Washington, D.C. - Mr. Speaker, I rise to announce the publication of an English translation of Passage Through Hell: A Memoir. The original version was written in l955 by Armenian poet, educator and author Armen Anush. It has been published by Hagop and Klar Manjikian on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Armen Anush was an eyewitness to the deportation and massacre of Armenians by the Turks during l9l5-l9l6. On April 24, l9l5, the Turkish government began to arrest Armenian community members and political leaders. Many were executed without ever being charged with crimes. Then the government deported most Armenians from Turkish Armenia, ordering that they resettle in what is now Syria. Many deportees never reached that destination.
From l9l5 to l9l8, more than a million Armenians died of starvation and disease on long marches, or were massacred outright by Turkish forces. From l9l8 to l923, Armenians continued to suffer at the hands of the Turkish military, which eventually removed all remaining Armenians from Turkey. The Armenian Genocide was a tragedy not only for the Armenian people but a tragedy for all humanity. Passage through Hell: A Memoir is critically important because it recounts the horrors of genocide and the psychological impact it had on the survivors.
I hope the day will soon come when it is not just the survivors who honor the dead but also when those whose ancestors perpetrated the horrors acknowledge their terrible responsibility and commemorate the memory of genocide’s victims. This book should be read by all whose ancestors were in any way involved and by everyone who cares about understanding history.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me today in paying tribute to Hagop and Klar Manjikian for making this important book available in English.
