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"...Gregorian: The first stranger who entered my life was Edgar Maloyan, the French vice-counsel in Tabriz.
He was a Gaullist. He came to Tabriz in 1948 to open a consulate. He told me, “You have to go to Beirut, Lebanon. You’re too smart to stay in Tabriz.”
Cole: That’s your hometown.
Gregorian: Yes, my hometown. I told Mr. Maloyan, “Well, I have no money to go to Beirut.” He said: “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” I believed in him. I think later he was amazed that somebody could put such trust in him. He gave me three letters of introduction. Then, with fifty dollars, I went to Lebanon.
What also enabled me to do that was that a second stranger, an optometrist in Tabriz, gave me his property deed. That allowed me to obtain a passport because my father had told me if I could get a passport on my own, he would let me go, assuming that no fourteen-year-old kid could get a passport.
This optometrist had taken me under his wing. He was the pro bono agent for many Armenian newspapers published in Iran and abroad. I used to help him by distributing American, French, Egyptian, Greek, and other Armenian newspapers published in Fresno, Boston, Athens, Marseilles, Paris, and Cairo. As I distributed the newspapers, I also read them. ..."
www.neh.gov  Laurent Laloup le mardi 01 juillet 2008 - Demander un contact Recherche sur cette contribution | |
