Dear Readers!
The constant fight for memory and truth became the leitmotif of this issue of “Awedis”. We open it with information about two exhibitions: the exhibition “Christian heritage in the multicultural identity of Azerbaijan” – which distorts history and the present – as Witold Repetowicz writes in our pages – and the exhibition “Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsak) – heritage in danger” showing the ongoing process of erasing Armenian traces). In the face of constant manipulation, the voice of Armenians must be loud on this matter and clearly show where the truth and where is falsehood.
We also need to remember with a loud voice that Armenians fell victim to two genocides: the merciless anti-Armenian campaign in the Ottoman Empire organized 109 years ago and – what is less talked about – the Volhynia-Galician crime planned and carried out by the UPA during World War II. On the following pages, we present reports from the commemoration of the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Armenian Genocide taking place at khachkars throughout Poland and a unique ceremony at the cemetery in Oborniki Śląskie, where in one of the graves earth from the grave of two girls – sisters Janina Rozalia and Stanisława Pudło – murder victims was placed. in Kuty in the spring of 1944. It is preceded by shocking testimony from those days.
A difficult history and present, marked by pain and loss, and at the same time so much life in the Armenian community! In our pages, we show the always hospitable Armenian House, where the Year of Arshile Gorky is celebrated on a grand scale – an outstanding, although unfortunately less known in Poland, Armenian painter, whose life was also marked by the dark time of genocide.
Leaving you with this sometimes difficult, but – we hope – interesting reading, we wish you a peaceful holiday time.
Editorial staff