25 years ago North-Western Armenia was hit by an unprecedented earthquake. In Leninakan, Armenia’s second largest city and today’s Gyumri, it a.o. demolished the Pediatric Hospital. Austria rebuilt the hospital, it went operational in 1992, when Armenia was a new Republic after the breakup of the Soviet Union. But for several years the hospital’s existence was threatened by enormous supply and maintenance problems, particularly in winter times. To the extent possible Austria provided support in its fight for survival. Only at the beginning of the last decade the situation began to ease, so focus could be laid on issues of further strategic development of the Pediatric Hospital. Five years ago we organized an awareness campaign for the “Austrian Mother-Child-Centre” as part of the “Days for Armenia”. By that time, the Centre was a dream of the future. Now it exists.
We (this is the Karen Asatrian Band and Armenian Spirit) dedicate this concert on 26 December to Hans Döller, who (in cooperation with the Board of the Support Association) ruled the roost for this fortunate development. His individual commitment throughout times was never futile. For more than 20 years he was in charge (as the unpaid manager of the Support Association) of implementing all the projects. Altogether 11,5 million € were invested into the Austrian Pediatric Hospital in Armenia, which came from Austrian donations and subsidies. He showed an imperturbable perseverance, and now he has achieved the goal he has been striving for. Children in Armenia now enjoy medical supervision from birth to their juvenile days. The new “Austrian Mother-Child Centre” is now self-supporting, which allows to disband the Support Association bona fide.
But some things will remain, such as friendships built through working together – and also Armenian music: Hans Döller began to take stock in it. We are glad that he even enjoys less than conventional interpretations of this music as well as commingling it with other styles.