Hagop Der Balian, Mémoires d’un survivant du génocide des Arméniens: d’Adana à Mossoul

Abstract

Long before the great Parisian shoemaker Sarkis Der Balian was making beautiful footwear for the likes of Marie Curie, Salvador Dali, Greta Garbo, and Jean Anouilh, he watched his sister die of foot gangrene from walking unshod on a forced march in Cilicia in 1915-1916. His family’s story within the larger story of the Armenian genocide could have led Sarkis down other career paths – perhaps as a surgeon after watching a brother die of a bowel obstruction from swallowing gold pieces on the sa...