Armenian-Molokans: From Kars to Los Angeles
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| Latitude |
Longitude |
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Karakala: see Taslica Taslica |
40°46' N 40°46' N |
43°02' E 43°02' E |
During the 1800s Molokans were resettled by the Tzar into the Caucasus (Azerbaidjan, Georgia, Armenia) to establish Russian colonies along the new borders of the Russian Empire. First they were resettled into Azerbaidjan, then Georgia, Armenia, and at the end of the 1800s, Kars oblast (Oblast is Russian for region/province, like a state).
In the last Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), Russia took this territory and moved Russian colonists in, mainly sectarians — Molokans, Doukhobors, Subbotniki, and several German groups (Mennonites, Lutherans, Baptists, etc).
In a 1921 treaty, the USSR returned the districts of Kars and Ardahan, acquired in 1878, to Turkey. Read more about the Russo-Turkish wars. In the early 1900s (especially 1905-12), about 3000 Molokans, and Armenians who joined them in the Caucasus, mainly from Kars and Karakala, fled to America, many to avoid military service, others to find employment and freedom to worship God according to their traditions.
In the "Flats" area on the eastside of Los Angeles, they formed their own Armenian-Molokan Church near the other Molokan churches from the villages. The church had several locations, mainly in homes, but the last location in the Flats was just south of 4th Street below the International Institute on land that is now in the south bound lane of the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway (See map).
In 1926, the sectarians (Molokans and Doukhobors) remaining in Kars and Ardahan oblasts were offered free land in the barren Sal'ski steppe in Rostov, Russia. All of the Doukhobors and about 90% of the Molokans moved.
In the 1930s Turkey became very nationalistic and every non-Turk had to have a Turkish name. In the next decades all the Molokan villages were concentrated into 3 villages — Yalincayir, Atcilar, and Calkavur.
In 1962, the Molokans in Turkey were offered homes on collective farms (kolkhoz) in northern Stavropol'skii krai, or in the cities of Astrakhan, Stavropol and Nalchik. Some Armenians also moved to these areas.
The topography of Karakala is hilly. In fact, Molokans who migrated to Los Angeles and then moved into Boyle Heights, up the hill from the "Flats", named a part of their Molokan neighborhood "Kara-kala", sometimes pronounced "Krik-kala". It is bordered on the north by Whittier Boulevard, on the south by Eighth Street, on the east by Lorena Street and on the west by Soto Street. Before the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway was built, this neighborhood resembled the hills near Karakala in the old country in which the hills form a sharp angle with the flat land, rather than a gradual alluvial slope. Part of the distinct hill remains on the westside, behind Bishop Mora High School. (Click on map to ENLARGE) For some oral history, see Molokans in America, Chapter 1.
One of the
Armenian-Molokan families from Karakala is the Shakarian
family, notably son Demos. They came to America and built a large dairy
farm in Downey CA. Demos published the book The Happiest People on Earth,
and founded the organization FGBMFI, Full
Gospel Business Men's
Fellowship International. "Our History" describes their
move from Kara-Kala. The original Armenian-Molokan church eventually moved from East LA to La Habra Heights, not far from the current UMCA. The history of the Armenian Molokans describes how, along with the Shakarian family, many other Armenians in Karakala were saved by Efim G. Klubnikin's prophecies and by Molokans who regularly visited Karakala. Also, the fate of their Karakala village is reported: "Two years later, the great World War I broke out, and in the terrible onslaught by Turkey between 1918 - 1920, those who did not heed the Klubnikin's prophecy were either murdered or fled for their lives to Russia.
Excerpts about the Armenian-Molokans and Karakala, from Molokans in America by John K Berokoff
Chapter 1
A large neighboring Armenian village, Karakalla, became converted to the Christian Jumpers, most of whom eventually came to America at the same time as the Russian Molokans.
Meanwhile Klubnikin took it upon himself to inform the villagers in the Erevan region. Traveling from one village to another, he confided his revelations to elders in that area who, in his opinion, were sympathetic to the cause but being told about others who were not favorably disposed and fearing betrayal as an agitator, he returned to Romanovka and concentrated his efforts in the region of Kars, not neglecting to inform the Armenian brethren in Karakalla that unless they left the country their people will endure far more in the coming period of tribulation than their Russian brethren. This warning was heeded by the majority of the Dukhonvy Armenians and when the time came they followed the latter to America. [Footnote: The prophesy[sic] concerning the Armenians literally came to pass in the first world war. When the Turkish army marched through the area in 1917, they committed unspeakable atrocities against the Armenian people in all the villages, including Karakalla. For that reason the memory of Efeem Gerasimitch Klubnikin is revered among the Armenian Molokans to this day.]
This debate continued in all Molokan villages throughout Trans-Caucasia and the Trans-Caspian regions for about three years or until the beginning of the winter of 1904.
... Very early in that winter a conference was assembled by the elders of the Kars region in the village of Novo-Mihailovka where representatives of ten communities were present, including a leading member of the Armenian community of Karakalla, Ardzuman Ivanitch Ohanessian, who was much respected in the Russian Molokan communities. For that reason the memory of Efeem Gerasimitch Klubnikin is revered among the Armenian Molokans to this day.]
Chapter 2
Evergreen Cemetery ... The Armenian Molokans too, were participants in the undertaking and quite a number of their people were buried there.
Chapter 3
The elders decreed that a large tent was to be installed on some near-by vacant lot and that Paskha should be observed together by all congregations after a three-day fast to conform to the command of the Holy Spirit. ... including the Armenian brethren.
Chapter 7
[Page 135] At the end of February, 1945 the Advisory Council compiled and circulated an accounting of total sums collected from the entire brotherhood and the amount contributed by each contributing congregation, including $127.00 by the Armenian Molokan Church, $127.00
My Trip to Turkey, 1999
Karakala means "Black Fortress"
By Joyce Keosababian-Bivin, an
American-Armenian-Molokan who has been exploring her family
history
for over 10 years. She has visited Armenia several times. The map of
Kars and photos are hers.
According to oral tradition, Karakala was an Armenia
Protestant village — some Molokan Armenians and some regular
Protestants.
My grandfather Zorab and his brother John Keosababian had a
sister named Anna, who was also called Shogho. Anna married a Molokan
named Vasili Artyomovich. Their children were Alex, Katya, Uljasha,
Vasily, Ivan and Manya. After Zorab and John went to America, they
exchanged letters with their father Yacov (Hagop), Anna, Vasili and
Alex, and later, their daughter Manya continued corresponding with her
uncles in America.
Manya married Nikolai Fydorovitch Polunin. They had nine children;
Vasili, Ona, Katya, Grisha, Yasha, Vanya, Ivan, Dunya and Tanya
(Tatsyana). They lived in the Molokan village of Malaia
Vorontsovka which apparently was in the vicinity of Karakala, Dubovka
and other villages where Molokans lived. My great-grandfather Hagop
Keosababian lived in Karakala, Vorontsovka, Dubovka and Chakmak
[renamed:
Çalkavur].
Meanwhile, I made a serious decision to go to Turkey with
Armen Aroyan's Historic Armenia Tour where Armenians, mainly from
America, visit places where their parents and grandparents
lived before they came to America or perished during the massacres. I
have for many years dreamed of visiting Kars and finding Karakala.
Finally my dreams were coming to pass.
After arriving joining the group in Istanbul, very early the next morning we flew from Istanbul to Ankara and boarded another plane for Kars. We landed in Kars around 10 a.m. There it was. Kars, right before my eyes. I stood and looked at the Kars sign at the airport and could not believe I was actually here. Right from the airport, we began our search for Karakala. A couple of years ago when I called my mother's 90-year-old cousin Myrtle to ask about Karakala, she said it didn't exist anymore. It had been filled in. I didn't believe her. I wanted to believe it still existed and that I would be able to visit it someday. We drove through Incesu, formerly Vorontsvoka and visited a family there whose mother was a Russian married to a Turk. Nothing much seems to have changed in the village except there was now electricity and television. Hay wagons are pulled by tractors. It was hard to comprehend that I was standing in the same village where possibly my great grandparents and their family lived.
After Incesu, we drove to Taslica, a primitive Kurdish village
of scattered houses on jagged landscape totally exposed to the
elements. Jamal, our driver, talked to the chief and some of the men
standing around. It was obvious this wasn't Karakala. But apparently
they knew where it had been and one of the men pointed towards the
east, from where we had just arrived. For awhile, I lost hope of
finding our village and Armen said it was all a mystery. However, after
a few miles, Jamal suddenly stopped the van and wanted me to see
something. The area we stopped at was flat, perfect for farming (there
was a potato
patch across the road), but in the background, there were a few hilly
slopes, one with a crater-like formation between the slopes, kind of
like a small gorge maybe. A river ran between the hills and the plain.
Jamal began to show me certain rock formations on the land that
indicated the place was inhabited at one time. We found a whitewashed
stone and one that was part of a door post. I couldn't see the entire
length of the land, but shortly a tractor appeared on the horizon which
could have been a sloped section of a hill.
We returned to the van and Jamal drove off. A couple of miles
down the road, he turned into a village and drove through it out onto
another plain, where there was another hilly area and the same river
flowing
between the same type of hills with very jagged sloping between them.
It was obvious this was the continuation of the first place we visited,
with a modern day road dividing it. Again, there was strong evidence of
the area having been inhabited at one time. Jamal had talked to some of
the
villagers and they all said it had been a military outpost. There was a
10 minute downpour before we arrived at the second site and my shoes
and feet were caked with this black dirt and when the dirt dried, I was
able to collect some of the black dirt and bring it home.
I will confirm that, yes indeed, cousin Myrtle was right. Karakala is
filled in but we found evidence on the land and confirmation by nearby
villagers of its former existence as a military outpost and village.
.
The modern town of Kars is clean and bustling with activity.
There is a modern pedestrian walk with water fountains, shops and
outdoor coffee shops.és. There was a sunflower seed vender
on
the sidewalk with his wagon, selling whole sunflower heads. Kars is
6000 feet high and air was clean and crisp — no smog, no pollution.
Unfortunately, we had only one hour to walk around before traveling to
Ani.
We checked out of our hotel and as we drove down one of the streets, we
passed the old section which is where I really should have visited.
Next time.
Photo
35. Taken
between Taslica and Incesu
(Vorontsovka) in 1999. Supposedly Karakala was filled in and
buried,
but our driver saw evidence this area was inhabited at one time. Notice
the hills in the background.
Photo 36. Same site, but another view, as Photo 35.
CLICK on Pictures to ENLARGE
Photo
38. Photo of Karakala. It seems everyone in our
American-Armenian-Molokan community has a copy of this photo. Notice
the
hills in the background with the gorge in the middle. They don't show
well in photos 35 and 36, but in photo 37, the second site, they're
pretty clear. Even so, none of these places may be the real Karakala
site. [If you look at the hills and "U" shaped gorge in the background,
this shot seems similar to Photo 36.] Click on photos to ENLARGE.
Karakala villagers posing closest to the camera. Click photo to ENLARGE.
Photo
37. After we left the
first site, our driver cut through a neighboring
village and drove out to this second site which, in his opinion, more
likely
our Karakala. Actually, this could be an extension of the first site
only
now separated by a road. [These may be the hills that cause Molokans in
LA to call their neighborhood, Kara-kala.] [Notice the mountain in
the background are nearly identical to the mountains behind the village
photo taken in the late 1800s.]Why Armenians Moved to Karakala
By Joyce Keosababian-BivinThere are no records as to when the Armenians moved to Karakala, or when the Russians built their military outpost camp at Karakala, whether it was built on a new site or one previously inhabited. The closest information we have is from Siragan Kaloian, on page 10 in his 1950 book, The Immigration of Armenians of Shirag to America: "This village was comparatively of recent origin having been established after the Russo-Turkish war of 1878. It was, in a sense, a modern village, with beautiful buildings and wide streets."
Before moving to Karakala, the Armenians previously lived in Gezeachkhlar (exact spelling and location unknown). As Protestants, they were not readily tolerated by the villagers and were constantly harassed.
M. Mushagian remembers pastor Perumian telling stories of how the hooligans in this village harassed and persecuted the Protestants with verbal insults, throwing stones, vandalizing their crops and digging up newly buried people and displaying their bodies on the ground or tying them to a tree. "So after awhile they got tired of what they were going through, and would go to the government and tell them their story. So the government (Tzar Nicholas II) tells them if they want to, they could move to an empty Russian military outpost. And so the entire Protestant community moved to Karakala."
"Shortly after, a photographer from the city went to the village and told the people he would like to take a picture of their village. Some of the people dressed up and stood in front of the barracks where they lived. The picture is taken from afar so it is hard to recognize any one of them." (Someone speculated that those dressed in white were the Armenian Molokans, those in black were the non Molokan Armenians.)
First Armenian Pentecostal Church
The
Armenian-Molokan Church in America was
first located in the Los Angeles "Flats" near the other Molokan village
churches. Like all the immigrant Molokan villages, services were held
in homes at first until a dedicated prayer house was purchased. The
property is now on the Santa
Ana Freeway on the 4th Street south on-ramp.When the Santa Ana Freeway was planned, the Armenian- Molokan Church, Big Church, and many other buildings were demolished. Many families had to move. The second Armenian-Molokan Church relocated to East Los Angeles on Goodrich Blvd at Carolina Place, on the southwest corner one block north of Olympic Blvd.
About 1970(?), the congregation moved further east closer to their membership. They purchased their third building from the Lutherans in La Habra Heights, on 125 West Road, one door west of Hacienda Blvd, about a mile north of Whitter Blvd. It's located between the UMCA in Hacienda Heights and the relocated Milkoy Church in Whittier. See map and photos below.
The congregation changed their legal name to be identified as Pentecostal, but they retained their Molokan form of service with holidays and food laws they learned from the Spritual Christian Molokan Jumpers.
 Third location of of the Amrenian- Molokan Church, renamed: First Armenian Pentecostal Church |
 First Armenian Pentecostal Church from the air. — Aerial photo from Microsoft TerraServer-USA |
 Though the Armenian-Molokans also avoided icons and crosses, they purchased this new building from a Lutheran congregation and decided to leave the decoration "as is". The cross is not part of their service inside. — Photo from: USC Lewis Hall Exhibit March-May 2003: "Sacred Transformation: Armenian Churches in Los Angeles" |
125 West Road (near Hacienda Blvd), La Habra Heights, CA 90631-8046
Presbyter: Stanley Perumean. — Home/message phone: 562-690-7580