Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Thea Halo's "Not Even My Name".
by Picador USA / St. Martin's Press
Posted: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 03:25 am CST

May 2000, ISBN 0-312-26211-6
321 pages + 8 page photo insert + map =AD $25.00

"deeply moving. It is impossible to read the story of this woman's life without marveling at the strength of her spirit " Washington Post Book World "written with simply grace." U.S. News and World Report, "Top Pick". "Recommended Readings" column New York Post. "an eloquent and powerful account." Publisher's Weekly starred review. "An unforgettable book." Booklist starred review - also recommended for teens. "Sano's is truly an amazing story of survival and resilience. An important and revealing book...highly recommended for all libraries" Library Journal. "every page sears the mind and the heart" Nicholas Gage, author of Eleni. "an important book reverberates with large moral issues that effect us all". Peter Balakian, author of Black Dogs of Fate. Featured on Public Radio: Lisa Mullins "The World" WGBH Boston; WBAI NYC: KPFA Berkeley; WJFF; WOR 710Am New York; KPFK LA; Democracy Now, Pacifica Radio.

In the shameful opening chapter of the 20th Century, first they killed 3 million Christians of Asia Minor (Turkey): Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians. It would be the precursor to the slaughter of 6 million Jews.

Not Even My Name, one of the first narratives of its kind, earned author, Thea Halo, accolades for her poignant first person account of her mother's life. Sano, nee Themia, a Pontic Greek, recounts her story, beginning with her arranged marriage at age 15, to a 45-year-old stranger, then steps back in time to 1919, when at age nine her ancient way of life was still relatively intact. In the three Greek villages of Ayios Antonios, tucked away in the Pontic Mountains near the Black Sea, her people abided in their ancient customs and spoke their own ancient form of Greek. The dreadful realization that something was amiss came little by little to Themia's villages. Strangers began to inhabit the fields and forests, always watching from a distance like birds of prey. Turkish soldiers made periodic raids to seize the men of her villages for slave labor in foul, lice-infested labor camps where they died of disease, malnutrition and exposure. Then in the spring of 1920, Turkish soldiers pounded the doors with the butts of their rifles and shouted Atat=FCrk's dreadful proclamation: "You are to leave this place. You are to take with you only what you can carry." On their long death march, they were not allowed to bury their dead. Victims lay where they fell, while buzzards circled, waiting for the exiles to pass. Before the age of 10, Themia watched family and neighbors fall dead in their tracks, even holding her three-year-old sister in her arms as she drew her last breath.

"Why is she making that funny noise, Mama?" she asked her mother. "Because she dying," was all her mother could answer before she burst into tears. In all, 3 million Christians of Turkey: Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians, were slaughtered by the Turkish government, and millions of others exiled. And with their slaughter and exile, 3,000 years of civilization came to an abrupt and brutal end. This shameful opening chapter to the 20th century, fueled by the indifference of the world, encouraged Hitler's heinous policy against the Jews. "Who still remembers the extermination of the Armenians?" Hitler had said to justify his planned atrocities. Indeed. And who, even today, knows the Greeks and Assyrians of Turkey suffered the same fate?

Themia and her remaining family finally escaped from the soldiers, but still faced starvation and disease. To save Themia's life, her mother gave her to a woman who promised to care for her. But the woman only treated Themia as a slave. When news came that her mother had also died, Themia's cruel keeper changed her name to Sano. By the age of 10 Sano had lost family, home and country, even her name. At age 12 she an away and was taken in by an Armenian family who cared for her as a daughter. At age 15 she was marriage to 45-year-old Abraham, the author's father. It was Abraham who brought Sano to America to begin her new life.

But how does one retain one's generosity; one's ability to love and nurture after such a catastrophic loss? It was here in America that Sano finally regained her sense of self, even while the horror forever played itself out in her memory like a mantra to those she unwillingly left behind. Framing this poignant account of Sano's life in Not Even My Name, is the author's own narrative of her mother/daughter pilgrimage toTurkey in 1989, in search of Sano's home 70 years after her exile; a pilgrimage that would become Thea's own search for her cultural identity.

Not Even My Name is a story of tragedy and triumph, and the power of love; a brilliant and mesmerizing memoir, written in haunting and eloquent prose, Not Even My Name weaves a seamless texture of individual memory that evokes all the suspense and drama of the best toldtales.

Related Information...

Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News Archives