Martyrdom for Life

The research and compilation in this book took six years. Apelian brings to light the stories of twenty of his compatriots. Five of them are from his home town of Korkune, a small village of 17 families in the environs of Kessab, Syria. Each life, documented here has been an odyssey, terrible to bear and a worse kind of martyrdom. Death is final, but to live knowing who you are and not being able to claim your place with your own nation or culture is a never ending suffering. One million and a half perished in the desert, but some survived and were forced into lives alien to theirs. Some of these stories have happy endings. The protagonists were reunited with their loved ones by strange twists of fate. Many of them have unresolved stories as the older generation is gone and have taken away all those precious memories of a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, who were lost, never to be reclaimed.