Book Launch: I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen by Leon Surmelian
The Wiener Holocaust Library
29 Russell Square, WC1B 5DP London, United Kingdom
Dr Becky Jinks, Richard Anooshian & Dr Susan Pattie
Leon Surmelian's memoir, I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen, recounts his experiences of the forced deportations and genocide of Armenians in 1915 but also describes in detail and humour, the very human interactions between family members, multi-ethnic neighbours, strangers along his route, as he searches for safety. His string of places of fragile security includes a longer stay in Armenia where he finds work trying to help as the country undergoes great changes.
A return to Trabizon and then on to Istanbul allows him to continue his education. Winning a scholarship for his writing, he travels to Kansas where his idealistic plan is to study agronomy and return to Armenia. The book explores the tensions of an immigrant's longing for a lost homeland and deep gratitude for the safety and opportunities of citizenship in a new home country.
Free entry
Leon Surmenlian with Clark Gable