Life In Bulgaria During World War II

            Hovaness Genjoyan is a seventy two year old grandfather who moved to Glendale, California from Yerevan, Armenia eleven years ago. He moved here with his wife and three children. He has two grandchildren. Most of Hovaness's day is spent reading and doing physics experiments. He has witnessed many different world changing events throughout his life. World War II, which was a bloody and murderous war, was one of the events he witnessed. It went through many countries and people destroying everything in its path. Soldiers and their families suffered the most. The soldiers did not know if their families were alright and the families did not know if the soldiers were alright. The workers had to send all their produce and there were long lines for food stores. Many were injured or killed during this war. Some, like Hovaness, however, were lucky enough to escape the war and tell about it. Hovaness was young during this time but he also had a very active mind. He remembers the war with vivid detail. When asked about World War II, he states hat it was so horrific for him as a child that it left him traumatized.

            I was born in a little town in Bulgaria called  Plovdiv. I have a brother and a sister. We lived with our mother and father. We were a happy and close family. We always took care of each other and I have always been happy that we were close. It was easier to take care of each other when we were that close. When the war started I was about five years old. At first we were doing fine. My father worked and took care of my mom and his children. There were many casualties around us. My mom tried to take care of us but it was hard. We were forced to fled to the shelters. It was a horrible thing. Do you imagine your running away with all your family with little kids? One kid that has to be carried another that little one that can’t run. You have to hurry, run fast. You will hesitate or go slowly….then the bomb will fall, it can uh your, it can fall on your head to put it roughly. During those times was when the Germans entered the city. That was an incredible, horrifying event. The tanks were passing in the streets, on the motorcycles, the things, with the machine guns. We were forced to hide in every hole and any hiding space we could find. So that we wouldn’t get any damages on ourselves. Me for example I was four or five years old. At that time I was going to kindergarten: I wasn’t going to school yet. We used to watch from little peepholes. We hadn’t seen so many tanks and  machine guns that fired.

            In my life that was one big horrifying thing that I lived.  I imagine  now  my father and mothers situation when for every single food item they did everything. We thought it would be better to live in the villages but there it was a hard life.  But luckily, one of our neighbors, helped us. We at least were able to maintain a life.  During the war everything is hard especially when  my father wasn’t with us. But what can you do, we survived the hardships, we were forced to if we liked it or not. The war … kartses te (a way to say as you can see or believably)  it taught me that the  even though  through all the unbearable times the hardest times. There is still, inside a person, a force that helps them keep going on. And they don't get lost in life if they follow the right path. From the war I learned that when a person is in trouble their survival instincts arise and they find ways to help themselves.

            This is the most memorable war for me because at that time I was young, for a young child  memories are more vivid and now as an old man I remember all the details with great clarity and its  like its imprinted on my mind. This was a big deal for mankind and this gave  big expectations. They have to figure out what they have to do so that this kinds of wars don't happen again.  The most memorable thing was that when people were bombing us, the people, the mother for example the mother I saw with my own eyes, with the kid in her arms she can't move but she won't let her kid go, she won't with one hand she's pulling the other kid and the other kid  in her arms. What she's thinking is that if  they are bombing you have to keep moving faster and faster with each second that passes by towards the shelters or they will bomb you. But what a thing a mother is, elli (a word used as a filler it has a literal meaning of “again” but in this case it has no meaning.) this was a very memorable thing. She could barely make it. It was a hard job with all the kids and all. She didn't leave anyone behind and she was always in the back of her kids which was more dangerous, this affected me the most. they barely made it but they were fine. I saw her and her children a couple more times after that but then we moved and we never saw her again.  one event really imprinted on my brain. When they were bombing us, everyone was running, we were running also. Everyone was worried about their own lives, and suddenly in front of my eyes I saw one women, most probably the mother, she had in one hand the child and the other child was running. And suddenly I guess in the bombings, something happened that the kid screamed and fell down. The poor women, it must have been the mother didn't know what to do. And she had a toddler in her arms, then out of nowhere, someone else who was also running, and was probably not related to them saw that the mother was in an undesirable condition and putting his life in danger, he picked up the injured child, the kid must have gotten hit during the bombings, and they ran. And I was thinking, war of course is a very bad thing and it causes people great hardships and unhappiness, but there are also things in people  things that are hidden but have great strength. This person, even though risking his life, he picked up the child and together they escaped. And I'm thinking what a thing human love and compassion is that this man did not want to leave that woman and her children unprotected. Because that person was injured could not run and the mom could not pick up two children and run and that gentleman helped her. That was a big impression for me. Many years have passed but I cant forget that image. During the war I remembered another incident when the Germans had entered and we were running, my brother didn't understand my sister sister. She did not understand the danger. She and my brother were holding hand and walking down the street and suddenly I heard that there was a car noise, they were the Germans cars.  I ran risking my life, and I pulled my bother and sister out of the way.

            If the war had not not occurred, a lot of things would have been different. First off I would have had my mother and father for a longer time. Many lives and houses or cities would not have been destroyed and there would be a lot more peace. We would have had a better education and we would have lived better too.