Refugees. The Work Of The League
C. A. Macartney
 
VI. THE RESCUE OF DEPORTED WOMEN AND CHILDREN
 

A tragic side-issue of the Armenian deportations of 1915 and 1916, and the Greek deportations during the same and later periods, was the imprisonment of Christian women and children in Turkish and Kurd harems, a fate which overtook probably a full 200,000 women and children. The motive in placing the younger children, at least, in Moslem houses was often not unworthy, the aim being to save orphans from starvation; and these children, although afterwards sold in marriage (if girls) or used as slaves (if boys) were often treated well, and many of them resisted subsequent attempts to rescue them. The fate of the older captives was different. Boys of over 12 were as a rule killed, with the men; young women and girls were kept for the harems; 'with few exceptions,' it was reported, 'they were violated as soon as captured.' [*] All captives were converted, by terror or kindness, to Islam.

The first attempt at rescue work was undertaken on her own initiative by Miss Jeppe, a Danish lady who had worked in an Armenian orphanage during the War. Her pity had been stirred by the ghastly sights which she witnessed during the deportations:
 

*. Records of 8th Assembly, Minutes of 5th Committee, pp. 51 ff.

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'Starving Armenian women and children throwing themselves on the body of a dead donkey, tearing it to pieces and devouring it; Turkish children worrying little Armenians till they died in the road; exhausted people falling on all fours and crawling along—still driven— till they also died among the other dead people who strewed the roads; and at last a long train of women and girls naked driven on and on.' [*]

During the War, Miss Jeppe was able to effect a few rescues. At its close, the question was officially taken up. The Allied troops which occupied various parts of Turkey released a great number of women and children; it was reported in 1921 that no less than 90,819 Armenian orphans had been reclaimed from Turkey, Syria, Cyprus, Egypt, Armenia and Georgia. The British authorities in Constantinople rescued several thousand Armenian women and children, and others were released by the Greeks in Smyrna and Ionia. [**] There remained, however, a number estimated at over 12,000 even in the areas occupied by the Allies (mainly among the Arabs of Syria) and some 70,000 in the interior of Anatolia, who could not be reached. A clause was accordingly inserted in the first peace treaty with Turkey,
 

*. Manchester Guardian, October 8, 1926.

**. Tribute must be paid to the remarkable work done in caring for these orphans by the Lord Mayor's Fund, the Near East Relief and other charitable organisations in the East, and by the Swiss, Belgian and other orphanages. The work of these organisations had gradually grown less as the children grew up; but in many cases children were cared for in places as remote as Syria and Soviet Armenia until they became self-supporting adults.

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binding her to allow and give all assistance to a League of Nations Commission to make enquiries and liberate the remaining victims.

This treaty was never ratified, and the Commission of Enquiry proved impracticable. The First Assembly took the question up, but, as the British authorities in Constantinople reported that most of the necessary work was now finished and the French were reluctant to interfere with domestic arrangements under their control, [*] the work which the Council actually set on foot was made modest.

It reduced itself, in practice, to two centres— in Constantinople and Aleppo respectively— which were conducted by private individuals, with the approval of and certain subsidies from the League, and other assistance from charitable organisations. The devotion and self-sacrifice of the individuals in question are beyond all praise.

The work in Constantinople was carried on by Dr. Kennedy, the Near East Administrator of the Armenian (Lord Mayor's) Fund, and Miss Caris E. Mills, an American lady. It received from the League subsidies which gradually decreased from 100,000 gold francs to 20,000 gold francs in 1927, when the work
 

*. In 1922 Miss Jeppe reported that there were 5,000-6,000 women and children in Moslem houses in the French zone, and at least 30,000 in the district accessible from Aleppo, including some hundreds in Aleppo itself. An application to the French authorities for leave to send a mission among the Arab tribes was, however, refused, on the ground that this would only produce a fresh outburst of anti-foreign fanaticism, and even in Aleppo the women could not be rescued for fear of disturbances.

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ceased to be maintained as a separate entity, and was incorporated in the general refugee work.

The method adopted was the institution of a 'neutral House' or 'League of Nations House' in Constantinople, to which the women and children came or were brought. Beginning at first on a small scale, the work rapidly increased to the limit of the home's capacity. In the first six months 78 children were in residence in the home, and over 300 had been helped, irrespective of race, nationality or religion. Only a few women were in residence, but some 400 had been helped, either by assisting them to find and join their relatives, or by finding them employment abroad, chiefly in the U.S.A. Between July 1923, and July 1924, 1,327 children had been sheltered in the home, fed and clothed, and sent to institutions, schools and families, or returned to their parents, where these could be discovered. 960 women were helped in the same way, and others found situations in America or elsewhere. By the next year the total of persons helped had reached nearly 3,000, thanks to additional resources placed at Dr. Kennedy's disposal by various charitable organisations. In 1925-6, 319 children and 1,550 adults were helped. The work ranged from providing hospitals, donating milk and money, educating, finding employment, to discovering relatives and arranging for transportation.

The Aleppo centre was started by Miss Jeppe who returned to Syria on her own initiative after

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the War, and was taken under League patronage in 1922. Her work made, perhaps, a more romantic story than that of the Constantinople house. The women and children whom she rescued included not only persons from villages in French occupation, but refugees who had escaped from the wild Arab tribes or from the interior of Anatolia. Besides her house in Aleppo, she established an advanced post where boy and girl refugees could be received and passed on. The first person rescued was an Armenian boy of 14 who had spent seven years as a cowherd in a Bedouin village, preserving his memory of his language by talking to the cows. [*] It was some months before a woman would take the risk of escaping to Miss Jeppe's shelter, fearing that the whole scheme was a device of the slave traders. Only after four months, some villagers ventured across and sent back word to their friends that it was safe to come away. For the boys and girls it was easier; they could run across the desert and shelter in caves. But they would arrive in a deplorable condition.

'An important point,' said a sober League report, 'is that though these refugees arrive in rags, covered with vermin, physically exhausted and often seriously ill, not one of them has died, and, in fact, none has left her (Miss Jeppe's) care without being cured.'

The refugees, after care in Miss Jeppe's house, were passed on to the French authorities. No less than 75 per cent, got into touch again with their relatives. For others foster parents
 

*. Manchester Guardian, l.c.

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were found, or they were placed in various institutions. They were also given education and training; by 1927, 400 had become self-supporting.

To Miss Jeppe belongs the credit for having started the first Armenian agricultural settlement. A small village was founded, in 1924, with such success that in the spring of 1926 a second colony was founded with the collaboration of the French authorities. The prosperity of these colonies, as compared with the misery reigning in the concentration camps, gave the first impetus towards the later colonisation movement in Syria.

Miss Jeppe's work lasted from March, 1922, until the end of 1927. By the time her work closed, Miss Jeppe had, at the cost of some £9,000 from the League and about half as much again from private sources, 'rescued, maintained and educated ' about 1,600 persons.

In 1927 the work was wound up. Much more results might have been expected if the interior of Anatolia, and the Kurdish and Bedouin tribes could have been reached at an earlier date. This, however, was due to no fault of the rescuers. The wretched fate of the women whom salvation could not reach is one part of the horror of war.


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