The California Courier Online, September 26, 2019
1 – Armin Wegner Asked Franz Werfel
Not to Write his ‘40 Days of Musa Dagh’
Part IV (Final)
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Over 10,000 Gather in Los Angeles to Welcome PM Nikol Pashinyan
3 – AAF Ships Over $62M of Medicines to Armenia, Artsakh
4- Captain Garo Kuredjian Selected as New Police Chief of Fillmore
5- City Council Moves to Rename Tujunga Intersection ‘William
Saroyan Square’
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1 – Armin Wegner Asked Franz Werfel
Not to Write his ‘40 Days of Musa Dagh’
Part IV (Final)
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
The California Courier has published in a four-part series the
exchange between the two historic figures Armin Wegner and Franz
Werfel. This is the final installment.
Of course, I do not know your own connection with Asia Minor, and I
can be fooled by guessing it. Strangely, I have found that the Jewish
soul, in the frame of German and Prussian characters, makes them
better able to imagine than the majority of German poets can, that
this Asian soul usually stands much further away and stays more alien
to the descendant of the European crusaders. This probably has its
deep foundation in the law of antagonism.
I have no right to ask you to give up your project. That probably
wouldn’t help much either. But you will certainly not be grateful to
me if I, who from the first moment of our meeting, passionately loved
and venerated your poetic work, ask you to consider all my thoughts,
which I submit to you here. Precisely because I appreciate you, not
only as a writer, but I also know the depth of your humanity, I can do
so with a clear conscience. Perhaps it will cause you to drop an
unfinished project that has barely begun, or to go beyond to design a
shorter novelistic study, as it originally began?
I need not emphasize the immense gratitude and the deep reassurance
that would fulfill me, having the opportunity to complete and market
my work without fear of competition. Truly, I cannot give up my
project, which has become my mission from my deepest, profound
experience, for which I have sacrificed laborious years of toil under
the greatest hardships and struggles, and for the sake of it, stood in
the background for so long.”
Werfel responded on Dec. 23, 1932 from Vienna: “Let me first briefly
tell you the story of the formation of my Armenian novel. Since the
war, I have been to the Middle East twice (for several months) – the
first time in 1925, the second time in 1929. In Damascus, I had a
shocking experience with Armenian children, which, to some extent,
made an epic plan virulent in me, which already existed since I first
heard of these things; perhaps just after the war. I do not know for
exactly how long. Oftentimes, in my method of writing, the dramatic or
epic plans grow in the darkness for many years before they are strong
enough to entice me to work. (I wrote the Verdi novel part time in
1911 and completed it in 1923.) In the case of my Armenian novel, I
started studying and sketching only last year. Of course, the work
progressed rapidly during the summer, and today I have already
finished more than half of my book. (around 400 printed pages.)
Be that as it may, I naturally like to acknowledge your primary
concern and bow to you for being an eyewitness. However, I am almost
reluctant to point out that there is no material legitimacy in the
field of poetry [creative writing]. You indicate it several times in
your letter. There are, perhaps, ‘personal’ substances that may belong
to the peculiarity of a particular writer – the World War, with all
its chapters, of which the Armenian tragedy is one, may by no means
count on these substances. Fairly considered, you have in your great
experience and your fateful connectedness, a tremendous advantage over
me, who cannot create his work based on experience, direct exposure,
grasp of senses, but only from imagination, inventiveness and thus
some historical documents. With such a competition, therefore, the
worry should be far more on my side.
But I believe, dear Wegner, that we can both be very calm, because our
works will certainly be completely different. Mine uses documented
facts of only one single episode that covers a few pages in the Alster
collection of Lepsius. The episode serves me as the framework for a
universal human happening, for a symbolic development, for figures
purely invented, it is not an end in itself but only an occasion. Nor
will there be much talk of atrocities and massacres in my book. I will
set aside all the documentary stuff. The human destiny of the invented
characters alone will be important. The scene I am referring to, the
contents of which have become known to you through the newspapers, has
very little to do with the actual novel. The scene I am referring to,
the contents of which have become known to you through the newspapers,
has very little to do with the actual novel. A multi-volume work like
yours will project a gigantic and magnificent painting of the Armenian
destiny, with ten thousand details. While mine, I hope, will be a
story limited to a certain region and a small fragment of people. The
emphasis will be more on the mythical-human side rather than the
Armenian cause.
Lastly, I am surprised about the muffled suspicion that sounds from
certain lines of your letter.
You are suggesting that I had heard of your correspondence with the
Prussian Academy and Paul Zsolnay Publishing House, and might have
been inspired to write my Armenian novel. In fact, I entered the
meeting room of the Poets Academy for the first time in my life
fourteen days ago, and, as far as publishing correspondence is
concerned, my own stuff is already annoying enough.
But is it possible that you seriously believe that the facts of your
work could stimulate my choice of substance and put you off your work?
You are a poet and, therefore, you know that it is not us who choose
the substance, but the substance chooses us. Nothing is more sensible
to me than that everything I write is essential, i.e., dictated from
within.
Until yesterday, from your books I had only the beautiful volume ‘The
Face of the Cities,’ which I admire and love very much. Unfortunately,
I haven’t read any of your prose. Since I work a lot, I read almost no
novels or short stories. I just got the mail with your open letter to
Wilson. The real glow of your words deeply moved me.
Please do not overestimate the rivalry of our works. They go different ways.
For me, and globally, you are a great authority on the Armenian cause,
through knowledge, experience, and connectedness. This was shown to me
in just the few pages I went through yesterday. The glow of these
pages, however, also suggests that your publisher cannot be unhappy,
even when another, be it a layman or artist, tries to serve the same
mission.”
Fortunately, Franz Werfel was not dissuaded by Wegner to give up his
plans to write “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh.” On the other hand,
Wegner published only the first volume of his planned four-volume
book, depriving the world of his precious eyewitness accounts of the
Armenian Genocide.
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2- Over 10,000 Gather in Los Angeles to Welcome PM Nikol Pashinyan
LOS ANGELES (Combined Sources)—Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was
appointed and then elected to his post after leading a wave of
anti-government protests between March and May of 2018 that led to the
resignation of former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan in what has become
known as the Velvet Revolution — and has been widely hailed as a
harbinger of democracy by championing free elections and government
transparency.
“We have created a new image for Armenia,” said Pashinyan after
lauding the warm California welcome in Armenian, the diaspora crowd
chanting his name.
“We have developed a new slogan: It’s cool to be Armenian,” he said.
“And together we have to make it even better, because the Armenian
people is one of a great history and past. And our country has a
bright future.”
Los Angeles City councilmember Paul Krekorian, who became the first
Armenian elected to city office in 2010, played a leading role in
organizing the rally. Burbank Rep. Adam Schiff also addressed the
crowd, calling LA the “capitol of the Armenian diaspora.”
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti praised Pashinyan’s leadership, saying “A day
of sunshine has come to Armenia, a day of openness, of democracy. The
day has come to invest and support and help the new Armenia rise, and
rise and rise under this prime minister.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said “It was an
incredible privilege to welcome His Excellency Prime Minster of
Armenia Nikol Pashinyan to Los Angeles County! His wisdom and
dedication to democracy are inspiring. It’s a privilege to collaborate
and share best practices to make our communities stronger.”
“Thank you everyone who joined us on such a spectacular and historic
day to welcome the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol
Pashinyan / Nikol Pashinyan and spouse Anna Hakobyan! Thank you
Councilmember Paul Krekorian for hosting this wonderful event to honor
a true champion of democracy,” said California State Assemblymember
Adrin Nazarian.
The majority of attendees, clapping and dancing along to traditional
music and dance performances on the steps of City Hall, came in
predominately from such Armenian community population centers as
Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena and the San Fernando Valley. Buses to
downtown Los Angeles were made available to the communities.
While estimations of the Armenian population in Greater LA vary, the
2000 census reported over 150,000 Armenians in LA County with some
40,000 living in the San Fernando Valley.
“We’re here to honor and welcome him, for having led the revolution
and cleaning up corruption,” said Hrair Koutnouyan of Glendale, who
came to see Pashinyan with his wife. “A government that’s without
stealing and cheating isn’t something that’s easily accepted, but he’s
proving it can be done.”
Some, like 24-year-old Ani Dergrigorian of Glendale, who has lived in
Armenia, is “optimistic” about Pashinyan’s leadership but hopes to
hold him to account on issues facing every day Armenians. She and her
sister, Areni, brought signs that demanded an end to environmentally
harmful mining practices in the nation’s Almusar region.
“Maybe we don’t feel the impacts as much here, but it’s more important
than ever for us to be engaged in politics in Armenia,” she said.
“We’re all facing climate change on the same planet. At the end of the
day it impacts us too.”
Monterey Park doctor Jack Der-Sarkissian said he was moved by the
“optimism and enthusiasm” in Armenia following the Pashinyan-led
protests, what he and his supporters call the “Velvet Revolution.”
He’s listening for proof that the leader will be the steward of
democracy he said he would.
“A lot of people in Los Angeles will financially invest in their
families and Armenia needs it,” he said. “At the end of the day he
needs to convince people like myself that it’s the right time to
invest in Armenia. He has a lot of work ahead of him.”
Pashinyan said victory in the Artsakh liberation struggle would not be
possible without the assistance of the Diaspora. He noted that the
United States has steadfastly assisted Armenia and the Armenian
people.
On the morning of September 22, Pashinyan met with the executives of a
number of Armenian community organizations. The meeting was attended
by nearly 70 people, Armenia’s Honorary Consuls in Fresno and Las
Vegas, as well as spiritual representatives of the Armenian community.
“This is an important meeting that we have looked forward to since
last year. From the moment I stepped out of the airport, I felt the
presence of the Los Angeles Armenian community—a and I want to thank
them for this readiness. I will have many occasions to speak today—so
at today’s meeting, I am taking the role of a listener,” said
Pashinyan, who said he was eager to answer all questions.
Pashinyan introduced the vision of implementing a pan-Armenian agenda
and the idea of pan-Armenianism; discussed the figures of Armenia’s
economic development and positive trends; tourism; the settlement
process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict; as well as the ongoing
structural reforms in judiciary, and public administration system,
among other issues.
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3 – AAF Ships Over $62M of Medicines to Armenia, Artsakh
GLENDALE—The Armenia Artsakh Fund (AAF) delivered the phenomenal
amount of over $62 million of humanitarian assistance to Armenia and
Artsakh from May-September 2019.
The AAF itself collected the $62 million of medicines and other
supplies donated by Direct Relief ($59.5 million); Americares ($2.3
million); Catholic Medical Mission Board ($360,000); MAP International
($9,000) and Row Foundation ($2,500).
Other organizations which contributed valuable goods during this
period were: Project Agape ($97,000) and Armenian Missionary
Association of America ($282,000).
The medicines and medical supplies donated during this period were
sent to the Health Ministries of Armenia and Artsakh, AGBU Claudia
Nazarian Medical Center for Syrian Armenian Refugees in Yerevan,
Arabkir United Children’s Foundation, Armenian Missionary Association
of America, City of Smile, Fund for Armenian Relief, Institute of
Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology Center, Metsn Nerses
Charitable Organization, Muratsan Children’s Endocrinology Center,
National Hematology Center and St. Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center.
In the first nine months of 2019 AAF shipped to Armenia and Artsakh
$67 million of medicines, medical supplies and other relief products.
In the past 30 years, including the shipments under its predecessor,
the United Armenian Fund, the AAF has delivered to Armenia and Artsakh
a grand total of $892 million worth of relief supplies on board 158
airlifts and 2,447 sea containers.
“The Armenia Artsakh Fund is regularly offered free of charge millions
of dollars worth of life-saving medicines and medical supplies. All we
have to do is pay for the shipping expenses. We would welcome your
generous donations to be able to continue delivering this valuable
assistance to all medical centers in Armenia and Artsakh,” stated
Harut Sassounian, President of AAF.
[email protected].
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4- Captain Garo Kuredjian Selected as New Police Chief of Fillmore
FILLMORE, Calif.—The city of Fillmore has selected Captain Garo
Kuredjian as its next police chief. Kuredjian has been selected to
replace outgoing chief Captain Eric Tennessen, after the announcement
of his upcoming promotion to commander.
Kuredjian is a 25-year veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
During his career, he has worked patrol and custody, and has an
extensive background in investigations which include assignments in
the city of Thousand Oaks and Moorpark, as well as Internal Affairs.
As a captain, Garo worked as a patrol watch commander, and he served
as the Sheriff’s adjutant and public information officer. Most
recently, he managed facility operations at the Pre-Trial Detention
Facility in Ventura.
Kuredjian brings a diverse background to his new position, including a
bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Los
Angeles, and a master’s degree in public administration from
California State University at Northridge. He lives in Simi Valley
with his family.
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5- City Council Moves to Rename Tujunga Intersection ‘William
Saroyan Square’
On September 11, Los Angeles City Council members Monica Rodriguez and
Paul Krekorian brought forward a motion to name the intersection on
the corner of Commerce Blvd. and Valmont street in Tujunga as “William
Saroyan Square”.
According to the motion, “William Saroyan was a prolific
Armenian-American writer of plays, short stories and novels. Saroyan’s
works portray the immigrant experience in the United States. He drew
upon his own childhood as the son of Armenian immigrants in Fresno for
inspiration. He has over 4,000 literary works to his credit, dating
from the late 1920s to the early 1980s. He wrote The Human Comedy,
which earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Motion Picture
Story in 1943. Saroyan refused the Pulitzer Prize for his play The
Time of Your Life on the grounds that it was ‘no more great or good’
than anything else he had written.
The motion continues, “Saroyan is recognized as one of the most
notable literary figures of the mid-20th century. The Armenian
community in Sunland-Tujunga is especially proud of Saroyan’s place in
history. It is fitting that we commemorate his life by naming the
intersection of Commerce Ave. and Valmont St., in his honor. Commerce
Ave. is home to the Annual Sunland-Tujunga Armenian Festival which
celebrates and brings awareness to Armenian art and culture.”
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