Monday, April 19, 2021 - Evening Program
Surviving the Forgotten Genocide: An Armenian Memoir by John Minassian
Roderic Camp, Wendy Lower, Jeremy Anderson ‘19, Anoush Baghdassarian '17, Larissa Peltola '18, Rebecca Shane '19 & Kirsti Zitar '97
Starting in 1895 with the Turkish destruction of more than one million Armenian men, women, and children, the twentieth century has been named the century of genocide. The Armenian memoirist, John Minassian (1895-1991), lived through this tragedy as a teenager, witnessing the murder of his own kin, concealing his identity as an orphan and laborer in Syria, and eventually immigrating to the United States. Encouraged by his family and Armenian community to share and preserve his story, Minassian, who is also the grandfather of CMC Professor Rod Camp, first recorded and published his memoir in 1986. A panel of CMC alumni, students, and faculty who researched and annotated this memoir for its 2nd edition publication in 2020, will share selected passages from the book and relate them to their lives today.
