Le quartier de Chaalan dans les années 1950.

Souq Chaalan Mousallabé, 1984.

Vignettes of life in Sha‘laan between 1930s-1970s

1Between September 2008 and March 2009, I conducted interviews with Syrians who were intimately connected with the Mandate Quarter of Damascus, Sha‘laan 1. Some had resided there in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Others were merchants and shop keepers who had opened shops or developed successful businesses. They ranged in ages from their 30s to their 80s, men and women, rich and middle class. The vignette of Emir Nawwaf’s interview sets out the history of the house which gave its name to the Quarter, Beit Sha‘laan and also saw it become the ‘beating heart’ of the neighbourhood. It was his great uncle, Nuri Sha‘laan the leader of the Ruwala Bedouin tribe, who had bought the house from a member of Syria’s first post-WWI government under King Faisal. The vignette of Watfaa, enlightens us about what the quarter was like in the 1930s, and 1940s when her uncle, a leader of the Palestinian resistance was exiled to Damascus from Jerusalem and rented one of the first modern apartments in the quarter. The vignette of Ziyad gives us a strong impression of the way in which Sha‘laan slowly but surely became a centre for fresh produce, and hard to find luxury foodstuffs from Europe. The vignette of Mufida also gives us a sense of industry and entrepreneurship, but this time by a woman, who creates a business in tailoring in the Quarter. And last, a short vignette of an elite young woman, Emira Nayfa, whose sheltered life permitted her little interaction in the life of the quarter.

2The vignettes were ‘translated and interpreted’ into English from the original digital Arabic audio tapes. The interpretation has sought to remain faithful to the language, education and social class of each of the five individuals.

Emir Nawwaf Sha‘laan al-Ruwala (with his assistant Aref)

3Emir Nawwaf talks about his relationship with the Sha‘laan Quarter of Damascus (Calling to Aref, his confidential assistant): “Who did we buy the Sha‘laan House from? He is buried in the Umayyad Mosque”.

4Aref: We bought it from Yasin al-Hashimi, when he had to leave Damascus with Emir Faisal when the French took over. Emir Faisal had ruled Syria for two years (1918-1920). They both left for Jordan and then the British made Faisal King of Iraq. Yasin al-Hashimi came with the Emir from the Hijaz. He was an officer in the Ottoman army. When the Arab revolution broke out, he joined al-Sharif Hussein in the Hijaz, as did Nouri al-Saïd. Later Yasin al-Hashimi became a Prime Minister in Iraq.

5Emir Nawwaf: My grandfather bought the house from Yasin al-Hashimi. The other houses around it – those of Mit‘eb and Sultan were built by my grandfather in the surrounding gardens. Originally when we purchased the property, the Sha‘laan House was the only house there. Earlier, we had a house in Midan. Midan at the time was the gathering place for the Bedouins. It was not considered part of Damascus. It was outside the Wall [of the Old City]. It was closely connected to the peasants of Houran and the Bedouins. The Bedouins used to come to sell their camels in the “Sha‘laan Souq” in Midan and buy whatever they needed from Midan. When King Faisal came into Damascus, my grandfather bought the Sha‘laan House. Bedouins love to be on their own. They bought the house because at the time it was isolated and located in the middle of fruit orchards and fields. He could have bought the whole area if he had wanted to. Land was very cheap then. We moved there after 1920.

6We also had homes in ‘Adra. ‘Adra is ours. People of Duma and those of Qtaifeh were in constant conflict over land in ‘Adra. The number of peasants in ‘Adra was relatively small. Both people from Qtaifeh and others from Duma frequently attacked them and snatched land from them. ‘Adra’s helpless people complained to my grandfather. My grandfather, Nuri Sha‘laan, as a Bedouin, was reluctant in principle to the idea of owning property. He never, for example, stayed in the Sha‘laan House for more than the few days needed to obtain some official papers. He came with Emir Faisal to Syria with 20.000 men. Emir Faisal, who wanted to reward him, offered to put in his name the whole of the Jaulan to be used for collective grazing land for the Ruwala tribes. Emir Faisal thought that he would be doing him a favor in return of his services. To Emir Faisal’s surprise, my grandfather got offended and said to him, “What shame! Do you intend to turn me into a peasant?”

7Going back to ‘Adra, ‘Adra’s people complained to my grandfather about the continuous attacks. My grandfather tried, in vain, to persuade the attackers to stop their aggression by telling them that the people of ‘Adra were under the Ruwala tribe’s protective wing. Whenever my grandfather was away, they took the chance to attack and stole land from the people of ‘Adra. Finally, ‘Adra’s people decided to present Nuri al-Sha‘laan with land to secure his protection. My grandfather refused to take the land for free and insisted on duly paying for it. This is how we came to own land in ‘Adra. It was not donated by the Sultan. It was paid for with gold pounds. However, a great part of the land was later confiscated in accordance with the Syrian Agricultural Reform Law [of the 1960s] and very little was left. Do you know how much an acre is worth in ‘Adra today? Not less than 4-5 million Syrian Pounds.

8When I was first brought to Sha‘laan, I was a 5-6 years old with “horns” [braids]. I was born in the desert in Jordan – in the land of my uncle Laurence. I was a Bedouin with braids. Bedouins are very proud of their braids. The longer your hair is, the braver you are. I came here with my brother from another mother, Nouri. We were, however, the same age. We were immediately taken to the barber and had our hair cut. We were very sad and cried a lot. We were put in Matar’s house. Matar was our agent in Damascus and lived in Met'eb's house. We first went to Al-Tatbiqaat State Elementary School in Abu Roummaneh. Then, we were moved to Azariyyeh Boarding School where we stayed for two years. When the boarding school was closed, we were transferred to Al-Batrakiyyeh Boarding School where we stayed for 7 years. We only lived in the Sha‘laan House in summer vacations and holidays.

9In the late 1950s Sha‘laan was so nice and quiet. There were very few shops : The falafel shop, the butcher’s, the baker’s, the grocer, Kamel, Halfon for ice cream, Bakri Kanfash for coffee and the yogurt shop run by a man from Duma who wore the sirwal (traditional wide trousers). It was such a beautiful quiet quarter where people knew each other very well. If an outsider fooled around, he would be immediately spotted and questioned. Girls of the quarter were our responsibility and we were very protective of them.

10I remember that the main house was built by Yasin Al-Hashimi, but the other houses in the compound the shops and the mosque were built by my grandfather. There was a back entrance to the house from the lane behind.

11I considered restoring the house, but Sha‘laan is now one of the most expensive areas in Damascus. It is worth millions. A fifteen-floor building with an underground parking area could be built on these premises, and I am being asked to consider turning it into a museum? You know what would happen? The state would simply take it. The state does not compensate [for property it seizes]. They just take. We need to take action quickly. Isn’t ‘Adra enough? Should we lose the Sha‘laan House as well?

12The Sha‘laan house has many memories for me. My mother was angry with my father for six years. When they reconciliated, she came to live in the House, and we were brought home from the boarding school. We used to sit in a room with many mirrors upstairs. The Ottoman facades were beautiful. But the house has not received any maintenance for over 40 years. We have all moved to new houses.

13Believe me, if we did any maintenance on the house, the second day there would be a government confiscation ruling. Suddenly, the state would come to appreciate the place as part of the country’s heritage. It is not a question of money. It wouldn't cost much. But we’d better keep quiet until we know what we want to do.

14The state is always ready to confiscate property if it is big enough. Take for example also the Ebish house and the Yousef house. The first was taken by the Workers Federation and the latter was turned into a school. What guarantee do I have that Beit Sha‘laan will not be confiscated? I will give you a simple example. I have a small 7-acre-farm with a villa. For a year now, I have been trying in vain to obtain a court ruling that would have the current occupant are moved from the premises. I am fully ready to pay whatever due compensation the court would find appropriate, but we have not been able to reach a settlement so far. How can I trust the government? Here is another example. One of our servants has a house in ‘Adra built on a piece of land we had donated to him. When the government took our land, people from outside ‘Adra started coming to live there. Anyone money to the municipality and get a piece of land to build on. Earlier, the population of ‘Adra was 1500 people including us and the peasants.

15The government has confiscated 10,000 acres from us. All the state’s projects: the workers' housing project, the industrial town, the oil tankers and the military camps are all on land confiscated from us. No compensation has been given to use, none whatsoever… Yesterday, there was an announcement that people who had property where the workers’ housing project is, can apply for a compensation.

16Oh, the good old days when there were gardens, a stream, and the water was here running through the house. Have you seen the back garden? Sarab Atassi’s house overlooked that garden. The stream was strong enough then to move the waterwheel. The owner was … (calling Aref): “What was the name of the mill’s owner?”

17Aref: Ahmad Nweilati.

Watfaa

18We came from Palestine around the time you are interested in. My father and my uncle had already arrived. They had come a year earlier following the 1936 revolution. The British did not allow them to return to Palestine, and they had to stay in Damascus. They came in 1936, and we arrived in 1937. I was the eldest child, about ten years old. In fact, I can’t give you a true picture of the social life in Sha‘laan at the time. For what I recall is limited to what might attract the attention of a girl at my age. For example, one of the most fascinating scenes that magnetized me was the sight of loaded camels as they approached - with their ringing bells - the large oval shaped entrance of the Sha‘laan House where some people were busy unloading the camels while others were rushing to pay respect to and take care of an elderly man who seemed to enjoy a certain status. I would never miss that scene for anything in the world. That is why I can’t tell you much about the social life. What interested me was what might interest a ten-year old ‘naughty’ Palestinian girl. A Shami (Damascene) girl could perhaps tell you much more because a Shami girl of ten is almost a young lady.

19Sha‘laan was quite big then. It branched out and forked into many lanes. Actually, the same ones you see today on the right and left starting from the Franciscan school.

20Through the lane where Maysoon elementary school was (the present Women’s Union) we could get to the famous Arch, (a landmark of Shuhada quarter), where a famous, handsome pharmacists had his pharmacy. The man was so handsome that many girls had a crush on him. Whenever they did not do well on their exams, they pretended to faint in order to be taken care of by the handsome pharmacist from the Qanqwati family.

21When we first arrived, my father and uncle stayed in a house located in the first lane on the right as you approach from the Franciscan School. The lane led to the present Ministry of Health. It [the house] was not new, but it was not of traditional Arabic style either. It was a two-floor building. The Mashnouq family lived on the first floor. We lived up on the second floor. The apartment had a large hall surrounded by five or six rooms – the then typical style of floor plan. No L shapes. No corridors – just a spacious hall surrounded by rooms. In addition to the kitchen and the bathroom, there was a toilet close to the front door. That was also common in all the houses at the time. They thought it was convenient in case a passer-by guest needed to use the toilet.

22We were: my father, my uncle, my eldest cousin – who had come earlier with them –, my mother, my two sisters, my two brothers, my grandmother, my aunt, and a cousin of my father whose parents were dead. We were 14 people altogether. There was a room for my parents, a room for my uncle and his wife – (she fell sick, was taken to hospital and died the same year we arrived in Damascus), a room for my grandmother and aunt, a room for me and my sisters, a room for my brothers and a room for my girl cousins.

23On the first floor below were the Mashnouqs – a very decent family from Hama. They were amazingly hospitable and friendly. As I have just mentioned, my uncle's wife died soon after we arrived in Damascus. The Mashnouqs rushed to help out and offered their house to receive the men who came to pay their respects on the occasion. This tells a lot about the social relations at the time. The father, Abdul-Hamid, had three girls and six boys. The youngest was our age. The oldest outlived his brothers. Some of the families who chose to live in Shalaan were those who fled British oppression in Jordan or Palestine, such as the Abul-Labans, the Nabulsis, and the Kamals. Those families were forced to leave for political reasons. The narrow lanes in Sha‘laan were occupied by these families or by French families. The houses were small with a small front garden and a stream. You knock at the door and you are led through a corridor to a small courtyard with one or two rooms. The stairs take you up into an open square balcony (mashraka), which receives the morning sunrays, a small hall, and two or more rooms. I’m not sure of the number of rooms because we didn’t live in any of those houses. All the houses had streams but not inside the house. The water flowed with such strength that the streams had to be covered lest a child should fall in and be carried away beneath the next house. The house of Um Aida was typical of those houses. Our house was quite different. It had a spacious hall surrounded by many rooms. On the opposite side of our house lived a Russian girl called Nadia. She was tall with a red spot on her face. Her father was a huge man. Young boys used to fancy the girl, and there were rumors that French officers were entertained by Nadia and her mother. They were foreigners and would normally receive foreign visitors, which was misinterpreted by the local people.

24I'm not sure about the Armenians. They probably lived mostly in Qassaa. The Armenians who lived in Sha‘laan were mainly in the narrow lanes that extended between Sha‘laan and Salhiyyeh. At the southern end of Sha‘laan there was a large square where horse driven carriages were parked. When my mother or aunt needed to go somewhere, they would send me to fetch a carriage. If a carriage happened to be going in the direction of the parking lot, I would secretly climb up and hang on to the back of the carriage taking the risk of receiving a few hits of the driver’s whip. When I got to the square, I would pick a carriage properly, and then I would climb in and sit back inside and look proudly around. I still remember the restless horses at the parking square with feed bags hanging down their necks. They couldn’t have [parked in Sha‘laan] because there wasn’t a spacious square for that purpose. But, Arnous Square, today’s March Eighth Square, enjoyed a very strategic central location for all people coming from nearby areas: Sha‘laan, Ra’iees, Takreeti (where Adnan al-Malki lived) and Rawda.

25There were two [markets]. One of them belonged to a one-eyed man called Hasan. His shop was just next to the mosque. You know the often-smelly mosque in the middle of Sha‘laan. There was another mosque – that is the Shanawani Mosque, which was built much later than the Sha‘laan mosque – after we arrived in Sha‘laan. Actually, the house we lived in was owned by the Shanawanis. Let me show you something: This is an old notebook where my father kept a journal. It says that Homam (my brother) was born in January 1939 in Damascus in the Shanawani house across from the Franciscan School. Jihad (my sister) was born on March 6, 1940 in Halbouni in the Tarabishi House. Waddah was born … That brother died. Mujahed was born in 1936 in Amman, Hakam 1933, Shafaq 1930 in Nablus, Watfaa 1926, and Laila 1928.

26The first [house we lived in] was too small for us – we were 14 people. We lived there for a couple of months only. A new building was recently completed across the road from the Franciscan school. The famous political figure and leader, Abdurrahman al-Shahbandar lived there. On the first floor there were two apartments. We pulled down the dividing walls to have one large apartment with 10 bedrooms, two bathrooms and two kitchens. In those days we often had to accommodate revolutionary men coming from Palestine to give or receive arms. I will never forget the day when I opened the front door and got scared at the sight of the beggar standing there. I slammed the door and rushed inside telling my family that there was a frightening beggar at the door. My uncle jumped up, opened the door and, to my great surprise, took the beggar into his arms and started kissing him with tears running down his cheek. The beggar turned out to be my father whom my uncle had sent with others to Iraq to get arms. They were lost somewhere in the desert and there was no news of them. His beard was long, his dirty clothes were worn out, his heels were badly slit, and he had a rough dirty over coat –“abayeh” on. My mom, of course, recognized him. A barber was called for, and while giving him a bath, it was found that strange insects had dug deep into his skin. He later told us that they had had to drink their urine for lack of water.

27I attended the Dawhet al-Adab School. It was recognized as the best non‑French school in Syria. The director, Madam Loris Qandalfat, a Christian well‑educated and knowledgeable lady was a friend of my father’s friend – Akram Z’eiter (a leading Palestinian political figure). My cousin, Salma, having completed her early study in Jerusalem in English, was sent to the American school in Saida, Lebanon. The rest of us – went to Dawhet al‑Adab. Jihad and Homam (my youngest sister and brother) were not yet born. I was in grade four and had a letter of reference from my previous school in Jerusalem saying that I was a good and well-disciplined student. I always walked to school. It was very close. Just at the near end of Salhiyyeh Street along which the tram coming from Muhajireen passed on his way to al‑Marjeh.

28You could see a car or two in those days. We, ourselves, came to Damascus through Safad in two luxurious Oldsmobile cars. So, there were cars, but they were used only for long distance trips. My aunt used to take a car to Himmeh or to Jisr al‑Shughur near Aleppo to bathe in the mineral water. As for short distances or picnics, horse-drawn carriages were used exclusively.

29We were many in my family. We played together. When you move to a new place, you are looked upon as strangers. I remember that there were always two men at our door. They did the shopping. Coming to think of it now, they were probably there for security reasons. I rarely did any shopping. However, I still remember the grandfather of the owners of a gift shop in the middle of Sha‘laan. He was called Halfoun, and he used to sit at the door of Dawhet al‑Adab to sell fresh almonds and green prunes piled on a huge round tray. Actually, Halfoun who died only a few years ago was a landmark in Sha‘laan.

30[Who attended Dawhet al-Adab School?] The children of Shukri al-Quwwatli, the Diabs, the Malkis, the Halbounis, the Hajjars, the Azems, the Abeds. They were the children of the notable families in Damascus. It is worth mentioning that most of the women whose children or grandchildren attended the school were active members in charitable societies and associations.

31After school we had to go directly back home. We were not allowed to fool around in the streets. However, we were encouraged to have friends come over after school for a visit which often ended by having an afternoon meal of roasted white goat cheese before going home. Walking home with friends was allowed when we were a bit older and we had moved to ‘Arnous – at the other end from ‘Arnous square. That house was not 100% of traditional Arabic style. It had a big courtyard and a roof ‘attic’. However, unlike the traditional Arabic style houses, the second floor had a spacious hall – almost as big as ‘Arnous Square with eight bedrooms around it. Except for the room where the domestic helper and her daughter slept; all rooms were quite large. In addition, the middle floor had a kind of balcony and a square open space “mashraka” that received morning sunrays and was shadowed by vine leaves. Corridors with colored glass walls led to the “mashraka” on one side and the balcony on the other. I liked the corridor that led to the balcony very much, and being the eldest child, I took liberty to keep it for myself for privacy purposes. I closed the door to the corridor and kept only the one that opened to the balcony. It was my favorite game to leave the lights of my room on all night to give the neighboring boys the illusion of being awake and perhaps appearing in the balcony anytime while I was in fact sound asleep in my comfortable bed.

32We spent time [in the summer] with friends, went on picnics with the family or, when we were older, went to one of the movies theatres in Damascus– Roxy on Fardos St. or Ampere –at the upper end of Salhiyyeh. Close to Hijaz train station; there was a modest movie theatre that used to show very good movies such as ‘Chopin’ or ‘George Sand’.

33We had a large library at home, but since father and uncle had fled to Turkey and some of the books were banned, the books were not displayed on shelves but stuffed into wall cabinets. That was where I stole the book of One Thousand and One Nights.

34It was not considered proper for our age and I had to read it secretly. I still remember the frequent phrase “He fell unconscious” used whenever a young man meets his beloved he is dazzled by her beauty and falls unconscious. I often use the phrase today when asked after a long day, “What did you do in the evening?” I answer: “I just fell unconscious”.

35Our house in ‘Arnous was very big. It had a huge dining area with a door that led to the courtyard. On the right, there was a big room for my grandmother (She couldn‘t climb upstairs) and a reception hall. A corridor led to the courtyard which had a fountain fed by a stream. There was a huge kitchen with a small fountain used for all cleaning purposes. The kitchen floor had no tiles – just a smooth cement floor where water flew easily to the drains. No wiping was ever needed.

36There was a church close to Sha‘laan, I just remembered. We could see it on our way to a park near the Parliament called the “Family Park”. I still remember us holding hands and walking to the park. We were given a “franc” or two each. There, we would buy sweets or lupine from the street sellers who used to wait outside the entrance of the park - they were not allowed in. We were not supposed to step on the grass. However, once we heard the whistle announcing the closing time of the park, we often grabbed the opportunity and took three or four turns on the grass and ran away before the park guard could catch us. Yes, God bless those days. We could buy a handful of sweets, lupine or roasted chickpeas for a Nickleh – half a piaster.

37Children from all neighboring quarters used to come to that park: from Sibki, Muhajireen or Mazra‘a (the present Mazra‘a quarter was then still fields and orchards which the family of Mustafa, Watfa’s husband, owned. They had to sell a good part of it in order to pay off the mortgage for their house). Thus, people from all neighboring area who lacked entertainment facilities used to come to the Family Park (Jneinet al‑‘A'ilat).

38The end of the line (the tram final stop) in Muhajireen was another area that attracted a lot of people especially in Ramadan (the fasting month), the two Eid Feasts, and on the Prophet’s Birthday, when young horsemen, mainly from the family of Abu Abdo al-Gawerdi, came to Muhajireen and ‘Arnous squares to give dazzling horsemanship performances and to put on sword and shield shows. Accompanied by one of the two security men who used to be always around the family to help out whenever needed, we went to Muhajireen, ‘Arnous or the Family Park to watch those beautiful shows. One of those men, Fadel, was later killed while fighting in Palestine.

39During the Eids, large swings were set up for children near the Sha‘laan House. Halfoun, the owner of the small shop on the corner across from the Sha‘laan House used to set up a long table where he sold cooked beans and pickled turnip served with a kind of toast called “Sharak” – a favorite treats for children in those days. We used to dip the toast in the pickle sauce, eat a piece of pickle with toast and then followed it with beans with cumin. Once my father caught us sitting there and got mad at me. He held me by the ear and asked how I could be so unthoughtful to take my sisters and brothers to have that dirty food ‘thing’ that might cause typhoid. That was Halfoun the father. Halfoun the son was my age. I remember the father coming to our school al-Dawha carrying two large trays: one full of violets picked from the Sibki field and the other full of green plum and green almond. We loved to buy small bunches of violets to give to our favorite teachers and, of course, we loved the green plums and almonds. Once he came when the school door was closed. The girls were desperate to get some of the green plums. I was often the one who came up with solutions. I asked them to take off the cloth belts of their school uniforms and we tied them together to make a rope that ended with a small basket. We lowered it to the man who filled it with green plums. As we were pulling it up, the headmistress saw it from a window on the second floor and got hold of it. I thought it was a student and started swearing at her, calling her names, and asking her to immediately let go. Suddenly we saw Madam “Hababo”, the director, approaching us with the basket in her hand. Halfoon, the father was a fat man with the traditional wide trousers– the “sirwal”.

40[What did you know about the people who lived in Sha‘laan ?] We knew that they were Bedouin princes who stay and receive visitors there whenever they came from the desert. They wore “abayeh”, (traditional Arabic overcoat), with golden braid over a long mostly solid gray “qumbaz” (traditional men's long dress). How fine the abayeh was depended on the status of the person. I have only a very vague picture of the women. We didn’t see much of them. There was always a group of ten to twelve people at the door of Beit Sha‘laan which was always kept open. And there was always some hay outside the house where the camels used to wait while being unloaded. I am not sure where they were kept after that.

41It seems that most newcomers [to Damascus] preferred the Sha‘laan quarter and neighboring areas of Muhajereen or Old Damascus. There was the ‘Dar Asri’ at the back of Sha‘laan. It was more of a gathering place where Syrian and Palestinian politically-oriented people used to meet, discuss issues, exchange opinions, and play cards. There, my father and uncle used to meet with Adel al-Azmeh, Nabih al-Azmeh and Rashad Jabri. It was similar to the more recent Havana Café, where intellectuals met to discuss political and literary issues in the 1950s and 1960s.

Église paroissiale Saint-Antoine des Pères Franciscains, 1942.

Ziyad Zeitoun (October 2008)

42My stories are 60 years old. They date back to the 1930s. My father opened this store in 1943 in Sha‘laan. But earlier he ran in a store in Sharaf Alley in 1938 or 1937, I had not yet been born. Before he opened this shop, my father had a warehouse across from Jaddet Quli in Souq Sarouja. He stocked various food items. He slaughtered chicken and rabbits, cleaned them, and had them ready for cooking. And then, on his horse drawn cart he went from one house to another delivering what he had to the houses of the foreign community. Later, he moved to work for the Sharafs in Sharaf lane where he got married and lived, for a while, near today’s Laterna Cafeteria. After that, he moved to Souq Sarouja and lived there until 1951-1952 before moving to Uzbakiyyeh where I was born in 1955. My father was Kamal Zeitoun, or Abu Zuheir. He came to Sha‘laan following his gut instinct. He founded a store here. Later on, we, the children, took over and expanded (the business). My father sold vegetables, fruits and dairy. We made yoghurt, yoghurt cheese (labneh), and sold milk. In a store next door, they made yoghurt from milk and cheese. Everything was home–made in the store. My paternal uncle joined my father and a second uncle joined in the 1940s. They were three brothers. One stayed with us, the other left. He had his own family, so he left and opened his own business, a patisserie in Abu Roummaneh.

43Our store was the corner store. I started helping him around the late 1960s when I was a student. I came to help my father. I used to go with my father to Bzuriyyeh. He taught me where to get our supplies: from this store we bought oil, from that one sugar, from the other canned food or cheese. I learned and soon I started making the trips alone. I had a bike with a trunk (English basket). I was 12 years old. We got our merchandize from Bzuriyyeh, next to the Azem Palace. From Da‘aaeen to Sha‘laan I used to come alone. I was very young but energetic. When they saw how energetic I was, they bought me a car, a Buick. I had a lot of stuff to carry. I no longer went on my bike. I used to buy supplies from Haj Weis Al-Sabbagh. He was a well-known merchant who was a dealer for Dole and Libby’s. These are world renowned companies. Their products used to be sold at the Damascus International Fair. This merchandize was exclusively available through them. Their merchandize were GOTA (General Organization for Trade), available only once a year through the trade fair. Foreigners used to come to the store to buy things. Mrs. Sa‘ameeni, Mrs. Atassi, they were our customers, Mrs. Azem, Mrs. Samer al-Dibbis. They are good families. They bought our good quality groceries. We continued to expand. Eventually we carried more than 100 kinds of cheese. In 1975, we had Roquefort Cheese, Camembert, Brie, Cheddar cheese, Gruyere, Dairy. We had canned food, meat, Mortadella, Pastrami, Bresaola, and Salami. We truly expanded our business.

44In 1968 or 1969, I first worked part time for my father in the afternoons only. Then I started working full time in 1970. I was in Ninth grade. My father was alone in the shop. I expanded and remodelled it. People noticed the difference. First my father had shelves on which they put jars for gum and candies. The accountant Subhi (May his soul rest in peace) used to tell me I staged a coup d’état. I broke the jars. They were made in England. They were very pretty. I did not know the value. I was just a kid. Now I know they were very valuable, all British made. They took a lot of space. I replaced the shelves all together.

45In the 1970s, there was some competition. There was the shop, Nora. There was also Sbeini’s-Al-Jala’ Grocery. It was good; it was across the street from Al-Jala’ Post office in Abu Roummaneh – up the street (now a flower shop) to the left next to Graoui’s today. It belonged to Abu Zuheir Sbeini. It was a very big store. “Mashallah” you found all sorts of vegetables, and fruits. Sbeini’s shop dates to the same era as my father’s. He had more foreign customers than we did. His store dated back to the forties. Back then, you had Nora, Sbeini, Abul ‘Ula al-Chatty. You know the Toledo Restaurant, it was located right there next to Toledo, by Badr Mosque. It was a large grocery store with four full gates. It is now taken over by a Lebanese company and it has yet to be opened. Abul ‘Ula al-Chatty opened his store after we did, in the seventies. He opened a nice supermarket. There was another grocer by the name of Said al-Haffar, owner of Al-Amal Grocery store. He was located next to Al-Jahez Park to the left. All his customers were Americans. His shop was a nearby the American School. We are talking of 1965-1976. He had more foreign customers than we did. He started his business in the sixties. There were also two grocery stores by the name of Ma‘louf and Barakat, near the Parliament Building, in the seventies. They were my father’s friends, Ma‘louf and Barakat. These were founded before the seventies. I was only a child then. I used to stop by their store to look at their merchandize. I found cold cuts and canned meat. They even sold pork. There was Barakat Grocery Store. Ma‘louf had some land in Chtoura, Lebanon, from where he used to bring peaches. He was my father’s friend. They were the only grocery stores of this kind in all of Damascus.

46In Sha‘laan, the only other grocer was Bakri al-Sabbagh. He was my father’s partner. He owned the store now occupied by Shweiki, next to the fish market. He sold vegetables, fruits, and canned food. His was a large store, set out around a courtyard. Customers strolled inside and made their selection. There was a fountain. He had rooms surrounding the courtyard. He stored the “perineh” that we used for the wood stove. Underneath the perineh, many insects took refuge. Insects used to scare me. When we moved a block of perineh, cockroaches would come out and scurry in all directions. I was a child.

47Perineh! They used to use it fifty years ago! Perineh was used to heat wood stoves. It was a block made of olive pits, turned into a paste and then dried. They stacked them in heaps; a thousand piece each. Bakri al-Sabbagh used to sell them. There was another variety of ‘perineh’, sacks of wood shavings. These were wood shavings left over in the process of making furniture. Wood shavings help start fire in stoves.

48We had devoted customers. One of our customers used to trust me with his money. He left 10,000.00 Syrian Pounds with me. Bakri al-Sabbagh, father of Said and Wijdan was a very close friend of my father. He would bring his own chair from his house and sit next to my father outside the shop. He left money with me. He would ask me to stock the store with merchandize. He would give me 5,000.00 or 10,000.00 Syrian Pounds to do so. He wouldn’t give money to his own wife. He would ask me to keep the money with me and to go and buy merchandise. He was a real, decent gentleman. He worked in the Saudi Arabian embassy. He served coffee there. He loved my father very much. He had faith in me and never stopped to support my efforts to improve the business – Thanks God.

49Let me explain something. Once Bakri al‑Sabbagh asked a client of ours who lived next to Nora supermarket, why he preferred to shop at our shop: “Why don't you shop at my place?” The client said “Abu Kamel Zeitoun give some things for free”. He was an old Greek man. Holding his stick and walking all the way from Hububi through Sibki, he never failed to appear at out shop. Madam Atassi was another such permanent client. We sent her groceries on order, and father used to prepare artichokes for her; preparing them for cooking, putting them in a neat basket covered with green leaves and we had to deliver them to her place. Generous Mrs. Atassi, in turn, wouldn’t let us go back to the shop without first loading us up with tasty delicious chocolate and candy. Being a wife of a doctor, she always gave medicine for free to poor people. She was a great humanitarian.

50Things started to change in the 1970s. I had to join the army after the 1973 war. I served for two and a half years in the Air Force Club. That was made possible by the blessing of my father. I was very comfortable and on top of that I did a good business supplying the Club with vegetables, fruits and milk. My brother Khaled helped in the shop in my absence. I did not, however, completely stop working at the shop. I did not have to sleep over at the Club. So every day, I rode my bicycle from Mazzeh airport to my house in Uzbakiyyeh. There weren't many buildings then, and streets were empty, and traffic was very little. It took me only 15 minutes to get home. I finished my military service in 1975 and resumed upgrading and updating the business. I had the place redecorated and brought new merchandise. In 1978, we stopped selling fruits and vegetables. We had a lot of other items and lines, and a lot of varieties of each – cold cuts, pasta, milk products. Ten years ago, pre-prepared fresh vegetables started to appear in the market, and we went into partnership with one of the producers. We provided space outside the shop for these prepared vegetables to be sold. A lot of TV stations are now doing documentaries about this new line of business in Sha‘laan – peeled and cut vegetables, zucchini prepared for stuffing and the like. Women say that pre–prepared vegetables help a lot when you have guests for lunch or dinner or emergencies.

51We also did delivery to homes on demand. One of our customers for whom we deliver daily, lives in this area – Rawda. He is very well to do and has a chef and waiters serving at his place. We send him everything on order and even get him the vegetables and fruits from adjacent shops. We have been doing this for 60 years. We had baskets where we put ordered items to be delivered to different customers: Mrs. Azem, the Lahhams, the Tataris, the Mar‘ashi. We have had many notable customers. Others were the Masabkis – Na‘im Masabki –, the Dimehs– Antoine Dimeh –. The latter still lives in Rawda.

52Many shopkeepers turn to me to provide them with things they don’t have, or they don’t deal with in order to meet a customer’s demand. We willingly get the order ready at a reasonable price that would allow both of us to benefit but not at the expense of the client. I was once asked to provide Mr. Yassin Nweilati with many delicacies for his son’s wedding at the Sheraton: Smoked Salmon, shrimps, mango, pineapples, avocado. The bill we sent to the Sheraton amounted to 32,000 Syrian pounds. We give the orders to drivers in the evening and they drove to Lebanon bring the items we lacked from Chtaura in iceboxes.

53My father was used to dealing with foreigners, especially with the French. When he was still in Sharaf Alley across from the Parliament, he had more French customers than Arabs. That was in the 30’s. My father worked for Hamdi Sharaf and they used to deal with the French Cooperative. The Sharafs appreciated my father so much that they had him marry and live close by. Hamdi Sharaf has a son in the States called Adel. Adel once passed by the shop and my father recognized him on the spot even though he had not seen him for almost 30 years.

54There were three butchers of the Tahawi family in the quarter. The first was the one next to Sa'ddin. The second was the reputable Abu Kasem across from Sha‘laan mosque. The shop is still there run by his son who is as stout as his father was. The third which was run by Abu Mohammad was around the corner and across from our shop, opposite the Beit Sha‘laan reception area and next to the bakery and the falafel shop – run by Abu Fares – is now opposite where the ‘Fast Meal’ take away shop is. One of the butcheries was for lamb meat exclusively. I guess that butcher is still alive. He was a friend of my father. Later, that block that occupied the space across from our house was pulled down. Next to Abu Mohammad’s was a small watch-repair shop run by Mr. Hijaz. This dates to the late 60’s. When the block was pulled down, Abu Mohammad moved to the shop on the way to Hamra Street, which is now occupied by the chicken shop just before Shweiki. Now, I will tell you how that shop was sold. One day, a gentleman came into the shop and said to a very busy Abu Mohammad that he had heard that there was an available shop around Sha‘laan and asked if he had an idea which shop it was. To everybody’s amazement that passer-byer had Abu Mohammad, the well‑established butcher, evacuate the shop and hand it over to him. My father stuck to his shop which he moved to in 1943. Abu Mohammad’s brother sold five shops in Sha‘laan for cheap.

55The Beit Sha‘laan dates back to the grandfather of Emir Nawwaf. More than thirty or forty gold pounds were spent to put up the inaugurating engraved marble tablet (attached to the public fountain) dedicated to the soul of Emir Nawwaf. Later, the public fountain was neglected because the area around it got very messy. There is the mosque and a few houses for Nouri al-Sha‘laan and his brother Abu Mesh’al. We often delivered groceries through the Reception area to the houses inside. There were also two houses at the back of the mosque. The whole property block is about 7000sq.m. All the shops that extend from the House to the mosque are owned by the Sha‘laans except for the mill. It is Abu Ahmed al‑Nweilati’s. It has been pulled down and replaced by a tall building. There used to be a stream underneath it where wheat was washed and there was also a stable for the horses. All wheat products were processed there.

École des Sœurs Franciscaines, Missionnaires de Marie, 1942.

Le jardin Sebki, 1950.

56Inside the Sha‘laan House there is a spacious room where Emirs meet and receive guests: Emir Nawwaf sits there when coming for a visit from Saudi Arabia and so do the other emirs: Mit‘eb, the cousins, the sons of Emir Naïf who lives in Mazzeh, and the sons of Mamdouh one of whom, Fawwaz, works at the Saudi Arabian Embassy and has children in Saudi Arabia. In that room they meet with their uncle Abu Ghazi who lives in Bash Kateb, Muhajireen and who used to live here sometime in the late 1970s.

57My brother sometimes goes to the Sha‘laan reception house. They serve dark sugar free Arabic coffee with cardamom. The reception area is also open for people on certain occasions. In Ramadan, for example, Emir Nawwaf serves food for the peace of his sister’s soul. He ordered different kinds of traditional dishes at Shweiki: Large trays of rice, cracked wheat or green wheat all topped with full cooked lambs. Tables are set in the courtyard but as usual, no spoons are used. People had to eat the Bedouin way – with their hands. On these occasions it is open to neighbors, to invited people and of course to members of the Sha‘laan family such as Nuri al-Sha‘laan who lives a few blocks down this street (Rawda – Jaddet Fawzi al-Ghazzi). Emir Sultan is often present at the Beit Sha‘laan to receive people and entertain them as late as 11:00 or 12:00 p.m.

58There was once a carpentry shop here in Sha‘laan. A customer of ours, Ghiyath al-Akhras, an artist who at some time was the Dean of the School of Fine Arts and who has a French wife, used to order his picture frames at this shop run by the carpenter Ghaleb Daba. His shop was on the way to Hububi (in the direction of Madfaa Park) across from Rajab small supermarket. Ghaleb has sold the shop a few years ago. Whenever Ghiyath had an art exhibition, he ordered the wood frames for his pictures at Ghaleb’s and the glass at the reputable Muhyiddin Abu Ras’ to the left of our shop just next to Sarmini nut shop and in the place occupied now by another nut shop.

59After Habubi, there was Abu Roummaneh. It was built later by the Saudis. They planted the palm trees which they brought from Saudi Arabia. The palm trees in the embassy give very good dates. Abu Said who worked at the embassy often brought us some of those tasty dates when he made his long visits to my father. He was from the Wajdan family.

60By the 1970s new shops opened. The shop of the Syrian Jew was earlier occupied by a chef who provided food for over 200 students from Algeria and Morocco. Later, he moved to a shop next to the pharmacy on the way to ‘Arnous. He served various traditional Syrian dishes: Stew, stuffed zucchinis, dips. That was in the 1970’s or earlier. Many university students came here to Sha‘laan. There were two chefs in the quarter. One of them was Abu Issa whose place was later taken by the Syrian Jew when he had moved to the shop next to the pharmacy. The shop next to ours which now sells mainly frozen food was occupied by a restaurant for cooked chickpeas and beans. One day the famous singer Wadi‘ al-Safi, who was visiting the Artists Union, came to have breakfast there. He wanted to have onions with his dish but there was none in the restaurant. Immediately, he jumped to my father’s grocery and asked for a head of onion in his distinctive Lebanese accent. Back then, the Artists Union office was in the second lane from our shop on your way to Sibki Park.

61The Sharour’s has been there since 1964-65. Kanfash is old. First, he had a small shop selling sugary opposite his present shop. Those were his father’s. They were coffee shops as well. His father never used the tram that ran from Muhajireen to Marjeh. He always walked from Salhiyyeh to his shop. When his sons took over, they moved to the present spacious shop. The coffee trade has been a family business and when the sons took over, they introduced a lot of changes and started another factory. Following Shahrour, the tailor, was the “Nile Shoes” ran by Shiran and occupied today by a butcher’s shop.

62A few shops here have been passed from fathers to sons and have kept running the same line of trade. The Tahawis for example: One of the sons is still in Sha‘laan but turned the shop into one selling cooked chickpeas, beans and related dishes and dips, whereas the other kept his line of trade as a butcher. The Safiyyehs who ran a falafel shop kept doing that but moved a little up opposite the “Fast Meal” take away. The nephews of Abu Ahmad al-Nweilati, who had no children, took over the “mill shop” but they sold grains processed in Ghouta.

63Then there is the Samar shop. Samar came much later, in the 70’s. It was run by his father and sold alcoholic drinks. The son took over and introduced a lot of changes. Right now, the shop is being redecorated. They might let out part of it. Company stores have become dominant in Hububi and prices are soaring. Now you find international chain stores and offices in Hububi whereas food trade prevails in this part of the quarter. A bank has opened near Samar’s grocery. He might get a hundred million for that property.

64The first bakery for French baguette in Syria was Nobar in Qassaa. We were the earliest customers for his baguettes. That was in 1975‑76. He got all the equipment necessary for baking the different kinds of loaves from France. Nobar, dead now, acknowledged us, Kamel’s sons, as being his first distributors. His second customer was the UNIFEL who supplied the Emergency Force in Jebel al-Sheikh (Hermon Mountain). The father of Nobar had a bakery in Souq al-‘Atiq for baking traditional Turkish bread – (tubkhan). The Nobar bakery was run by Armenians – the Torasians. The furnace bakery prepared another kind of traditional nice bread that took a lot of effort to bake. Processing wheat in the mill was also a tough job that started with washing the wheat grains in the running stream – a stream which no longer flows.

Mufida Zahra

65I moved to Sha‘laan in 1950. The Atassis moved there later, in 1955. There was Madam Rbeiz and there was a Christian lady. I first lived on the ground floor. When Madam Rbeiz moved in after having a fight with the Christian lady on the top floor, I moved into her flat on the second floor. Fawwaz’s sister (Sarab’s sister in-law) moved into the ground floor flat. So, our neighbor was Christian. The house was one of the most modern buildings in the quarter. Our house was very nice. It had three spacious rooms and a large hall. It looked over the stream below and Beit Sha‘laan (a palace). There were two mills and continuous flowing water. The Sha‘laan palace was very spacious and Fawwaz al-Sha‘laan managed to develop a garden in two months. They were well to do people and lots of visiting people were received in the Sha‘laan House.

66My uncle, Dr. Abdul Qader, God bless his soul, lived here, too. My grandfather bought the land for himself and his sons, my father and my uncle, who had recently arrived from Turkey. I keep an encyclopaedia where his name is listed, and the idea of setting up a public clinic in honor of his name in Souq Sarouja is being considered. He used to provide medical care for free for the people of Souq Sarouja, and he was the first certified surgeon to graduate from Turkey. He was the same generation of doctors as Murshed Khater. He had studied in Istanbul for 15 years. His son, Ahmad, is a dentist. Ahmad is my cousin and foster brother [milk brother]. I was breast fed [nursed] by his mother.

67Before living in Sha‘laan I lived in Hububi. That is in the same area. We sold our house and moved to Hububi and then rented the house in that building in Sha‘laan. I lived with my sister Khaldiyyeh. My cousin also, the father of Hind who was married to the Emir of Qatar, and her sister Rafaah lived there, too. The building that includes Sarkis Bakery is my cousin’s – Abdul Majid.

68There was a lane in Sha‘laan named Al-Zahraa. But the plate with the name has been removed. Now I am following up the issue of re-recognizing Dr. Abdul Qader among the founders of the medical school at Damascus University. He had a professorial chair in the school and that is how his son Khaled could go into the school without having satisfied the academic pre-requisites.

69I was born in Souq Sarouja. My mother had a very nice house there. When I was ten, she took me there to see it. It was similar to Khaled al-Azem’s house with its spacious hall (al–Qa‘a) and the fountain. When my sister got engaged to our cousin Abdul Majid, the son of Dr. Abdul Qader, my mother mortgaged the house to be able to prepare her trousseau. This set of armchairs you see here is hers. She sold it for 160,000 S.P. My nephew Ma’moun got it for 160,000 and before moving, he was offered 200,000 for them on the spot. Now they are worth three million. I remember that he paid 100 golden liras for them.

70We were many in our house in Sha‘laan. I, my mother, my sister and my brother, who left for Saudi Arabia. We had a big farm (Dai‘a) that extended from Kisweh to Dreikhbiyyeh? It was sold. My uncle, however, brought books for my brother Anwar to prepare for a qualifying exam as a pharmacist assistant. He took the exam in Qatana and got a job in Saudi Arabia. I myself went to Saudi Arabia with Ezzeddin. Then I came back and got married.

71I married here in Sha‘laan and then I moved to Muhajireen. My husband lived in Muhajireen. He was the General Registrar of Damascus (Ameen Sijil Dimashq), and the nephew of Sheikh Taj. He was a law school graduate and a very knowledgeable person. At first, I was reluctant to accept the marriage offer. I was 37 and I had been in Saudi Arabia raising my brother’s two children, Hasan and Mona, and was very happy with them. The idea of getting married was out of the question at that time [until her brother put his two children into a boarding school in Damascus].

72Regarding my own schooling, I went to Shuhada’ elementary school and the First High School. The latter is now Ben Khaldoun High school for boys. The Ajlanis’ daughters went to the same school. When I got sick and left school, I studied for the 9^th graduate certificate at home and passed the exam. I also studied for the Baccalaureate but did not take the exam. I went to the Italian school for two years. The nuns were very nice and very good teachers. My French improved a lot and we studied different arts. Mother, who was afraid that I might get religiously “deviated”, did not allow me to continue the third year and get my certificate. Soon after I started a sewing workshop at home, my brother in Saudi Arabia had an accident and I had to leave everything and go there to help him. My friend was the wife of Dr. Ezzat al-Tabbaa, the Health Department Director. In order to get the visa, they arranged for me a contract as a dressmaker.

73When I got to Saudi Arabia, I stayed at his home and looked after the children and got a monthly salary. A year later, I came back to Damascus. I wanted to marry a young man I had fancied. The young man, who was told that I went to Saudi Arabia to marry a doctor there, had gone off and married someone else. I completely lost interest in marriage and dedicated myself to raise my brother’s children. My sisters and friends reproached me for my attitude towards marriage saying that I would regret it in the future when I find myself all alone. One day, when my brother had left for Saudi Arabia, the man to be my husband passed by the office of my brother-in-law. He was a friend of his and they both studied law. When socializing, he told him that he had divorced his wife and was looking for a new wife. He complained that his mother spent most of her time in Beirut with her other three children and that he was fed up with loneliness. My brother-in-law mentioned me but was not sure I would accept.

74I remember Sha‘laan and the Sha‘laan house very well. The Sha‘laan house was very nice with the Emir around and the Bedouins coming and going. When he died, it was never the same again. I still remember that there was a big black man, a guard who always sat in a cabin next door. The cabin was exactly across the road from my uncle’s place. Every day in Ramadan, my uncle, Abdul-Qader, would send the guard a tray with food for his first sunset meal (iftar) and sunrise meal (suhur). I still remember the sound of his stick hitting the ground as he moved around at night.

75Sha‘laan was a very lively in quarter. Some people went shopping themselves. That was not the case with us. There were no telephones to order what we needed. The grocer’s boy passed by every morning to take orders. Bread was delivered to our home daily, as well. The “wood cutter” brought wood to peoples’ houses. We had a tall, peasant girl for domestic help and a “porter”, Mohammad, who had a cart and who used to bring you (Sarab) and us whatever we asked him to.

76We socialized with the neighbors but most of our free time was spent with the family: (uncles and cousins) because we lived in the same area. I remember that your uncle rented out one of his houses to some Armenians. It was the house with a garden at the end of the lane. When my uncle went to Turkey to study, he was already married with a son, Abdul Majid, who became the husband of my sister. When in Turkey, he met a beautiful Turkish girl and married her. At the time, he needed to get only one more medal / order to become a Pasha. He refused to stay in Turkey and insisted to come back to his home country. The Red Cross has his complete biography. He brought his beautiful Turkish wife with him to be a second wife with my sister. They had a two-month-old daughter but they did not dare to bring her with them for fear of his father. They used to respect old people. Now they care less. The little girl was left with her aunt in Turkey. Then war broke out and for seven years he sent her money but kept silent about her. By the time his father died, he had had two more sons: Ahmad and Mohammad, but no one knew of the daughter. Twenty–five years later, Ahmad got married to Um Marwan. My uncle felt the urge to see his daughter in Turkey. He went with his son, Ahmad, who had been married for just one year. For a whole month, he tried in vain to locate her. Finally, he put and advertisement with his picture and full address in Damascus in the newspapers to be contacted by anyone who might help him to get back in touch with his daughter and her family in Turkey. Seven months later, my brother came in shouting: “Mother! My uncle has got a daughter”. My mother took that for a joke, but my brother insisted that he had heard the news from his uncle himself while sitting together with his uncle and cousins, Ahmad, Mohammad and Abdul Majid. My uncle told them the whole story of the girl without mentioning that she was his daughter: When the girl was seven, her aunt who was taking care of her died. A neighbor took her in and looked after her. All through her early life the neighbor kept telling the girl that she was of a very good family and that her father was a famous doctor. When she grew up, she married her to her son. Some friends of the family read the newspaper with my uncle’s name, picture and address and sent the newspaper to the daughter’s husband. The husband showed his wife, my cousin, the newspaper telling her that the gentleman was her father and they started exchanging letters with my uncle. At this point of the story and to the great amazement of the listeners, my uncle disclosed the fact that he himself was that father. The daughter, who was 25, came to Damascus with her two children and stayed for a while in a separate house which he had emptied and furnished especially for her. She went back to Turkey for the sake of her husband and died there, God bless her soul. Thus, every person has a story of his own. As for Sha‘laan Quarter, it was the best and most modern.

77Many notable families, such as the Radis, left Souq Sarouja and came to live in Sha‘laan. Sibki was still an orchard and Abu Roummaneh were, too. There were very few buildings. This is what I know. Sibki Park was under construction in 1950. Then the Sibkis started selling and buildings started to appear. Earlier, the fruit orchards covered most of the area, and once when I was playing with Sabriyyeh, we found a pumpkin and rolled it home.

78Shops only started to become common in the 1950s. When I started my sewing institute, the Saraqbi “nouveauté” shop opened and a bookstore where my students used to get books also opened. I used to have 17 students at a time. There was also the Jewish fabric shop run by Zaki. He was so nice. He was even better than the Arabic shopkeeper whom I used to deal with for three years when I had my sewing institute. Once I was short of one meter of fabric to finish a dress I was sewing for my niece, Eiman. The Arabic guy who had a whole roll of the material refused to sell me one meter whereas the Jewish guy did not hesitate one minute to do so although he had only a few meters left of that material. It is not your religion, but it is the way you deal with people that matters. There was a bicycle dealer, and there was an upholsterer, as well. A barber shop, too, next to the bookstore. His name was Abu Hasan, God bless his soul. And there was a laundry. These were the shops in the 60’s. Now Sha‘laan has a great reputation as a shopping area.

79The Bitars lived here. They had a mill in their house. It was quite spacious and extended to both sides of the lane. Malak was first married to Ibn al-Azmeh for six months. Poor Salah al-Bitar. The sister of Michel ‘Aflaq, Maria, was a customer of mine. That was ten or fifteen years ago.

80[It is worth mentioning that what Madam Mufida did at the time was very inspiring. Women of the time did not go out to work. She was among the few who established an in-house business and was completely independent. Her sewing institute was highly professional.]

81The nuns at the Italian school liked me very much and appreciated what I did. Once Noura fell down and was wounded. I had to take her to the Italian hospital to sew the cut. The nuns were very nice. Now, I know nobody. We lived near Sarkis bakery for four years when my mother rented her house out and we moved to Hububi. We lived close to Adel Beik Bozo and Fayez al-Tayyan. Then we moved close to my uncle’s. Sha‘laan might not have been very sophisticated but it was most modern. Many families moved there from Souq Sarouja. The Sibki orchard occupied most of the area. Abu Roummaneh was also an orchard. It started to be turned into a street around 1946. The French cemetery was at the north end of it.

82My family moved to Abu Roummaneh. I first moved to Muhajereen and then came here. When I came here, there were no telephones or pavements. My nephew, Hasan, God bless him, was engaged to Mayyada Atassi, a relative of yours and the daughter of Abdul-Sater Atassi, an electric engineer and head of the telephone directorate. He immediately ordered a telephone net to be installed in the area and we got a telephone. Mayyada is a very good girl. I wish every loving person had such a good daughter-in‑law. When I was advised to surgically remove an abscess on my body, my nephew Hassan insisted that I go to the US, where they lived, for the operation. There, I was subjected to extensive tests and check-ups for six weeks before they decided to operate. His wife, Mayyada, was the one who accompanied me through out.

83Hasan’s brother, Bashar, and the three girls – these are my children. God bless them all. They are always around. I have a piece of land in Dummar residential Project. I bought it in 1985. When I got back from the States, I assigned it to my nephews. This house here in Sha‘laan is assigned to them as well. I have always taken care of my sister’s son. He is studying Medicine in Spain and always stays in my place whenever he comes to Damascus for a visit. His wife who is of the Murad family stays at her parents’. In the 40’s, Zaki al-Arsouzi lived near where the park is now and many students from Liwaa’ Eskandarun lived there. My father lived there, too. That is why there was a restaurant. There were many boarding houses at the time. The university dormitories did not exist until much later.

84I also remember the large shop run by a Jew. We were on very good terms with him. He was next to Halftone and sold fabric and some food items like cheese. When we went to buy a piece of fabric, he would ask us if we wanted cheese or other similar food items. There was also a Jewish repairman who often passed by our house to fix things. It is the way people deals with you that count regardless of their faith. We all believe in God. But they didn’t live in the quarter, they lived in the Jewish quarter.

Amira Nayfa

85I am the daughter of Emir Mit‘eb Sha‘laan of the Ruwala. I was born in ‘Adra. ‘Adra belonged to us. We used to bring servants from Saudi Arabia and have them work on our farms. The Syrian government confiscated our land in ‘Adra. The laws here are like those in Russia. The land was confiscated, and the servants became free. My grandfather Fawwaz got them Saudi citizenship so that they could continue to work for us.

86When I was seven, I came to Damascus with my sisters and brother. We went to The Franciscan / French School (Dar Al-Salaam). My father was keenly interested in educating us. He himself is the most educated among his brothers. At first, we lived in one of my grandfather Nuri's houses in the Beit Sha‘laan complex. In 1970 we moved to a villa in Mezzah. It is the villa occupied now by the Danish embassy. My brother was in Rawdet Al‑Ahdath.

87When we lived here in Sha‘laan, I did not like it. My uncle was very tough and strict, and we were not allowed to go out. My father was away most of the time. I liked living in Mezzah – the modern district of Damascus near the Autostrade. I was 14 when we moved to Mezzah. Nevertheless, I kept going to Dar Al-Salaam even after we moved to Mezzah. We went by school bus. Later at University, I and one of my brothers majored in law, my other brother studied medicine, one of my sisters majored in education and the second one in economics. We all studied in Syria. I was the first one from the Sha‘laan family to go to university. I majored in international law. I practiced international law for a while in Dubai.

88But when I was younger and living in Sha‘laan I was very unhappy. We were almost always locked up inside the Sha‘laan compound. When I came to Sha‘laan in 1964, nothing was missing. All the shops you see here were there then. But my life was limited to going to school and coming back home. Still I did travel abroad. My father used to take us to London and Paris, but never to Saudi Arabia.

89My father made some repairs and minor maintenance of the Sha‘laan compound, but not too much. It would be a great idea to turn it into a museum, but there would a big conflict among the heirs of the property. My grandfather had ten wives and my uncles also had many; different wives are never on good terms.

90My father had some ideas about putting up a tower block on this property, but he could not proceed with the idea. There was a law case and my uncle succeeded in “buying the case”. He took 40% of the property and 40% was the share of my father. My father, however, did not make use of his share because his property was subject to confiscation in 1967. That was at the time of Gamal Abdul Nasser in Egypt and the confiscation rules issued at the time. When Abdul Nasser died in 1970, my father was in danger of being put in prison, and so he fled and sought refuge with King Hussein in Jordan. There, they were back to traditional Bedouin life. They had no choice. Even my mother’s dresses were confiscated from the Sha‘laan Palace in ‘Adra. The government turned it into a military barracks. My father had 40% of the assets in Sha‘laan because my grandmother gave him what she had inherited, and his two sisters gave him their inheritance. He was the only male child of his mother but he was paying the price of cheating on his 7 brothers (from other mothers) and unfairly taking their property. He fell sick and became paralyzed.

91All my father’s property was confiscated, because he was a politician and a member of Parliament. My grandfather who saw in him a promising child got him a birth certificate saying he was 20 years older than he really was to be able to nominate him for the Parliament. When the Baath party took over, everything of his was confiscated. This is the true story.