first took all the men of our village and killed them. The rest of us
were deported. I don’t know how many hundreds we were.
Everyone according to his ability rented a donkey or a horse and we
left.
We went from Albistan to Zeitun to Marash to Aintab. We camped
on a farm behind Aintab College, near some newly dug foundations
for houses. They were simply large holes in the ground. You
understand? An epidemic had broken out in our caravan and people
were dying all around us. They started filling those
foundations with their dead bodies. Two,
three, four, five bodies on top of each other.
From Aintab, orders came that everyone over the age of 12 was to
be sent to Der-Zor. A friend of mine and I escaped, but we were
caught later and this time they sent us to Bizib and then toward
Biredjig. Biredjig is on the shores of the Euphrates. You understand?
It is on the other side of the river. We stayed in a khan (an inn) on
this side. Caravans would come through there and be sent off
toward the desert-hundreds and hundreds of Armenians. We used
to see dead, bloated bodies floating in the river.
