Once Upon a Time

In 1922, the brothers Tsolak and Aram Dildilyan permanently left Anatolia. With less than 24 hours to prepare, they, hurrying to pack their belongings, chose to leave behind their personal possessions so they could fit hundreds of glass negatives into their suitcases. Traveling via Odesa and Istanbul, they arrived in Piraeus as refugees during the second week of November 1922.

If one day your path leads you to Thessaloniki and you sit down for a cup of coffee, do not forget that the enchanting aroma drifting through the air contains not only roasted beans, but also Ohannes’ hand grinder, Saram’s courage, and the stories of Armenian refugees who had to make a city whose language and roads they did not know into their home.

Members of the Athens team, Mike, Anaïs, and Reverend Vicken Cholakian, had already been in the region for a week, working on the digitization of Armenian communal materials preserved in various cities of Western Thrace.

Lale Kıraathanesi on Tavukçu Fethi Street in Pangaltı recently closed its doors. It is currently undergoing rapid renovation. When I stopped by, the chairs had been taken away, the counter and the stove were dismantled, and the “tea time” sign on the wall had been taken down, though the sign on the window was still in place.

The newspaper archives of the Samuelian Bookstore in the heart of Paris, a vital landmark of Armenian cultural heritage, are being transformed into a digital map through AI technology. Calfa and its partners have entered a new phase to uncover Armenian shops, associations, and social life in 20th-century Paris.

I began my journey to learn of these forgotten communities some 7 years ago, prompted by a volley of questions I posed to my great-aunt concerning my father’s maternal lineage. Entirely unaware of the impact of her reply, my great-aunt remarked, without sentiment, that my great-grandmother was from Burdur.