NEWS FROM CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY
One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866
Tel: 714-628-7271
Email: platt@chapman.edu
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Mary Platt
9/12/2007
Armenian Genocide to be Examined
at Chapman University on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m.
Professor Richard G. Hovannisian of UCLA, Recognized as One of the
World’s Preeminent Scholars of Armenian History, Speaks at Chapman as
part of the Holocaust Lecture Series
ORANGE, Calif. – A UCLA professor who is recognized as one of the
world’s preeminent expert on Armenian history will give a lecture, "Must
We Still Remember? The Armenian Genocide as Prototype," on Tuesday,
Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Bush Conference Center, 404 Beckman Hall on
the Chapman University campus in Orange. Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian,
professor of Armenian and Near Eastern history and holder of the
Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at
UCLA, will speak as part of Chapman’s Schwartz Holocaust Lecture Series.
The event is free of charge and open to the public. Call (714) 628-7377
or go to for more information.
Chapman University is located at One University Drive, Orange,
California 92866.
The Armenian Genocide – also known as the Armenian Massacre – is widely
acknowledged by Western scholars to be the first systematic genocide of
the modern age. As soldiers faced each other on the battlefields of
World War I, hundreds of thousands of Armenian civilians – men, women
and children; perhaps as many as 1.5 million – were singled out and
murdered throughout the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1918. Under
cover of war, the Armenian population was subjected to deportation, mass
execution and brutal death marches. A fortunate few escaped and were
hidden by their Turkish or Kurdish neighbors and friends. Today, 21
countries officially recognize these events as genocide; the government
of the Republic of Turkey, however, rejects the characterization of the
events as genocide. The United States does not officially use the word
"genocide" to characterize the events, but 40 of the 50 states have
adopted resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide as a historical
event. The controversy over nomenclature continues, and will be
addressed by Dr. Hovannisian in his talk.
Dr. Hovannisian is the author or editor of many books, including Armenia
on the Road to Independence (1967); The Republic of Armenia, 4 volumes
(1971-1996); The Armenian Holocaust (1980), and most recently Looking
Backward, Moving Forward: Confronting the Armenian Genocide (2003) and
The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies (2007). He is
currently editing and contributing to a series of volumes on historic
Armenian cities and provinces. He is the first social scientist living
abroad to be elected to the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, and
in 2007 was the first recipient of the "I Witness Award" of the Jewish
World Watch.
The Schwartz Holocaust Lecture Series at Chapman University is presented
by Chapman’s Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education and is funded by the
Jerry and Sally Schwartz Holocaust Education Fund, managed by the
Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Orange County, in
cooperation with the Jewish Community Center of Orange County.
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