As she walked the rolling hills of Kharpert, located in what is now eastern Turkey, Sarah Ignatius thought of her grandfather, who was born there over a hundred years before.
“It was just incredible to walk on the hillsides where he had lived, and feel you’re breathing the same air,” she said.
At the time of her grandfather, Kharpert was part of Armenia. He fled the country prior to the Armenian Genocide, which took place between the spring of 1915 and the fall of 1916.
Now, over a century later, Ignatius, a Somerville resident, is telling the story of the genocide and how it shaped the Armenian identity across the globe.
Ignatius, the former chair of the Belmont-based National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, released her debut novel “The Kaleidoscope of Destiny,” which follows 14-year-old Arakel in 1915 in the midst of World War I and the Armenian Genocide. The genocide resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenian Christians in the Ottoman Empire, though the true number is unknown.
As the Ottoman Empire declined in the 19th century and the government began to embrace Turkish nationalism, Armenians were targeted, accused of sympathizing with Russia. Whole communities were deported or massacred, while others faced starvation.
Arakel witnesses Armenian men, including his father and older brother, being arrested by Turkish officials, and his family being stripped of all food and possessions. “The Kaleidoscope of Destiny” follows Arakel’s fight for survival, beginning in Kharpert.
Though her grandfather immigrated to the United States before the genocide, Ignatius still had relatives in Armenia during the war, many of whom she does not know the fate of.
“It was very painful at times because I felt the presence of some of my ancestors who were no longer alive, and I felt I wanted to do justice to them and to their lives, and to help restore what was taken from them,” she said. “No one wants to be remembered solely for how they died, so I wanted to convey something about the life that people had taken from them.”
The genocide forced large numbers of Armenians to seek refuge across the world, including in Massachusetts. Today, Belmont, Watertown, and Cambridge all have significant Armenian populations.
Teaching A New Generation
When Ignatius’ son was learning about World War I in eighth grade, she asked him if he was learning anything about the Armenian Genocide.
“And he said, ‘No, we’re hardly spending time on World War I,’” Ignatius said.
In “The Kaleidoscope of Destiny,” Ignatius said she strives to educate people of all ages about the genocide and the effects that continue to impact the Armenian diaspora today. At the same time, she wanted to honor the people who helped Armenians survive, even if they didn’t share the same culture.
“I wanted people in high school or late middle school to know more about it,” she said. “I wasn’t trying to re-create animosity, but just try to explain what happened and what did happen to people who survived.”
At its core, Ignatius said the book aims to show the common humanity people share across religion and culture, and the prevailing hope of a persecuted people.
“Just the resilience, the courage, holding on to hope, even in really extreme times, is certainly what led to his survival. [It’s] the concept of trying to figure out if you have any ability to act, even when everything seems against you,” she said.
“The Kaleidoscope of Destiny” was published Sept. 27.
