Jennie Garabedian
Jennie is a direct descendant of Armenian genocide survivors, who shares the story of her mother's journey and how she was able to survive and eventually get to America.
Both her father and mother were born in the Village of Garmery, now called Yedeguz, in the Province of Kharpert, Vilayet of Mamuratul Aziz. Her father was born in 1884 and her mother in 1886.
Her mother Diruhi Dertorossian lived with her two children Hagop and Yeghsa in Ottoman Turkey when the genocide began, within the town of Harpoot located in the Elazig Province of present-day Turkey. During the time of the genocide, her mother had to go into hiding from place to place for a number of years. The three were eventually able to leave Harpoot and ended up in Aleppo, Syria, which was at a sort of refugee camp, along with her mother's sister-in-law and several nieces and nephews.
In her memoir, Jennie talks about the route they may have taken to get to Aleppo, saying "I have often wondered about the route they took from Garmery to Aleppo. I believe they went southwest. She talked about being in Berecik, Severik, and Urfa and entering Syria in Jerabulus. From there they went to Aleppo. From what I can remember, their form of transportation was sometimes araba (wagon) and sometimes walking."
The first picture is described by Jennie in detail:
"This is my mother and brother and sister in Aleppo after they had been there for about a year or so. They went to Aleppo in 1922. So I would guess this is about 1923. And I know my mother looks a little better here than she did in the earlier picture. She was wearing a şalvar. That's when they first arrived with her nephews and so forth, everybody that she had saved there."
The second photo is also in Aleppo, where Jennie's mother Diruhi Garabedian is pictured with her nephew, where they came from Elazeg village, alongside some other family members. Both these photos carry significant meaning in Diruhi's journey, while also being pictured alongside her family that were with her at the time.
After working in America throughout the years of the genocide, Jennie's father was able to locate her mother in 1924.
"He asked around and found where the people from Harpoot were living, and he found them and he found that they were alive. At that point, he was able to bring my mother and my sister to America."
The family settled in New Britain, Connecticut, and it took a few extra years for her brother to make it as he was over age when they first moved back to America.
The photo shows Diruhi and Toros when they first got to America, marking a big turning point for the family where they started their lives in a different country after Jennie's mother and siblings had made it through the time of the genocide.