ASTRID AGHAJANIAN:ONE OF THE LAST SURVIVORS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE PASSED AWAY
Astrid Aghajanian
One of the last survivors of the Armenian Genocide, Astrid was born in
Albistan, Turkey. As a small child she and her mother were forced to
make the long trek over the Der Zor desert, where the Turkish soldiers
were robbing, raping and killing the Armenians around them. Just before
her father was killed, his last wish to Astrid’s mother was “remember
me by looking after Helen”, the name he had chosen for his daughter.
After their eventual rescue and reunion with her remaining family in
Aleppo, Astrid and her mother were taken by relatives to Palestine,
where her mother remarried. There her stepfather changed her name to
Astghig, which is something she never fully came to terms with. They
lived in Jerusalem, in the Armenian Monastery of St. James, where
her stepfather ran the printing press. She was a boarder at Schmidt’s
Convent School for girls run by German nuns.
After moving to Haifa, she taught at St. John’s School, where she
demonstrated her creative talents by choreographing dance performances
and making all the costumes and props herself.
Astrid married Gaspar Aghajanian in 1942 and after their daughters
Sophie and Edessia were born, the family moved to Tiberius where
Gaspar had been given the post of judge. Caught up in the war between
the Jews and Arabs, and trapped in the crossfire, Astrid and her two
young daughters were sent in an armed convoy to Gaspar’s sister’s
house in Amman, Jordan, where Gaspar later joined them.
Stateless for a year, Astrid and her family applied for and were
granted naturalized British Citizenship. The family decided to start
a new life in Cyprus, which was then a British colony. Gaspar got a
job in the American Monitoring Station in Kyrenia, where they built a
house, and created a wonderful garden. Astrid cultivated the flower
garden, and her husband tended the fruit trees and vegetables. She
loved having friends round for meals and was a wonderful cook. Easter
was a special time when she prepared Armenian Choereg buns and Mamoul,
traditional Arabic cakes. Food was a celebration, but Astrid was
also convinced of its healing properties. From her mother she learned
about herbal remedies, and did not put all her faith in conventional
medicine. She never took on trust anything doctors told her.
Astrid’s creativity extended to sewing and embroidery. She made her
own and her daughters’ clothes and in later years knitted beautiful
cardigans and jumpers embroidered with flowers for her grandchildren,
some of which have been passed down to her great granddaughter Lusine.
Who can forget Astrid’s knitted coat of many colours which she created
herself out of remnant bits of wool and then embroidered to produce
a stained glass effect?
In 1974, Astrid and Gaspar, who had just retired, found themselves
homeless once more after the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus and had
to start a new life yet again. They were evacuated to England,
living first with one daughter then the other and later in rented
accommodation until finally moving to Shoreham-by-Sea. Astrid and
Gaspar lived in Shoreham for 27 years, where they liked having friends
to stay, and of course what they all remember is sitting round the
dining table, talking, laughing and enjoying the delicious meals
Astrid had prepared for them. Astrid and Gaspar created a beautiful
garden on what was shingle beach, and despite being told that it was
impossible to grow most things, especially fruit trees, they proved
everybody wrong and grew apple trees, pear trees and a cherry tree.
They also had a grapevine, the leaves of which Astrid used to make
stuffed vine leaves. Some of the other ingredients for her famous
‘dolma’ came from the garden too, such as tomatoes and courgettes.
When Gaspar died in 2007, Astrid went to live first with her eldest
daughter in Belfast, then with her younger daughter in Uley. She moved
to More Hall Convent Residential Home in 2010 where she spent the
last two years of her life. She took an interest in everyone there
and made quite an impression herself, even teaching the sisters to
say a few words in Armenian!
The story of Astrid and her mother’s ordeal was recorded and is in
the archives of the Imperial War Museum. Robert Fisk included Astrid’s
account of the event in his book, The Great War for Civilization. Two
years ago she was interviewed for the Holocaust Memorial Day website.
She was very proud of having been able to do so as a tribute to her
mother and was also pleased to discover that her interview was being
shown in schools.
When Astrid and her mother were finally rescued, she was wearing
a dress made up of scraps of material her mother had salvaged. How
fitting then that when interviewed recently on film for the Holocaust
Memorial Day website, she was wearing her ‘coat of many colours’.
Astrid would tell people “I am a survivor”, but she was so much more
than that. A survivor who lived life to the full and overcame the
upheavals of her turbulent life, with elegance, creativity and spirit.
Astrid is survived by her two daughters, three grandchildren and one
great granddaughter.
The funeral will be held at Westerleigh Crematorium South
Gloucestershire on the 23rd May 2012 at 2.30pm.
For more information regarding Astrid’s
interview and video, please visit:
http://www.accc.org.uk/slider/astrid-aghajanian/
http://hmd.org.uk/resources/films/untold-stories-Astrid-aghajanian