Written by:Hanibal Givargiz

Translated by:Nancy Davoud

Rabi Benjamin Ersanus

Unrevealed themes from the life of an Assyrian icon

A few years ago I composed the biography of Rabi Benjamin Ersanus in Persian, which was translated into Assyrian by Rabi Nemroud Simono and it was published in the “Payame Ashurian” Newspaper in both languages. 

But after having published the biography I received some very important and interesting documents, which contained points from the life of this distinguished and history making Assyrian personality. The mentioned documents all came from the archive of Iranian national documents organization, in which I take pride to be a member of. The documents recount that during the reign of the king, Rabi Benjamin was imprisoned and interrogated by the government agents and this clarifies interesting points of his life.

World war

During the First World War and Romanian and Ottoman wars all Northwest region of Iran was a battlefield and Iranian Assyrian residents in that region suffered extreme financial loss and casualty under the pressures of the two foreign sides. The insurrection of Agha Esmaeil Simatghu and Ekrad and provokes of the foreigners altogether raised a disturbance which entangled the residents of West Azarbaijan concerning Christians and Moslems to an extent that with the interference of Denstroil the English General the order of evacuation was issued for Oroumieh and Salmas. At that time the Assyrians were compelled to divide into groups and migrate to Northern lands such as Russia, Tabriz and nearly 70,000 people to Hamedan and Kermanshah. Rabi Benjamin was one of the people that migrated to Hamedan.

Bakouba encampment

But after a while the allies took all Christians residents of Hamedan and Kermanshah to Iraq and settled them in a big encampment called “Bakouba”, which was arranged especially for these refugees. This camp lasted for two years and after it was shut down they scattered its residents. As the war was over at that time and security was relatively back, Assyrian asked to return to their homeland but the enemies created barriers on their ways, but there were people who supported them and insisted on the return of the Iranian refugees. With the agreement of the Iranian Government, a committee was formed in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the membership of official representatives of Defense and Finance Ministries, which with the advice of Dr. Milespo decided to allow the return of the refugees to their country with the exception of 52 people, which were considered the cause of civil wars. Rabi Ersnus was amongst those who stayed and the government passed a law to restrain all their assets.

Love of Homeland 

But because of the love Rabi Benjamin had for his country Iran, he did not fear the consequences and returned to Iran with the fictitious name of “Benjamin Sharokin”. Now we will read the details of his life and his genealogy in his answers to the inspectors questions at he time of his arrest on 10/04/1309 (01.07.1930) and his statements were registered under No.: 452/136 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Country’s police:

Name Benjamin, father’s name Gevargin, last name Sharokin, 42 years old. I have a wife and 3 children, a 13 year old daughter called Sima, and 2 Sons Called Gevargin 11 years old and Marona 10 years old. My current residence is Golestan Motel in Karaj along with my family. I am literate in Persian, English, Russian, Arabic, Turkish and Assyrian. I am an Iranian nationality. My mother’s name is Sadat Sabieh Teimouras, she was born in Digaleh town of Oroumieh, lived there and died there 3 years ago. She was an Iranian.

From Spourghan of Oroumieh          

My father’s name was Gevargin. My Grandfather’s name was Khnanishu and my grandmother’s Shirin. They were both from Spourghan. My ancestors were Iranians from generation to generation and lived in Oroumieh. As for me, I was born in Digaleh and lived with my mother until I was 12, later on she sent me to my Uncle, which was a teacher in Petrograd, Russia in order to continue my education. After two years my Uncle send me to the City of Nouchergas. There I studied for two years and then was sent to Moscow which I studied for 5 years and after having obtained my Diploma I returned to Oroumieh in the age of 21 and was employed as a teacher in a school called “Missier” which was a school established by Russian Orthodox Missionaries for Assyrians in Oroumieh. After four years I went to Petrograd once more with the intention of higher education and after having finished my studies and receiving my degree I returned to Oroumieh via the border city of Jolfa. I worked as a secretary in the Consulate of Russia. At that time the great revolution of Russia was at it’s peak. I was appointed as the Russian consulate in Oroumieh but due to the progress and transgressions of Turkish troop and invasion of Oroumieh I was compelled to leave the city along with my family and other Assyrian Migrants to Hamedan.

Russian consulate

In Hamedan I was again appointed as the Russian consulate by “Mousier Eter” , after a while I was compelled to travel to Mesopotamia and for three years I was a teacher in the Assyrian school in Mosul which was established by “Ghasha Yousef Ghalita”. After that I stopped teaching and was employed by the general staff of the English Army as a foreman and supervisor. But as the weather of Iraq was better for my health I became extremely sick and had no choice but to return to Kermanshah. After I had gained my health relatively I came to Tehran. I had no job for three months until I was employed to be the teacher of Russian School. After two years of teaching in the Russian School they ended my contract and once again I became jobless for one year. I thought of Journalism but it was not possible. Then I went to Karaj and established Golestan Motel and took residence in it along with my family.

In Russian Public Schools

Educating in public schools was free for the citizens of that country, and as I was not able to pay for school it was suggested that I take their nationality, therefore I got a Russian Passport and used my Education permit in order to travel to Iran.

When I had residence in Hamedan and wanted to depart to Mesopotamia, I got a paper from the English Consulate that I was a migrant and with that I traveled to Mesopotamia and back to Iran. At that time not much severity was used in Passport and Visa Affairs and without paying attention to the fact that I was one of the 52 people that was prohibited I entered my homeland. And now I have an ID Card number 31973 issued in Tehran. If I have obtained foreign passport in the past it has been out of need and necessity. Let me clarify something about my last name. It was Ersanus but I changed it to Sharokin as it was a Greek name.

In prison

Rabi Benjamin Ersanus was still kept in prison. Brigadier General Koupal which was the head of the Country’s police department at that time wrote a letter to the time Prime Minister on 31.04.1309 to obtain permission for Rabi Benjamin to reside in Iran or to expel him. In reply, the Prime Minister wrote, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Interior must decide. But neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Ministry of Interior gave a clear answer and Rabi Benjamin Ersanus stayed in prison until the members of the board of directors of Tehran Caledonian’s Committee which is the predecessor of the current Assyrian’s committee, with the supervision of Jebraeil Kaldani had a meeting with the Prime Minister and explained in detail the innocence of Rabi Benjamin Ersanus and that was the cause of his freedom.