PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: hq@naasr.org

PANEL DISCUSSION AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY ON “ARMENIA 1915-AUSCHWITZ 1945”

A special program commemorating the centennial of the
Armenian Genocide and the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of
Auschwitz, entitled “Armenia 1915-Auschwitz 1945: Small Nations and
Great Powers,” will take place on Wednesday, March 25, at 7:00 p.m.,
at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Starr Auditorium
(Belfer B-200), 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, MA. This event
is co-sponsored by the Harvard Kennedy School European Club, the
Harvard College Armenian Students Association, the Mashtots Chair in
Armenian Studies at Harvard, and the National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR). The event is free and open to the
public.

Participating in the program will be Dr. Simon Payaslian,
Charles K. and Elisabeth M. Kenosian Professor of Modern Armenian
History and Literature, Department of History, Boston University; Marc
A. Mamigonian, Director of Academic Affairs, National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR); and Dr. James R. Russell,
Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Department of Near Eastern
Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University. Hovhannes Ghazaryan,
a graduate student in the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration
at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, will serve as the
moderator. Fr. Arsen Barsamian of St. James Armenian Church in
Watertown, MA, will offer an opening prayer in Armenian and
Dr. Russell will give a concluding prayer in Hebrew.

The panelists will explore interrelationships between the
Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, with particular attention paid to
the direct ties between the two genocides, some of the similarities
and differences in the genocidal processes as well as the denial of
both genocides, the role of self-defense on the part of Armenians and
Jews against the Ottomans and Nazis, respectively, and the role of the
Great Powers in the genocides and their aftermath. Following the
panelists’ presentations there will be a discussion period followed by
a reception.

For more information about this event please contact NAASR
at 617-489-1610 or hq@naasr.org.