PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Phone: 617-489-1610
Fax: 617-484-1759

LECTURE ON POST-GENOCIDE RESCUE OF ARMENIAN
WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT ARARAT-ESKIJIAN MUSEUM

Prof. Vahram Shemmassian, Assistant Professor of Armenian and Director
of the Armenian Studies Program at California State University,
Northridge, will speak at the Ararat-Eskijian Museum, 15105 Mission
Hills Road, Mission Hills, CA, on Sunday, May 4, at 4:00 p.m. The
lecture, entitled "The Rescue of Enslaved Armenian Women and Children in
Syria at the End of the World War I Genocide," will be co-sponsored by
the Museum and the National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research (NAASR).

Women and children constituted a special category of victims during the
Armenian Genocide. Those who did not succumb to outright massacre,
drowning, diseases, starvation, and exposure, became objects of rape,
abduction, enslavement, forced religious conversion, involuntary
marriages, economic manipulation, and other abuses.

Prof. Shemmassian’s lecture will deal with efforts to rescue such
victims in Syria in the immediate aftermath of World War I. More
specifically, it will highlight the governments, agencies, and
individuals involved in the recovery campaign; venues of and obstacles
to liberation; and shelter and disposal.

Shemmassian received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los
Angeles, in 1996 with a dissertation entitled "The Armenian Villagers of
Musa Dagh: A Historical-Ethnographic Study, 1840-1915."

More information on Prof. Shemmassian’s talk may be had by
calling 617-489-1610, by fax at 617-484-1759, by e-mail at hq@naasr.org,
or by writing to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478; or by
contacting the Ararat-Eskijian Museum at 818-838-4862 or by e-mail at
aem@ararat-eskijian-museum.com.