Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
April 20 2006
Generations after genocide
By Melody Hanatani/ Staff Writer
Thursday, April 20, 2006
When Belmont resident Lois Malconian had twins, she thought it was odd.
She asked her father, “How could this happen? It’s not in our
family.” Her father replied that his grandmother had three sets of
twins, all of whom were killed in the Armenian genocide.
As the 91st anniversary of the genocide approaches, Malconian,
a third-generation Armenian-American, is commemorating the tragedy
with her family and her community this week.
She remembers growing up in Belmont hearing stories about the genocide
from her grandparents who immigrated to the United States in the
1920s when they were still children.
She and her husband Ron, whose grandparents also came to the United
States around the 1920s, have passed on the stories to their own
three children.
Ron Malconian recalls how his grandmother refused to cut her
hair because women shaved their heads during the genocide to look
unattractive in order to avoid rape.
“To her it was something precious,” he said.
Lois recalled how her grandmother would become angry and cry when
she talked about the genocide.
“Your great-grandparents went through a lot,” Lois has told her
children.
As a 10-year-old, Lois would hear emotional stories about the genocide
from her grandmother. Lois’ children say their learning experience
was less emotional.
Vicky Tomasian, a first-generation Armenian-American whose parents
both survived the genocide, said it was difficult for the immigrants
to talk about their experiences.
Tomasian, who grew up in Watertown and now lives in Belmont, said the
younger generation of Armenian-Americans seem to be more knowledgeable
about the genocide because there are more books and articles published
about the subject.
“So much has happened in the last 30 years,” she said. “I know more
now than I did growing up.”
Staying together
Many Armenian immigrants arrived in Watertown around the early 1900s
and began working at the former Hood rubber plant, according to Marc
A. Mamigonian, director of programs and publications at the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research, located in Belmont.
“Like any other [ethnic] community, others tend to follow,” he said.
There are numerous Armenian churches in Cambridge, Watertown and
Belmont. Though religion helps bring the community together, Mamigonian
said it also serves as a divider because of the different denominations
within the Armenian community. The main one is the Armenian Apostolic
Church, he said.
Tomasian said family and religion are important to the Armenian
community in and around Belmont.
She stays connected to her culture through her church, and through
the Armenian Women’s Educational Club, which was co-founded by her
grandmother who immigrated to the United States more than 80 years
ago. Tomasian is the president of the club today, and her mother also
once headed the organization.
The club awards about four college scholarships each year to
Armenian-American high school seniors from Metropolitan Boston.
External factors also unite the ethnic group.
According to Mamigonian, the current Turkish government’s denial of
the Armenian genocide has helped unify the local Armenian-American
community.
“That is certainly something that holds the community together,”
he said. “Whether that is a good thing or not is a different story.”
Generational divide
Lois and Ron Malconian have never been to Armenia, but their eldest
daughter, Sarah, visited in 2004 as part of the Cambridge-Yerevan
Sister City Secondary School Partnership Program, an exchange program
to promote democracy, which brings high school students from Belmont
and surrounding communities to Armenia each year.
Now a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst,
Sarah said she sensed a cultural rift between herself and the native
Armenians during her stay.
She said she was chastised because she could not speak Armenian.
Sarah said she definitely values her camaraderie with her fellow
Armenians and Armenian-Americans.
“A big part of being Armenian is keeping the Armenian bond alive,”
she said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
