ARMENIA: CHILDREN WERE BROUGHT TO LEBANON, TAUGHT SKILLS BY K NZLER
by Bailey Davis, bdavis@wyomingnews.com
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
April 18, 2008 Friday
Cheyenne
CHEYENNE ââ~B¬" The words of a Swiss missionary, written in 1901,
leave a legacy that continues to guide a family.
ââ~B¬Å"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do
to you,ââ~B¬ wrote Jakob KÃ~C¼nzler in his diary over a century
ago in Turkey.
KÃ~C¼nzler dedicated his life to transporting some 8,000 orphans
out of Turkey and into Lebanon during genocide by the Turks in the
early 1900s.
Today, his family ââ~B¬" his children, grandchildren,
great-grandchildren and even great- great-grandchildren ââ~B¬"
remember stories about the man.
Many family members will begin a week-long journey to Armenia today to
honor KÃ~C¼nzlerââ~B
 C;â~D¢s work. The family is dispersed throughout
the world, but members will meet in the country where their relative
dedicated his life to bringing whatever peace he could.
A Cheyenne psychologist, Dr. Pru Marshall, will be among them. She
is the granddaughter of Papa KÃ~C¼nzler, as he was nick-named in
the early 1900s.
She is going to bear witness, she said, and to pay tribute to her
grandfather for his work and the peril he faced.
Knzler’s book, "In the Land of Blood and Tears," is his eyewitness
account of the events that took place at that time.
"I was just really shocked at how horrific it really was," Marshall
said after reading the book.
She described scenes of people’s throats being cut as if they were
being sacrificed and of women being marched, naked, through a desert
until they died.
It wasn’t safe for anyone in Turkey, she said, and that’s why her
grandfather did what he could to get orphans out of the country.
Knzler, an orphan himself, brought the children to Lebanon and taught
them marketable skills like rug-making so they could survive.
Knzler also came to the United States to lobby for his cause, and
the U.S. government supported him, Marshall said.
One of the rugs that the orphans made, which was presented to Calvin
Coolidge, hangs in the White House.
This will be her first trip to Armenia, though she did visit Lebanon
when she was a child. She said she always knew the story of her
grandfather’s work but didn’t really know what it meant until she
became an adult.
The family also will honor Knzler’s wife, Elizabeth, who Knzler said
was essential to his work, Marshall said.
A photograph of the place where a plaque for Knzler will be placed
shows a round monument with a perpetual flame at the center surrounded
by thousands of brightly colored flowers.
Marshall will speak at the dedication on behalf of her family and
her mother, who is the only living daughter of Knzler.
Her mother is 92 and is unable to make the trip.
Marshall has written her speech, which includes a piece written by
her mother:
"Allow me to pass on to you the legacy my Mama Elizabeth and my Papa
Jakob left me: Care for each other, as the Golden Rule so clearly
specifies, for I have abandoned the God of War."
That legacy – caring for one another – has permeated the family tree.
Marshall said her family is full of doctors, social workers and
human-rights activists, all professions that have to do with
alleviating the suffering of others.
"I’ve dedicated my life to being sensitive to other people’s suffering
and to alleviating it," she said.
But she is awestruck by the courage and dedication of her grandfather.
So is Marshall’s 18-year-old nephew, Jesse, who will also be traveling
to Armenia for the dedication.
He said he isn’t sure how he feels about being honored by the Armenians
for being a relative of Knzler.
After all, "it’s no thanks to me," Jesse said.
Not many people have this kind of legacy, he said, and his
grandfather’s influence has affected his whole family.
Knzler continues in his diary: "Whoever it may be, everyone wants to
receive love from someone and because of this we should give love to
everyone, whether friend or foe, whether Chinese, Negro, Indian or
a white, may they be Christians, heathens, Jews or Moslems."
–Boundary_(ID_7jLB9o1bg35d+pximd4 16Q)–