This article examines the intersection between history and biography in an intergenerational context. It is based on ethnographic research among immigrant Syriac Christians in Vienna who originate from Turkey. Two historical experiences of crisis and rupture have been particularly relevant for identity construction: first the Christian massacres in eastern Anatolia in 1915‑16 that depleted and traumatised the community; and second the massive processes of dispersal that set in with the migrations to Western Europe in the post‑1960 period. In taking a narrative approach the paper looks at biographies as negotiations of history and belonging. It argues that the impact of history on personal lives is socially mediated and that a biographical perspective needs to take this into account, both methodologically and analytically. The ethnography draws on the family as a key context for such “linked biographies”.