Congressional Record
June 7, 2005 (Extensions)]
ANNOUNCING THE PUBLICATION OF AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF PASSAGE THROUGH
HELL: A MEMOIR
HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to announce the publication of an
English translation of Passage Through Hell: A Memoir. The original
version was written in 1955 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 1915-1916. On April 24, 1915, 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 1915 to 1918, more than a million Armenians died of starvation
and disease on long marches, or were massacred outright by Turkish
forces. From 1918 to 1923, 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.
