Latest / The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History / Armenian Women in WWI: Survival and Resistance
Transcript
- Lucas: When we talk about the Armenian Genocide, our minds usually go to the maps of the death marches or the political maneuvers of Talaat Pasha in Constantinople. But if you zoom in from those macro-political views, there’s a whole layer of human experience that rarely makes it into the headlines, yet was absolutely essential to the survival of the community. Luna: You mean the people who stayed behind? Lucas: Exactly. And specifically, I want to focus on the women. For decades, the historical record has treated them as passive victims, which is true in many ways, but it misses the incredible agency they exercised in the most desperate circumstances. They weren't just waiting to be saved; they were actively organizing, defending, and sustaining life when every other institution had failed. Luna: How did they manage that kind of organization under such extreme threat? Lucas: It started with the familiar terrain of resistance we’ve discussed before, like Zeytun and Sasun. In these mountainous regions, the social structure was already decentralized, and women played a central role in local governance and defense long before 1915. When the order came to deport the men, the women didn’t just scatter; they took command of the fortifications and the food supplies. Lucas: There are accounts from survivors describing how women used the narrow mountain passes to funnel attacks, using knowledge of the land that male outsiders couldn't replicate. It wasn't just brute force; it was tactical intelligence passed down through generations of living in these borderlands. Luna: So they were fighting back even as the empire was trying to erase them? Lucas: Precisely. And once the deportation orders began in earnest, that defensive posture shifted into something else entirely: logistics. The concept of the 'death march' implies a simple line of walking prisoners, but in reality, it was a chaotic collapse of society where women became the primary administrators of survival. They managed the water rations, organized the care for the sick and elderly, and negotiated with local Kurdish tribes or Ottoman officials to buy time. Luna: That sounds incredibly dangerous for them personally. Lucas: It was lethal. Women were specifically targeted by certain units within the Teskilat-i Mahsuse because they represented the future of the nation—the mothers who would teach the language and preserve the faith. If you killed the women, you broke the chain of cultural transmission. So, resisting them became a strategic priority for the perpetrators. Lucas: We have letters from women writing from internment camps near Der Zor, describing how they created informal schools in the tents. They taught children to read and write in Grabar, the classical Armenian language, while hiding religious icons and texts in their clothing. It was an act of spiritual warfare. Luna: Is there a specific figure who stands out from that period? Lucas: Yes, Mariam Vardanian. She’s a fascinating case study because she bridges the gap between the pre-war intellectual elite and the wartime grassroots organizer. Before the war, she was involved in educational reforms in Van, advocating for secular schooling alongside traditional religious instruction. Luna: Did she survive the deportations? Lucas: She did, though her story is less about military heroics and more about bureaucratic resilience. After the war, she became one of the key voices in documenting what happened. She worked with early relief organizations, helping to track down missing children and reuniting families in the aftermath. Her writings provide some of the most detailed accounts of the internal dynamics of the refugee camps. Lucas: What’s striking about her approach was her insistence on treating the survivors not as charity cases, but as citizens with rights. She argued that the international community had a legal obligation to protect them, which was a radical idea at the time. She essentially laid the groundwork for modern human rights advocacy in the region. Luna: It feels like she understood the power of documentation. Lucas: She did. In an era where denial was already beginning to take shape, she knew that keeping records was a form of resistance. Every list of names, every diary entry, every map of where people had been taken was evidence. Without those documents, the narrative would have been entirely controlled by the perpetrators. Luna: Did the men ever join in these efforts, or was it mostly women? Lucas: In the camps, it was predominantly women because the men were either dead, imprisoned, or serving in forced labor battalions. But in places like Yerevan, after the Russian advance pushed back the Ottomans, returning men and women worked together to rebuild. However, the burden of maintaining the community fabric during the worst years fell squarely on the women. Lucas: There’s also the issue of marriage and family law. During the chaos, traditional structures dissolved. Women found themselves heads of households without husbands, navigating property rights and inheritance in a system that was completely broken. They had to invent new forms of kinship, adopting orphaned children and creating 'chosen families' to ensure no one died alone. Luna: That must have created a very different social dynamic. Lucas: It did. Post-war Armenian society was deeply shaped by this matriarchal shift. Many elders from that generation spoke with reverence for the women who held everything together. It wasn't just about survival; it was about preserving dignity. There are stories of women refusing to let their children beg, instead teaching them crafts or trades so they could contribute to the household economy immediately. Luna: Crafts and trades in the middle of a genocide. Lucas: Exactly. One account from Aleppo describes a group of women pooling their last few coins to buy a loom. They started weaving rugs, not for sale, but to trade for flour. That rug became the economic engine for three dozen families. It’s a small detail, but it shows how resourcefulness became a survival mechanism. Lucas: We often think of economics as separate from humanitarian crises, but for these women, making a rug or selling vegetables was literally keeping people alive. It was a direct challenge to the logic of starvation that the Ottoman authorities were employing. Luna: Did any of these women become politicians later? Lucas: Some did. The experience of managing refugee camps gave them administrative skills that translated directly into politics. After the establishment of the First Republic in 1918, several women who had been active in relief work moved into government positions. They weren't just survivors; they were builders. Luna: It’s amazing how much they achieved. Lucas: They did, but their stories were often buried under the grand narratives of male generals and diplomats. It took historians decades to dig up their letters and diaries. When we finally look closely, we see that the resilience of the Armenian people wasn't just a matter of luck or divine protection; it was built on the hard, daily labor of women who refused to give up. Luna: Their legacy seems to be everywhere in modern Armenia. Lucas: It really is. You can see it in the way the community values education and collective memory. Those early acts of teaching Grabar in tents evolved into the robust educational systems we see today. It’s a direct line from those desperate moments to the present day. Luna: It makes me think about how we remember history. Lucas: That’s a crucial point. History isn't just about the big battles or the treaties. It’s about the quiet moments of defiance, the choices people make when they have almost nothing left. Remembering these women helps us understand the full scope of what was lost and what was preserved. Luna: I’m glad we’re shining a light on that side of things. Lucas: Me too. It’s a reminder that history is made by ordinary people doing extraordinary things, often without any recognition at the time. Their courage deserves to be known. Luna: Speaking of support, if you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode... Lucas: For anyone coming with us through these conversations about the Caucasus, your listener support is what keeps this show ad-free and independent. You can find us on buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo to help us keep digging into these forgotten stories. Luna: It really helps us reach deeper archives. Lucas: And thank you for being part of that effort. It allows us to continue bringing these vital histories to light for all of you. Luna: Do you think we’ll ever fully recover all their names? Lucas: Probably not all of them. But every name we do recover, every story we tell, is a small victory against forgetting. And maybe that’s enough for now.