As part of the Tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture presents Mystery_153 The Notebooks of Anzel Kourtian, on Sunday, November 6 at the X-Bowling Art Center.A performance – testimony about the Armenian Genocide (1915) and the Asia Minor Catastrophe, performed and directed by Christina Alexanian, based on the book of the same title by the survivor of the Armenian Genocide and refugee to Greece, Anzel Kourtian. The proceeds from the symbolic fee charged for the performance will be donated to the Asia Minor Association of Elefsina. Presale here.
The Notebooks of Anzel Kourtian is a performance of historical interest that has been attended by more than 40,000 spectators in Greece, France, Cyprus and the United States of America. It is a play about the mistakes of the past and the preservation of memory, mixed with the universal drama of war and refugee displacement, coming to life on stage, with Greeks, Armenians and Pontians, as well as every person who has experienced the pain of exile and death, identifying with the Kourtian.
1915. The Armenian Genocide.
Years later, Anzel Kourtian, now living in Greece, tells the story of the persecution of her family and her entire nation.
Her seamstress mother. Her two sisters.
The first happy years.
And then they experience the consequences of the order to exterminate the Armenians.
They become eyewitnesses of the Asia Minor Catastrophe.
A journey from Prusa to Izmir..
And from there to Crete and Kokkinia.
War and exile are recorded through the eyes of a child, little Anzel.
With fear and death lurking…
With laughter and joy…
With the music and the songs that marked her life.
“I made my cross secretly. ‘Holy Mary, what have we done wrong? Save your people, O Lord!’ I used to whisper inside. Those of us in the carriages felt bad for those who were walking, because they couldn’t stand the flogging and fell into the ditches. If it were possible to light vigil oil lamps for those who died in the street, it would light up the night and turn it into day.”
A true story. A shocking testimony.
Anzel Kourtian recalls the events that marked her life…
Through her eyes we see the history of the Armenian people and the Greeks of Asia Minor.
As she experienced it herself… As a small child experienced it.
As she later wrote it down in her grandchildren’s school notebooks…
Angel Courtian’s notebooks (Memories from Mikrasia 1915-1924) are published by Plethron publications.
