European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Magazine refugia Eugenie Poladian 76, in Forest Hilly n. Y. War still haunts Beirut refugee Bojoh Barbour Assoc a red press he sees America through a Cataract Bur indeed her vision often takes her inward when she hears of Wolent death she Soos in her mind s Eye three men shot dead on a turkish Road More than 70 years ago when she was nol yet 4 years old. She 15 Aboul 7fi now a refugee from Beirut. Iran the Many wars awl violent death in Lebanon and the Middle Easl she escaped her War torn Home six men Iris ago and now lives Wilh a daughter in Forest Hills. Bui Lor f Genie Poladian there is no Relief Fum the War a car backfired Down the Streel and she froze thinking it was another bomb. Nana. As her Rand children calf her left a City a hic oven the a cad were nol sate. The grave Digger s famil trim s the cemetery burying remains Elihu Rcd Bihe shelling. A Liny woman with thick glasses and Wispy Gitiya hair she say quietly m her native Tongue. I married and made a family and now at is vacant my friends Are ill conc ii is her husband a fabric merchant died in 1958 they hire Len i a no jul cars. The one who he Voit Beirut Truoi line i i Oise in in Evita r., child on a i Ina la. Lind one to i a Hills Homo Thiv Litchi Lurn i no modest k to family Butk -. Lair Roll Rind Wain Rylor ref i i Idian Loai nod to weave to a is Poladian grew up without Mother or father passed on from one Well meaning family 10 anole or. Moslem and Christian Arab and armenian her benefactors All part of the Middle Eastern mosaic from missionary to nomadic Sheik. During the last weeks before tier family engineered her escape Sho says every Day brought a new problem. Every Day someone tried to take your they would say. This is too big a House for an o d woman. Get of " but she stayed and neighbors shiite kurd and Christian would Cook and Taring her food and when the shelling came she would invite Thorn in because her House on a lower it oar and sheltered by higher buildings around was safer from the mortar and artillery. Once there wore so Many crowded into her apartment to were sticking together " some of her friends who loll their apartments fur Long periods returned to find thai hid lacks had held but looters had sawed Olf the Bottom of Tho door below the lock. On the streets revenge replaced la. In Beirut a daughter who lived across the Green Lini in Easl Beirut took Hor Tife m her tends to visit Hui Mother a few Miles away every a bin or fi., 71 to. Steps Lorijo to to ass in her Chnfc. Tiv arc Iii certain Sho was Safe in Nic of the i in spire of fit1 acl the Cross on it tip pm rnadi.1 it ii Farget or Shellimi to c Rockel Poci cd Church survived but inc Sci tool next door is cont ally Jitu if rebuilt is is hard Lei lot Sarato Iho wars israeli versus Arab. Aral , Chalian versus moslem an Arab fam look Over her apart Modl m in attempt to escape inc violence of Iho i old of Lebanon for the violence of Beirut Ono Day a Young Man bringing her Money from her family was wounded on his Way to her House by a sniper. Sho grieved because she Felt responsible. Poladian first fell victim to Middle Eastern violence As a Small girl during Lich lint Between the turks and armenians. Her lather an armenian was conscripted to work on turkish railroads and the family never heard from him again then on a forced in 1915 when Many armenians died Undi Hie whips of kurdish guards. Tho Barefoot Lille. Girl holding unto her Mother s skirts saw to three men Sifrol when the rna cars reached a watering Hole. The group bolted and in Tho contusion Eugenie s Mother disappeared she never saw her Molnrr again. I Hough she spent seven years searching her Mother s few valuables were sewn into Eugenie s underclothes and these helped sustain her today Poladian is an�rou5 so gel her Green cad and she is learning English which Means learning a new alphabet. She practices Small words with her daughter and son in Law she walks to a Small store a Block away to buy cigarettes she smokes heavily. She talks of weaving carpels at 10, helping a doctor at 13. Before she was 20 she had delivered 30 babies then she married and bore her own those were the Happy Days. But even then she could sense the unrest among her Arab neighbors when Lime came to leave inc most difficult part of the journey was trom West Borul to East Beirut. Somehow they did nol molest inc Little old lady with Tho shuffling Gail pushing a shopping Wagon Down Tho Street with Allol her belongings in two suitcases on the plane Iso aled by her language Sho wore a sign with her name and destination and a in quest for help not unlike the immigrants of another Day. Now she spends much of her Day in the Kitchen of her daughter s apart men by eating Sho says you Don cooking seems lobe therapeutic. So arc her grandchildren. Sho Servos Strong Sweet arabic Coffee on a shiny tin plated tray. Her daughter says Sho smiles a lot when she is asked about come in new York Poladian shrugs inside her Bulky Black Woolen Scaler and says. It is not so bad As in when her son in Law teases her about Hemraj Stow she looks a rum with her crinkled face and smiles what do you expect am old " someday she says Sho would like to return to Beirut. All i want is to die and be buried next to my husband. But 1 Don t know in the Tombstone is still Incio because of the shelling poled an studying English at her new Home in . Monday february 16, 19b7 the stars and stripes Page 13
