LOS ANGELES – USC Shoah Foundation has organized a Webinar-presentation with Elyse Semerdjian who will outline the earliest Armenian pilgrimages to the killing fields of Daier al-Zor in the Syrian Desert. It is there that Armenians interacted with the remains of Armenians murdered during the Armenian Genocide (1915-1918) in acts of remembrance. Semerdjian will discuss the origins of the now-destroyed Armenian Genocide Memorial in Daier al-Zor and the ritual and collection habits of pilgrims that enact what she calls bone memory. Using archival documents alongside recorded testimony of survivors preserved in the Shoah Foundation archives, she will present the genesis of these memory practices that largely halted during the Syrian War.
The event will start April 26, 2023 at 1.00PM Pacific time. Registration is required.