My Life in Soviet Armenia

In March of 1988, Zvart Gaifakyan and her family came to the United States, where she began living her “American” life in Queens, New York as a refugee. Now, at age 71, she lives in North Hollywood, California with her son, daughter, and grandchildren, enjoying every aspect of her life. And even though her  life in Soviet Armenia wasn’t exactly a picnic for her, when asked if she was willing to be interviewed and talk about her experiences in Armenia, Zvart Gaifakyan was eager in finding out when the soonest date for the interview could be.

I was born in Baghdad and was only nine years old at the time of the move to Soviet Armenia. To get there, we traveled through the deserts in big trucks for four days. When we reached Beirut we got into a ship which took us to Batum where we took a train to Armenia.

We were allowed to listen to the radio, but not all the channels. For example, we weren’t allowed to listen to the “Voice of America” channel. “Voice of America” was a radio channel that came directly from America and was considered anti-Soviet propaganda. It also gave a lot of information that was prohibited for the Soviet people. I listened to “Voice of America”, along with immigrants from Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon. We used a cable and a metal coat hanger, which we moved around to get good reception. We would’ve been thrown in jail if we were caught listening to it because the Soviet television and radio programs we were allowed to listen to had edited information that would have hurt the Soviet thinkers. They also wanted to prevent us from hearing information about other countries.

There were also newspapers in Armenia: The Communist newspaper, the Soviet Armenian newspaper, Avangart, Pioneer newspaper, and more. The newspapers we read were edited like the radio stations for the same reason. If I was caught reading a newspaper from a capitalistic country, the government would have humiliated me and called me an anti-Soviet thinking person, just like they would’ve done if they caught anyone else.

There were pictures of our leader at schools, enterprises, offices, streets, and our town square. We did learn our native language, Armenian, since our schools were Armenian, although few were Russian. There were only a few because the government wanted the state language to stay Armenian not Russian. I could have attended a Russian school but I was already learning Russian in my Armenian school with qualified teachers and hard working students. Boys and girls went to the same school and it was deemed necessary to wear a uniform. It was a requirement and there were not many who didn’t wear their uniforms. Those who didn’t have their uniforms had to have their parents called and asked why their child was not wearing the uniform And if the family didn’t have enough money to buy a uniform, they got help in the matter from the school, by collecting and loaning money.

I was allowed to go to church, and I usually went with my grandmother; however, communists were prohibited and couldn’t go to church. And so they didn’t. They were afraid. They were afraid of the government because they were not allowed to believe in church. If the communists would have gone, they would have been punished and it would have affected them negatively.

Everybody had the right to vote, except for those who were sent to Siberia or had a criminal record. They were not allowed to vote because they were considered bad people from the government’s point of view. People in Armenia were also allowed to have ownership although it was very hard to get it done. This is why many people were not able to have their own businesses. But although many people didn’t have their own businesses, many people had their own private homes.

People didn’t go on strikes because the government was very strict and forbade them. Because of this, I have been in no strikes. There have been demonstrations, but not many because of the penalties you might get. When we did demonstrations, the leaders of the groups would receive severe punishments in order for the rest of the people to behave and see what would happen if they were to take a stand too.

Men and women were treated as equals. Women were able to be in large crowds; in the streets, squares, and theaters, and were able to dress however they wanted to. They roamed all throughout the country without having to be with a man.

Some people were sent to Siberia and tortured for the most unreasonable reasons. Your neighbor could have said that you were an anti-Soviet person, and would’ve been thrown in jail. In my father-in-law’s case, he was standing in line to buy rice, and because of its low quality, he turned to the salesman and said, “In Iran, this rice, even the chickens would not eat.” And because of those few words, he was sent to Siberia for ten years.

I knew about people being tortured because some of my family members were tortured. My father was sent to Siberia for two years and his brother, my uncle, spent five to six years there. When they both returned, they told us what they went through and how they were tortured. My uncle was also severely tortured. He was beaten with boots, hit on his head, and kicked all over. He was ruthlessly beaten during each interrogation. The reason people were tormented was because the government wanted to bring population to Siberia, so that the city would grow economically and it would become a much more highly developed city. Because of this, Armenia would become less populated and Georgians would take over some of Armenia’s lands. Many innocent people died for the Georgians’ plan to work.

Stalin did nothing to stop what was happening because he also was Georgian by nationality. He wanted Georgia to expand, and in order for him to do so, he took land away from the closest country next to Georgia, Armenia. Hence, Stalin sent Armenians to Siberia and took over their land, turning them into Georgian territories. KGB did these allegations with orders from high authorities.

The reason people were sent to Siberia was because the temperature was below forty degrees Celsius, there was no population, and the government wanted to make the prisoners build a railroad on that specific spot. The people that were sent there wouldn’t even last a year or two because of the bad weather, the lack of proper food, and the poor health and living conditions. After being in Siberia for a couple of months, the prisoners would lose their hair, teeth, and nails. Many of them had frostbite, but my father-in-law survived these conditions for ten years. After Stalin died in 1953, my father-in-law and everyone else in Siberia returned home and were rehabilitated.

Stalin’s death led to a more democratic and capitalistic country. I would not be arrested for speaking my mind like my father-in-law was.

When Brezhnev ruled, there was food in the markets and the economy picked up after the war and I was able to get a good education. But there was still no freedom of speech or press. Overall, there was discrimination. For example, immigrants could not have a government job, even a decent job. They were not accepted in any communist party until later on, and were still being treated unfairly after that. In other words, if you weren’t part of the elite, you were politically vulnerable.

Interviewed by Ani Mkrtchyan