Louiset Thexie: The last woman who survived the Genocide lives in France

One of the French periodicals tells about 105-year-old Luizette Thecxie, she is the last Armenian survivor of the Genocide living in France.

Tv5monde presents a portrait of this unique woman who has been separated from her family at a very early age and whose life has given her an iron character. Cabaret dancer, feminist, resistant woman, who was one of the pioneers of women’s  racing. “I have done a lot in my life, I cannot remember everything. But in one thing I am convinced that I have no regrets, “says Louise.

One hundred years later, this woman’s apartment has photos and memories, she moved to this house five years ago to be close to her son. “Here’s my room, and here’s the room where my friends from Paris stay” she explains. At the age of 105 she wants to maintain some independence, but her eyes shine brightly when it comes to Paris, her luxury and active life.

It was in the French capital that she found the lightness and freedom of life that she was dreaming of. 1915 his father was hanged by the Turks, and Luizet’s young mother was widowed. Fearing for the lives of her two daughters, she gave them to the orphanage in Istanbul hoping to return them as soon as possible. But the non-governmental organization decided that the children were not in safety and were transferred.

The sisters were separated from each other. One of them was sent to Greece and Luizette first appeared in the Marseille orphanage, and later, at a school yard in one of the suburbs of Paris, from where Louis (called his son, William) “wild girl” fled at age 15 to become a dancer in French cabaret and have freedom of living. She never saw her homeland, isolated from the Armenian community, trying to lose the bad memories of the past. “I waited a long time when someone would come and take me there, and I dreamed to see my mother again …” Luizette remembers with  tears in her eyes.

Her love for  cars is immaculate, as she even kept moving with her grandson at the age of 104. Luizette’s son proudly tells of his mother’s path, her struggle, her mission in orphanages, Louise is modestly silent, preferring to take photographs, racing photos and photographs that have her many victories.

Luizette apologizes for not coming to the interview in her favorite gray skirt, being. Louise left her husband because she mentions she was tired of men. For more than 50 years this woman has her own clothing store, which is one of the leaders in the market. She is a principal feminist and does not see any contradiction in rally and fashion, on the contrary, believes that the European Championship was not a rally, but they competed well with men. “Our feminine nature, of course, was our best weapon,” she says.