Oral history interview with Lilia Boteva-Ayzoukian, 2019 December 22

This oral history interview with Lilia Boteva-Ayzoukian was conducted by Sankar Raman, Nancy E. Dollahite, and Lindsey Keefer on December 22, 2019. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States.

In this interview, Boteva-Ayzoukian discusses her family background and early life in Pleven and Sofia, Bulgaria, including her memories of the end of World War II and life in a Communist country. She talks about becoming involved in theater at age three, about studying violin as a child, and about winning a storytelling contest as a teenager. She speaks about studying at the National Theater in Sofia, and about her acting career. She describes how she met Barkev Ayzoukian, talks about their courtship, and shares her reasons for moving to his home in Beirut, Lebanon, after they married. She discusses learning to speak Armenian. She talks about raising a family in Beirut during Lebanon's civil war, and shares the reasons why she and her family immigrated to the United States in 1984. She closes the interview by speaking about her career as a violinist in Los Angeles, California, and about the lives, careers, and families of her children.