In 1977, at seventy-one years of age, Raphael Gianighian left his Italian home to revisit the place of his childhood, the district of Khodorchur in Eastern Turkey. Immediately, his compartmentalized boyhood memories flooded his mind with the trauma and emotion he experienced in his final days there...
It's 1915. The Turkish government orders the genocide of Armenian residents. The Chetes, or Turkish Special Organization soldiers, are ravaging towns and exterminating Armenians. Only through the courage and resolution of Raphael's grandfather, and members of the American Committee for Relief, does the young boy survive this crime against humanity.
Inspired by his 1977 excursion, Raphael begins to write his slice of dark history lest it be forgotten. Then, in 2010, his son, Vartan, also visits Eastern Turkey, and the land inspires him to edit and publish his father's memoir.
Today, this moving story of survival is available to everyone. Much more than a recounting of the Armenian Genocide, it is a message of building emotional bridges that bring people closer together. It is a call to action to break down the barriers of hatred between races and religions. And it is a testimony to what can be accomplished when good people unite against oppression.
About the Author: Raphael Gianighian was born in 1906 in the Valley of Khodorchur and fortuitously survived his people's genocide by the Turkish government in 1915. After American volunteers saved him, along with other surviving Armenian orphans, he was able to build a new life in Italy.
Gianighian attended the Moorat-Raphael College in Venice, and then received a grant to earn a degree in chemistry and pharmacy at the University of Pavia. He lived out his life in Cortina at the center of the Dolomites.
After revisiting his childhood home at age seventy-one, he began to write his memoir of survival. In early 2010, his son Vartan Gianighian visited what is today Eastern Turkey and discovered his father's homeland. This experience inspired him to edit and publish his father's dramatic history.
