Vergeen: A Survivor of the Armenian Genocide

Since I am a descendant of survivors of the Armenian genocide in Turkey, the story of Vergeen has tremendous meaning to me. The Armenian genocide had forever changed the complexion of my ancestors' lives in both my mother's and father's families. It's a miracle I am here today since both sides of my family witnessed and experienced such atrocities. From the moment I began Vergeen, I couldn't put it down. I was captivated. Every emotion filtered through my body and soul. Mainly I cried. I cried a lot. Although painfully sad, this book is soul enriching. Mae M. Derdarian, the author, did a superb job in writing the book. Vergeen is a must read.

Both my wife and I use Mae Derdarian's book in our college courses, she in her course on Women's Studies, and myself in a course on the Genocide. I am a published author and have published analyses of the genocide in professional academic journals. My wife and I are in personal contact with Derdarian and only can praise the book and its impact on our students. Derdarian tells the story of her mother's friend, Vergeen, who survived rape, starvation, and mutilation at the hands of the Young Turk regime in the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Vergeen entrusted Derdarian with her autobiography, which Derdarian edited into this book. It is a moving portrayal of life and death, with no punches pulled. Usually it is difficult to engage students in a thoughtful, critical discussion of a trade book in a college course. This book was clearly the exception to the rule. Students who were normally reticient in class spoke openly about the examples of torture and murder that are entwined in Vergeen's life. One student was so moved that he started his own correspondence with Derdarian. All of the students in our classes have told us, "Once I picked the book up, I could not put it down," and "This book is a testament to the human spirit." It is that powerfully written. There are many people on these boards who decry any story of the Armenian Genocide, calling it "fake" or "a piece of Armenian propaganda" and publishing the same canned responses over and over. I am not Armenian by birth or by blood. I am trained in history and historical research as well as in communication and persuasion. I have done my own research into the genocide. And I can assert from an outsider's perspective that this book accurately tells the tale. It is not easy to read what happened. But by no means should you let apologists for the Republic of Turkey scare you away from making the best purchase of your life in buying this book for your own collection. Read it. Be horrified by it. Tell friends and neighbors about it, as my students did. And never, never forget the lessons it teaches.

I use this book in a HS class I teach on Genocide and Human Behavior. Even though it is taught during the dreaded "senior spring," once the kids start reading this book, they can not put it down (That should be enough of a testment to read the book). I actually only assign a portion of the text but most of the kids end up finishing the story on their own. Vergeen's story of the Armenian Genocide works for we see the horrors of the "Young Turks" regime through the eyes of a teenager. That being said, it is just as powerful a story for adults. I know there are more famous titles on this subject out there but none more powerful...

The ignorance of people who chose to deny that the Armenians suffered what can only be called a genocide is most infuriating. Over a million Armenians were killed (out of a pre-war population of 3 million) and the fact that the Turkish government, blatantly contradicting their own court documents from the trials of the Young Turks, try to claim that the Armenians were merely being punished for rebellious activities is ludicrous. My great grandmother's 12 year old sister was killed, you mean to say that she was some kind of rebel? Armenians, women and children included, were led on death marches and suffered mass drownings. Is this how a country combats rebels? Blaming the Armenians for what happened in 1915 is like blaming a rape victim for the crime committed against them. Don't allow the ignorance of a few people, or even entire countries, to deter you from reading this book. Great literature like this will hopefully influence our government and our people, so that one day the deaths of the Armenians will be acknowledged, and the dead can be vindicated.

There is no doubt that the ARMENIAN HOLOCAUST of 1915 occurred. This fact has been verified by such diverse men as HENRY MORGENTHAU, Ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916 ("When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact. . . . I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.")and ADOLPH HITLER (whose famous phrase "Who today still speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?" is etched on a granite wall in the US Holocaust Museum). For more historical information, read Henry Morgenthau's book on-line at [another website]. History comes alive in the book "Vergeen", the true story of a 13 year old Armenian girl who suffers the death of her mother, and other endless atrocities during the forced march of the "death caravans". Turkish guards sell Vergeen to an Arabic nomad, where for one year she is a Bedouin slave, tattooed on her forehead and chin as a sign of servitude. Thanks to her own indomitable will and personality, Vergeen escapes and survives to start a new life in the United States, where she and her new family prosper. In 1943, after 8 years of hard study, Vergeen is the commencement speaker at her own high school graduation. Her life is complete when her sons find a doctor who, after an entire year of operations, is successful in removing Vergeen's facial tattoos.