FEATURED SPEAKERS:

Dr. Khatchig Mouradian, Lecturer at Columbia University and Armenian and Georgian Area Specialist at the Library of Congress

Introduction by Dr. Antranik Dakessian, Associate Professor at Haigazian University and Editor-In-Chief at the Haigazian Armenological Review

This talk explores the role of Reverend Hovhannes Eskijian and his associates in the underground network of humanitarians, missionaries, and diplomats who resisted the destruction of the Armenian people during World War I. Piecing together hundreds of accounts, official documents, and missionary records including Eskijian's and his associates' family archives - Mouradian presents a social history of genocide and resistance in Ottoman Syria. He argues that despite the violent and systematic mechanisms of control and destruction in the cities, concentration camps, and massacre sites in this region, the genocide of the Armenians did not progress unhindered - unarmed resistance proved an important factor in saving lives and laying the groundwork for postwar rebuilding. 

The endowed lectureship is named in honor of the Kerr family, whose progenitors include Professor Stanley and Elsa Reckman Kerr, who helped to rescue and provide exemplary humanitarian care for survivors of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23. The annual Kerr Family Lectureship is designed to amplify the stories of heroes and heroines who dedicated themselves to saving and supporting victims and survivors of violence and mass atrocities in times of crisis. 

CO-SPONSORS:

Ararat-Eskijian Museum

UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies

Haigazian University

NAASR

UCLA Promise Armenian Institute