Not Even My Name: A True Story [Paperback]

Thea Halo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2001

Not Even My Name is a rare eyewitness account of the horrors of a little-known, often denied genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of Armenian and Pontic Greek minorities in Turkey were killed during and after World War I. As told by Sano Halo to her daughter, Thea, this is the story of her survival of the death march at age ten that annihilated her family, and the mother-daughter pilgrimage to Turkey in search of Sano's home seventy years after her exile. Sano, a Pontic Greek from a small village near the Black Sea, also recounts the end of her ancient, pastoral way of life in the Pontic Mountains.

In the spring of 1920, Turkish soldiers arrived in the village and shouted the proclamation issued by General Kemal Attatürk: "You are to leave this place. You are to take with you only what you can carry . . . " After surviving the march, Sano was sold into marriage at age fifteen to a man three times her age who brought her to America. Not Even My Name follows Sano's marriage, the raising of her ten children, and her transformation from an innocent girl who lived an ancient way of life in a remote place to a woman in twentieth-century New York City.

Although Turkey actively suppresses the truth about the murder of almost three million of its Christian minorities--Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian--during and after World War I, and the exile of millions of others, here is a first-hand account of the horrors of that genocide.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The harrowing story of the slaughter of two million Pontic Greeks and Armenians in Turkey after WWI comes to vivid life in Sano Halo's memoir, as told by her daughter Thea. The story begins with the two women's journey to Turkey in search of Sano's native village in the Pontic Mountains, a remote region south of the Black Sea that had been settled by Greeks more than 2,000 years ago. In 1920, at the age of 10, Sano was the oldest of five children. She adored her beautiful mother and was favored by her grandfather, a blacksmith who was revered in their community. She felt secure in the closeness of her family, the beauty of farm life, the rituals of church and school. Ominous rumors of the persecution of Greeks by the Turkish military became a nightmarish reality when her father was conscripted. He escaped, but several months later everyone in her village was forced to leave their homes with scarcely a day's notice. The "emigration" was a death march, in which three of Sano's sisters perished. Not able to provide food for the family, Sano's parents left her with a surrogate family who treated her harshly. At the age of 15, Sano was sold into marriage to an Assyrian, three times her age, who had returned from America to find a wife. Despite the early tragedies of her young life, Sano's courage and determination to survive prevailed as she and her husband successfully raised 10 children. Her daughter has written an eloquent and powerful account of this tragic chapter of Turkish history. Photos and map not seen by PW.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The Armenian genocide in Turkey during World War I is widely known. Almost unknown, however, is the annihilation of the Pontic Greeks, who had lived for 3000 years in the Pontic Mountains near the Black Sea, by Kemal Ataturk's military forces after the war. In 1921, one survivor, ten-year-old Sano Halo (the author's mother), was forced with her entire village on a nearly year-long death march to Syria. Separated from her family, she lost even her name when she was sold by her surrogate family to a man three times her age, whom she married; later, they emigrated to New York City and raised ten children. Sano's is truly an amazing story of survival and resilience (she will soon be 90 years old). Even more remarkable is the lack of rancor, which so often permeates survivors' memoirs. Indeed, in describing the Turks who helped the author and her mother in their 1989 quest to find Sano's childhood village, there is only amazement at the hospitality and support they receive. An important and revealing book; highly recommended for all libraries.
-Ruth K. Baacke, Whatcom Community Coll., Bellingham, WA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (June 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312277016
• ISBN-13: 978-0312277017
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > History > Asia > Turkey
  • #87 in Books > History > Europe > Greece

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A universal story "writ large", June 17, 2000

By 

Gandalf (Smallwood, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not Even My Name: From a Death March in Turkey to a New Home in America, a Young Girl's True Story of Genocide and Survival (Hardcover)

"Not Even My Name" is an extraordinarily powerful book that forced me to understand the Pontic, Assyrian, and Armenian genocides it describes in individual, human terms. After all, it's much easier to distance oneself from a holocaust than from the individuals who are its victims. In addition, the book has provided me with an important analog to the history of my own family, Greek Jews, many of whom suffered their own holocaust.

I intend to read this book with one of my classes, not only because it is a fine piece of literature, but also because it will remind us in a very compelling way how foolish it is to try to prove that one holocaust was bigger or more important than another. We all suffer from the "It's my dead rat" syndrome, a foolishness this book exposes fearlessly.

Equally important, the structure of the book, framed by a double odyssey and complex exodus, provides the experiences of the author, Thea Halo, and her mother, Sano, nee Themia, with just the right context to make the journey very worthwhile for the reader as well as for its two main characters. Halo's descriptions are beautifully drawn, and her inferences are understated, which is what makes them so powerful. This is a universal story "writ large" and passionately. It took me almost no time to see that it is also my story, placed in a different context, but one that I could recognize easily, in small ways as well as large. How fascinating, for instance, to discover that the Pontic Christians celebrated Easter with egg-breaking contests almost identical to the Greek-Jewish tradition during the Passover Seders.

The book is extremely well written and incredibly moving. I broke down and wept quite often as it drew me into the lives, the joys and tragedies, the incredible bravery of people we shamefully know almost nothing about; yet the cause of my tears was never the result of mere sentimentality or sensationalism. The bare facts themselves, powerfully recounted, are enough to make any reader weep for "Man's inhumanity to man," even as Sano, a character with her own imperfections, whose very name has been obliterated, triumphs over adversity, little by little; and reminds us that we can overcome even senseless acts of mass violence and our own dark side by following the example she sets of unending kindnesses and care for the "Family of People."

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written book about the horrors of genocide, June 8, 2000

By 

Elki Issa - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not Even My Name: From a Death March in Turkey to a New Home in America, a Young Girl's True Story of Genocide and Survival (Hardcover)

A must-read for all those interested in the history of modern Turkey. The genocide inflicted against the Christian inhabitants of Turkey -- Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians -- have had long-term ramifications that exist to this day. Reading Thea's story of her courageous mother reminded me of similar experiences that my Assyrian grandmothers and Armenian mother-in-law endured. Many thanks to Thea Halo for sharing her mother Sano's story of survival and providing the rest of the world with a true account of life under Ataturk.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A long awaited book for the next generation, August 8, 2000

By 

Roula Melidis (Astoria, New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not Even My Name: From a Death March in Turkey to a New Home in America, a Young Girl's True Story of Genocide and Survival (Hardcover)

As a Pontian-Greek-American, reading this great book was like having my grandmother tell me her life's stories all over again. Couldn't put it down. Very infomative, touching and most of all a real treasure for my daughters. Now they can read this ideal book and learn about their great-grandparents history. Another very important point in this book is that the Pontian, Armenian and Assyrian Genocide, which is not written anywhere is revealed for everyone to be aware. The author wrote this book out of love for her mother, therefore there is no hatred involved. Even though the most important years of Sano's life were tragic, she still has nothing awful to say and is a very very lovely lady. I highly recommend reading this book, because its a true story and very well written. THANKS A MILLION THEA HALO.