1950s – When Armenians get angry
The longer we page the history book of our country the more we realize that there are many blank and ripped pages in it. Time distances and the silence erases the old wounds. As a proof of this today we moved back in 1950s to recall a few noteworthy events from that era. Few people speak about that now. The March plenum of 1954 in order to increase the wheat production in the country decided to expand the farms in Siberia and Kazakhstan. In order to supplement the lack of labor force young people of the country were sent to the mentioned places. Armenia wasn’t an exception either. The same happened in the summer of 1956. A big group consisted of Armenian students went to Kazakhstani steppes to participate in harvesting. They went to Kostana district. As it was popular during those years, the students were solemnly seen off at the station. Various speeches were heard. The train was taking approximately 1700 students to Kostana. Everybody had a great mood.
But the moods gradually faded when the students realized their food ran out and the train crew didn’t provide them with food. When the train stopped at the station of Orenburg the hungry and tired students rushed out to try to find some food. But it turned out that there were no stores around the station. The wave of dissatisfaction increased. Having realized that the situation is getting out of control the crew of the train tried to calm them down. Among them was one of the secretaries of Central Bureau from Armenia and the members of Armenia’s militia operative group. But the desperate talks and promises didn’t save the situation and didn’t appease the complaints of the students. The students went out to the city in big and small groups. After a while alerting information was received from various parts of the city.
Some insisted that Armenians were involved in hooliganism; others would say that they were insulting girls and women. Then they said that they had started a fight with the associates of the railroad services. It was hard to unveil whether the received information was truthful or exaggerated. At any rate, the police started to chase them and after a while they arrested a young man, who allegedly started public disorder on the streets. The incident even more exacerbated the situation. After finding this out, the huge crowd moved to the local police station and demanded that their counterpart be immediately released.
The law enforcers decided to compromise. Hey stated that they’d let him go if the students agree to stop the fuss in the city. The crowd agreed. But they didn’t keep their word and as eyewitnesses report the protests wouldn’t stop in the city for 16 hours. Great efforts were taken to persuade the young men to go back to the train cars and leave. This incident wasn’t forgotten.
Upon their return to Yerevan many of the students were dismissed from universities and many were reprimanded. By the way, in 1959 another incident took place in Kostana with participation of Armenian young men. Everything took place in Zagotzerno club, where about 50 soldiers first argued then attacked the Armenian young men. As a result, 1 Armenian died and the 5 received all kinds of injuries. This incident definitely had political motives despite the claims of the government that would label this incident as an act of disorderly conduct. Perhaps few know that famous French writer Christian Pegnon was also the foreign affairs minister of France in 1956-58. And one of his foreign visits was to Armenia. On May 22, 1956 he visited Armenia, which caused mass demonstrations uncharacteristic for those years.
The protesters were mostly French-Armenians, who immigrated in Armenia in 1946-47. According to official statistics they didn’t receive the promised Soviet dream. Instead they were persecuted, exiled to Siberia. And when they found out that the French official was on a visit they literally jumped on the escorting cars of the minister and shouted, “Please save us, please save us from this life.” Some of the gathered people started to sing the anthem of France.
This incident became noteworthy for the French and US media. Instead, the Russian media would be totally silent about the visit of the minister. Pegnon was well aware of the wishes of the French Armenians. The French embassy in Moscow would periodically receive letters from Yerevan, in which repatriates would ask the French government to grant them visas to move back to France. Rumor has it that after his visit the minister assigned the ministry to seriously investigate the matter and resolve the situation. Only 60 people succeeded in returning to France. During the procedures repatriates were constantly terrorized by the KGB. Even under these circumstances the May events showed that it’s possible to attain certain results if they work in a united manner. In the records of 1950s there are a few other episodes that show the discontent of the society. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the events in Artik of July 1957. That summer a big number of Russian students were visiting the town. That’s where a huge fight started among the indigenous population and the Russian visitors. The official documents mention that the fight started when someone quite rudely spoke about one of the key soviet leaders. Others claim that the fight started because of nationality matters. Luckily it was possible to avoid casualties after the mediation of the law enforcers. A dozen of skirmish participants received bruises and fractures. The leadership has decided not to continue the further investigation of the matter. Overnight all the students and witnesses disappeared. The students were sent to Russia instantly. All the written testimonies were either shredded or kept in a safe. And it hasn’t been investigated for decades.
Hovik Charkhchyan
