Undemocratic Memories in the Life of Azatoui Arutunyan

            Azatui Arutunyan, currently seventy-two years old, lived in Armenia during the hard years of communist leadership  from 1932 to 1990.  A widow at a young age, she was forced to provide the household  income for her three young children alone .Our interview consisted of many short breaks, due to her health condition , and  emotions she let loose from the sorrowful events she shared. Looking back at those days, she is thankful to be living such a free life in America.                 

I was only nine when I started working at factories. I added a small, but important part to our family income. Living in Armenia during its communist years was full of hardships and sadness for the most part. I received very little education during my childhood years because only a very small wealthy portion of children attended school regularly. Many had no proper clothing to attend school. It was a tough time. Stalin, our leader at that time, was very strict. Everyone was scared of the things Stalin’s power could do to them. Living in a communist country, we didn’t have the freedom to speak negatively about Stalin, or even complain about our hard lives. We had almost no freedoms. Even our so called fair presidential elections were obviously fixed. Our main news source was was the things we heard from other people.  The media seemed to be controlled by the government because we never saw anything negative about Stalin, his government or his leadership. The one thing that seemed to be the only democratic factor was the fact that men and women were equal. We all had equal rights and received the same amount of respect.  Work was very hard because of the poor wages earned. We earned a minimum wage salary. In my opinion, salaries could have been much better.  Everyone was a governmental worker. We weren’t allowed to own or operate a business of our own.  Strikes were never permitted.  If and when a person seemed to be a threat to Stalin, no matter how they protested, they were taken away or killed.

 Standard work shifts were eight hours a day. I worked in a factory starting at the age of nine. Their was very little transportation to and from work. When someone was late to work for over five minutes, they were sent to court and trialed. My mother was once five minutes late to work and the government wanted to send her to court. So, she remained at home from fear. She never went back, and hunger became an issue for us once again. One positive thing about work was the fact that if you were injured and couldn’t work, you were still payed your monthly wage.  I remember clearly that everyone was based on the same class. You couldn’t be wealthy. When one became wealthy by saving money and purchased a car or even a horse, they were immediately stripped of all valuables and sent to jail.

Stalin was a very strict ruler. As I said earlier, life was very hard. Stalin gave us almost no rights. I remember how there were people sent by the government who specialized in tracking down people who spoke negatively of Stalin. They would take those people away. That’s why we were always scared to talk. I once had a friend who was set up in a similar situation. It was at night when a poor and innocent girl was taken from her home. She never returned.  Her father was also taken away later on and all his children were left with only a  mother. Many dreadful years like that passed by and many more innocent people were taken the same way. From what we knew, they were taken out and left in the wilderness, but we didn’t  new for sure. I mean, we couldn’t even talk  with our neighbors because of the constant fear of being listened to.

We woke up one night in 1947 to see that all our homes had been stamped after a massive raid, taking many more innocent lives away. Almost everyone was missing a family member. Something strange happened a bit later. A few years later, unlike the other victims, a small portion of the people who were taken away returned. When they were asked where they were, the told us that they were sent to “Sibir”, where they were treated horribly.

  The hunger issue was very severe. Bread was always delivered at nights, but was not guaranteed to come. We would wait in line till morning for our bread. My mother was always in line at a early time. We used to hug each other for warmth. One day, my brother was taking his break at school when my mother received the bread and called me to send him some immediately. I rushed him the bread and saw a big crowd of children gathering next to him. They started begging him for a small piece. My brother couldn’t keep it all to himself. He ended up giving everybody a piece until none was left for him. I rushed back to my mother to tell her about what happened. She gave me another piece to send to my hungry brother. 

 Stalin’s pictures were found everywhere. His pictures were always on walls, even though he was hated by the majority of the population. Still, everyone referred to hm as the so called “Great One”.Everyone was encouraged to write songs and poems about Stalin. People were encouraged to have pride in his name. His dictatorship lasted until 1951, the time of his death.  Everyone was relieved that day. His statue was even broken down and replaced with another called ”Mother of Armenia”. Armenia’s condition improved after Stalin’s death. After a few presidential elections, Karen Demerchian was elected. He eventually brought Armenia back to a normal state again .

                                                                                                                                                                                                               Interviewed by Avetik Kazarian