With Ruben Melkonyan, grandson of a soldier buried in Leusden, we visited several schools in the past few days. Students listened breathlessly to his story and asked him all sorts of questions.
You could have heard a pin drop in the packed lecture hall of comprehensive school De Breul in Zeist, when Ruben told about his grandfather’s bicycle. He was so crazy about his two-wheeler, a rarity in Armenia before the Second World War, that he carefully cleaned the bicycle, greased it and hung it on a hook on the wall of his small house the day before he left for the front. His last words to his wife were: “Take good care of my bike.”
When his wife had no more food for their children and no more wood to burn in the winter of 1944-1945, she had no choice but to sell the bicycle. It felt as if it was not the bike but the coffin of Rubens’ grandfather that was being carried out of the house. And as it turned out: that same winter, Rubens’ grandfather had actually died. He was shot by the Nazis in Middelharnis, far from home, on 9 December 1944.
Students asked if Ruben, a university professor in daily life, was also crazy about cycling. He had to admit that at his university in the Armenian capital Yerevan, nobody comes by bike. But he promised to try it himself and to encourage cycling among colleagues.
Ruben’s father, the son of the soldier buried in the Netherlands, became a famous writer in Armenia. One of his books is called The Bicycle. Students asked if it is also available in Dutch. That is not yet the case, but Ruben will do his best to make the book available to students here.
At the Corderius College in Amersfoort, students asked Ruben what he felt when he finally stood at his grandfather’s grave earlier this week. Ruben indicated that his family can now finally bring closure to the tragedy surrounding his grandfather and that visiting the grave gives him peace. There was also a lot of interest in the way in which the Soviet War Cemetery Foundation identifies soldiers and traces relatives.
The school visit, the commemorations on Monday, the lecture on Sunday and the grave visit by relatives were made possible by Vfonds, Van Well van der Snoek Foundation, Rabo Clubsupport and private contributions. In March we will organize grave visits again. Click here to make a contribution.
Photos Suzanne Flipse/Soviet War Cemetery Foundation
