Escaping genocide and civil war. One family’s story about a dream to live in America.

I always wanted to write the story of my family’s struggle and their escape to freedom.

My dad was the only survivor among his family of ten from the Assyrian (known to many as the Armenian) genocide. It started in Turkey in 1915 during World War 1 and eventually resulted in the loss of approximately 1.2 million people.

My Dad was born in 1911 and was just four when the Turks decided to rid the Ottoman Empire of the Armenian Christian population. Dad lived in the Van Province, an area of Turkey considered to be the cradle of the Armenian civilization. His family was caught in the persecution when it started in 1915. Among those killed were my dad’s mother and father and his siblings, with the exception of one younger brother.

How my dad escaped.

He was running with his older brother, and they were holding hands. When he heard the Turkish military coming fast on horses, he hid both of them under the sea of dead bodies around them. He waited to hear when the Turkish military was gone and then set about trying to find his brother. He searched for hours, looking under piles of bodies, but his brother was nowhere to be found. Until the day my father died, he never knew what happened to his older brother. Some children were given to Muslim families, but my dad never did find out what happened.

A group of people from his town (including his aunt and uncle) came along. They took my dad and dressed him as a little girl, and then started the journey to Iraq. Essentially, they went there on foot, getting rides from time to time from people with horses.

Temporary sanctuary in Iraq.

My dad had his aunt and uncle for support when he was still a child. As he grew, he worked with the English army and found other jobs until he became more independent. Eventually, while still in Iraq, he met and married my mother who was also born in Turkey and whose family fled in 1918. My mom was born at sea in a small boat on the way to Iraq.

Together, my parents had 7 children. They moved eventually to Syria and then on to Lebanon, searching for a place to settle. But their dream was always to go to America. My mother had cousins on her dad’s side who had emigrated to the U.S., and in 1969, she moved there, staying four years until she got her green card. She went back to Lebanon to bring the rest of the family to the U.S. and freedom.

Then in 1975, the civil war broke out in Lebanon. My sister and her children escaped by boat to Greece where my mom met them – having flown from the U.S. to help. My mom worked hard to secure a visa for her daughter. She rented an apartment and went to the embassy every day for six months. Mom never gave up –and one day the visa was approved. The rest of my family eventually made it to the U.S. from Lebanon by 1987.

Life in America

Maria’s sister and her family with grandma who brought them from Lebanon

*It took three generations, but my dad kept his dream alive—a vision in his imagination that kept him going, to see his family achieve the American dream.*

We came for freedom, safety and dignity. What we wanted was a better life. And we got it. We found peace, jobs and were able to support ourselves. We have two grown sons who were born in the USA, the land of freedom and opportunities. I went back to college and got an associate degree in early education. My husband started his own jewelry business in Rogers Park. Today, I am work at a daycare center taking care of babies.

My dad’s dream of making it to America finally happened in 1974. However, it was short lived; he passed away in 1977. At least he came to the place he always dreamed of. And before coming here, he made the most of every opportunity he could find: working for the American ambassador in Lebanon where he was a chef. He even worked for the King of Saudi Arabia.

It took three generations, but my dad kept his dream alive—a vision in his imagination that kept him going. He escaped persecution in his homeland of Turkey, survived a civil war in Lebanon and lived long enough to see his family achieve the American dream.

*Marie and Family*

*“We came for freedom, safety and dignity. What we wanted was a better life. And we got it.”*

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