See “Battle Over History” the CBS 60 Minutes Armenian Genocide segment, which aired on Feb 28, 2010

Thank you to CBS and 60 Minutes for airing, Battle Over History, which puts a much-needed spotlight on the Armenian Genocide:

Watch Segment

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Armenian Genocide “Battle Over History” story to air on CBS 60 Minutes Sunday February 28th

[Ed Note (February 28, 2010):  See the program that aired on CBS 60 Minutes here]

The Diocese of the Armenian Church wishes to alert the public that the long-running CBS news program 60 Minutes will air a segment on the Armenian Genocide during its broadcast of Sunday, February 28, at 7 p.m. (EST). (The scheduling information comes via the official website of CBS News, www.cbsnews.com; please consult your local listings for broadcast times.)

The segment will feature an interview with Professor Peter Balakian, author of Black Dog of Fate and The Burning Tigris, and co-translator/editor of Armenian Golgotha. Reporting the story is senior correspondent Bob Simon, whose recent 60 Minutes work includes a segment on the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

A description of the Armenian Genocide segment, posted on the CBS News website, reads:

“The Armenians call it their holocaust – the 1915 forced deportation and massacre of more than a million Armenians by the Turks. But the Turks and our own government have refused to call it genocide.”

See the preview

Learn how Vartoosh and Arshile Gorky escaped the Armenian Genocide

Arshile Gorky and his mother, Lady Shushanik (from ArmenianHighland.com)

Arshile Gorky's, The Artist and his Mother (from armenianstudies.csufresno.edu)

Arshile Gorky’s given name was Vosdanik Adoian. He and his family were originally from Van, in historic Armenia. They fled their beloved homeland during the Armenian Genocide, living briefly in Yerevan (where Gorky’s mother tragically died from starvation in his arms).

During one of my research visits to Ellis Island, historian Barry Moreno recommended that I read, The Many Worlds of Arshile Gorky,  a biography written by the world-renowned artist’s nephew, Karlen Mooradian. The book is in the Ellis Island Bob Hope Memorial Library collection. It  includes an interview with Vartoosh Adoian Mooradian, Gorky’s sister and the author’s mother, as well as interviews with several of Gorky’s contemporaries.

The book describes historic Van, which influenced and inspired Gorky’s work, and it depicts the Yerevan of nearly a century ago. In The Many Worlds of Arshile Gorky, Vartoosh details the family’s odyssey from the shores of Lake Van (including their deportation march) to the shores beyond Ellis Island (living in New England and Manhattan). Vartoosh’s interview provides insights into Armenian immigrant life and struggles during, and beyond, the Great Depression.

Did you know Gorky was fired from Hood Rubber Company in Watertown, Massachusetts, for drawing on the frames that held sneaker tops? The Hood Rubber Company employed many Armenian immigrants who fled Turkey and came to America.

SPECIAL NOTE:

I came across an article in the Armenian Reporter online, mentioning an upcoming Armenian Genocide Commemoration Essay Contest. For more information, follow this link to the article:

http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2010-02-05-armenian-genocide-commemoration-essay-contest-

Upcoming Armenian Genocide Remembrance Exhibition in Rhode Island—April 2010

Event

The Armenian Genocide—95 Years Later, In Remembrance

• Curated by Gallery Z director Bérge Ara Zobian, in collaboration with The Urban Arts and Culture Program of the University of Rhode Island
• The exhibit will be on display from April 1st through April 30th
• At the University of Rhode Island Feinstein Providence Campus Gallery

Click the link (below) to read the article from Asbarez.com:

Genocide Exhibition in Rhode Island Gains Strong Momentum
Asbarez.com | February 19, 2010

I have a dream too, a letter from an 83-year old American Armenian born of Armenian Genocide survivors

I have a dream too, by Kacheg Topalian

Armenian Reporter | February 17, 2010

Society for Armenian Studies Issues Statement on ‘Historical Sub-Commission’

Read about the Society for Armenian Studies’ statement about the Armenia-Turkey Protocols and the concept of a ‘historical sub-commission’:

Armenian Weekly | February 17, 2010

Preserve your family’s Armenian Genocide histories and records

Today I met with a woman who is the daughter of an Armenian Genocide survivor. I asked her if she wanted to share her mother’s story in a book I’m writing. She looked down and told me that every time she begins to read the letters her mother wrote about being marched (to the desert to die) she would cry. I don’t blame this wonderful lady for not wanting to live through this painful time in her mother’s history. But, I hope that she and all of us will remember to leave clear instructions for making sure these personal testimonies are preserved after we are gone.

If you (or anyone you know) possesses such letters, documents, pictures or any other information related to a relative who was a victim of the Armenian Genocide, please make time to identify what you have and make arrangements for these possessions to be entrusted to a library, museum, archive or church that can properly ensure these historical records will be recorded and kept safe.

Destruction and loss of family as a legacy of the Armenian Genocide

Reading Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide (the book by Donald E. Miller and Lorna Touryan Miller) this morning, I reflected on the heart-wrenching realities of families torn apart throughout Turkey. In many cases, survivors did not know what happened to members of their family. Their minds haunted by the memories of separation from a parent or child or sibling, they carried hope in their hearts. Both of my maternal grandparents families share this legacy of loss.

My maternal great grandmother’s family (Mesrobian) were marched to the desert (Der Zor). Her son, my grandfather Karnig, knew of only one relative from her family who survived. While every Armenian survivor’s thoughts would most understandably be with immediate family, first and foremost, I now wonder about surviving members of our extended families. My grandfather mentioned we had family that settled in Beirut and Boston. Who are they? Where are they now?

In my travels on Google today, I came across these sites:

Genforum.genealogy.com

(If you know better sites for Armenian Genealogy, please comment on this blog post or email me at ArmenianGenocide@ymail.com)

Amerianfamily.com

(I don’t know these families, but liked their site’s homepage—it may give you ideas for creating your own family site, too.)

Armenianeyes.com

(A nice blog.)

Armenian Genocide discussed in international legal context

Lawyers from England, Ireland, Turkey and US Tackle Armenian Genocide within the Framework of International Law:

Armenian Genocide discussed in international legal context: Experts from Ireland, Turkey, UK and US confer in Minnesota
Armenian Reporter | February 10, 2010

Times Square Armenian Genocide Commemoration—April 25, 2010

Event:

Armenian Genocide Commemoration in Times Square

• Rally
• Sunday, April 25 at 2:00pm
• New York  (Broadway between 43rd and 44th streets)

For more information about 95th Anniversary commemorations in Times Square, New York, and other cities please click here

I regret admitting that last year was the first year I attended this rally. For years, my Aunt Seda (Zarian) asked me to join her for this important event. As best as I can recall, years ago, the Armenians would walk from St. Vartan’s Cathedral to the UN Headquarters in New York City. When I was younger, my aunt talked about this past history as if it were relevant to our lives today. It is, but my thinking was so misguided when I was younger. It isn’t that I didn’t care—in my heart I wanted for Armenians and Turks to get along. Dr. Zaven Daderian, my senior year Sunday School teacher at the Armenian Church of the Holy Martyrs (in Bayside, NY), also taught me a great deal about our Armenian history. It was Dr. Daderian who explained that Turkey’s government actively denies the Armenian Genocide today. I wish for this policy to change because there are many good Turkish people, including the Turkish family who saved my grandfather and great grandfather in Marash, in 1920.