This year, April 24 marks the 100-year anniversary of that terrible, and largely forgotten, event, the first state-sponsored genocide of the 20th century.
Portsmouth, NH (PRWEB) March 13, 2015
Peter E. Randall Publisher proudly announces the release of an important new book, “Tadem, My Father’s Village: Extinguished during the 1915 Armenian Genocide,” by Robert Aram Kaloosdian. The author is the son of Boghos Kaloosdian, a survivor of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. This year, April 24 marks the 100-year anniversary of that terrible, and largely forgotten, event, the first state-sponsored genocide of the 20th century. In “Tadem, My Father’s Village,” Kaloosdian uses first-hand interviews of aging Genocide survivors from the single, small village of Tadem, where his father escaped from, to paint a vivid picture of what life was like before, during, and directly after the events of 1915.
By focusing so locally, Kaloosdian captures the deeply moving and personal accounts of what happens to individuals at the center of such incomprehensible tragedy. Genocide scholars are praising his choice of using one village to present a multilayered view of the widespread tragedy. Genocide specialist; Professor Emeritus from UCLA, Richard Hovannisian; finds “Tadem, My Father’s Village” laudable, saying, “Robert Aram Kaloosdian has made a lasting contribution through his meticulous combination of historical sources, memoirs, and oral histories.”
Largely overlooked today, the Armenian Genocide began on April 24, 1915, with the mass murder of Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul. Under direction of the ruling Young Turk government, the widespread massacres quickly swept across the Anatolian countryside, continuing for several years. When it was over, between 500,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were dead; murdered by soldiers, by government paramilitaries, and, as was the case in Tadem, by their own neighbors. Afterwards, virtually no Armenians remained in the villages and lands in Eastern Anatolia, where they had lived throughout recorded history. Survivors, like the elder Kaloosdian, became displaced in a worldwide diaspora, focused on surviving, and trying to forget.
As a result, these survivors’ stories have rarely been told, and never more clearly. Relying largely on first-hand interviews conducted and recorded with survivors, Kaloosdian shows a consistency in their stories that should remove all doubt of their truthfulness. Either out of horror, pain, or shame, the survivors of the genocide had often remained silent about events throughout their lives. In some cases, Kaloosdian’s interviews were the first time many had recounted events, even to their own families, who would sit listening to stories of murder, escape, and explanations of old scars, literal as well as figurative, suffered at the hands of former neighbors. This was especially the case for the old women he interviewed, many of whom had seen their own children murdered before their eyes and then had suffered years of exploitation before reuniting with their families in America.
By focusing on the local experiences of a single village in a single genocide among the 20th century’s tragic list, Kaloosdian has shown the universal suffering and strength of humanity, and why individuals should never be forgotten among the grim statistics of death and murder. Additional information about “Tadem, My Father’s Village” can be found at http://www.tademmyfathersvillage.com and http://www.perpublisher.com/per183.html.
“Tadem, My Father’s Village” will be published March 1, 2015. It is 340 pages, with 120 photos and 8 maps, 7"x10" cloth cover, ISBN 978-1-942155-02-7 and retails for $28.00. It is available through all major wholesalers and all major online retailers. It is published by Peter E. Randall Publisher and distributed by the University Press of New England.
For more information on Tadem, My Father’s Village, please contact Deidre Randall, publisher, at Peter E. Randall Publisher (1-603-431-5667 or media(at)perpublisher.com), or Joyce Stein, publicist, (1-914-980-5108 or jsakidsmarketing(at)gmail.com). Author website: http://www.tademmyfathersvillage.com
