Azat Krikorian and Krikor Boghossian look back at their long years in the Soviet Army with mixed feelings. Proud Armenian officers they are, but unable to understand why they sacrificed so much for a cause which brought nothing but pain and suffering to their fellow countrymen.
Krikorian was wounded twice during World War II and lost a brother defending Moscow against the German onslaught. Boghossian was an orphan whose aunt and grandmother were exiled to Siberia.
"I feel betrayed. We served in the Soviet army as loyal officers and helplessly watched fellow Armenians being deported to Siberia by the thousands. It hurt so much," Krikorian said with tears in his eyes.
"I still cannot believe what happened," fellow retired officer Boghossian adds fighting back his tears.
Krikorian and Boghossian are just two of the thousands of Armenians who have served in the Soviet army since the birth of the Soviet Union, but their's is more than a tale of heroism. It is a lifelong experience of dealing with humiliation, anger, fear and pain.
"I served in the Soviet army for 39 years. I fought on the Hungarian, Yugoslav, Romanian, Bulgarian and Austrian fronts. I was a good soldier and officer, but was crushed by what was done to the Armenians in the Crimea after World War II," he said as pensive fellow-soldier Boghossian shook his head in agreement.
Born 1925 in the Georgian town of Akhaltsikh near the Turkish border, Krikorian joined the Soviet army at the age of 17 and his first assignment was in Rostov where he was wounded a few months later.
After recuperating from his wounds, Krikorian's unit was sent to the Crimea to fight in the 1943-44 liberation war against the Germans. Krikorian was wounded again, this time in the Crimean city of Bakhchisaray.
"Soldiers get killed, wounded or taken prisoner. That's part of what they face, but to be betrayed by your own forces, that's not something I could forget or forgive," he said. It was in Bakhchisaray after the liberation of the Crimea that Krikorian faced the worst nightmare of his life.
"A woman came up to me at the train station and asked me a question that changed my life and faith in what I was doing. My anger was more against Stalin than communism itself," he said.
The elderly woman was an Armenian, one of hundreds who were being loaded on freight trains—exiled to Siberia after being accused by Stalin of collaborating with the German army.
"I was wearing the uniform of the Soviet Army and the woman did not know I was an Armenian too. With tears in her eyes she asked, 'Why am I being deported to Siberia when my son is serving in the Soviet army. I am the mother of a soldier...why are they doing this to me,"' Krikorian said.
"I could not answer. I walked away in tears...broken, confused and hurt. I hated Stalin. I could not help this woman. I could not even tell her that I too was an Armenian ... this was worse than getting wounded on the front lines," Krikorian said.
According to 1939 statistics, more than 30,000 Armenians lived in the Crimea. There were 7,000 Armenians in Simferopol alone. Many were doctors, architects, teachers, intellectuals, small business owners, artisans and laborers.
At the start of World War II all Armenian men were recruited into the Soviet Army and dispatched to the various battle fronts. Only the women and children stayed back.
"These were defenseless and helpless people. How could Stalin do this? How could he use Armenian soldiers to fight his war and with the stroke of a pen, send their mothers, sisters and children to life in exile in Siberia. I will never forgive him for that.
"I was a true believer in communism. Now I can describe myself as a socialist. Communism is just a utopia. The reality is something else," Krikorian said.
At 72, Krikorian today is one of the most active members of the Armenian community in Simferopol, where he has lived since 1975—including eight years as a Soviet army officer.
He now serves on the Armenian Community Council and is in charge of fundraising for the construction of Simferopol's new Armenian Church.
Like Krikorian, 77-year-old fellow retired officer Krikor Boghossian has suffered the trauma of the Stalinist era—the deportation of thousands of Armenians on trumpedup charges of collaborating with the German army during the Nazi occupation.
Boghossian was born in Simferopol. His father died when he was five years old. His mother passed away when he was a 14-year-old teenager. His grandfather was a parish priest whose forefathers were among those Armenians who settled in the Crimea in the mid-1300's.
As a young boy, he sang in the choir of Simferopol's St. Mgrditch Armenian church in 1932. A few months later, the communists closed the church after looting its contents and turned it into a public library.
After the loss of both his parents, Boghossian was taken under the care of his aunt and grandmother, a social worker who was in charge of a local orphanage.
"I come from a family of priests, especially on my mother's side. But I joined the Soviet army. That was in 1938, and I was only 18 years old," Boghossian said in Russian, adding, "My Armenian is very poor.
As a soldier, he was sent to the Bulgarian front where he was wounded, and it was then that the Crimea fell under German occupation in November 1941.
Returning back to the front lines, he fought hard. He wanted the Germans out of his country. He wanted to return home to his loved ones.
But the liberation of the Crimea did not end young Boghossian's troubles. The Germans were pushed out of the Crimea in April 1944 and three months later the Stalinist deportation began.
"I was still on the western front—and wounded—when Stalin's troops took my aunt and grandmother away. They were deported along with the entire Armenian population of the Crimea—except for the men who were in the Soviet army," Boghossian said through an interpreter.
In Siberia, Boghossian's "family" was confined to a seven square kilometer area, denied permission to leave their small village. As for him, home became a Soviet army barracks in the Urals were he married a Russian girl.
Lost and disillusioned, Boghossian was allowed to return to Simferopol in 1960—and only because he was a highly decorated soldier and officer, and because he had a Russian wife and a family of his own.
"When I returned to Simferopol, I could not find any of my old friends. All the Armenians were deported, and the few Armenians here were not natives to this land. They were born elsewhere and had come here to serve in the army," he said.
Things did not get better with Stalin's death in 1955. The few exiled Armenians who were allowed to return were forced to sign documents relinquishing ownership of all property and other personal claims.
Simferopol's old Armenian Church was bulldozed in 1979 to make room for a new road. His home is now occupied by a Russian family.
But despite the hardships and personal tragedy, Boghossian did not lose his faith.
Today he is all smiles when he talks about the revival of the Armenian community in Simferopol.
"I was wounded nine times while serving in the Soviet army. I have suffered a lot, but it's all over now. It's a new life for me and the new generation of Armenians here. I could have died, but I'm glad to be alive and see this day," he said.
