The project could only succeed, however, if it attracted much bigger investments. In 1931, it was estimated that six million francs would be needed in order to relocate some 3,000 refugees in permanent housing in Syria and Lebanon, over the next two years. The Nansen Office, however, had only half this amount; the money had been granted to it by the French government. To complete the financial arrangements, the League of Nations was counting on the AGBU to issue it a guaranteed £10,000, six-year loan. Excited by the project, Gulbenkian set an example for the other members of the central board by making a personal donation of £3,250 in their presence; he appealed to his colleagues and the friends of the Union to come up with the remaining £6,750.116 In the next few days, responding to a call from the central board, several other AGBU members made contributions: £1,370 was donated by the Karagheusian brothers, £685 by Dikran Taylor, £438 by Vahram Nubar, £400 by Noyemi Kapamajian, £400 by Arakel Nubar, and £269 by Tavit Mserian.117
It should be recalled that these donations were made in the midst of a depression that had affected the whole world in the early 1930s, and thus at a time when many of the AGBU’s regular donors in the United States were not in a position to respond to appeals from its Paris headquarters. This explains why the board was extremely hard put to come up with the £10,000 that had been pledged to ... Read all
The Building of Armenian Neighborhoods in Syria and Lebanon
The Beirut branch, 1931. Seated, from left to right: Dr. Hagop Topjian, Mihran Damadian, Rev. Yenovk Geokgeozian, and Dr. Baghdasar Melkonian. Standing, from left to right: Garabed Katsakhian, Hmayag Kranian and Boghos Tursarkis-ian (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).