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Thea Halo

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Not Even My Name: A True Story Kindle Edition

by Thea Halo (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 371 ratings

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A riveting account of exile from Turkish genocide, brought to light for the first time ever in Sano Halo's personal story

Not Even My Name exposes the genocide carried out during and after WW I in Turkey, which brought to a tragic end the 3000-year history of the Pontic Greeks (named for the Pontic Mountain range below the Black Sea). During this time, almost 2 million Pontic Greeks and Armenians were slaughtered and millions of others were exiled.

Not Even My Name is the unforgettable story of Sano Halo's survival, as told to her daughter, Thea, and of their trip to Turkey in search of Sano's home 70 years after her exile. Sano Halo was a 10-year-old girl when she was torn from her ancient, pastoral way of life in the mountains and sent on a death march that annihilated her family. Stripped of everything she had ever held dear, even her name, Sano was sold by her surrogate family into marriage when still a child to a man three times her age.

Not Even My Name follows Sano's marriage, the raising of her ten children in New York City, and her transformation as an innocent girl who was forced to move from a bucolic life to the 20th century in one bold stride. Written in haunting and eloquent prose, Not Even My Name weaves a seamless texture of individual and group memory, evoking all the suspense and drama of the best told tales.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The harrowing story of the slaughter of two million Pontic Greeks and Armenians in Turkey after WWI comes to vivid life in Sano Halo's memoir, as told by her daughter Thea. The story begins with the two women's journey to Turkey in search of Sano's native village in the Pontic Mountains, a remote region south of the Black Sea that had been settled by Greeks more than 2,000 years ago. In 1920, at the age of 10, Sano was the oldest of five children. She adored her beautiful mother and was favored by her grandfather, a blacksmith who was revered in their community. She felt secure in the closeness of her family, the beauty of farm life, the rituals of church and school. Ominous rumors of the persecution of Greeks by the Turkish military became a nightmarish reality when her father was conscripted. He escaped, but several months later everyone in her village was forced to leave their homes with scarcely a day's notice. The "emigration" was a death march, in which three of Sano's sisters perished. Not able to provide food for the family, Sano's parents left her with a surrogate family who treated her harshly. At the age of 15, Sano was sold into marriage to an Assyrian, three times her age, who had returned from America to find a wife. Despite the early tragedies of her young life, Sano's courage and determination to survive prevailed as she and her husband successfully raised 10 children. Her daughter has written an eloquent and powerful account of this tragic chapter of Turkish history. Photos and map not seen by PW.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The Armenian genocide in Turkey during World War I is widely known. Almost unknown, however, is the annihilation of the Pontic Greeks, who had lived for 3000 years in the Pontic Mountains near the Black Sea, by Kemal Ataturk's military forces after the war. In 1921, one survivor, ten-year-old Sano Halo (the author's mother), was forced with her entire village on a nearly year-long death march to Syria. Separated from her family, she lost even her name when she was sold by her surrogate family to a man three times her age, whom she married; later, they emigrated to New York City and raised ten children. Sano's is truly an amazing story of survival and resilience (she will soon be 90 years old). Even more remarkable is the lack of rancor, which so often permeates survivors' memoirs. Indeed, in describing the Turks who helped the author and her mother in their 1989 quest to find Sano's childhood village, there is only amazement at the hospitality and support they receive. An important and revealing book; highly recommended for all libraries.
-Ruth K. Baacke, Whatcom Community Coll., Bellingham, WA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"What illuminates the writing is Halo's heartfelt love for her brave mother. An unforgettable book." --Booklist

From the Inside Flap

Not Even My Name is the unforgettable story of Sano Halo's survival of the death march at age 10 that annihilated her family-as told to her daughter, Thea-and the poignant mother-daughter pilgrimage to Turkey in search of Sano's home seventy years after her exile. Sano, a Pontic Greek from a small village near the Black Sea, also recounts the end of her ancient, pastoral way of life in the Pontic Mountains.

The dreadful realization that something was amiss came little by little to Sano's village. Strangers began to inhabit the fields and forests, always watching from a distance like birds of prey. Turkish soldiers made periodic raids to seize men for slave labor in foul, lice-infested camps, where most died of disease, malnutrition, and exposure. Then in the spring of 1920, Turkish soldiers pounded on doors with the butts of their rifles and shouted the proclamation issued by General Kemal (Ataturk): "You are to leave this place. You are to take with you only what you can carry..." On their death march, victims lay where they fell and buzzards hung over their heads. So ended the three-thousand-year history of the Pontic Greeks in Turkey.

Stripped of everything she had ever held dear, even her name, at age fifteen Sano was sold into marriage to a man who brought her to America. He was three times her age. Not Even My Name follows Sano's marriage, the raising of her ten children, and her transformation from an innocent girl who lived an ancient way of life in a remote place to a nurturing mother and determined woman in twentieth-century New York City.

Although Turkey actively suppresses the truth about the slaughter of almost 3 million of its Christian minorities-Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian-during and after World War I, and the exile of millions of others, here is a rare, first-hand account of the horrors of that genocide. But Sano's story is also one of triumph. A brilliant and mesmerizing memoir written in haunting and eloquent prose. Not Even My Name weaves a seamless texture of individual memory that evokes all the suspense and drama of the best-told tales.

About the Author

Thea Halo has worked as an announcer, producer, and correspondent for public radio. She has won a number of awards for her poetry and other writing, which includes short stories, plays, and a newspaper column. She is the author of Not Even My Name.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003J5UIFU
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Picador; 1st edition (April 1, 2007)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 1, 2007
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2419 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 354 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #958,661 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #43 in Historical Greek Biographies
- #98 in History of Greece
- #144 in History of Turkey & the Ottoman empire

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Boogaboo

Lets listen, lets learn, lets accept responsibility...

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2005

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Its truly telling that Turks are trying to enter the European Union and be part of the West and not finally sit down like an adult nation and admit to the horrorific acts that were committed during the Ottoman times against the Armenians, the Kurds, the Greeks, the Cypriots and most of their Arab neighbors (even though they were muslim).

It is unfortunate to still see misguided defenders of the Turkish points refuting the Genocides of the Pontus people, Assyrians, Kurds, and Armenians by reviewers obviously educated and grown up in Turkey and subjected to the overt propaganda of a regime that is still not truly democratic, overtly nationalistic through history, where the press is still not free, and where abuses of basic human rights still make their entry into the European Union being questioned by 20+ members of the Union.

Oh yeah, its not the Ottoman Empires' fault, it is not modern Turkey's fault, the Armenian Genocide was a lie, the Greek massacres in Izmir (Smyrna) were a lie despite live news footage of the atrocities, the systematic aggression against the Kurds still going on a lie, the Turkish aggression and invasion of Cyprus a fictitious "wag the dog" event...This is an example of a backwards mentality and approach to issues that Turks will have to accept responsibilty for if they are to ever truly be part of the European Union, or part of the Arab world that they alianated also by ill-treating them during the Ottoman times. One word for our Turkish brethren, accountability is often liberating...

This book is powerful. It is obvious that some of its detractors haven't even read it. They were sent here to Amazon to debunk it with the same deniability that has gone on for years. As I said elsewhere, the world has numbers, we have documentation, we have pictures, we have stories and books written about these attrocities, and campaigns of missinformation cannot alter the truth. Whatever the Christians may have "done" to the Turks in the Ottoman empire, the Christians were still the Turkish-subjects and second class citizens in Turkey...Even if they did try to revolt (which they didn't really), just like the Americans and the French did during those times, killing 3/4 of the Christian rebells would be inexcusable, and it is.

Different times, yes. Moving populations, yes. Different cultures, yes. Different religions, yes. Slaughter on the Greeks of Smyrna, yes. Genocide of the Pontus people, yes. Genocide on the Assyrians, yes. Genocide of the Armenians, yes. Invasion of the tiny Island on Cyprus and mass-forced exodus of its populations barely 30 years ago, yes. Continued and organized persecutions of Kurds and systemic efforts against any efforts of Kurdish state, yes. Continued Human Rights abuses, yes. YOU JUST CAN'T HIDE AND OBFUSCATE THESE MANY INFRACTIONS...PERIOD! However, I do believe that accountability will lead to acceptance and reconcilliation for Turkey with all its neighbors.

God Bless Everyone in the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor...

27 people found this helpful

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Arthur Khoshaba

Amazing book that sheds light on forgotten pieces of history

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2019

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I purchased this book several years ago with the intentions of reading it sometime in the near future. Well, it’s nearing the end of 2019 and I finally got around to reading it… Let me just say, this is a must read for anybody that is interested in culture, history (forgotten history), and true, gut-wrenching stories. I regret not reading it sooner.

The story revolves around the life of Themia (later called Sano) and the journey that life brought forth to her. Sano is a Pontic Greek who was born and partially grew up in their native lands (which is now called Turkey). Her family and people, alongside the Armenians and Assyrians were evicted from that native land and systematically wiped out, one by one, from existence for being Christian.

As I continued to read through this book, I found it much harder because of my unique relation to it. It brought forth a feeling of both anger and depression knowing what my family had to go through. My parents are both Assyrian and my Great-Grandmother died on their death-march out from their homeland which is modern day Hakkari (Turkey). I grew up to the stories that my grandfather and grandmother used to tell me regarding the great forgotten genocide that the Turks and Kurds inflicted on upon not only our people, but the Armenians and Pontic Greeks as well.

Thea Halo did an unbelievable job collecting her mother’s stories and compiling them together for us to read in this unforgettable book. I recommend this book to anybody and everybody to wants to know the truth about the “Forgotten Genocide” and the life of Themia “Sano” Halo.

10 people found this helpful

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Eric Maroney

A 20th Century Story

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2022

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Not Even My Name: A True Story by Thea Halo tells the all too common tale of dislocation, genocide, and upheaval in the twentieth century. Halo’s mother was a Pontic Greek – an ethnic Greek person living in Turkey in a village along the Black Sea. These communities probably existed in remote antiquity as Greek trading communities. The form of Greek spoken there had more in common with certain ancient dialects of Greek than modern varieties.

Halo’s mother and her family were caught in the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of Turkish nationalism, and its narrow definition of who is a Turk. Like the Armenians and other ethnic Christian groups, the Pontic Greeks were ethnically cleansed, murdered, and deported. Halo's mother spends a lifetime rebuilding a new home through extraordinary courage and love.

In the end, mother and daughter find the old Greek village and her mother's homestead, and of course, it is heartbreaking. A people make a land – and what is left when they are gone seems unreal. Something is missing – the soul of the land and a people who will never return.

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Hanno Uittenbogaard

a bit too much biography

Reviewed in the Netherlands on July 31, 2018

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I purchased this book hoping to find an eyewitness account of the horrors the Greeks of Asia Minor had to endure at the hands of turkish revolutionaries after WW I. My hope was only partialy fulfilled .
The story of young Themia/Sano losing not only her home but her entire family during the forced deportation is gripping . I will not easily forget the moment Themia realizes that the baby sister she is carrying on her back is dead.
But after Themia's escape the book turns a different corner. It becomes a biography of Sano/Themia from Diarbakir to Aleppo to Beirut to Brooklyn. A fairly large portion of the book is dedicated to Sano's family life in New York and the ups and downs of her marriage. This is not what I bargained for. I forgave the author, one of Sano's six daughters, hoping to find a surprise, or a revgelation, at the end of the book where Sano and her daughter finally return to her home village in Turkey where she was so savagely forced to leave. The end however was my biggest disappointment. After seeing that everything was gone, every house demolished, Sano just leaves, not spending more than an hour at the place she so elaborately painted as Paradise in the first chapters of the book.
The title of the book refers to the fact that everything was taken from Themia/Sano. She wasn't even allowed to keep her own name. This puzzles me: why did she stick to her "slave" name (Sano) and why did she not resume her real name (Themia) once in America, once free?

Amazon Customer

Captivating factual tale of human survival under the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Christian peoples

Reviewed in Canada on February 14, 2016

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This is a must read for anyone wanting to inform themselves of personal tragedy and implications of ethnic cleansing and the mass scale extermination of Christian indigenous people in the early part of the twentieth century within the region that is now called Turkey. It is an objective historical account of the concealed history of the savage and hateful genocidal actions of the late Ottoman empire as young Turkey was becoming of age. To achieve a pure nation, the leaders at that time embarked on large scale exterminations of the few million Christians that inhabited the region since antiquity, well before any Turk arrived to the region. The human suffering, as portrayed from the personal experience and the gruesome deaths of her family members is presented in a captivating presentation, without politics. The book is very well written by Thea's daughter. The lack of world attention to the murder, ethnic cleansing and extermination of innocents on death marches of the Pontial Greeks, the Armenians and eventually almost all Christians from the region now known as Turkey, eventually led Hitler to do the same to the Jews.

maria t.

Very important and interesting book especially for those of Greek ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 31, 2014

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Very important and interesting book especially for those of Greek Pontian descent and for all others also. It is the story of a woman's life told by her daughter and deals with her childhood during the death marches of the Greek population in Turkey at the early part of the 20th Century. Tells the ordeal of these people and their suffering. The story continues into her adulthood and old age and how that period of her life affected her as she was the only one of her extended family to survive. It is a personal story of a period in history which we must all learn about and remember. For Greek Pontians it is a story that touches close to home because somewhere in our personal histories we have ancestors who experienced that period of time and either survived or perished. A must read for all.

kalliope

Ein weithin unbekanntes Verbrechen der neueren Geschichte und eine Frau, der alles genommen wird

Reviewed in Germany on April 15, 2014

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Dieses Buch erzählt die wahre Geschichte von Sano Halo, die 1921 als Kind mit ihrem ganzen Dorf wie Zehntausende anderer pontischen Griechen aus der Türkei vertrieben wurde. Ein fast einjähriger Fußmarsch Richtung Syrien fordert seine unzähligen Opfer, aber Sano überlebt.
Mit viel Liebe zeichnet Thea Halo das Schicksal ihrer Mutter nach, der selbst ihr Name genommen wurde. Man wird als Leser Teil dieser Geschichte, von der man gepackt und berührt wird und die eine vielfach unbekannte historische Wahrheit bezeugt.

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Magdalini Nikoli

A True Gem!!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 17, 2021

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What a book!!! What a life story!! Thank you so much Thea Halo for sharing your mum's story with the world!! What an amazing and emotional read!!
My grandparents came from Pontus (from Sourmena) and while reading this book I was feeling the story to my bone and tears came out at times. A future plan of mine is to go and visit my grandparents' town as well!!

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