We are proud to be hosting an exhibit of photographs highlighting the beauty of Armenia during this 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. it is estimated that some 1.5 million Armenians were killed between 1915 and 1917. If you are interested in finding out more about this horrific event, we have some wonderful books dealing with this genocide.
This terrible time in history is something I am ashamed to admit that I knew nothing about until, of all things, hearing about it through the Kardashians. It is a sorry state of affairs when an event that involved the death of so many gets lost in the overwhelming number of other stories of genocides, stretching back into the earliest history of civilization, all the way up through the WWII, to Rawanda, to today. It seems that the numbers are just so high, and the reality just so unimaginable, that we just can't think of it at all. I found a list here of the worst genocides of just the 20th century. Apparently in spite of knowing how awful something is, there seems no stopping it.
So it is important to remember, to think, to find a way to understand the unthinkable, and it is usually done through personalizing the event. We understand the Holocaust most because of our familiarity with the story of Anne Frank. We can feel the impact of the genocide in Rawanda because of it being personalized by the film Hotel Rwanda. We can wrap our heads around Pol Pot because of the film The Killing Fields.
So personalize the Armenian genocide, and stop by to see the exhibit sometime this month or next. It starts Monday, December 7th in the Beshara Room. And consider coming in January to the talk given by Tom Vartabedian, who is responsible for the exhibit.
