a tutor at the UW Foreign
Languages Laboratory. For 10 years, I taught and
conversed with graduate students who needed to improve
their language skills in Armenian, Arabic or Turkish.
“Because I was born in Turkey, people think I’m a Turk.
Since I’ve come from Iraq, they think I’m an Arab. But I
say, ‘No, I’m an Armenian,’ although I’ve never been to
Armenia (in 1982 it was still part of the Soviet Union).
I have lived under many flags. None of those banners
belonged to me. Neither did I belong to them.
“But now,” [Mannig waves the postcard-sized American
flag.] “Now, I can say I’m an American and I live under
the banner spangled with stars.”
Aida Kouyoumjian., the daughter of Mannig, is an active
member of the Washington State Holocaust Education
Resource Center’s Speakers Bureau. For more information
on this story or others in this series, please contact the
Holocaust Center at www.wsherc.org or [email protected].
Design courtesy of The Seattle Times Company.
