Her
Journey: From Communism to Freedom
At the age of
sixty-nine, Marie Danielian sits on the couch of my living room, praising about
the blessed life she is living in the United States. She can not stop smiling
because she now has the opportunity to tell me, her granddaughter, about her
hardships back in Armenia during the Soviet rule. She could not be any more
grateful for leaving the country she despised. Mrs. Danielian is now retired and
enjoys visits to her sons’ and daughter’s homes. where she cares and looks
after her grandchildren.
In 1946, from Syria, we immigrated to Armenia. The Soviet
leader was Stalin. We didn’t know Armenia had just gone through war in
1944-1945; it was in bad shape. We didn’t realize this because we had so much
love for Armenia. After the wars, not many people had stayed, had lived. The
immigrants from France, Romania, Bulgaria, and around the world, Stalin wanted
them to come so the population in Armenia would increase. For this reason, uh,
people came and persuaded us that Armenia was now accepting us. We went and saw
that Stalin’s ways and his regime was so strict and bad, we had never
imagined. Once you entered this land, you could not be let out. You would just
stay there, that’s it. We entered the land in 1946. They were in need of
bread, sugar, and rice. The government gave us little, tiny individual rooms.
From 1946 to the 1950’s, we were in a very bad condition. In 1951, I think it
was, Stalin died.
So around this time, if the people spoke to each other
about how bad it was, or who ever was Dashnag and not communist, they were sent
to Siberia. At night the police would come, forcing the door to come down. All
the family members, with their belongings and clothes, in 1953, in one night, I
could say about 1000 families were sent to Siberia. In the morning, we woke up
to see our neighbor had left, the house was empty and the doors closed. In the
middle of the night, after 1, the police came. There were those animal wagons,
horse wagons. They take you out of bed, you dress, and quietly, they would sit
you with your clothes in the cars. They would take you to the station, they fill
you up in the animal wagons, and they take you straight to Siberia. Those were
bad days. There was no food or no clothes, and on top of this, they sent you to
Siberia. Many died there.
During Communism, uh during Stalin’s rule, we were never
allowed to own our own business. For example, I used to sew clothes. I could not
sew clothes so I had to do it secretly. After three AM we would get up and sew
until seven AM, so we could go and sell our clothes in order to make money for
food. The amount of people working were not a lot, because the government had
its companies with very little payment and people would work. The monthly
payment they gave would not last you a month. With that money you could live
normally for about two weeks. Yes, everything would last two weeks with the
rojik. They used to call it rojik, the monthly payment. We were forced to work
at home so we could have at least one month worth of money for food. We had no
privileges. My father was a shoe repair man. If the police saw him repairing
shoes right? He would come and with all his strength he would hit my father,
mess up all his belongings, and tell him he has no right to work. Your
grandfather Karo worked secretly in his work place. There was a special store
that sold our clothes, and that is how we earned a good living style. If you
worked secretly, the police would find out and, yallah,
they would take you and write you a ticket and put you in jail.
What ever there was we would wear. We were free to choose.
But the women did not have as many rights and privileges as the men did. The
men’s rights were way higher. Women were not free to speak their mind back
then. The women always had very little rights.
Education? So during the Soviet rule, the schools, the
colleges, hospitals, everything was under government control. There was
basically no personal property. But one good thing was that hospitals, high
schools, and colleges were free, and they would also give money to the students.
About ten to twenty dollars a month, twenty to thirty dollars would be given in
that way. Since the hospitals were free, in order to have a good operation one
needed to give money under the table with nobody knowing, secretly, so they
would look after our children well, you understand? These things were individual
choices.
During Soviet rule in Armenia, there was no religion, no
God. There were no weddings, no baptisms. These were all not allowed to the
communists. But since we were not communist, we would bring the priest to our
house. My kids are all baptized. Uh we also did engagement and weddings in our
homes. We did it secretly. So yes, it was strictly prohibited. Yeah, and in
school, they would force you to learn their constitution. They would mainly
preach that there was no God, and you had to fake believe that you understand
their religion.
If you ever talk about the government, you are gone the
next day. Nobody was allowed to speak of their government, even in our homes. We
were in constant fear. There were so many people watching us. The government
would pay people to tell on us if they heard us speak of them. Why else do you
think they took so many people to Siberia? It was a very harsh government until
the end of Stalin’s reign.
Newspapers were all under their control, my dear. There was
no freedom. No freedom of speech, no freedom to work, no freedom at all.
Everything was under their control, and if you ever spoke about them, you were
to be automatically sent to Siberia.
It was so hard coming here. There are families that have
been striving for five to six years; they would write letters in order to have
freedom. They would pay so much money so they would have the privilege of
getting out of Armenia. Especially when we came, my kids were all still going to
school. They gave us a lot of trouble. Then when we were going to Moscow, they
tried to do everything to put my sons in jail.
So, the ones who gave birth to these rules were Stalin and
Perya. So until 1953, until, uh…one second, in 1953 when Stalin died, the
people grew happier, but the communists were crying for Stalin’s death. We did
not become communist when we went. We despised Communists. When Stalin and Perya
died, the country settled down a bit, and everyone became a little more relaxed.
The Armenians went everywhere around the world. Nobody was left in Armenia. I
remember I stayed in the Soviet for twenty five years, yes, and not one day was
a good one. Only the last days, after the 60’s, were the days somewhat
relaxed. But our eyes, our mind, and our soul were always on the look out
outside; when would the doors open so we could get up and leave?
We got here with much trouble, but we got here. Thank God. So, when I worked there for twenty five years, I came here and worked for two years. In those two years, I made everything plus more than what I had when I worked in Armenia. Thank God. My kids still graduated from UCLA. Everyone went after their dreams, their jobs; freedom of speech, freedom to work. We’re enjoying a happy, jolly life. God bless you America!