Taschdjian Aram & Felicia

TASCHDJIAN, ARAM TASCHDJIAN, FELICIA Aram Taschdjian, an Armenian and freemason, lived in Vienna with his wife Felicia and their daughter. Aram’s sister had introduced them to her Jewish friend, Valentin Skidelsky, whom she had met in a student association. Velentin Skidelsky was born in 1901 in Tiflis, Georgia. He was a historian and resided in Vienna where he published a book in 1938 about the Russian Revolution. Following the Anschluss – the incorporation of Austria into Germany – he was conscripted by the Nazis authorities to do forced labor. His flat was confiscated, and he had to move to smaller place, where Jews were crowded together. In April 1942 he was taken with all the occupants of that house and put on a train to the east. Skidelsky managed to escape from the deportation train and got in touch with Felicia and Aram Taschdjian, whom he knew before the war. Aram’s sister had met Skidelsky in an Armenian-Russian Student Association in Vienna, and when she moved to Italy, introduced Skidelsky to her brother and her sister-in-law. Felicia and Aram Taschdjian never imagined that this was the beginning of three years of illegality and danger for her family. The initial intention of providing moral support and connections turned into giving temporary shelter for a fortnight, and finally was hiding a persecuted Jew for three years. Skidelsky planned to try and reach Hungary, which was relatively safe at that time, . Until his departure, and needed a safe place until his departure, Felicia Taschdjian and her husband Aram offered him shelter in their home. What was planned as a temporary refuge became a permanent arrangement. Fear of the dangerous journey dissolved Skidelsky’s resolve, and he stayed in the apartment of the Taschdjian couple in Vienna until the end of the war. Hiding a Jew was extremely dangerous, and in this particular case the couple took an even greater risk since they had an eight-year-old daughter and there was great fear thatshe might tell her friends about the man living in their apartment. Fortunately the little girl abided by her parents’ warning and she obligingly kept the secret. The family shared their meager food and clothing with Skidelsky during a period of rationing and scarcity. One evening, the head of the local Nazi branch came to the apartment to check a complaint about inadequate blackout measures. Skidelsky was sitting in the living room, but luckily the Nazi thought that he was a guest, and did not inquire about his identity. After the war Skidelsky remained in Austria, married and had three children. He remained in contact with his rescuers until his death in 1980. Aram Taschdjian passed away in 1976, and Felicia in 2000 On December 25, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Aram and Felicia Taschdjian as Righteous among the Nations.