Some months ago, I was visiting an Iranian friend in Los Angeles.
While we were talking about different subjects, she told me an interesting and true story about one of their close relatives.
It took me a while to understand the depth of the story, and when I was ready to write, I called her in Iran and asked for permission. She told me that I could, but on one condition, not to use their real names.
Normally, I write about the Armenian Massacre and its effect on the survivors. However, this story relates the reverse side of the Massacre.
Dr. Ali B. finished his medical school in France and returned to his family who lived in the city of Khoy for generations. (Khoy is an ancient city, situated in the northwest of Iran.)
He opened his practice, and soon he became one of the well-known physicians of the city.
After the Armenian Massacre in 1918, the demography of the city changed dramatically. Almost all the Christian population of the city disappeared, Ottoman Turkish soldiers killed the majority of them. The few, who survived, left the city forever.
When the Ottoman Turkish army left the Iranian cities, some of the Armenians who were hidden by their Moslem friends came out into the open.
Some joined relatives or friends in other cities. Some found refuge in a relief center that Americans had established in the city of Tabriz.
The younger children, who had lost their entire families, mostly remained in their host families. Some were adopted and given new names. The rest remained and worked as servants for the families who had given them refuge. Of course in both cases they were converted to Islam and married to Muslims.
Expanded Clientele
After the Massacre, the number of Dr. Ali’s patients grew considerably. He began searching for a woman who would help him with the patients, clean his office and at the same time take care of his house.
One day a friend introduced him to a young Armenian survivor. He told the doctor he knew her family well before the Massacre, and he recommended her highly. He added that she had just come out of hiding, and when she visited her parental house, she found out that all her family members had been massacred. She was the sole survivor.
Other people already were living in their house, and all her family belongings had disappeared. She had no one to turn to and nowhere to live. The doctor was happy to find the person that he was looking for and thanked his friend.
A Vision
Dr. Ali was surprised to see a very shy but a beautiful girl in front of him. She was tall but very thin, which witnessed the hard time she had faced.
She had a scarf on her head but he could see the two thick, long braided hairs hanging down on each side of her face, like all the traditional Armenian girls’ hairdo. She had blue eyes and dark blond hair. Her face was beautiful but sad to look at, and her blue eyes were full of tears that looked like the deep ocean.
She was dressed poorly but very clean. She did not talk much and just shook her head up and down, that, in Iranian tradition, means yes and no. The only words that she pronounced were to say that her name was Lucine.
But the doctor immediately corrected her by saying that from then on, she would be called “Leila.” This way his patients would not have difficulty remembering her name. She was hired immediately with a small salary, room and board.
She did not have much in the way of belongings, merely a little bundle. From that moment on, she cleaned the office while the doctor was busy visiting his patients.
An Agenda
After the work, the doctor explained all her duties in the office. When they returned to his house, he showed her a small room where she was going to live. She was grateful that she had found a roof over her head and food to eat in addition to a small salary that she did not even need.
The doctor was a very kind person to work for. He respected and appreciated Leila’s hard work; in exchange she worked her best in order to make his life comfortable. She cooked all the recipes that she remembered of her mother’s food. The patients and all the doctor’s family and friends loved her.
She was kind, hard working and an honest person.
The doctor’s parents, who lived not far away, visited him often. As he was still single, on every occasion, they introduced him to the best available single girls in the city. They reminded him that it was time for him to get married and have children. But the doctor pushed away their propositions for a later time.
All in Time
Dr. Ali was a handsome young man.
All the well-known families in the city wished to have him as their son-in-law.
But he was so devoted to his profession that the idea of marriage was not in his mind yet.
Ever since Leila’s arrival, his house and life were so organized and comfortable that he did not feel any lack in his life.
Leila never talked much; she did not speak a word about her past experiences and never complained.
She did well all that was expected from her.
As she wore better dresses and felt safer and stable in her job, it seemed that her face reflected more of her beauty.
Little by little, Dr. Ali’s feelings changed towards Leila. Then he felt deeply in love with her and decided to marry her. Before asking for her hand, he shared his feelings with his parents. They liked Leila very much.
They did not object to his decision, and they told him that he was intelligent enough to make the right decisions.
(To be continued Monday)
Dr. Rosemary Hartounian Cohen, who lives in the Fairfax District, received her Ph.D in sociology from the Sorbonne in Paris. She lived in two other countries before moving, with her husband and children, to Los Angeles in 1984. She has published three books in America and is working on her fourth. Since 1985, she has operated Atelier de Paris, an international art business, on Robertson Boulevard. Her email address is Rosemary@atelierdeparis.com
