SABAH (1)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

Interviewed and Compiled by Fatemeh Doustkami
Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

2020-2-25

SABAH (1)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

Interviewed and Compiled by Fatemeh Doustkami

Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

Published by Soore Mehr Publishing Co.

Persian Version 2019

Introduction

I came to know Sabah Vatankhah in DA book. After tracking her footprints for almost 60 times in different pages and events of the book, I noticed that she has a deeper personality than what is presented in the book. Sabah is a nineteen year-old girl who is a revolutionary, active and defiant and fearless at the same time and has the experience of pure moments during the first days of the Holly Deference.

There was this willing to hear the memoirs of Ms. Vatankhah in me until 2009. In 2009 I was invited by Ms. Seyedeh Azam Hosseini to the Office of Literature and Art of Art District Resistance and met her face to face. She revealed her motivation to tell her memoirs in one of the last days of Esfand. She revealed that if the sedition which had created chaos and unrest in the country did not happen, she would have never narrated her memoirs. She used to say: “When I saw that we took one step backwards by keeping silent, but the enemy moved forward with a lot of noise and tried to change the position of right and wrong in the public view, I could not keep silent anymore. I feel obliged right now and I hope that by narrating what has happened to me and my friends and my friends in arms, I can make one heart softer and one mind brighter.”

In Ms. Vatankhah’s point of view, there is a capacity in the Islamic Revolution and Holly Deference that only by narrating some parts of it, we can tell the youth how to distinguish between nice and sire.

A few days later, the recording of memoirs of Ms. Vatankhah started in the format of “historical or linear chronology” from her childhood to date. In total, three phases of interviews were conducted, and three hundred hours of interviews were recorded.

The first phase included 87 sessions, two hundred hours of interview recorded in two years. We had lots of ups and downs with Ms. Vatankhah. We went through harsh moments of her memories in addition to the daily challenges of her mind who kept her busy and hard to concentrate. The process was slow.

Many years had passed and there were some ambiguities in some narrations. These ambiguities were cleared through step by step field researches, difference studies and complementary interviews. Some of these ambiguities were also cleared during interview with Mr. Abdollah Sa’adat, Mr. Ali Amjadi and Ms. Zohreh Farhadi and Asghraf Farhadi and Ms. Farang Banou Yar Ahmadi (mother of Ms. Vatankhah).

Due to the presence of Vatankhah family in the operation of Khorramshahr and their bold role in the events of those days, some of her memories were adjusted by comparison to other individuals as well as her friends in arms such as Belgheys Malekian, Elaheh Hejab, Late Maryam Amjadi and Zohreh Farhadi who had common memories to share.

The first draft was compiled with precision, and patience in long terms. We were committed to keep the difference angels of documentation, recording of collected data and its presentation to the reader from one side and presenting joy to the audience while maintaining the true version of the events, which were slowing our pace and made the narrator impatient. As we already knew that the task demands more patience, we moved forward with managing and controlling the conditions.

In the first draft, while outlining the initial structure of the task, the shortcomings and weaknesses of data were identified by the expert of the Department of Women’s Affairs, and were resolved in the second phase of the interviews. In the second phase, which was done in coordination with Ms. Vatankhah in back to back days and intensive program, lasted for a few days and long hours and the whole book was narrated word by word for her.

In this part, the points mentioned by the narrator were implied and I my new questions were answered.

The whole process including long and detailed discussions on different subjects, possible questions raised by the readers and finding convincing answers, editing contradicting parts, having logical time trail of the events, finding logical relations among events which were related or contradicted each other and tens of other issues, was the result of meetings between me and the narrator.

I will not forget all those laughter, cries, friendly relations, quarrels and even small annoyances that happened often in our interviews, which were the normal procedure for such tasks. We had one goal and a common concern; the goal which kept us besides each other enthusiastically and was a motivation to finalize this project. We were supposed to review and rewrite the oppression and strong epic of men and women of this country and this was not an easy task. One of my friends used to say that the Satan has found out the great impact of this task and is looking for a chance to deviate it from the right path.

Sabah had a curious personality who had studied Islam and Islamic Revolution in details and had reached full recognition and belief. She wore Hejab (Islamic veil) not because she was born in a religious family; she followed the disciple of Imam not because of the dominant ambiance during the recent years leading to the Revolution victory; she defended her city not because she had no other place to go and had been forced to stay in Khorramshah and defend it…. No…. As you will read in this book, Sabah Vatankhah is the representative of the revolutionary generation of those years, who chose the path of her life and her opinion with awareness and insight and tolerated all the difficulties and problems related.

In the second phase, one hundred hours of interviews were recorded. After placing all the recorded data in the book, the first phase of the task initiated by experts. Ms. Seyedeh Azam Hosseini studied the book and had her points. Some of these points were related to the writing and vocabulary of the book.

The writing corrections were applied carefully. Also the third round of interviews was conducted with Ms. Vatankhah for a few days.

The interview room of the Office of the Holly Defense Literature and Art, the pergola near the anonymous martyrs in the yard of the Art Division, residence of Ms. Vatankhah, my mom’s house and my mother-in-law’s house were also used to conduct interviews and we hoped that in the day of judgement, they will testify to the purity of our incentive and belief in recording and narrating the bravery of the children of this land.

After completion, five experts studied the drafted version and some points were raised. In this phase, the strong aspects of the book were highlighted, extra parts were removed, and we came across a document, which we hoped would satisfy the audience. The Department of Women’s Affairs and I insisted on hearing more memories from Ms. Vatankhah but she did not deem appropriate. Maybe some of the readers would like to know more details about some of her memories but will not find it in the book due to the reasons explained above.

And finally …. What we have today is a gift of the narrator and the writer on the fortieth anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. A revolution that has lots of enemies, but those enemies will fail as long as a competent Leader governs the Revolution and as long as individuals such as Sabah are alive. 

At the end, I would like to express my gratitude to those who supported me in this project. The Art District and Office of the Holy Defense Literature and Art that accompanied me in this difficult path with patience; Ms. Seyedeh Azam Hosseini for her advices and continuous supports; my patient spouse and dear children for providing a calm atmosphere and suitable condition for research, interview and drafting.

At the end, I hope that all those honorable martyrs whose names are remembered in this book, accept my humble effort and testify for me in front of God.

Fatemeh Doustkami

Autumn 2018