By Maurice Missak Kelechian,
My journey with the “Armenian Orphan Rug” started on May, 2005 in Beirut, Lebanon when a friend of mine, Sassoun, brought me an Armenian book and said, “I got this book at the flea market for 25 cents. Here, take it. I know you are into this stuff.” By then, I was deeply involved in my research of the American orphanages established between 1915 and 1930 and their treatment of the orphans.
The book was printed in 1946 celebrating Jacob Kunzler, a Swiss missionary, and his 40 years of dedicated service to humanity saving Armenians all the way from Urfa in Turkey to Syria and Lebanon. Hence, his well-deserved, honorific title “Papa,” the father of the orphans.
As I quickly scanned the pages of the book a headline caught my eyes: “The Rug Factory.” I was mesmerized by the historical details and the human stories involved – stories of destruction, crimes against humanity, philanthropy, survival, and sacrifices made by the Americans that saved a whole generation of Armenian survivors, that is, the majority of the parents and grandparents of the Armenian-Americans.
Little did I know that a 25 cent book from the flea market will take me on a journey to discover a jewel, a love story between a nation on the verge of annihilation and a hero who became an ardent fighter for true democracy.
The story of the “Armenian Orphan Rug” started way before the 25 cent book came to exist.
In September 3, 1915, witnessing firsthand the atrocities against minorities in Anatolia (now Turkey), Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey at that time, sends the following telegram to the U.S. State Department: “Destruction of the Armenian race in Turkey is progressing rapidly. Will you suggest to Cleveland Dodge, Charles Crane, John Mott, [Rabbi] Stephen Wise and others to form a committee to raise funds and provide means to save some of the Armenians.” – Cleveland Hadley Dodge, President of Phelps Dodge; Charles R. Crane, Businessman/Industrialist; John R Mott, Secretary of the International Committee of the Y.M.C.A., Rabbi Stephen Wise, co-founder of NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and President of the American Jewish Congress.
Within two weeks, under the leadership of Cleveland H. Dodge and James L Barton, the “American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief” was founded. The members of the committee were composed mainly of multi-religious, prominent Americans as well as the “American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions” that was already operating in Anatolia.
Funds in aggregate of $60,000 were immediately raised and sent to Ambassador Morgenthau in Turkey to be used as emergency relief to help Armenian survivors of mass deportation, disease and hunger. This was the dawning of the miracle of Near East Relief (NER) and its unique philanthropic operations worldwide strongly supported by all the branches of the U.S. government, its three bold presidents; Wilson, Harding and Coolidge, and the American people.
The U.S. State Department’s call for immediate action to assist the survivors shook the core democratic values of the Americans. Under the leadership of three presidents and the U.S. Congress, helping save the Armenian nation from perishing became a matter of moral duty, constitutional principle, and national integrity.
Presidential Decrees:
On August 31, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed “Saturday, October 21st and Sunday October 22nd, as joint days for people of United States to make contributions to rescue Armenian survivors.”
In January of 1923, President Harding appealed to the American people to make contributions “towards the maintenance for these children in commemoration of the Armenian anniversary of Christ’s birth.”
On October 26, 1923, President Coolidge announced “International Golden Rule Sunday Dinner”– which falls between Thanksgiving and Christmas – as the observance day where Americans nationwide eat orphanage-size food instead of their lavish Sunday dinner and donate the difference to raise funds for Near East Relief to assist the Armenian survivors.
The Military Community
On January 19, 1920, U.S. Major-General James G. Harbord, who had just returned from Turkey said, “There are many thousands of children, many of whom have lost both parents and do not even know their own names. The Near East Relief is working with splendid courage and in spite of inadequate funds to save these little children. Their work is worthy of and demands the support of all Americans. Mutilation, violation, torture, and death have left their haunting memories in a hundred beautiful Armenian valleys, and the traveler in that region is seldom free from evidence of this most colossal crime of all the ages…”
The Business Community
On December 27, 1921, Charles M Schwab, president of U.S. Steel Corporation and later of Bethlehem Steel declared, “Schwab for Near East Fund Indorses Plan of Adoption of 5000 Waifs (Armenian orphans).”
Members of the Lions Club of Rochester New York observed Bundle Day for the Near East Relief by donating their clothing to Armenian refugees then marching through main streets of the city in barrels!
The American Community
The American people’s response to a NER campaign to raise 30 million dollars to aid the Armenian victims ended up with raising 117 million dollars ($2.8 billion in today’s US dollars). The compassion and the commitment to make a difference on the part of the American people was overwhelming:
All three first ladies (Wilson, Harding and Coolidge) adopted Armenian children as part of the NER program in support of the movement.
Hollywood celebrities like Jackie Coogan, Aileen Pringle, Charles Ray, Betty Blythe, Dorothy Mackaill, Eve Southern, Hobart Bosworth, John Bowers and many others, got heavily involved to raise funds and promote awareness through ads and “Children’s Crusade” drives.
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Kids sold lemonade, popcorn and cookies to “Earn in America & give in Armenia.” Children with disabilities lined up with their piggy banks to donate for NER. Elderly women made dolls for the Armenian orphans. Collection of tons of clothing was organized by cities and municipalities and sent to the survivors aboard ships, trains, and camels.
“American help began to arrive through the Near East and European Relief Administration under the direction of Herbert Hoover. This committee sent to Armenia 28,660,000 pounds of flour and spent more than 100 million dollars.” Hoover later became the U.S. President between1929 and 1933.
The whole nation was acting in one dynamic rhythm: the rhythm of intolerance for crimes against humanity.
In 1922, NER Headquarters in Constantinople, following Mustafa Kemal’s (a military officer during World War I who became the first President of the Turkish Republic) declaration: “All Christians had been ordered out of Turkey by the end of November,” and his order to start the deportation of all the Christians, the NER organization decided to move over 20,000 Christian orphans to the neighboring countries.
I returned to the little book. The story was about a girls’ orphanage in Ghazir, Lebanon, a few miles from where I lived, that was run by the NER. I was devouring the pages. I couldn’t wait. I was eager to find a picture, an address, a sign that will give me a hint as to its current location.
My odyssey to a world of singular generosity, courage, and commitment began. In November 2005, after days of combing the Ghazir village and searching the streets for a historic building that was, most probably, turned into a residence, commercial office or simply flattened to become a children’s playground, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a building with majestic arches, remnants of the Roman architecture in the local culture. I held my breath and silently kept on walking into a courtyard. There it was, the full sight of the arches and the beautiful water fountain. I knew I had found the NER orphanage.
A few weeks later, I visited the Ghazir orphanage with a small team of CNN cameramen and recorded the story of a magnificent rug, woven by seven young orphan girls, to be sent to President Coolidge as an expression of their gratitude for the unconditional love and support given to them by the U.S. government and its generous people at a time when they felt that gods and humanity had abandoned them.
Sixteen miles from Beirut, perched on a hill, the Msar (Mizar) palace in Ghazir was built during the 19th century by a Lebanese prince, Emir Chehab II, as a birth gift to his nephew, Abdallah Chehab. In 1975, the Palace was classified as a Lebanese Historical Monument specifically for its classical fountain, stunning arches, and the beauty of its patio overlooking the blue Mediterranean.
Early in 1923, the NER rented the Msar palace and turned it into a girls’ orphanage, the largest in the area. Under the American flag, the orphanage became a safe haven for 1400 Armenian girls who had witnessed the destruction of their world: their country, their families and their entire childhood.
The NER consistently provided a critical lifeline to over 132,000 Armenian orphans inside and outside Turkey. Engraved in NER’s mission was the dedication of its American and foreign workers who not only provided physical and emotional security but also empowered the orphans by providing them with a variety of vocational skills and tools to secure their return to the outside world as productive members of society.
By a rule mandated by the NER, Ghazir orphans had to leave the orphanage as soon as they turned 16. “Papa” Jacob Kunzler, by now the director of the orphanage, and his wife Elizabeth worried about the orphan girls for not having the skills to become self-sufficient or, in the absence of any other employable skills, ending up as house maids once they left the orphanage, collaborated with Ohannes Tachdjian (a rug merchant from Urfa, Turkey) to establish a rug weaving factory at the Msar palace where the girls could develop the art and science of weaving rugs and be able to self-finance their livelihood both inside and outside the orphanage.
Jacob Kunzler needed to finance the rug weaving operation. He asked the General Secretary of NER for 1,000 dollars as seed money and got approval for only 400 dollars for a pilot project fearing that the rug weaving operation might not prove to be a profitable one for the orphanage.
Three years after the Ghazir orphanage was founded and within a period of ten months seven Armenian orphan girls, on behalf of tens of thousands of Armenian orphans around the world, wove their masterpiece: a magnificent 11.7 by 18.5 feet rug, a beautiful artifact that hidden in the delicacy of its warps and threads and the sophistication of its bright colors had the treasure of a four thousand year old culture, the solemn expression of pain and sorrow for everything lost: homeland, loved ones, trust in humanity, tears of joy and gratitude for a newly captured hope, and an unexpected love found in a nation that stood by them until they could exhale again.
On Friday, December 4, 1925, that very rug was officially received by President Calvin Coolidge and Dr. John H. Finley, Vice Chairman of NER and Associate Editor of the New York Times. A label on the back of the carpet reads, in all capital letters: “IN GOLDEN RULE GRATITUDE TO PRESIDENT COOLIDGE.”
While standing on the rug together with President Coolidge, Dr. Finley addressed the President, “What a task it was to be known from the fact that they tied 4,404,260 knots in its making. But it was a labor of love. They have tied into it the gratitude of tens of thousands of children to you and to America. And what they have tied into it will never be untied. It is sent to adorn the dearest of our temples, the White House of our President.” The event, which was publicized by the American newspapers nationwide, raised an additional four million dollars in contributions.
From 1923 to 1930, the orphanage produced 3254 rugs and around 1000 orphan girls certified in the art of rug weaving. These girls made history by introducing the art of rug weaving into the Lebanese culture.
In 1930, when NER operations ended, Ohannes Tachdjian moved the Ghazir factory to Beirut and hired the orphan girls to work for him. Under his leadership, the girls were compensated fairly and were taken good care of until, one by one, they were married and left their nests to become healthy, productive individuals in their communities.
The Ghazir orphanage was a success story because of the commitment of the U.S. government, the NER missionaries, and the American people, to justice for crimes against humanity. Last year, the White House declined a request by the Armenian community to loan that same rug for display at an event held at the Smithsonian stating that a book signing by Dr. Hagop Martin Deranian to accompany the event: “was not considered an appropriate venue.” An Armenian orphan rug, woven by orphan refugees of the Armenian genocide, given to President Calvin Coolidge and received by him as a symbol of great leadership, courage, and struggle for human rights was now too hot politically to be taken out of the White House storage and be displayed.
Not a single Armenian-American to date believes that the book signing, where the subject book is about the story of the rug being displayed itself, was inappropriate and a reason for refusal. This was an insult to the intelligence of the Armenian-American community at large. The community is still wondering whose dust we were “sweeping under the rug” this time.
The highly funded, manipulative tactics of the Turkish lobby in the American Congress is not news to the American public. However, it is unconscionable to live with the reality that some of the members of our own Congress are able to sell the very democratic, constitutional principles for which they stand for empty promises.
While President Obama and the White House are shying away from displaying the orphan rug, U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff has been adamantly persisting in displaying it proudly to the U.S. public at the Capitol: “The rug is not only a symbol of the resilience of the Armenian people through their darkest days, it also serves as a tangible expression of the inherent truth that not only were 1.5 million people killed in the first genocide of the 20th Century but that the American government was a central player in efforts to call attention to the plight of the Armenian people and provide relief to the survivors.”
We should proudly display the rug at the Capitol. After all, this graceful beauty was funded by the parents and the grandparents of all Americans. They were the ones who made tremendous sacrifices committing themselves to protecting the rights of one of the oldest cultures in the history of mankind, on the verge of being wiped out, announcing to the world that tyranny, suppression, and ethnic cleansing are UNACCEPTABLE.
The refusal of the display of the rug is not an Armenian issue, it is an American issue. The refusal of the display of the rug is the betrayal of President Coolidge’s wish who upon receiving the carpet wrote, “The rug has a place of honor in the White House where it will be a daily symbol of goodwill on earth.”
The refusal to display the rug is the denial of one of the most beautiful chapters of the American history: 15 years of testament of our forefathers’ commitment to who we, as a nation, truly are and what real democracy and philanthropy are all about – courage to change the world to make it a better place for all humanity.
The Americans were the unsung heroes for 132,000 Armenian orphans until they found a common language, a medium to express their eternal gratitude for what was given to them. They carefully wove the lyrics of their poetry in the impeccable craftsmanship and intricate design of a jewel promised by President Coolidge to be placed in the White House.
Throughout the 20th century, our reputation as Americans around the world has been one of dignity, integrity, and justice for peace and self-determination. After World War II, the United States emerged from the armistice as a global spokesperson opposing crimes against humanity. We take pride in our country as a model for democracy and a brave defender of human rights. America is an exceptional nation, generous and compassionate through its government and non-profit organization support. The American people changed the destiny of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide. The American people changed the destiny of the Europeans by supporting the allied forces. Americans helped South Korea become a strong, emerging economy. The American people helped minimize the human and economic losses during the Indian Ocean tsunami and currently, Americans are helping Pakistan to improve its education, economic growth, stabilization, and gender equity.
Rhetoric promises are painful and heavy on the hearts of all of us who worked hard and voted for “change” and who today have been pushed aside to make place for a so-called “strategic partner.” A “strategic partner” who blackmails our government to drive its own agenda in the region, is deeply rooted in corruption, and who controls the very basic freedom of its own citizens: Freedom of speech and press.
It took the Turkish people, in the leadership of Rajip Zarakolu, Orhan Pamuk, Hasan Cemal, Hrant Dink, and the Human Right Association of Turkey, over 95 years and tremendous courage to find out about the missing pages from their history books – the period between 1915 and 1930. Displaying the Armenian Orphan Rug is a unique opportunity to honor the memory of those Americans who sacrificed everything to save a nation. Displaying the Armenian Orphan Rug will serve as a catalyst to return 15 golden pages missing from America’s history books to their bold, undaunted owners and enrich the Americans’ sense of unique place in world history.
(See supporting Photos provided)
Endnotes
1 ‘Zuits’eratsi hayaser Hagop K’iwnts’ler ir hayanpast gortsuneut’ean 40 amyiagin Art’iw’ Beirut-Aleppo “Rotos” publishing 1946
2 US Foreign Relations, 1915, supplement File No.867.4014/117
3 SIXTY-SIXTH CONGRESS. SESS. I. CH. 32. 1919 August 6, 1919 [S. 180.] [Public No. 25] District of Columbia, Near East Relief
incorporated.
4 http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/17.04.2010.php
5 The New Near East, Jan 1923, p.5.
6 The New Near East, Dec 1923, p.20.
7 Hand Book Near East Relief October 1920, p.10.
8 Military Mission to Armenia By Maj-General Harbord Hand Book Near East Relief October 1920, p.9.
9 New York Tribune Dec 27, 1921, p.9.
10 “The Golden Rule Crusade,” The New Near East, Near East Relief, September 1924, New York, p. 12.
11 The New Near East, June 1921, p.10.
12 The New Near East, June 1922, p.15.
13 A History of Armenia By Vahan M. Kurkjian p.392.
14 The New York Times Nov 17, 1922
15 The New Near East, Jan 1923, p.8.
16 www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyDoZl7bYN8
17 New York Times Dec 5, 1925, p.2.
18 US House of Representatives http://schiff.house.gov/common/popup/popup.cfm?action=item.print&itemID=1437
19 New York Times Dec 5, 1925, p.2.
By Maurice Missak Kelechian copyright © August 20, 2014, all photos are courtesy of Mr. Kelecchian