“My father was a taciturn man. Every now and then he would tell us about his youth. All of a sudden he would struggle to fight back the tears. As a child, I understood that something bad must have happened.” Haig Dolabdjian would learn the details of his father’s experience many years later.
The life of Barkev Dolabdjian as told by his son Haig Dolabdjian
Haig Dolabdjian is an engineer and runs a small consulting company not far from Munich. He is in his mid-60s and has blue eyes. His native language is German. Nothing about his appearance gives his Armenian heritage away, apart from a sparkle in his eyes many Armenians get every time they talk about something enthusiastically. (Read more about Haig Dolabdjian here).
After his father’s death, he found important notes and documents that helped to reconstruct his father’s life. “The Dolabdjians must have been wealthy merchants and a large family. My father, Barkev, was born in Kars-Bazar in the east of the Ottoman Empire in 1904. At that time…”
Barkev Dolabdjian
At that time the Young Turk movement rose up against the despotic rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II in the Ottoman Empire. Having been subjected to systematic massacres under Abdul Hamid’s reign, many Armenians actively supported the Young Turks, who claimed adherence to democratic principles of governance and protection of minority rights. But their hopes were soon crushed.
Like every year, the Dolabdjians spent their summer vacation in the Marash Province in southeastern Anatolia. As wealthy merchants they owned a house with a nice yard in the area. Four year-old Barkev was overwhelmed by the view of Mount Nurhak, the highest mountain in the province. At a height of 3,000 meters it rose majestically above numerous other mountains.
Barkev looked forward to their stay in the Marash, where it was much cooler than in Kars Bazar. Thanks to the company of his uncle’s family he had enough playmates. His sisters Mary and Osanna, 19 and 14 years his senior, were the most important people in his life, together with his nine-year old sister Rosa. Their mother, Dudu, died the previous year. Movses, their father, was a far-sighted man who saw to it that his daughters were trained to be nurses. They worked in a German hospital in Marash, run by the Christian Relief Organization for the Middle East.
The future of Christians in Anatolia dominated conversation in the Dolabdjians’ home. Every evening, Movses invited his brothers Hovseb and Hagob and his neighbors into his home to discuss the political situation and the persecution of Armenians. They remembered the massacres, violence, looting and forced Islamization ordered by Abdul Hamid in 1894-1896 all too well.
Two German Officers
The city of Marash, 1915. At the German hospital, teary-eyed Mary and Osanna express their sincere thanks to the two German officers who saved their little brother Barkev from dying in the desert.
Persecution of the Armenian elite in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) and other cities began on orders of the Interior Minister Talaat Pasha. At the same time, Armenian soldiers of the Ottoman army were disarmed and murdered. In May 1915 the Young Turks government enacted a deportation law, effectively legalizing death marches of Armenians to Syrian deserts. Hundreds of thousands residing in Armenian cities of Sebastia (now Sivas), Erzurum, Bitlis, Kharberd (now Elazig), Diyarbekir, Marash (now Kahramanmarash), Aintab (now Gaziantep) and İzmir were ordered to follow the Turkish army into the Syrian Desert, the Dolabdjian family among them.
Barkev clung to his sister Rosa, who will not survive the death march. His father, Movses, died at the age of 52 not far from Damascus. Movses’ brother Hagob died with his family in a massacre carried out in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Mary and Osanna escaped the deportations because of their German employer and later moved to Istanbul.
School and a Fresh Start
After being brought to his sisters Barkev was sent to an orphanage in Syria for safety reasons. As a young man he returned to Istanbul in 1921. The traumatic experiences lead Barkev to dream of becoming a doctor. However, he was once again forced to leave the country, this time for good.
“On December 4, 1922 I had to flee Turkey because my life was in danger. On December 12 I was granted asylum in Berlin,” Barkev will write in his journal in 1953, by which time he had become a successful doctor, having overcome difficult times with the financial aid his sisters sent him from Istanbul.
After a short stay in Berlin Barkev was transferred to Echten-Hagen near Freienwalde, a small town northeast of the capital, where he met the Dobbeler family. They took him in and he staid with them from December 1923 to Easter 1925.
The Dobbeler Family and Barkev’s Astonishing Diligence
Living with the Dobbelers allowed Barkev to focus on learning the German language and attending school. In February 1929 he passed his “Abitur,” the highest school certificate in Germany that lets graduates enter university. During his final years at school he lived with the Otto and Stolte families, both of which had become close to Barkev’s heart. At the age of 25 Barkev enrolled at Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin and took up medical studies.
Barkev's student ID card
First Application for Naturalization
After taking his doctorate examination in November 1936 Barkev submitted his first application for naturalization. The social climate in Germany was, however, unfavorable, and his application was rejected. Barkev decided to train to be not only a surgeon, but also a gynecologist. At the same time he offered his medical services for free at hospitals across Berlin. He earned his living as a projectionist. In 1939 Barkev was dismissed without notice by the Teaching Hospital for Gynecology of Berlin on grounds of being an enemy of the state.
Barkev in 1936
Second Application for Naturalization
Barkev hoped that volunteering for the German Africa Corps of the Wehrmacht would prove his loyalty to the Reich and make him eligible for citizenship. He underwent a medical exam and was found fit for military service. Naturalization, however, was denied to him. As the war wore on there was a growing shortage of doctors, which resulted in Barkev’s urgent conscription in 1940.
The Forest of Tuszyn and Almut Fink
The women’s hospital at the camp in Litzmannstadt in Poland in was overcrowded. Barkev had worked at the camp full-time since 1940. In his capacity as camp doctor he was in charge of the health service for ethnic Germans chosen for resettlement. He was highly regarded. In 1944 he received a commendation for his commitment.
As time went by Barkev fell in love with the 22-year-old head nurse Almut Fink and married. Marriage with a stateless man cost Almut her German citizenship. The couple would worry about their uncertain future for months to come.
Barkev and Almut were naturalized in December of 1945. At the same time Barkev was allowed to register as a doctor and open his own practice in Weimar. In September 1948 their first son, Barkev Jr., was born, followed by their second son, Haig, two and a half years later.
Fleeing Once More
Armenian officers in the Soviet army identified their fellow countryman by his last name and formed a friendship with Barkev. They warned him about the Soviet Military Administration’s plans: owing to a serious shortage of doctors, Barkev was to be transferred to the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.
On October 10, 1951 the Dolabdjians left Weimar with the intention of applying for political asylum in West Berlin. At the checkpoint, the police of West Berlin seized their passports and rejected the citizenship that had been granted by the East German authorities. The Dolabdjians were once more stateless, with nobody and nowhere to turn to. After a lot of discussion they flew to Hamburg to visit the Stoltes, by whom they were warmly welcomed.
Ten days later they were informed that the Federal Ministry for Displaced Persons, Refugees and War Victims in the West German capital of Bonn had recognized their status as political refugees and also accepted their German citizenship.
Pirmasens – The Final Destination
Having been moved from one refugee camp to another, the Dolabdjians were finally sent to the city of Pirmasens in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. They found an apartment and Barkev started saving up money. Never again did he want his family to experience financial strain.
Barkev’s reputation as a competent obstetrician and gynecologist spread quickly. With the passage of time he expanded his practice and saw to it that his children did well at school. He demanded strict discipline and hard work from them. In March 1956 their third child was born. Two years later they are able to afford their first car.
Barkev with his wife and three children
Financially, the Dolabdjians were doing better, but their marriage soon crumbled under the pressure of Barkev’s conservative views: he forbid his wife from working as a teacher. In 1968 Almut filed for divorce and moved out, taking their 12year-old daughter with her. Their grown-up sons Barkev Jr. and Haig also left home to study in big cities. Both sons would go far in their respective professions.
After seven years of solitude Barkev found a new significant other and spent his final years with her. He died on September 2, 1999 at the age of 94, without ever seeing his sisters Mary and Osanna again.
Barkev left behind three children, eight grandchildren and a safe-deposit box full of cash. Before, during and after World War II he treated many wounded and helped many women give birth, sharing in their happiness when they greeted the newborns. On the outside he appeared to be a calm person, and yet he never found inner peace.
The story is verified by the 100 LIVES Research Team.
