Guita Hourani, Ph.D., Lebanon The tragedy that befell the RMS Titanic has left an unforgettable imprint on the world of literature, film, art, music, and television. Books have been written, movies have been made, art has been created, stamps have been issued, exhibitions have been mounted, music has been composed, and songs have been crooned about what happened to the Titanic. This high-tech marvel of its time and its subsequent sinking continues to fascinate and move historians, artists, musicians,scenarists, and filmmakers into creating works about that disastrous incident on April 1912 ,15, which claimed 1,517 lives. Historic events that changed human destiny and shaped human history (wars, disasters, upheavals, visits, accomplishments, inventions, etc.) have been commemorated for thousands of years in various artistic forms, be they sculptures, paintings, monuments, edifices, or the like. Such artistic forms become part of humanity’s collective memory. Memorials and monuments serve as collective memory and help in concretizing the past, offering communities the ability to honor people and events, connecting the past to the present, allowing individuals to mourn or to celebrate, enabling people and societies to come to terms with losses and traumas, and permitting communities to be healed and inspired, and to reflect and connect. The Lebanese Aboard the Titanic collection is part of an effort to commemorate in paintings the collective memory of the Lebanese emigrants who perished on the doomed liner. The Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC) at the Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLPS), Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU), has, since its founding in 2003, set out to encourage representing Lebanese migration experiences in various visual art forms. In 2009, the Center called for an international art exhibition on the Lebanese diaspora, which was successfully exhibited in 2010 in Beirut. In 2016, a similar call took place, following an initiative led by Dr. Nicholas Kahwaji, member of the Lebanese International Titanic Committee (LITC), in partnership with the LERC and Vestiges d’Orient, in the person of artist Mr. Bernard Renno, to visualize in painting the Lebanese Aboard the Titanic. As part of its mission, the LERC endeavors to collect artistic expressions as pedagogical medium for engaging students, researchers, and the public in the process of historical inquiry and to help them |
better understand historical events through multiple perspectives. Artwork allows inquisitive minds to develop questions about the historical event depicted, the artist's role in recording the event, the use of symbols and their meaning as well as to inquire further into the public or the personal importance of the event documented. The Lebanese Aboard the Titanic art collection is such a medium that will generate such questions. This collection of 25 original paintings, which was first exhibited in 2016 in Lebanon, during the Lebanese Diaspora Energy (LDE) conference organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants in Lebanon, was bequeathed to the LERC Lebanese Migration Art Gallery. The twenty-sixth painting, which was part of the original exhibition, was selected by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Mr. Gebran Bassil and put on display at the Lebanese Diaspora Village in Batroun, Lebanon. The participating artists and art students made special efforts to paint the theme, as they perceived it. Some were inspired by stories of Lebanese migrants who perished or survived that day 105 years ago, others were moved by images featured in James Cameron’s 1997 American epic movie, yet many illustrated the Titanic itself to universalize the tragedy. This Titanic-themed collection of 25 original paintings is particularly valuable and will be added to the previously established collection on the Lebanese of the Titanic, which was inaugurated into the Museum in 2012. The Titanic collection includes an authentic replica of the ship, a plaque with some of the names of the Lebanese who perished on the ship, books, magazines, articles, postcards, photographs, and some replicated items from the Titanic’s Steerage Class, such cufflinks, a menu, a mug, and a soap dish. The Lebanese Aboard the Titanic is indeed a collection that will forever be a poignant reminder of the human spirit and in the case of the Lebanese, a reminder of the risks they took, and still take, in the quest for a better life through migration. This unique collection bears witness to the tragic voyage that continues to resonate around the world, particularly as human mobility dominates the headlines and continues to influence the political debates of our current decade. |
Nicholas (Nick) Kahwaji, DDS, Canada They have gone, and the world commemorates the disaster without mentioning them. One hundred and twenty-five Lebanese persons lost their lives and 29 survived the sinking of the “unsinkable” ship. They are the men and women of the historical land of Lebanon. Not too many knew about Lebanese and the Titanic, not too many took any interest, but when the wreck was foundin 1985, the “unsinkable” spirit of the Titanic surfaced. In James Cameron’s 1997 movie, the words, “Yalla, Yalla,” awakened the Titanic story in Lebanon and the Lebanese diaspora. Questions arose: How many Lebanese were on board? How many survived? How exactly did they die? Where exactly did they come from? Who jumped in the water to save themselves and who stayed on the boat? Stories started to be found that make anyone feel the pain and the anguish, the heartache; stories that even after over a century still feel fresh and “wets the eyes.” The Republic of Lebanese has to date not paid tribute in any way, shape, or form to these emigrants while other countries have honored their memory. As such, a private initiative took place in British Columbia, Canada, driven by my proposal to the British Columbia Council of the World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU), in which I suggested the creation of an international committee to recognize the Lebanese aboard the Titanic. With the cooperation of Dr. Guita Hourani, Director of the Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC) at the Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLPS), Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU), Lebanon, and Eng. Guy (Jones) Younes, Chairman of the Irish Lebanese Cultural Foundation (ILCF), the International Lebanese Titanic Committee (ILTC) was founded with the following objectives: Collect as much information as possible on them and their descendants; correct their names without the Anglicization or phonetic approximation that shrouded their true identity for a century; ascertain their Lebanese-ness; add material to the already established collection on the |
Lebanese Aboard the Titanic at the Lebanon and Migration Museum (LMM) of the LERC at NDU; create a webpage dedicated to the memory of the Lebanese Aboard the Titanic to share our findings and to encourage the Lebanese diaspora to contribute to this effort; commemorate annually the Lebanese who perished on the Titanic, which by proxy would also commemorate all Lebanese emigrants; encourage the municipalities of the villages where these Lebanese originated to erect monuments related to the Titanic; and create sculpting and painting contests on the subject. Today, the WLCU British Columbia and the ILTC, along with the LERC, have initiated preparations for the celebration of the 105 years of the Titanic in two ways, first, to inaugurate the paintings of the Lebanese Aboard the Titanic to the previously established Titanic collection at the LMM (since 2012) and second, with the support of the Honorary Consul of Lebanon in Halifax Honorable Mr. Wadih Fares, and in collaboration with the President of the Lebanese Chamber of Commerce in Halifax Norman Nahas, we are planning to plant a Lebanese cedar tree (donated by the WLCU- BC Council) at the Halifax Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery or Fairway Lawn Cemetery. This cemetery is best known as the final resting place for more than 100 victims who died aboard the RMS Titanic. We also intend to mount in the same location a commemorative bronze plaque dedicated to the Lebanese aboard the Titanic. The Parks Department of the Halifax Regional Municipality manages the cemetery. The current ILTC committee members, as of 2016, are the following: Dr. Nicholas (Nick) Kahwaji, DDS representing the WLCU BC Council; Eng. Guy (Jones) Younes, Chairman of the Irish Lebanese Cultural Foundation (ILCF), Ireland; Dr. Guita Hourani, Director of LERC, Lebanon; Ms. Carla Zarifeh, representing the Lebanese Canadian Society of British Columbia (LCSBC), Canada; Dr. Josyann Abisaab , M.D., USA; Mr. Raed H. Charafeddine, first Vice-Governor of the Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon; and Mr. Sid Chedrawi, Founder Lebanese-Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Nova Scotia, Canada. |
Bernard Renno, Artist, Lebanon The sinking of the Titanic is remembered as the most disastrous shipwreck (non-warfare) of the twentieth century. The scale of this disaster was tragic in terms of the number of victims: men, women, and children from several nationalities who died that ill-fated day in April 1912. To date, the subject of engineering, construction, passengers, and the sinking of the ship continues to be the main focus of research and the general public. There were over 120 passengers from Lebanon among the different nationalities on board and only 29 of them survived. Much remains unknown about the Lebanese aboard the Titanic, especially the full list of names and places of birth. Inspired by this tragedy, people are still creating exhibitions, prose, and research, passing on the memory of this event throughout generations. Dr. Nicholas (Nick) Kahwaji, an old friend of mine a Lebanese living in Vancouver, and a member of the International Lebanese Titanic Committee (ILTC), is one of those people interested in organizing an event on the topic of the Titanic. One year ago, he asked me to create a painting in memory of the Lebanese who perished aboard the ship. I was highly |
interested in this subject, and I created a painting showing the sinking of the ship and the people, including some of the Lebanese passengers, who were able to survive by finding a spot on the small lifeboats available. Dr. Kahwwaji, impressed by the work, decided to create a Titanic exhibition in Lebanon in collaboration with my group Vestiges d’Orient and Dr. Guita Hourani, Director of the Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC) at the Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLPS), Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU), Lebanon. A total of 26 artists and students participated, each creating one painting. The paintings were exhibited in May 2016 at the Lebanese Diaspora Energy Conference (LDE) organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants at the Hilton Habtoor Hotel in Sin el-Fil, Lebanon. The artists and the exhibition organizers were honored individually at the closing ceremony by H.E. Minister of Foreign Affairs Gebran Bassil, who chose the painting created by artist Marie Khoury to hang in the Lebanese Diaspora village in Batroun. The other 25 paintingscan today be admired at the Lebanon and Migration Museum (LMM), NDU. |
Guy (Jones) Younes, Engineer, Ireland The sinking of the Titanic was neither the first nor the worst maritime tragedy but certainly the most memorable, as man arrogantly claimed to defy fate and conquer nature. The RMS Titanic was in its era the largest floating man-made object ever created and widely proclaimed as “unsinkable,” yet fate dealt a deadly blow on April 1912 ,14. The Titanic set sail on April 1912 ,10, to New York, USA, from Southampton, England, and then headed to Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland (today known as Cobh). It was carrying more than 2,200 passengers from around the world, including crewmembers. Its passengers were mainly from the U.S., the U.K., France, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, and Lebanon. How could anyone aboard the “unsinkable” ship have known that their historic voyage across the great seas would soon become a historic voyage marked by death and misery? On April 14, the worst happened: the ship struck an iceberg and changed their lives forever. We all watched and marveled at the 1997 James Cameron movie Titanic, and the high-tech engineering of the ship, the story, and the tear- jerking catastrophe that befell the liner fascinated us. The movie ignited widespread curiosity and piqued the interest of those already captivated by the epic incident. Fifteen years following the movie, public interest again piqued in 2012 when the story went viral, as the world commemorated the centennial of the sinking ship. Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland, is one place were an annual Titanic Commemoration takes place. In 2004, I was asked to speak at the Commemoration in my capacity as Chairman of the Irish Lebanese Cultural Foundation (ILCF). I did my research and found that the story of the Lebanese aboard the Titanic had not been fully uncovered especially in regard to the names of Lebanese despite the fact that dozens of books and hundreds of articles have been written in Lebanon and abroad about those who perished and the few who survived. Lebanese began migrating in the second half of the 19th century. Reasons for their migration range from news about wealth being made in the “new world” to the population increase, the shortages of |
economic opportunities, religious and political tensions, and the sharp decline in revenues affecting the sericulture sector and the silk production sector, which at the time accounted for 50 percent of the Mount Lebanon GDP. Migration from Lebanon touched every village; in fact, some villages — especially in the north —were emptied through chain migration and family reunification, which explains why some villages lost a few of its sons and daughters with the sinking of the Titanic. The migration route was through a maritime voyage that began in the port of Beirut via Marseilles with the United States of America being the main destination. It happened that the Titanic was about to embark on its first voyage to New York, and the Lebanese, who were waiting for a ship in Marseilles to go to Cherbourg and then sail to North America, realized the comfort in voyaging on a state-of-the-art, fast, and “safe” ship. They assumed that they would set sail earlier rather than later, as travel agents promised a great way to travel, a more luxurious 3rd class than other ships, and a free trip by train from Marseilles to Cherbourg. As many other passengers, the Lebanese were in 3rd class, and when the ship began sinking, and as confusion and terror started to take hold, the Lebanese tried to board the too few lifeboats. Many lost their lives; the dark and icy waters pitilessly swallowed men, women, and children. The screams, the wailing, and the close encounter with death haunted the survivors, Lebanese and others, as they witnessed the struggling, drowning, and freezing of passengers in the chilly Atlantic waters. The number and names of all the Lebanese aboard the ship is not yet fully uncovered; however, the following list, which is collected from the Encyclopedia Titanica1, provides a rough estimate of what is known to date. It has 13 years since that day in Cobh, and every year when I attend the commemoration, emotions wash over me when I am reminded that it was here on this very shore that my countrymen were last seen alive. We float a wreath in the ocean, say a prayer, and have faith that they will not be forgotten. |
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Josyann Abisaab, MD, USA In early 1912, Gerios Youssef Abi-Saab, a native of the village of Thoum, Batroun, said goodbye to his wife Marta and six children, including Wehbe, my grandfather, who was five years old at the time and traveled to America aboard Titanic hoping to work and provide a better life for his family. Lebanon was under Ottoman rule at the time and was struck by famine and poverty, and religious tensions pervaded. Gerios had been to America before, as Ellis Island immigration records show that he disembarked in Ellis Island in 1910, bound to Ohio where he worked as the assistant cook in a restaurant. He then returned to Thoum proud of his earnings and tried to make a living by selling the newly invented Singer sewing machine, which he would carry on a donkey from village to village. Gerios was, unfortunately, unsuccessful and decided to go back to “Amreeka” with fellow villagers to work in Youngstown, Ohio. Gerios traveled to France with his four relatives: a female cousin named Shaanineh Abi-Saab, Tannous Thomas, Tannous Daher and Banoura Ayoub, a thirteen-year-old relative who was coming to America to be reunited with her family in Detroit. They embarked the RMS Titanic in Cherbourg, France, on April 1912 ,10, as 3rd Class passengers. The ship had sailed from Southampton, England, making stops in Cherbourg where some Lebanese passengers boarded before the Atlantic crossing. Gerios was planning on continuing his voyage to Youngstown, Ohio, to work in the steel mills. There were approximately 154 Lebanese immigrants on Titanic occupying cabins close together, and sharing a dining room. According to survivor Shaanineh Abi-Saab, the 3rd class accommodations were excellent, far better than any other accommodations she had had on previous boat trips. The Lebanese immigrants passed the time together on the ship, very much enjoying themselves and even celebrated two weddings on board the famed ship. |
My father recalls the story told by his uncles that Shaanineh returned to Thoum a decade after the Titanic disaster, where Gerios’ widow Marta, my great grandmother, lived with her children. Shaanineh revealed that she offered to disguise Gerios, with women’s clothing in the hope of getting him into one of the few lifeboats left. He declined by solemnly declaring: “I would rather die like a man with my countrymen whose fate has brought us together on the ship. I am no different from anyone else.” Shaanineh also reported to the Sharon Herald in 1937 that amongst all the confusion and panic on deck, she froze while holding thirteen-year- old Banoura’s hand, and that her cousin Gerios pushed her and Banoura into the next to last lifeboat being lowered from the doomed ship, effectively saving their lives. Like most who perished on that fateful night, including 125 Lebanese passengers, my great grandfather Gerios Youssef Abi-Saab died on April 1912 ,15, not by drowning but of hypothermia due to the sub-zero waters. His body was recovered eleven days later by The Minia, one of four ships chartered to search for bodies in the aftermath of the sinking. He was buried on May 1912 ,10, in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Five years ago, I had the privilege of paying respect at my great grandfather’s grave in Halifax during the Titanic’s Centennial Commemoration weekend. Holding a white and yellow daisies bouquet, I sat quietly by his resting place and reflected on the spiritual magnitude of ancestral legacy. I felt compassion, pride, and profound gratitude for my great grandfather. In life and death, Jeddo Gerios showed great dignity, courage, and self-sacrifice. |
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