Ronald Grigor Suny
“No, young man, you cannot see the library,” the old woman told the
eager student. “I am the only one with the key. Even I do not allow
the archbishop into the library.” This was the second time that Balint
Kovacs, a Hungarian student, had tried to find materials on Armenians in
Transylvania. He had hitchhiked from Budapest across the border to the
mountain town of Gherla in Transylvania, Romania, only to be turned away
by the elders who guarded the Armenian Church in the colony that had
been known as Armenopolis or Hayakaghak in the 17th and 18th
century. They had sent him on to Elisabethopolis, now Dumbraveni,
where he was confronted by the stubborn old woman who refused to let him
see the library. But Balint would not give in or give up. Perhaps
something could be worked out. The determined woman, whom Balint would
later call Marish neni, mentioned that she needed medication
for her eyes, and Balint promised to bring it to her from Hungary. A
nephew was called; the key appeared; and Balint Kovacs’ life and work
changed in an instant.
