The Genocide Education Project 5 iwitness Photo Activity
i witness
An Exhibit By The Genocide Project
Oral and Visual Documentation of Survivors of the Armenian Genocide
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ARA OSHAGAN AND LEVON PARIAN
The exhibit is also available online at http://www.teachgenocide.com/survivoraccounts
EDWARD RACOUBIAN
born 1906, Sepasdia (Sivas)
We walked for many days, occasionally running across
small lakes and rivers. After awhile we saw corpses on the
shores of these lakes. Then we began seeing them along
the path: twisted corpses, blackened by the sun and
bloated. Their stench was horrible. Vultures circled the
skies above us, waiting for their evening meal.
At one point, we came upon a small hole in the
ground. It was a little deeper than average height and 25-
30 people could easily fit in it. We lowered ourselves
down into it. There was no water in it but the bottom
was muddy. We began sucking on the mud. Some of the
women made teats with their shirts filled with mud and
suckled on them like children. We were there for about a
half hour. If we hadn’t been forced out, that would have
been our best grave.
Many days later we reached the Euphrates River and
despite the hundreds of bodies floating in it, we drank
from it like there was no tomorrow. We quenched our
thirst for the first time since our departure. They put us
on small boats and we crossed to the other side. From
there we walked all the way to Ras-ul-Ain.
Of a caravan of nearly 10,000 people, there were now
only some of us 300 left. My aunt, my sisters, my
brothers had all died or disappeared. Only my mother
and I were left. We decided to hide and take refuge with
some Arab nomads. My mother died there under their
tents. They did not treat me well they kept me hungry
and beat me often and they branded me as their own.