On Studying Armenian in Marash

Blog for December 22, 2020 Uncle Paul would often recall his days in grammar school in Marash, Ottoman Empire. This is how Marash Gril remembers his telling the tale. "In Marash, we all had both Armenian textbooks and Turkish textbooks. The class would be taught in Armenian, until we heard the tromp of footsteps . . .the Ottoman Turkish soldiers approaching the classroom door . . . at which point we would sit on our Armenian textbooks, open our Turkish textbooks, and the teacher would begin teaching in Turkish as we answered her questions in Turkish . . . so that when the soldiers burst into the classroom, they would be satisfied with what they heard and saw." Marash Girl can't imagine growing up under those circumstances, but many of her ancestors did grow up in exactly those circumstances . . . many Armenians survived to tell the tale, . . . but, sad to say, many did not!!!