AIWA: Diana Apcar Tribute April 18 , 2004

NEWS RELEASE Armenian International Women's Association 65 Main St., #3A Watertown, MA 02472 Tel: 781/926-0171 URL: www.aiwa-net.org March 26, 2004 Contact: Barbara Merguerian, 781/237-6858 or AiwaInc@aol.com Ara Ghazarians, 781/646-3090 or curator@armenianculturalfoundation.org Tribute to an Exceptional Armenian Woman, Diana Apcar, on April 18 Boston, MA - As history stands witness, the Armenian women have played an influential role in the affairs of their nation. They have made significant contributions to the cultural and civil life of Armenia and their communities in the diaspora. On Sunday, April 18, Armenian organizations will join together in celebrating the life and legacy of an Armenian woman of exceptional qualities and international stature: Diana Agabeg Apcar, the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia (1918-1920) to Japan. Apcar is perhaps best remembered today for her powerfully written political prose (books, pamphlets, and articles) that attracted international attention to the plight of the Armenian people and pressured the progressive nations of the world to respond. She is also a heroine to the many Armenian refugees from the Armenian Genocide and upheavals of World War I who escaped across Siberia to Vladivostock, Russia, and then on the Yokohama, Japan, where they became beneficiaries of her generous support. Not only did Apcar provide food and lodging for countless refugees, but she also made the necessary arrangements for their immigration to safe havens, particularly the United States. The program on April 18, beginning at 3 p.m. at the Armenian Cultural Foundation in Arlington, will feature the opening of an exhibit dedicated to Diana A. Apcar and designed to highlight the events of her remarkable life and her outstanding achievements, within the context of the historic times in which she lived. Sponsored by the Armenian International Women's Association, in celebration of Women's History Month, and by the Armenian Cultural Foundation, in cooperation with Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives and the Armenian Library and Museum of America, the exhibit will be on display through July 18.

Fate destined Diana Agabeg Apcar, as it has many generations of Armenians, to be born outside their ancestral homeland. Diana was born in Rangoon, Burma (present day Myanmar) on October 12, 1859. Her father, Hovhannes Agabeg, was a first generation Indian Armenian, having migrated there as a young boy with his parents from New Julfa, Iran. Her mother Avet was from the large and prominent family of Tadeos Avetum, formerly of Shiraz, another historic Iranian city. Diana grew up in Calcutta, where she received her education in a convent school and mastered the English language. She also spoke Armenian, Hindustani, and Japanese. Diana married Apcar Michael Apcar in Hong Kong in 1888 or 1889. Michael's family also had roots in New Julfa, Iran, one of the descendants of the prominent house of Apcar, whose preeminent son Arratoon (1779-1863) founded Apcar and Company as early as 1819. Initially established in Bombay, the company later moved to Calcutta and expanded its operations to South Asia and the Far East. Apcar and Company's activities included shipping, import/export enterprises, and rice farming in the Dutch East Indies. By the mid-1840s, the Apcar fleet plied the Calcutta, Penang, Singapore, and China routes. Following their honeymoon to Japan, newly weds Diana and Michael Apcar decided in 1891 to settle in Yokohama, where Michael established A. M. Apcar and Company, an import-export firm. After the sudden death of her husband in 1906, Diana assumed the heavy burden of running her husband's business while raising her three children. Initially Diana Apcar began writing by writing fiction. Her first book, Susan, was published in Kobe in 1892, followed by Home Stories of the War, dedicated to the Japanese people. The second decade of the 20th century was the most productive period of her literary output, when she wrote eight more books, including: The Truth about the Armenian Massacres (1910), Betrayed Armenia (1910), and The Peace Problem (1912), all published in Yokohama and the subject of "rave reviews" in such American periodicals as the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Chicago News, and Buffalo News. These were followed by The Great Evil (1914) and On the Cross of Europe's Imperialism, Armenia Crucified (1918). Her articles appeared in several English-language periodicals in Japan, Europe, and the United States, among them Armenia (later New Armenia), the Japan Gazette, and the Far East. Becoming a champion of the oppressed and their causes, Apcar wrote extensively about the condition of the Armenians in the Ottoman Turkish Empire in an effort to raise the world's consciousness, emphasizing on the moral duty of the West to save the Armenian nation, the "Little Ally" during the First World War, from total annihilation. She was particularly critical of the behind-the-scenes

machinations of the Great Powers, whom she found responsible for the calamities that befell her people. In 1920, largely through her efforts, Japan became one of the first nations to recognize the independence of the Armenian republic. For her courage and dedication to the cause of her people and heritage, and especially "for defending the interests of the newly-born Fatherland, and mitigating the conditions of our compatriots," Apcar was appointed Honorary Consul from the Republic of Armenia to Japan. This appointment, although short-lived, made her the first Armenian woman diplomat, and probably first woman ever appointed to a diplomatic post in modern times. The new title and position added to Diana Apcar's prominence and stature. She corresponded with several international figures, among them President Woodrow Wilson. She was in contact with international humanitarians such as James L. Barton, secretary of the foreign department of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; David Starr Jordan, director of the World Peace Foundation and president of the World Peace Congress; and Arthur G.. Symonds, Secretary of the Balkan Committee -- to name a few. She participated in the fundraising campaigns of Near East Relief. Apcar's faith in her people and the Armenian church was boundless. Her correspondence clearly reveals her longing for the Armenian Church after living for so many years in Japan: "There is not a church like the Armenian church with her vibrant spirit and consoling prayer, not even one which can have gratifying feeling of the Armenian liturgy," she wrote. It was her destiny to live out her full life in Japan, without an opportunity to visit her homeland. As soon as Michael, her only surviving son, came of age, Diana Apcar was only too glad to hand over to him the reigns of the Apcar business, so that she could devote herself to her intellectual and benevolent pursuits. During the Japanese earthquake in 1923, her home and most of her papers and possessions were destroyed, but she and her family members survived without serious injury. Rebuilding home and business, the family continued its activities in Yokohama. Diana Apcar died on July 10, 1937, and is buried in the Foreigners Cemetery of Yokohama next to her husband. Cooperating in the preparation of this exhibit are the many members of the Apcar family now living in the United States, including two surviving grandchildren, Lucille Apcar of Mariposa and Katherine Berberian of Santa Cruz, California, and descendents of the Galstaun family.

In addition to the exhibit opening, the April 18 tribute, which is open to the public free of charge, will include a book reception marking the release of From the Book of One Thousand Tales, by Diana Apcar, written in late 1920s, recently discovered, edited, and published by her granddaughter Lucille Apcar, who will be present on this occasion. Further information is available by contacting the Armenian Cultural Foundation at 781/646-3090 (curator@armenianculturalfoundation.org) or AIWA at 617/926-0171 (aiwainc@aol.com).