“They Were, (and) are no more” (Կային, Չկան) is the title of the last chapter of Antranig Zarougian’s “The Greats and the Others” (Մեծերը եւ Միւսները) book. The book casts a glimpse of the way of an intellectual group of writers as poets, novelists, journalists, and editors who propelled the post genocide Western Armenian literature to new heights that subsided with their passing away. The attached is a an abridged translated segment from that chapter. Vahe H. Apelian
- “Tell the boy to come here. We do not devour people. Let him not be scared…."
The person who is speaking at the other end of the line is Aram Andonian1 who is instructing Megerditch Barsamian. The “boy” in question is I. I had taken the handset to set up an appointment with Andonian, when at that very moment a stranger entered the shop and grabbed the handset from my hands and started talking on my behalf.
- “Aram, you know that we middle easterners are addicted to coffee and in this town only you and I know how to make middle eastern coffee. But poor fellow, you do not have coffee. Therefore, I am taking the boy with me. Tomorrow he will meet you, by then I am hoping that you will procure coffee, if you can that is, good luck. Bye for now…."
Without asking me and after setting up my appointment on my behalf, he introduced himself
- Levon Shirian (Լեւոն Շիրեան)
His name did not ring a bell. I did not know any writer or a party activist by that name or anyone else for that matter. I hoped he was not also one of those who had made a fortune on the black market and was more than eager to show me the trappings of the fortune he made during the war. The war had recently ended and among the widespread misery in the country there were those who had made a fortune. There were a good number of them. You could even tell them from twenty steps away, from the way they walked, dressed and the air of contentment they carried on their faces.
The previous evening, I had become the victim to one of them, our own Hagop from our days in the orphanage. He dragged me to his house, kept me for dinner and ruined my evening. There was not a cup of water I drank, or a cup of coffee I sipped that was not accompanied by a lengthy explanation: “ Mon Vieaux, old chap, I hope you did not mistake it for glass. It’s pure crystal”, and when it came to the dishes: “Did you see the logo of the castle imprinted on them? When it came to old fashioned armchairs, “these are from Countess Matilda’s house!”
And now this Shirian, with his daring demeanor, carefree disposition, reminded me of Hagop. I looked with an apprehension to Barsamian covertly conveying my intention of declining the offer and expecting an affirmation from him. He understood my predicament and with an air assurance told me:
- “Go, go, you will not regret.”
We went. He was a cheerful man. His house resembled the untidy and unkept bachelor’s den. As far as I remember he lived next to his small socks manufacturing factory he ran. As to the coffee, although he had bragged about his coffee preparing skills it turned out to be the type that you feel like pouring it on the person after having taken one sip. But instinctively I knew that he did not lack the skills, he was simply in a hurry to show me a moment too soon his prized treasure.
He opened the door of a room, much like people open the door of holy sanctum or holy of holies, slowly, ceremoniously and with reverence. And with a gentleness that contradicted his audacious personality, led me inside.
- "Step in please."
It was quite large room. All the walls were literally coated with books. What kind of books? Only and only pertaining to Dikran the Great. There is nothing unusual about a room full of books. But such a vast collection of books pertaining only to one person, Dikran the Great, and one subject, the empire he carved, is rare, especially that the collection had been realized painstakingly by the relentless efforts of a single person. I had not seen such a collection of books before and I have not seen since.
Hundreds of books in whatever language, suffice that the Dikran the Great’s name was mentioned in a single sentence or reference is made to Dikran the Great in any way. Then maps, sculptures, coins, and more maps, large and small, in Armenian, French, Latin or Greek. Any depiction of the empire Dikran the Great carved, that showed the outward boundaries of his empire and depicted the glory of Dikran the Great was in his collection.
Levon was standing still in the middle of the room and was savoring my amazement and astonishment.
- “What?”, he spoke finally and said: “seeing me in my work garmet covered with dust, you took me for a miller.”
Levon Shirian was an educated person. He was an ardent literary man and a committed Dikranophile. His life’s mission had been amassing that library about Dikran the Great and the empire he carved.
After forty years, Levon Shirian and the library he had amassed that included rare books and maps are no more.
What happened to Levon Shirian and his collection?
They were, are no more.
*****
1. Aram Andonian was born in Constantinople. There he edited the Armenian journals Luys (Light) and Dzaghik (Flower) and the newspaper Surhandak (Herald). Andonian then went on to serve in the department of military censorship of the Ottoman Empire. He was arrested by order of interior minister Talat Pasha of the Ottoman Empire on the eve of April 24, 1915, and joined the large number of Armenian notables who were deported from the Ottoman capital. Andonian was deported to Chankiri, then, halfway there, returned to Ankara and was deported again to the camps in the Ra's al-'Ayn and Meskene. However, Andonian survived in Aleppo in the underground.[3] When British forces occupied Aleppo, a lower-level Turkish official, Naim Bey collaborated with Aram Andonian in publishing his memoirs, an account of the deportation of the Armenians. The Memoirs of Naim Bey were published in 1920, and are sometimes referred to as the "Andonian Telegrams" or the "Talat Pasha Telegrams." The telegrams are purported to constitute direct evidence that the Armenian genocide of 1915–1917 was state policy of the Ottoman Empire. They were introduced as evidence in the trial of Soghomon Tehlirian.
According to Robert Melson, Andonian's report on post-1915 deportations and killings of Armenians are crucial for the research of that period.
From 1928 to 1951 Andonian directed the Nubarian Library in Paris, and succeeded in hiding and saving most of the collection during the German occupation of Paris. He also worked to collect eyewitness testimonies of the genocide.
He is the author of a Complete Illustrated History of the Balkan War (Vol. 1–5, 1912–1913), published originally in Armenian. (Wikipedia)
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