Karzouhi Ousdigian Balian
The exquisite piece of embroidery in the hands of Karzouhi Ousdigian Balian’s grandson, Randall Rudisel, was created when she learned the art of French needlework at age twelve. She was born in Trebizond, the second child of a wealthy merchant, Meshag Ousdigian, and his wife, Khasig Minassian. At age two she was hidden in a forest and cared for by a farmer’s wife as the Turks were killing babies during the 1895 massacre.
She had a pampered childhood surrounded by a loving family. Aside from formal schooling she learned the art of dressmaking from a Parisian dressmaker.
In the summer of 1915, her father was killed by the Turks, and his body was cast into the Black Sea. She and her siblings were separated from each other and their mother, and she was placed in a group that was forced to march from Trebizond toward a desert near Kemak.
After a nineteen-day march with little to eat or drink, the group arrived at a resting place before proceeding to the desert. While there, she encountered two Turkish women who were looking for someone who knew how to sew. When she identified herself as a seamstress they challenged her. At this point she pulled a scissors, thimble, and tape measure from her pocket, items that her sister Anna had suggested she take with her on what they both knew was a death march. These small objects provided sufficient proof to the Turkish women that she could indeed sew. After slipping a veil over her face, they took her to the home of one of them, as this lady’s daughter was to be married and required a trousseau.
Although she experienced considerable difficulties in the three years before the war ended, she remained under the protection of several Turkish families who travelled about and then eventually reached Constantinople. She remained there and miraculously found two of her three sisters and brother. Her sister Anna had also been saved by a Turkish family in Trebizond, and before leaving the family home she had taken some family silver and this embroidery that Karzouhi had created when she was twelve years old.—Lucy Balian Rorke-Adams, M.D.