Close-up Views of an Original “Ravished Armenia”
Single Sheet Movie Poster:
Finding an appropriate place for it on the spectrum of
Armenian Genocide Imagery
Armenian News Network / Groong
January 12, 2023
by Abraham D. Krikorian and Eugene L. Taylor
Probing the
Photographic Record
LONG ISLAND, NY
Photographs
and images of all sorts have always been part of the armamentarium of those
wishing to make a special point or advocate a cause. It has even been stated
that a critically selected picture can dominate an otherwise very well-crafted
message. This is certainly true of communicating barbarity at its worst in
various situations such as genocide.
As
researchers who have long been interested in assembling, communicating, and
effectively teaching as wide a range of people as possible about the Armenian
Genocide, we have always been on the lookout for items or approaches that will
maximize impact or help develop fresh visual approaches that improve the
meeting of ‘teacher’ or ‘student’ needs. Recognizing that we would have to face
the reality that actual film footage from that earliest period is an
exceedingly rare commodity, we thought that any footage that might symbolize
realistically what happened even if it did not capture the actual specific
event as it was really happening could be very useful. In other words, the
suffering of the Armenians and other Ottoman Christian subjects would still be
honestly depicted and the nature of the crime of genocide exposed, and from
this it hopefully would follow to never allow such to happen again.
It had a major
impact on honing our thinking when various successful high school teacher
friends told us half in jest but still in all seriousness that in order to
really get a young person’s attention one first had to show some bare flesh.
Preferably, the more the better. Things are certainly much more open than when
we were in high school!
Lacking the
availability of what might be crudely called ‘period skin flicks,’ the other
approach is, we are told by ‘expert sociologists and psychologists’ that we, as
advocates of imagery, should consider succumbing and catering to the extant
widespread morbid fascination. We should even capitalize on inevitable
preoccupation with lots of graphic violence and piles of dead bodies. None of
this was easy for us to come to grips with because we had long felt that
delving into the ‘how’ and ‘when’ and ‘where’ of specific imagery constituted
one thing, indeed a necessary and worthy thing. On the other hand, if we
exposed them widely in full view, we would be committing a serious profanation.
That judgement we suppose is why many atrocity and genocide museums do not
allow photography by visitors.
Anyone who
has viewed any of the many horrifying films that show real film footage of the
victims of Naziism cannot help but have burned into their minds the scope of
violence and organized barbarity associated with mechanized industrial scale
mass murder. The actual historic footage makes it come alive brutally. No
doubt, quite a few (probably a half) were directly murdered. Others were murdered
on a more technically manipulated and enhanced scale. But, so engrained has it
become that although there were more than a few extermination camps located all
over the Nazi empire, the name Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland is a place name
which has become a synonym of the Holocaust.[1]
The reality remains that no remotely equivalent movie film
footage exists of what the Armenians and other Christian minorities like the
Assyrians and Greeks of the Ottoman Empire were exposed to before, during and
after the late Ottoman Genocides of the World War I period. We feel certain
that availability of movies would help better frame the genocides and help
viewers understand what their Armenian ancestors endured.[2]
Before going into some detail on ‘our’ recently found
“Ravished Armenia” film promotional poster, we will try to discuss some
genocide-related imagery at large and why we believe that images can and should
play a major role in enhancing any presentation even though a particular
selection of any imagery may have some shortcomings. We shall also see that the
old proverb “necessity is the mother of invention” can come into play and be
drawn upon by any imaginative mind to fill a need as well as “plug any hole or
shortcoming.” If we consider a presentation involving use of imagery as a
centerpiece or art form, and we believe that it indeed is an art form, we must believe that a broad net can be cast anew,
but that old, traditional, time-tested techniques can still be drawn upon and
placed in a sort of “mix,” and end up with an amalgam that can allow one to
come up with something novel yet effective and honest, but first and foremost
one that can still be very respectful of the victims by describing as exactly as
possible what is being shown. Since exceptional imagery for the Armenian case
is in relatively short supply, we have routinely kept an eye out for unexpected
availability or surfacing on the ephemera market of still better materials.
Acquisition or collecting of relevant materials turns out to be a progressive
and never-ending objective or activity. Periodically checking eBay has been
helpful in this task.
As implied above, an item which we have long been keeping an
eye out for, has only recently surfaced and we believe that it goes far towards
meeting our long-expressed ‘wished for’ requirements. We will show a bit later
in this presentation the detailed, almost larger than life size, art work of a 1919 spectacular “Ravished Armenia” film
poster. The close-ups to be shown, faithful as to original colors and even
lithographic texture, deserve broad coverage and this is why we decided to
share this information with the readers of Groong. Although this poster has
already been the object of a fair amount of discussion and study, it should
also be emphasized that availability of the poster on the market has proven
until now to be virtually non-existent, and even the paper print issue of The Saturday Evening Post is nigh
impossible to locate. It is lamentable that what we assert in no uncertain
terms is exceptional artwork, but equally true, it has been in very short
supply for years. The movie magazines of the period when the film “Ravished
Armenia” was screened early on, or even considerably later, do not show the
poster in any of their notices and advertisements. We have spent more than a
little time checking this assertion out.
One immediately asks, “Does it not seem curious that a
poster which we feel is particularly important for delivering the message of
the Armenian genocide and the anguish associated with it, seems to have been an
uncommon item all along its murky ‘career.’” Surely it is not because our personal
‘taste’ is so much more different from the more usual taste. No, we have been
told by dealer after dealer that availability of paper ephemera is inevitably
very much limited by the fact that it was not intended to be a “collectible art
form.” Things like posters and lobby cards intended for use outside and inside
movie theaters, or as fundraising posters etc., were indeed widely used, but
more often than not, after use they were relegated to the dust bin or trash.
another possibility or factor might be that the availability of the colored
poster did not fully synchronize with the availability or release of the movie.
We do not know the exact date of the release of ‘our’ colored lithographic
poster or copyright issues. January 19,
1919 was the date of first screenings nationwide.
To make matters more obscure and difficult to untangle, the
silent film which the poster is not only associated with but actually coupled
to, is today largely lost. Like so many nitrate-based films it has
disintegrated. We had a personal experience on this front some time back
wherein a few frames from the film thought to be “Ravished Armenia” was located
for us with the help of the Library of Congress at a storage facility outside
Washington, D.C. The fellow in charge (who was soon to retire but was very
gracious and went out of his way to help us) tried to use all his talents and
experience, but the film literally fell apart before his eyes upon exposure to
air. We show two poor quality, yellowed images in our files obtained from that
experience.
Figs. 1a and 1b are scans from very short fragments we got
in the course of our search in the USA for film footage of “Ravished Armenia.”
Fig. 1a
Fig. 1b
We won’t speculate whether an intact full film of “Ravished
Armenia” might one day by miracle surface, but merely hasten to say that there
are examples of other vintage period films that were not known to exist but
only recently came to light through an unexpected and totally circuitous route.
Some silent film footage of the supposedly unsinkable ocean liner RMS Titanic
complete with descriptive captions was found in a garden shed of the widow of a
movie theater projectionist (see https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7w6jse).
The silent film “Ravished Armenia” has justifiably been
described as the first full length movie dealing with the Armenian Genocide, an
“Armenian Genocide Film” as it were.
Availability of twenty-four minutes of film is certainly nothing to
boast about but that doesn’t change that assessment.
Figs. 2a, 2b and 2c below give descriptions of that film as
presented in two different film catalogues. Note that it is called “Auction of
Souls” rather than “Ravished Armenia.”
We believe that “Ravished Armenia” is more telling for the average
individual or reader nowadays rather than the obtuse and somewhat vague
designation “Auction of Souls.” As an
aside, when we were growing up, the verb to
ravish meant to violently seize and rape a woman.[3] We will
not take issue here with any points made in either of these ‘encyclopedic’ film
catalogue entries but it might be noted that the Mardiganian
family came from the medium size village of Çemisgadzek in Dersim subprovince,
not the considerably larger but still small city “Harpout”
in Mamuret ulAziz Province
or Vilayet.
Fig. 2a
An entry on the film “Auction of
Souls/Ravished Armenia.”
Fig. 2b
First page of a later entry on the
film.
Fig. 2c
Last page of the later entry on the
film.
Fig. 3 below shows a copy of the poster published full page
in The Saturday Evening Post, January
18, 1919. It shows all details and nuances clearly in shaded black and white.
Fig. 3
We have never minimized the fact that it was this line
drawing of the “Ravished Armenia” film poster which clinched our understanding
of the image and all the text associated with it. Many of the sources where the
poster was reproduced up to that point were mainly in color and were not the
best quality, since they were probably copies of copies; therefore, an accurate
reading was inevitably difficult.
Everything that we ourselves think we have uncovered and
already reported about “Ravished Armenia” has inevitably raised more questions
than it has answered. Perhaps the most important question is whether the
existing movie remnant or the intact poster matches what we might call the theoretical considerations with the empirical verifiable evidence. Our short
answer is: - We believe that the match so far as we have seen is very faithful.
In fact when we viewed a ‘semi-restored’ 24 minute
version of the film we noted how faithfully our own considerable understanding
of the Armenian genocide directly from survivors was covered, and in
considerable depth at that.
We Repeat that The Gripping Imagery
of the Sophisticated Color Film Poster
Used to Advertise the Silent Movie
“Ravished Armenia” is the highlight of this posting
Even
so, we try to weave that remarkable image into a broader whole.
There is a
general feeling that the younger generation of Diaspora Armenians and their
children seem not want to draw their group identity solely from the Genocide in
which many if not most of their elder ancestors perished in the ‘Old Country’,
or the experiences of those immediate, usually much younger, ancestors who
endured as part of a pitiful remnant of survivors during the years of World War
I and immediately thereafter. These younger diasporan Armenians clearly have
spent time developing other ways of dealing with their knowledge of the past
persecutions of relatives and family friends and ultimately the mass murder of
the Armenian Nation in its historic homeland in the confines of Ottoman Turkey
by concentrating on the more important pressing requirements of the present.
Many younger
people are, indeed, moving away from long established forms of what some
sociologists have called ‘victim nationalism’, and are now embedding any memory
of the genocide in a more comprehensive global political landscape of
commemoration.
We ourselves
have dedicated considerable time to the task of preserving as much detail as
possible on all kinds of imagery both closely and broadly related to the
genocide, and preserving the memory of what was lost, and trying to fathom the
sheer magnitude of the horror and evil behind it. In the very least, we hope
that we have done more than a bit towards properly recording facts as we have
researched them for the sake of history.
This is how we want the Armenian Genocide to be remembered and
taught. For us, it is no longer possible
that the Armenian Genocide be disputed.
The Turks feared they had a precarious hold on power and since then have
had difficulties with the truth. By contrast,
most Americans for instance, once they hear the truth, inevitably turn their
backs on attempts to deny truth once it is aired. (Even so, ‘most Turks’ cannot handle it.[4]
We have
learned that globally speaking, even those individuals who are determined to
tell the story of their ancestors and ancestor-survivors and the story of
Armenian nationhood are very often not too concerned with or committed to
details. That is a pity because the number of tools available to those who wish
to study details today are more numerous than ever, and researchers often have
access to an unequalled array of pertinent materials. For us, lack of concern
for details amounts to being willing to ‘negotiate’ their identity as
descendants of victims and even ‘negotiate’ the steadfastness of their
commitment. For us, this has played a role in why the too-long hidden history
has stayed too long hidden.
Nevertheless,
it is always satisfying that individuals like noted historian Arnold Toynbee
(1889-1975), the much-respected Englishman who had put together the reports,
and did much of the groundwork writing about the treatment of the Armenians in
World War I. He put it simply and clearly and wrote a chapter in 1916 bearing
the unambiguous title “Extermination of the Armenians.” [5]
What Arnold
Toynbee wrote from the very beginning of his career as a so-called junior but
key collaborator of Lord James Bryce (Viscount Bryce since 1914) working on the
Blue Book was clearly at odds with the distorted and manufactured rendering of
what came to be called the Armenian genocide. The leaders of the Young Turk
government tried to spin and shape the narrative into their contrived context.
As a consequence, much effort was and continues to be exerted on the denial of
the facts documented in the Blue Book. From the very beginning, the Ottoman
government all the way to the Republic of Turkey and successive governments it
has all been denied. The propagandistic nature of the work has been a key
component of their denial plan for quite a few years. What the 684-page volume
of the Blue Book contained and strove to communicate was of course fastidiously
constructed. Those who have been always concerned with the truth know that the
Turkish point of view has been long exposed as having frequently been doctored
and dishonest. The Turkish lies
associated with it are still unashamedly continued to the present as truth.
What is particularly interesting to us is that there seems to be resolute
attachment to discrediting the Blue Book from its first appearance in late
1916. Periodically it is pulled from
‘back-burner storage’ by those espousing the “Turkish Point of View” and waved
around so to speak hoping they will keep their point of view in the picture
despite it being totally and repeatedly discredited.[6]
It continues
to amaze us that the late Dean of Armenian genocide scholars and pioneer of
comparative genocide studies, Vahakn Dadrian (1926-2019) provided in print what amounts to an
elaborately detailed framework, a ‘roadmap’ if you will, for carrying out
Armenian genocide studies that do not utilize Armenian sources. Statements made
by combatants and victims should, on this view, be ignored on the basis that
they emanate from the enemies of the Ottoman Empire and are therefore highly
biased.
Professor Dadrian enumerated in 2001 what we ourselves rudely call an
“idiot’s guide to effective denial strategies for the Armenian Genocide”, there
is little to justify and validate those guidelines nowadays, if there was
indeed ever any justification.[7] Genocide victim literature is very rich in
detail and can be used responsibly.
Most people
nowadays tuned into many of the realities of a degrading world, freely admit
that there is a degradation of truth,
and a crisis of honesty and conscience facing us all.
One can
therefore justifiably ask “Will there ever be a moment of reckoning and
justice?” Our response: “One can hope, for without hope there is no possibility
whatever.”
Towards the
end of his life as an author, and in a major multifaceted narrative work which
was completed in 1973 but posthumously published in 1976, Arnold Toynbee wrote
that “All wars are atrocities including [those now referred to as] Bismarkian short wars with limited objectives. The atrociousness of the two great
twentieth-century wars was aggravated by ‘genocide’ (i.e.
the wholesale extermination of civilian populations.) In the First World War I
the Turks committed genocide against the Armenians; in the Second World War the
Germans committed genocide against the Jews.” [8]
Arnold Toynbee knew of course that genocide, although not
yet identified by that word, had been routine policy on the part of victors
during and after wars throughout world history. But not since the early years
of 13th century Turco-Mongol leaders like Genghis Khan and his ilk,
had it occurred and been achieved on such a scale in the modern era as that of
the genocide against the Armenians.[9] Most
people would agree that such a clear statement made by Toynbee, a prolific and
widely read scholar and acclaimed historian in one of his final books,
constituted the “last word” so far as he was concerned. When confronted in
correspondence by Professor Dadrian with a direct
enquiry late in his life, Toynbee again acknowledged that genocide had indeed
been committed on the Armenians. [10] See
Fig. 4 below.
Fig. 4
Nowadays,
the Nazi Holocaust is well-recognized virtually everywhere and the word
“Holocaust” spelled with a capital “H” has securely found itself in
dictionaries and encyclopedias and all manner of Data Bases. For example, a
guide some 117 pages long published by the National Archives entitled The Holocaust, Israel, and the Jews: Motion
Pictures in the National Archives (1989) constitutes a filmography relating
to Jewish history in the 20th century. The listing consists of many
newsreels, footage filmed by U.S. Army units, the U.S. Counsel for Prosecution
of Axis Criminality, foreign sources (e.g., British. Polish, Russian, French)
as well as a wide range of Nazi propaganda material.
By way of
contrast and comparison, visual, that is to say specifically photographic documentation, much less
any movie film of the late Ottoman Genocides that took place from 1915 to 1923
broadly speaking, must be described as very poor at best. Adolf Hitler
encouraged photography at all levels and wanted his thousand-year Reich
documented fully through film for history’s sake. In Turkey small cameras were
not yet widely available, either among the military or among civilians. This
was certainly so in remote rural environments where much of the mass atrocity
was carried out nominally out of view. Moreover, photography was nominally
prohibited in all zones thought to be militarily sensitive [nonsense since the
real motive was only to avoid unwanted publicity] but this prohibition extended
to even those which were not. [11]
We ourselves
have tried to locate, study, and delve into many of these photographs
seriously, but must report here that they are disappointingly few in number,
and fewer still are those that meet the most rigid of standards of attestation
and attribution.
Visualizing
the late Ottoman genocides accurately, much less comprehensively is a real
challenge. [12]
What actually went on is inevitably vastly more pernicious and malicious and
gruesome than one might imagine, especially if viewers have already been
exposed to images that have been inevitably sanitized by deliberate selection
for use in generally very sanitized presentations. And, given the
hard-to-believe sophisticated capability that one has via today’s modern digital
photo editing programs like Photoshop and ACDSee,
researchers and potential image users are constantly challenged today to
critically analyze imagery very carefully. That is harder to do than one might
think. One might even ask whether there is any ‘real’ justification for
attempting to verify or confront the late Ottoman genocides with images? For
the most part, they necessarily fall far from presenting the true story and the
very stark reality of the truth.[13]
Those
individuals interested in Armenian genocide imagery and motion picture film
have only recently begun to organize and consolidate their different talents
vis à vis imagery of a wide range of kinds.[14]
Inevitably, and fortunately this portends very well for the future of organized
and rigorously interpreted imagery. The more people involved of course, the
greater the chance for real progress.
As a
starter, we have pointed out many times that the photographs of the Armenian
atrocities that are available do not show any of the specifics and murders taking
place. We have, however, been able to study photographs of those massacred
Armenians who had been fairly ‘freshly’ dispatched in remote eastern Turkey.
These photographic views may be categorized as photos which fall early on in
the spectrum of genocidal events that started as is widely known, with the
initial arrest of potential leaders of any resistance or, views associated with
actual deportation or forced displacement, all the way to the graphic horrors
and hardships typifying the falsely-claimed supposedly well-intentioned
activities on the part of the Turk government to ‘safeguard its minority
subjects in war zones by moving them out and relocating them.’ (See Fig.
1a). Perhaps use of the terms for
photographs as “bridging or straddling” events or stories is not perfect here
but photos showing murdered bodies almost from the beginning in the events do
challenge contrived contentions that the main intention of the government was
to relocate safely the Armenians. Are we
to believe that clear-cut large scale murders of Armenian civilians just
‘happened’ ‘to have happened’ and very soon after they were forcibly displaced
at that?
Although the
total number of critically identifiable genocide photos are relatively few,
there are nevertheless, some scattered collections of good imagery consisting
of photographs taken mostly by responsible foreign civil servants like Consuls
(including many Americans), missionaries and relief workers. These photographs
are of varying genocide-related subjects, but the coverage varies quite a lot
in quality. [15]
It will be
appreciated that those interested in Nazi Holocaust films are fortunate in a
distressing way to have an immense store of film materials to draw upon. [16]
However, for reasons already stated, the availability of films on the Armenians
or other Ottoman Christian genocide victims pales in comparison. But there is,
fair to say, an increasing body of more recent interpretative films on what
happened that have been produced. [17]
Early
relevant films that one might have thought would have been made available for
study and evaluation long ago but apparently have not been, are presented here
in our posting as an Endnote much as we have found them listed and published.
The list itself is unusual and very helpful in allowing the reader to know at
least a good measure of what was produced. [18]
Ravished
Armenia
We have had
a more than a passing interest for a long time in a promotional film poster
advertising a silent film entitled “Ravished Armenia” (also called “Auction of
Souls,” especially in Great Britain but also in the USA – more on that later).
The film is now largely lost, so we have had to adopt the mindset of trying to
understand better any imagery and background integral to it by whatever means
we could. Only about 24 minutes of the original 85 minute or so long film has
so far been found. Therefore, until more is found, one is forced to piece bits
and pieces using whatever resources one can. It takes quite an effort to get a proper
assessment of what the film is and what it is not. Reading a movie script has
its limitations. "Ravished Armenia" and the Story of Aurora
Mardiganian is the real-life tale of a lovely teenage
Armenian girl who was caught up in the 1915 Armenian genocide, deemed by many
to be the first genocide in modern history. [19]
Throughout
all of our investigations on images and photographs, we are constantly asking
ourselves whether an effective, yet authentic story might emerge from any
detailed knowledge or rational understanding.[20]
Some
readers will know that entire books have been written on a single photograph
during the period of the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust. The famous photograph of the young Jewish boy
in Poland with his hands held high in surrender to a threatening Nazi soldier
has been the subject of countless pages. We are not yet convinced that such can
be achieved with any ‘Armenian genocide’ photograph. [21]
Some Additional Background to the
Film “Ravished Armenia”
and Advertising It
Our friend
Pamela Apkarian-Russell, an antique dealer with broad
experience covering all kinds of antiques, artifacts
and ephemera, including things pertaining to Armenia and Armenians because of
her heritage, told us she had offered a substantial money award to any one of
her many contacts who found film footage, or any sort of important paper
ephemera connected with the film. In a business career spanning well-over half
a century nothing showed up.
It was of
great interest to us when we learned almost by accident while working at Hoover
Archives at Stanford University that there was a Ravished Armenia movie poster
in their collection (US 4187 Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University.)
We were told at Hoover that the majority of these poster items, which
incidentally are remarkably well inventoried and described, are not controlled
by copyright and formal permissions to publish images are not required. All
this incentive prompted us to begin a serious search for materials relating to
the poster in the broadest sense possible (see page 185 of Taylor and
Krikorian, 2010 at Endnote 13 in that reference.)
We published
a paper in 2020 that provided a detailed and firm footing as to what the
colored lithographed poster at Hoover represented. [22]
We got a definitive
break in our research efforts aimed at finding fresh print materials on
“Ravished Armenia” when we came across and were able to buy a fine copy of The Saturday Evening Post vol. 191,
January 18, 1919. On page 28 of that issue there is an excellent drawing of
“Ravished Armenia.” Aside from the fact that the full-page image in The Saturday Evening Post is not
colored, it was vastly more easy to examine than any
colored image that we had hitherto accessible to us.
The theme
and message of this large colored poster is, of course, very sad and
disheartening because it shows dramatically what has ‘happened’ has already
happened [23],
but it is also a poignant example of how art can be used to draw attention to a
crime and even provide educational publicity for it. The genocide, carried out beginning in 1915,
was indeed still occurring when the poster was released in 1919 to advertise
the soon-to-be acclaimed 8-reel film.
Several
years back as we travelled by automobile touring across the USA, we used the opportunity
to locate in America a bronze of Fremiet’s gorilla
statue upon whose theme, artist Dan Smith based a large part of his Ravished
Armenia poster. The bronze, faithful in all important respects with the French
ones, was skillfully positioned in the woods at the University of Illinois’s
property at Allerton Park.
Another
original Frémiet gorilla bronze outside France is to
be found in Melbourne Australia. Had we
known of its existence we could have seen that specimen as well given the fact
that we have been to Australia several times and have a very good friend in
Melbourne city.[24]
We’ll
attempt here to give a few examples of how the general theme of Emmanuel Frémiet’s gorilla and woman morphed into artwork intended
to vilify the Germans of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s army and military in general, and
from that, ultimately into the terrible Turk and unruly thug that ravished a
beautiful Armenian maiden who symbolized the Christian Armenian nation. See Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 below. We believe
they are self-explanatory.
Fig. 5
From The Passing Show (1915). On the
left we see the sculptors wielding their chisels to produce their graven image
and the plaque “God” “Made in Germany.”
Fig. 6
“Product of German Science” by French satirical artist Henri
Zislin (1875-1958).
In La Baїonnette
no. 25 Thursday, 2 March 1916.
Fig. 7
From The Colonial Press, Philadelphia, c. 1917. Kaiser Wilhelm II is portrayed by artist J.
Norman Lynd as a fierce gorilla wearing a pickelhaube spiked helmet reaching
across the ocean from Europe to the U.S to grab Liberty. He clutches another female figure in
terrified distress. Churches, abandoned military vehicles, and airplanes and
rubble abound on the European mainland.
From Library of Congress Prints & Photographs.
http://hdl.loc.pnp/cph.3c04337.
Fig. 8
From Cartoons magazine vol. 8 no. 2 August p. 192
(1915). Ding Darling was a widely
appreciated political cartoonist. The
pencil behind President Woodrow Wilson’s ear suggests that he was really better
known for talking and writing than doing. Despite many Armenians think he was a
good president, he was not. As we put
it, “He talked a much better game than he played.” His legacy in the form of the Infamous
“Espionage Act” that haunts us all still today is but one example of how he
could not tolerate honest speech, or contrary opinions.
Fig. 9
The small print in the upper left corner credits Frémiet for the theme.
Some advertisements of the “Ravished Armeniafilm
emphasize that Aurora Mardiganian had “authored” or
“written” her own story. (Fig. 10).
Fig. 10
Photo courtesy of Missak Kelechian.
The fact is
that Aurora (anglicized from the Armenian Christian name Arshalouys)
did act in the film playing herself, but since the film was silent it was
irrelevant that her English was nowhere good enough to allow her to dictate her
story to a stenographer. What she
related in Armenian was translated. We cannot confirm who did the translating
or how perfect it was. Nora Waln gave a very serious
account of her meeting Aurora. We
present as an Endnote Nora Waln’s entire Foreword
published originally at the beginning of the print volume. [25] It is also important for us to pay special
attention to the phrase “as interpreted by H.L. Gates.” That wording may
actually mean a host of things to different readers.
Fig. 11
below shows a rare presentation copy of a hard cover of Ravished
Armenia/Auction of Souls that is inscribed and autographed by H.L. Gates. It
makes the claim in clear handwriting that there are things written within that
book that won’t be believed by the reader for whom it is inscribed. One is left to wonder what may have been left
out of the volume that would totally shock any reader and convince them as to
its authenticity. In modern parlance what would it take to “blow their minds?” [26]
Fig. 11
There are very
few ads in the American press at large advertising the film involving use of an
image of the line drawing poster. Fig. 12 below shows one that is especially
clear and easy to interpret.
Fig. 12
Copied from the lower part of a page in the Brooklyn Eagle,
Tuesday, January 28, 1919 p. 11.
One might
have thought that the poster would be a welcome addition to or part of any
display but that turns out not to be the case. Why? We leave it to some
resourceful reader to hazard a guess.
Fig. 13
below shows a large display shown in Maryland (Baltimore city). A number of
posters can be identified but nothing on Ravished Armenia is discernible. It probably had something to do with film and
associated paraphernalia “rights.”
Fig. 13
From p. 9 of American Committee for Armenian and Syrian
Relief News Bulletin, vol. III, No. 21 February 1919.
Fig. 14
below shows that some theaters exhibited considerable imagination in
advertising the film. The live double
humped Bactrian camel (not a single-humped Dromedary species as asked about in
the caption below on the sidewalk outside the Liberty Theater) is certainly an
attraction outside this St. Paul, Minnesota movie house.
Fig. 14
One might
have thought encountering a poster like ‘our’ “Ravished Armenia” would have
been a very high possibility at a theater replete with huge lavish signs
advertising the film. Close examination of Fig. 15 below from Moving Picture
World (May 24, 1919, p. 57) shows how elaborate and eye-catching some movie
house visuals could be in theaters where the film was being shown. No poster
telling the story of Aurora Mardiganian being
ravished by the evil Turk is in evidence here.[27] The
writer Janet Priest carries on about “that sly, dishonest sign” which she
decidedly abhors, but she seems not to appreciate that the nearly full page
photo is far more likely to be looked at by a reader because of the “Auction of
Souls” ‘stuff’ taking up most of the page space rather than “The Fire Flingers”
sign on the left. On the upper left side of the page the authoress warns that
“The pictures are not always like the posters. The label says “Poison,” but the
bottle often contains lemon pop. These two pictures were taken by a
photographer in Chicago’s celebrated loop.” We wonder whether Janet Priest ever
saw the film “Auction of Souls.” Had she seen it, we believe that she would not
have foolishly written what she did or, probably she would have decided to
concentrate on “The Fire Flingers” film and better spend her efforts drawing
attention to “Auction” as the exception to her ‘fantasy rule.’ We guess if she
did that, her mainline ‘story’ would fall apart. Janet Priest was active in the
so-called “Better Films Movement” and seems to have had a number of causes that
ended essentially being ignored so far as we can tell. [28]
Fig. 15
Thrilling might also mean
“hair-raising,” gripping´etc.
Even so, we
still wonder why the film Ravished Armenia or Auction of Souls was singled out
for criticism by the Censors who did have power to stop it. Was it too blunt?
How much was too much?
Certainly the presence of a young Armenian
women crucified so dramatically went far to upset sensibilities of all viewers.
The double
page advert for the film shown in Fig. 16 below is certainly grim enough. The
hooded vulture with outstretched wings perched on an arm of the crucifix bodes
ominously on the left-hand page of the 2-page spread. Note incidentally that
the ad says 7 reel
where most adverts say 8 reel. Fortunately of course Aurora was not a victim of crucifixion,
but her experiences taken collectively account fully for her later extreme
shyness and abhorrence of masculine attention. Yet, she did eventually marry.
Fig. 16
From Moving Picture World vol. 40,
no. 9, May 31, 1919, pp. 1296 – 1297.
Fig. 17
From back dust jacket of Lindy Avakian (1965) The Cross and
the Crescent, Golden West Publishers, Fresno.
Also see “Crucifixion of a Race” in
The Poster vol. 13, no. 6, June 1, 1922, p.67.
Fig. 17
above seizes further on this theme of dramatic crucifixion of Christian girls
and women. The ever-present ardent desire not to miss out on any opportunity
real or imagined to denounce the Muslim Turks is taken advantage of and condemnation is shouted loudly and clearly wherever
and whenever it could be. The sad fact is that it was widely recognized that
the persecutions were not based on religion. They were politically motivated.
But many did see the opportunity to focus on the sexual wickedness which the
whole story of “ravishment” entailed.
Aurora pointed out and corrected for the record the portrayal of
crucifixion. Aurora emphasized it was not carried out quite the way it was
presented in the movie or imagery shown above. What is better and more
accurately described as impalement is
what happened. Impalement was
penetration of the human body with a sharp stake or large spike or the like,
and that was the technique used. The
most sickening part of it all was that impalement was usually through the
vaginal route. [29]
Those who
would censor the film and try to keep it from being seen, lost out when a
sensible and wise judge adjudicated that “Auction of Souls” was a highly
educational film (see Fig. 18).
Fig. 18
Mention has already been made that
use of stark and blunt imagery in connection with ‘educating’ the public as to
what the horrors in the film “Ravished Armenia” were ‘all about’ ended up being
shown in full but kids under 14 were not admitted whether accompanied by an
adult or not.[30]
We
personally think that Fig. 19 from Wid’s Daily (later
Film Daily) below is very restrained and ‘tame,’ even insipid, when
compared to ‘our’ newly located colored “Ravished Armenia” poster. The claim is
made in Wid’s
that the movie supposedly does not yet have a name yet
the date of this ad is 20 April, 1919. Someone please educate us as to why this
is so since it is clearly wrong. Perhaps we do not understand correctly what is
meant by “Title Announced Soon.” The colors don’t make this page any more distressing
or effective in our view. Aurora is shown cringing on the right
hand side of the picture. Superlatives dominate.
Fig. 19
Even the
brightly colored cover of a later reprint of an otherwise image-free text of
“Auction of Souls” utilizing sexual imagery comes out looking a bit subdued in
our view. See Fig. 20.[31]
Fig. 20
Certainly
Fig. 21 below showing the sheet music cover brandishing a stylish sexy songster
with pictures and music within and the statement on the upper right “Dedicated
to Aurora Mardiganian” does little in our minds to
elicit sympathy from a generally naïve viewer and potential donor of cash for
relief of needy survivors. Was the name Aurora Mardiganian
that well known in 1919?
Fig. 21
Similarly,
the heart wrenching cartoons messaging the predicament of a throng of young, wide-eyed and misty-eyed survivor victims drawn by talented
political cartoonists like Clare Briggs tug at the heart of the viewer. But
they are still far from the reality of delivering a message of their all too common enslavement, sexual molestation, and
harassment.[32]
Fig. 22 is but one example of many that tears asunder the heart of viewers.
Fig. 22
The cartoon
at Fig. 23 below draws attention to the fact that in some cases German clergy
often cast a blind eye and a deaf ear on the laments of Armenians as they were
being exterminated. Their government made it very clear that it did not wish to
meddle in the internal affairs of their Turkish ally. Endnote 31 provides a
number of citations to German Jewish sexologist Magnus Hirschberg, especially
dated 1929, at the end of that entry. The German says that silence on the part
of Clergy is the order of the day over the Armenian massacres.
Fig. 23
The high quality close-up images of sections of ‘our’ ‘newly
found’, ‘fresh’ copy of the “Ravished Armenia” film promotional Poster are
presented below as Figs. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.
Perhaps we would be taken to task if we described our
recently photographed poster as “pristine” – after all it was produced in 1919
– but it is actually as close to pristine as possible.[33]
Fig. 24
Fig. 25
Fig. 26
Fig. 27
Fig. 28
We learned
through our research starting years ago that Emmanuel Frémiet
(1824 – 1920) had been credited or (discredited?) for his ‘hand, albeit indirectly it must be admitted, in the
thematic framing of the “Ravished Armenia” poster. By the time his artistic status as a sculptor
in the French school had been fully realized, he was recognized as a superb
“animalier” (a specialist in the subject area of animals) and professor of
drawings of animal subjects at the Jardin des Plantes
in Paris. (Although it bears the name Jardin des Plantes, it was also home to the
zoo, a natural history museum as well as a major botanical garden. His own
feeling about the theme behind his animalier work seems to have been that he
wanted to draw attention to what he thought were the proverbial struggles
between man and animals throughout history. The progression of the expression
of this struggle ultimately left out the gorilla element that was so central to
his early gorilla plasters and gorilla bronzes.
It has
always been a bit of an enigma to us that supposed ferocity and frightful
wickedness of the gorilla ended up being used as the model. It is true that Frémiet
used the western lowland gorilla as his model.
We have been privileged to see the eastern upland gorilla in the wilds
of the Bwindi Forest Reserve in Uganda on the border with the Democratic
Republic of the Congo but the differences between the upland and lowland
gorilla are not significant for the average person.
Let it be
said that the present-day human’s view and opinion of
‘the gorilla’ as a wild beast of the jungle and a both ‘uncivilized’ and ‘uncivilizable’
animal is quite different from the view associated with it back in the days of Frémiet. Today, the gorilla has happily been absolved of
any innate murderous viciousness. As said, we have been fortunate enough to
witness mountain gorillas in the wild and have had first-hand opportunity to
observe them as peaceful vegetarians living in calm family groups, with
youngsters playing under the watchful eye of their mothers and huge silverback
male. See Taylor and Krikorian An hour
with Mountain Gorillas in the Impenetrable Forest, Uganda, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy4dZwKWlGI
People in our age group in America generally
first saw a gorilla, a male named Gargantua in a glassed-in air-conditioned
cage at the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus side show. The mature
male gorilla Gargantua was a personality in his own right. Later, they ‘fixed
him up’ with a female named “Toto.” Gargantua showed little interest in her.
They were in the same cage, but he could care less. They were kept in virtual
quarantine for fear that might catch colds from the viewing public.
Presumably the heading for the caption
accompanying our full-page Fig. 29 close-up of his face calling Gargantua a
murderer was contrived for its commercially driven dramatic effects, but it is
totally wrong. [34] Gargantua was often described as the largest
and fiercest, meanest gorilla ever brought to America. All a ploy.
Fig. 29
Fig. 30
The totally different image (Fig. 30) above
published in 1909 in a French popular magazine shows a much dramatized scenario
in which a fierce gorilla confronts a native man in loincloth wielding a knife
hoping to reclaim a young maiden from the clutches of the hairy beast. The
maiden presumably had been grabbed by the beast. The gorilla grabs the would-be
assailant’s arm and makes him drop his knife.
Getting back to our ‘new’ poster, we should
point out that the vast range of imagery that was used to inform the public at
large worldwide about the horrors of the Armenian genocide, at the same time
also played a major role in raising funds to support Genocide survivors.
The array of images and propagandistic works
constituted fine artwork, and were both imaginative
and very effective in stimulating support and raising cash, even as it ‘threw
stones’ as we are wont to put it, at the Turk genocide perpetrators. Slogans
like “Give til it hurts” rang true, and cynics often
teased aloud that the pain threshold in giving should not be low!’ Millions
were raised.
Figs. 31 and 32 give two examples of imagery
that we have selected because they are very good in our opinion at conveying a
message of the extant barbarism. Neither
image is well known today. Fig. 31 below shows Kaiser Wilhelm II, Turkish Head
of State Sultan Mehmed II, and Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef I. Their
bloody aprons tell it all. There are parts of humans hanging from the shop
rafters with the designation that they derive from “freshly killed” and prime
quality meat of soldiers from the so-called UHLANs. (We won’t go into detail
here on the Uhlans but suffice it to say that they were largely ceremonial
‘lancers’ in a war where sophisticated firearms were used.) On the lower right
of the image, on a platter we see the designation Saucisson of Landwert [the t is missing] meaning sausage made, again,
traditionally of pork and other meats but here, sarcastically human victims are
implied as well The French satirist Georges d’Ostroya
seems to have been popular and produced quite a lot of work, but it has been
next to impossible to dig up much on him.
Fig. 31
The biggest butchers of the
century. What to expect from Kultur
[culture].
Fig. 32
Far less interpretation is needed to understand what this
cartoon portrays. Jay Norwood Darling (1876-1962) was better known as Ding
Darling. Kaiser Wilhelm II sharpening his knife and Emperor Franz Josef I with
the meat cleaver at the butcher’s block are blood curdling. “Armenia” hangs
from hooks on the upper left, followed by a host of other atrocities and
persecutions.
Fig. 33
shows ‘our’ newly acquired poster after it was framed by our friend and
professional framer Dawn Saliba Velasquez of the East
Setauket Frame Shop in East Setauket here on Long Island. She has met our
framing needs for years and always shows impeccable taste.
We believe
this poster is outstanding because it encapsulates the Armenian genocide
concisely and also embodies everything that it would probably take many
additional works of art to fully convey. It represents brutality in the
extreme. It has been said that Aurora Mardiganian was
the biggest advocate and attractor of funds for support of Armenian refugees.
Her personal story captured political commentary even as it captured reality.
This poster merits pride of place in encapsulating the horrors. It portrayed the past as it really was. Alice
Walker wrote in 2010 that “Some crimes against humanity are so heinous that
nothing will ever rectify them. All we can do is to attempt to understand their
cause and do everything in our power to prevent them from happening, to anyone
ever again.” [35] We
feel certain that this poster will go far to keep the multi-layered grief of
“Ravished Armenia” alive.
Fig. 33
The size before framing is 27.3 X
40.9 inches.
[1]Endnotes
We have thought long
and hard on what would probably (inevitably?) turn out to be a re-opening of a
particularly sensitive period in the lives of all concerned - be it directly or
indirectly. The fact is that these issues of genocide are still in place and
being voiced, so the argument cannot be made so far as we are concerned that we
should be accused of “sowing dissent.” Our response, “The truth hurts.” The other consideration that we forced
ourselves to confront was that the template of the Nazi Holocaust against the
Jews, the Roma, the Sinti and other who were labelelled
“untermenschen” [subhumans]
was not appropriate for drawing direct comparisons between the Armenian victims
and the Nazi victims. It is true that there was a fair amount of information in
the world daily press. But a key element is that the Armenians deported from
Turkey were to be killed in one way or
another. he phrase
“one way or another” is critical. There
is no doubt that this is a case of premediated mass murder. Talaat Pasha was
also frequently named as head of the operation.
https://www.mfa.gov.tr/the-armenian-allegation-of-genocide-the-issue-and-the-facts.en.mfa. Turkey’s Parliament Bans the Use of the term ‘Armenian Genocide’ by Asbarez Staff, 21 July 2017. See also “Erdogan says will never accept genocide ‘blackmail.’ For example see Times of Israel 2016 for a newspaper account --- see https://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-turkey-will-never-accept-genocide-blackmail. Also, we will here and now set the record straight and say that the term “Armenian Genocide” is what a purist might call a semantic shortcut rather than a legal finding of the period. The word had not yet been coined, although we have shown that the ‘Armenian Genocide’ played a very key role in Raphael Lemkin’s thinking when he coined the word genocide. Educating the Public and Mustering Support for the Ratification of the Genocide Convention: Transcript of United Nations Casebook Chapter XXI: Genocide, a 13 February 1949 Television Broadcast Hosted by Quincy Howe with Raphael Lemkin, Emanuel Celler and Ivan Kerno, by Eugene L. Taylor and Abraham D. Krikorian in War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes against Humanity 5, pp. 91-124 (2011). See also https://youtu.be/CXliPhsI530 Raphael Lemkin on the Genesis of the Concept behind the word “Genocide”. The Armenian Genocide was a campaign of deportation and mass killing conducted against the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire by the Young Turk government during World War I (1914–18). Armenians charge that the campaign was a deliberate attempt to destroy the Armenian people and, thus, an act of genocide. The Turkish government has resisted calls to recognize it as such, contending that, although atrocities took place, there was no official policy of extermination implemented against the Armenian people as a group.
The literature of this broad field is massive.
We ourselves refer to the Nazi
holocaust against the Jews (and others) by specifically naming the victim
groups. Only a single reference need be given here for it admirably covers all
critical points. Krantz, Charles (1985)
Teaching Night and Fog: History and historiography. Film & History 15, no.
1, pp. 1-11 (February 1985). Also see Kazimierz Adamczyk (2017) Report and
lament ̶ Zalam Gradowski’s
notes from Auschwitz. Acta Universitatis Lodziensis.
Folia Literaria Polonica 8 (46), 187-203. The
Armenian case has its own special challenges and complications. For example, Dov
Jacobs (2014) Jumping hurdles Backwards: The Armenian Genocide and the
International Criminal Court. International Criminal Law Review 14, pp.
274-290. Also, victim-generated literature by the Armenian survivors is
substantial but largely remains untranslated from the Armenian. For an early exception see Jafarian, Boghos, Mangasarian, Claire, Mangasarian,
Leon (1989) Farewell Kharpert: the
autobiography of Boghos Jafarian.
C. Mangasarian, Madison, WI.; for a later production
based on audio tape see Krikorian, Abraham D. and Taylor, Eugene L. (January 5,
2015) https://groong.org/orig/ak-20220105-Nahabed.html Memoir of Genocide -
1915-1920, the story of an Armenian boy by Nahabed Chakrian
(1904-1993), Armenian News Network Groong.
[2] Ross, Sarah M. and Randhofer, Regina (eds.) (2022) Armenian and Jewish
Experience between Expulsion and Destruction. De Gruyter, Oldenbourg,
Berlin, Basel.
[3] In the film version of “The Flame Trees of Thika” a young and very
charming Elspeth Huxley excitedly tells her mother about the goings on at a New
Year’s Eve party at the home of Mrs. Nimmo in whose care she has been left when
Elspeth’s parents were away for a brief period. Young Elspeth’s use of the word
“ravished” in her excited relating of the events of the stay, is wisely met and effectively countered by her mother’s facial
expression that skillfully ignores the word completely. That was in 1913 when
Elspeth’s parent thought they would undertake starting a coffee plantation in
the Thika, Central province of Kenya territory. Young Elspeth did not have a
clue as to the meaning of the word “ravished.”
We ourselves don’t recall first hearing the word. We were not that
young. See also Sarah Projansky (2001) The
elusive/ubiquitous representation of rape: a historical survey of rape in U.S.
film, 1903-1972. Cinema Journal 41, no.1, pp. 63-90.
[4] We have pointed out in many places on Groong that General Dwight
D. Eisenhower in particular was adamant in exposing the crimes of the
Nazis. There remained few Germans who
stuck to their story that they knew nothing of the activities of the
extermination camps after they were forced to see whenever possible the results
with their own eyes. Eisenhower wrote on
15 April 1945 “The things I saw beggar description. The visual evidence and the
verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering…I made the visit
deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first hand evidence of these
things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these things
to propaganda.” (see p. 391 of Krikorian, Abraham D.
and Taylor, Eugene L. 2011. Achieving
Ever-greater Precision in attestation and attribution of genocide photographs.
Pp. 389-434. In The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks. Studies on the
State-sponsored campaign of extermination of the Christians of Asia Minor
(1912-1922) and its aftermath: history, law, memory (eds. By Tessa Hofmann,
Matthias Bjørnlund, Vasileios Meichanetsidis).
Published by Aristide D. Caratzas, New York &
Athens.
[5]
Toynbee, Arnold (1916) The
extermination of the Armenians. In
The Times History of the War Vol. 8, Ch. 133, pp. 353-392. The Times Publishing
(London).
[6] See Robbins, Keith G. (1967) Lord Bryce and the First World War. The Historical Journal 10, 2, pp. 255 -277; Miller, David (2005) The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. A history of the 'Blue Book.' Royal United Services Institute Journal [RUSI] no. 150, pp. 36-44; Gagik Karagheuzian, David Holloway and Ara Sarafian (2007) The Blue Book, Political Truth or Historical Fact. Ani Sounds, UK, DVD run time 77 min.; Sarafian, Ara (2008) The British Parliamentary Blue Book and the Denial of the Armenian Genocide, pp. 391-413 of Ural, Safak, Emecen, Feridun, Aydin,Mustafa (eds.) Turk-Ermeni Itiskilerinde yeni yaklsimlar” uluslararasi sempoyzium 15-17 Mart 2006 = the new approaches to Turkish-Armenian relations: international symposium 15-17 March 2006. Istanbul Universitesi Yayinlari; no. 4745. ISBN: 9789754048049; Tusan, Michelle (2015) James Bryce’s Blue Book as Evidence. Journal of Levantine Studies 5, no. 2, pp. 35-50.
[7] http://www.accc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Prof-Vahakn-Dadrian-Lecture-Univ-College-v2-Nov-2005.pdf
[8] See p. 585 of Toynbee, Arnold (1976)
Mankind and Mother Earth. A narrative
history of the world. Oxford University Press (New York and London).
[finished in 1973 and posthumously published in 1976].
[10] Vahakn Dadrian directly put the question as to where Toynbee stood
on the Armenians in 1973.
[11] It is an interesting fact that a very large number of Armenians
were professional photographers in the Empire and deserve study. (See Zenik Çelik and Edhem Eldem (eds.) 2015. Camera Ottomana. Photography and Modernity in the Ottoman Empire
1840-1914. Koç University Press, Istanbul.)
[12] There is a considerable amount of very interesting film footage
which appears in the series entitled “The First World War” based on a book by
Professor H.E.W. Strachan, narrated and produced by Johnathan Lewis (20005).
Distributed by Image Entertainment. Disk
4 contains some especially interesting footage under the Episode 4 named Jihad.
In 2010 a fine documentary, richly illustrated with contemporary film footage
and photographic imagery was produced by Eric Friedler,
Katharina Trebitsch, Martina Gedeck,
Ulrich Noethen, Hanns Zischler, The DVD was released in Hamburg by
Studio Hamburg Distribution and is about 93 minutes long. One inconvenience
associated with the film is that the DVD is in the PAL format. Aghet: ein Völkermord [Aghet is the word
used by many nowadays for the Genocide and signifies “catastrophe.”] The film
tells the story of the Armenian Genocide (1916-1923) from inception to near-completion through the voices of 23 actors and using
German archival documents including first-hand accounts.
[13] There
is an immense amount of literature that one might draw attention to but we will concentrate merely on providing references to
our work in particular. This should give access to a large base of literature.
See e.g. Abraham D. Krikorian and Eugene L. Taylor at Groong Armenian News
Network, June 13, 2011 at https://groong.org/orig/ak-20110613.html for a posting called Filling in the Picture: Postscript to a
Description of the Well-Known 1915 Photograph of Armenian Men of Kharpert Being
Led Away under Armed Guard. Also, Krikorian, Abraham D. and Taylor, Eugene
L. (2017, 29 September) Missionary
physician Dr. Ruth A. Parmelee describes the 1915 “Harpoot
Deportations”: with an appendix of some rare imagery from our files to
complement what she wrote; included is the infamous
“Deportation Proclamation.” The well-known photo detailed in that posting
has become so widely referred to, displayed and used
and published so widely that one could arguably say that it has become somewhat
of an iconic symbol of the Armenian Genocide. The photo shows but a fraction of
the arrested senior men from Harput being led to an
uncertain fate, and ultimately for most of them, death. The view
which is both real and symbolic, documents how the ‘decapitation’ of the
Armenians started throughout the country and shows how ‘the Armenian Nation’
became deprived of any potential resistance or leadership. This ‘decapitation’
could then be easily accompanied or followed by murder and the murderous mass
deportation of the civilian population. Although we have learned a great deal
about that specific photograph, there are quite a few specifics remain to be
learned. It is certainly a challenge
to fill in the background and details of this picture. We do predict that this will happen one of these
days/years. We feel that the stark reality will never disappear. Some would say
that the genocide began with the mass murder of Armenian draftees into the
Ottoman Army. Armenians once they were used to exhaustion in labor battallions to the satisfaction of their Turkish bosses,
were murdered. See Zeynij Ҁelik,
Edhem Eldem, Bahattin Bonfitto, eds. (2015)
Camera Ottomana, Photography
and modernity in the Ottoman Empire 1840-1914. KUP, Koç
Univertesi Press for considerable discussion of the
political, ideological, symbolic and psychological
considerations of all kinds of imagery and photography. For a broad coverage as
the genocide applies to the Ottoman Greek population, one can do no better than
to read Vasileios Th. Meichanetsidis (2015) The
genocide of the Greeks of the Ottoman Empire 1913-1923: a comprehensive
overview. Genocide Studies International 9, no. 1 (spring)pp. 104-173. For some
impressive film footage see Smyrna:
the destruction of a cosmolitan city, 1900-1922 by
Maria Éliou (motion picture director, Prof. Alexander
Kitroeff, Historical consultant. DVD video, 87
minutes, PAL format.
[14] See Hazel Antarian Hofman
(2014) A preliminary visual assessment of the Near East Relief posters. Journal
of the Society for Armenian Studies 21, no.4, p. 113-136; Dicran
V. Kassouny (2016) 100 Years Strong: the Armenian Genocide in Posters, 1915-2015.
[15] This Endnote is necessarily lengthy. Ideally,
it really should be much longer. See Veterans’ Number. A tribute and an appeal.
Team Work
(Near East Relief) vol. 3, no. 6 June 13, 1924 (63 pages). Also, The Online
Books Page https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Near%20East%20Relief%20%28Organization%29 with links to many historically
important papers put online by The University of Pennsylvania.
Some
collections of photographs are strengthened by the availability of negatives
and even relevant written correspondence in very informative ‘letters home’ to
USA. Laurence H. MacDaniels
and his wife Frances C. MacDaniels who served in Harput made up a very interesting album. We spent a great deal of time examining and
interpreting the photographs in the Oberlin College Archives. Help from Mrs.
Ellen Woodbury MacDaniels Speers, the oldest child of
the MacDaniels, who is still alive, was gratefully
received. Mrs. Speers was born 11 August 1921 and has been of immense help.
Details of our work may be found at https://libraries.oberlin.edu/collections/special-collections/near-east-relief-digital-collection (Oberlin Archives SG276).
We also made
a video documenting the flipping through the pages of the Album and commenting
extemporarily on what they represented in a general way back in 2007. This was posted considerably later on
YouTube. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zEDfMSx8mk.
As a good example of the varied nature of photographic material which has yet to be fully exploited, only recently have we learned of an excellent paper published by Sallie Ketcham (2020) entitled “It was in Armenia that I learned fear.” Rose Wilder Lane and the Armenian Genocide. pp. 91- 117 of South Dakota History 50, no. 2, summer. Photographs included are from the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, West Branch, Iowa; and from Rose Wilder Lane’s book Peaks of Shala (which concentrated on Albania--New York: Harper and Brothers, 1923.) Rose Wilder Lane was the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie books. Rose Wilder Lane was an experienced journalist. She helped her mother get the manuscripts into publishable shape, urging her to change or leave out things that she or readers of the 1930s would have found unsuitable for publication in children’s books. Since we ourselves have not seen or worked with materials in the Herbert Hoover archives all we can say is that this is a good example of very useful good quality photographic material that seems to be relatively ‘newly’ available and has thus far seemed to have escaped the notice of scholars working on Armenian matters. Ms. Ketcham has done a fine job to get the ball rolling so to speak.
There is
also a rich array of relevant collectible memorabilia ephemera in the form of
pictures and images published in journals and magazines, press releases,
drawings, cartoons, satirical imagery and the like. So-called ephemera is by
its very definition, expected to include items that are only transient in terms
of production and time. Fictional dramatizations are necessarily fairly far
from the mark.
It won’t come as a surprise to learn that it is not easy even for professional catalogers to catalog such items that often end up being relegated to the category ephemera. It follows that this makes it quite difficult for investigators to come across or find unexpected things that have long been unknown, overlooked or thought to be lost. See our `Witnesses' to Massacres and Genocide and their Aftermath: Probing the Photographic Record at https://groong.org/orig/Probing-the-Photographic-Record.html.
[16] See e.g. Gellert, Charles Lawrence; United States National
Archives and Records Administration (1990) The Holocaust, Israel, and the Jews:
motion pictures in the National Archives. 117 pp. Washington, D.C. and https://www.archives.gov/publications/finding-aids/guides.html#israel
[17] Kumu Bilici
has presented (2016) a Master’s thesis in Film Studies
at Carleton University in Ottowa, Canada entitled
“Post-Exilic Armenian “Homecoming” Films: working through the traumatic postmemory of 1915. Also a very
good description and analysis of these movies is given by Michelle Tusan in her 2015 “Genocide, famine and refugees on film:
humanitarianism and the First World War.”
Past and Present no. 237,
November, pp. 197- 235.
[18] We opted to include the following
extensive listing as an Endnote since we understand from reliable sources that
few people pay attention to Forewords or Appendices. This Endnote information
derives largely from a pamphlet entitled Visual
Publicity Material (Near East Relief)
(starting on page 28.) Since that
publication is not easily available we include it
here. The contribution by Tusan can be accessed fully
online at https://academic.oup.com/past/article/237/1/197/4568339
Page 28 “Visual Publicity Material”
“One picture is worth a thousand
words,” says an old Chinese proverb.
Arthur Brisbane [1864-1936, the famous newspaper editor and journalist]
goes further and says: “One picture, if
it is the right picture, is worth a million words.”
Near East Relief boldly asserts
“Near East Relief has the right
pictures- photographers of all its program of activities, photographs of the
children that America is fitting for self-supporting, independent life.
“These pictures are available in
every form in which pictures may be used- direct prints, enlargements, cuts,
slides and “movies.”
Motion
Pictures
“Near East Relief now has eight
different motion pictures:
“Alice in Hungerland”
Produced in 1921, is of value
chiefly as an historical record of the conditions that called the Near East
Relief into existence. The picture is
available in two editions-
(1) the full story in three reels,
(2) a condensed edition in one reel.
“Seeing is Believing, or Uncle
America Sees Us Through”
A three-reel picture giving the
story of an American business man’s trip through the
Near East makes him realize the need and he undertakes the support of
twenty-five more children. Revised maps
bring it up to date.
“Constructive Forces in the Near
East”
“A one-reel picture emphasizing the
constructive features of the work of Near East Relief. Many of the scenes that appear in this
picture appear also in “Seeing is Believing,” but there is no attempt in this
film to follow the story of “Seeing is Believing.” It is without question our
most effective visualization of the entire program of the Near East Relief.
“What the Flag Saw”
“A one-reel film showing many of the
scenes, that appear in “Constructive Forces”, but especially titled for use in
schools.
“Selznick News. The Distress in the
Near East”
This film originally appeared in the
regular releases of the Selznick News Company and gives a graphic account of
the burning of Smyrna and the events immediately after. It has historic interest only [sic!]
“Miracles from Ruins”
“One reel, the story of the
orphanage at Syra where the orphans themselves, aided
by adult refugees, put up fine stone buildings that now house a great
industrial school where 2,500 are being trained for self-support at sixteen. [Syros (Greek: Σύρος), or Siros or
Syra is a
Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is located 78 nautical
miles (144 km) south-east of Athens.]
“Jackie in the Near East”
“One reel, the story of Jackie
Coogan’s visit to Athens in October 1924. The boys of Near East Relief are all
seen to good advantage, as they welcomed ‘America’s boy” with special marching,
drilling, dancing, singing etc.
“His Neighbor’s Good”
“One reel. Title is suggested by the text “Let no man
seek his own but each his neighbor’s good.” [Paul said, “Let no man seek his own, but (each) his neighbor’s (good)” (I
Corinthians 10:24).] It strikes the note of the Golden Rule as it
presents the contrast between the lot of happy Near East Relief orphans and the
destitute children of the refugee camps.
The above pictures are still
available in both standard and safety standard (Pathescope)
sizes and can be secured from any State office or from the National Office in
New York.
The Reader might also enjoy reading
about equipment available for showing and viewing these films.
[Starting page 27]
“Portable Machines”
“Motion picture and slide projectors
have been made very simple in these days of portable machines. Our
illustrations simply three out of many types of motion picture projectors and
stereopticons that are available. For carrying, the stereopticon shown closes
into the hand-carrying case that appears on the right---that is the
stereopticon is practically its own carrying case. With such projectors pictures can be shown
anywhere at any time [that is anywhere there is electricity or a generator!]
“Lantern slides are not out of
date. They can be used in many places
where the moving pictures may not be shown.
They give a better opportunity for the personality and convictions of
the speaker to be felt than do the films.
The lecture of 1923-1924 “A Paying Investment in Childhood in Bible
Lands”, has a short, concise text that uses five pictures and carries the
message of the entire program. A
complete manuscript accompanies each set of slides, but for real effectiveness the
material should be carefully studied, thoroughly mastered, and given in the
speaker’s own words.
“Film-Stereopticon”
“One of the interesting development
s in making projection simple and efficient is the film-stereopticon. The “slides” are not in glass, but on regular
non-flame motion picture film. The lamp
and film used obviate any possible danger from fire. The individual picture may be left on the
screen as long as desired. The pictures may be moved forward or backwards,
i.e., it is possible to go back to a picture already shown.
“Once the adjustments have been
made, the pictures cannot possibly appear upside down or in wrong order. While the illuminator is not as intense as
that of a stereopticon with a 400 watt gas-filled mazda lamp, it is ample to for projection of moderate sized
pictures. The machine itself is about
the size of an ordinary desk telephone , weighing only
5 ½ lbs., and a roll of 100 pictures can be carried in a vest pocket. A selection of 65 pictures with necessary
titles interspersed is available covering all phases of the present program of
the organization.
[The following is from
the book "Mechanics of the
Household" by E. S. Keene (1918).
“Gas-Filled Lamps”
“Until 1913 the
filaments of all Mazda lamps operated in a vacuum. The vacuum serving the
purpose of preventing oxidation and at the same time it reduced the energy loss
to the least amount. It was found, however, under some conditions of construction that lamps filled with inert gas
gave a higher efficiency and more satisfactory service than those of the vacuum
type. In this construction, the filament is
operated at a temperature much higher than that of the vacuum lamp and as a
consequence gives light at a less cost per candlepower. …”]
The standard Near East Relief
exhibit consists of a large photographic poster reproducing four panoramic
pictures of children. The special
exhibit prepared for the Annual Trustees Meeting in Washington is available. It consists of 18 blue cards 22 X 28 inches, with 8 X 10 inch
enlargements and gold lettering. The
cards practically duplicate the new “Sales Book” and cover the entire program
of the Near East Relief. The entire
series can be shipped by express in a strong fibre
case.
The “Photographic Salesbook” is a loose leaf
collection of photographs of our overseas work with a descriptive caption. It is available on application and may be
used by volunteers in securing not only general contributions but those for
special purposes. It has great value in
providing talking points for the Direct Sponsorship of orphans. The booklet “Investment in Manhood and
Womanhood” (see page 9), describes in detail the plan for undertaking the
sponsorship of a certain child for a definite time at $100 a year.”
[Near East Relief Organization. no
date, 1920s. An investment in future
manhood and womanhood. Direct sponsorship of Near East Relief. 16 p. illus. 23 cm. (Only one location listed
in World Cat and that is at New York Public Library.)]
See also for a very extensive
listing of brochures, pamphlets etc., i.e. Finding Aids are presented in the
excellent work at https://library.columbia.edu/content/dam/libraryweb/locations/burke/fa/mrl/ldpd_10126110.pdf
[19] See Eugene L. Taylor and Abraham D. Krikorian (2010) “Ravished Armenia Revisited:” Some additions to “Brief assessment of the Ravished Armenia Marquee Poster.” Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies 19:2, pp. 179-215. For a fairly comprehensive treatment of what some ‘purist’ scholars call ‘the’ first modern genocide that took place between 1904 and 1908 see Jeremy Sarkin, 2011, “Germany’s Genocide of the Herero: Kaiser Wilhelm II, his general, his settlers, his soldiers. UCT Press, Capetown, SA.
[20] Krikorian, Abraham D. and Taylor, Eugene L. (2011) Achieving
ever-greater precision in attestation and attribution of genocide photographs,
pp/ 389-434. In Tessa
Hofmann, Mathias Bjørnlund, Vasileios Mechanetsidis, eds. The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks.
Studies on the State-sponsored extermination of the Christians of Asia Minor,
1912-1922 and its aftermath: history, law, memory, published by Aristide D. Caratzas, New York and Athens.
[21] Porat, Dan (2011) The Boy: a Holocaust story.
New York. Hill and Wang; Godalming: Melia [distributor]. For an excellent essay on
the topic of iconic photos and related thematic photos see Grażyna
J. Kozackza (2012) In the shadow of the Second World War: a review essay. The Polish
Review 57, no. 2, pp. 107-116. It will be worth mentioning also that many years
later, a group of dedicated, fearless photographers – Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oesterbroek, João Silva – bonded by their friendship and
sense of purpose, risked their lives to capture on film the bloody struggle
associated with apartheid in South Africa at its violent end. The gripping film
dealing with the activities of the group nick-named
“The Bang Bang Club” was put out in 2011. A DVD called
The Death of Kevin Carter, casualty of the Bang Bang
Club released in 2005 by the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of
California, Berkeley emphasizes various specific issues associated with candid
photography of exceedingy sensitive issues. Kevin
Carter’s moving photograph of a starving Sudanese child at death’s door being
stalked by an ominous-looking hooded vulture ignited a major controversy over
ethical responsibility and humanitarian photography. His suicide by carbon
monoxide poisoning emphasized Carter’s depression over his winning a Pulitzer
Prize by capturing a photograph of a child associated with so much suffering.
For one example of a plethora of magazine coverage of this tragedy see Dougherty, Sean
Thomas “Killing the Messenger”, The Massachusetts Review (2006) vol. 47, p.
608-616. See also for much broader coverage of the topic Ehsan Shahghasemi (2020) Pornography of poverty: Celebrities’
sexual appeal at service to the poor? 2nd International Conference
on Future of Social Sciences and Humanities (Prague, Czech Republic) 4-6 SeptemberCs, pp. 14-20.Many
professional photographers of the Ottoman Empire were Armenians and deserve
careful study. See Zeynep Çelik and Edhem Eldem (eds.) (2015) Camera Ottomanica.
Photography and Modernity in the Ottoman Empire, 1840-1914. Koç University, Istanbul.
Taylor, Eugene L. Krikorian, Abraham D. (2010)
“Ravished Armenia: revisited.” Some additions to a “Brief Assessment of the
Ravished Armenia Marquee poster.”
Journal for Armenian Studies 19 (2), 179-215.
[23] The older Armenian survivors of the Genocide used to frequently
adopt the stoic position of acknowledging that no amount of lamenting would
change the outcome of the Genocide. “Eghadz’uh egher’eh.” “What has happened has happened.” These peasants
(mainly women) who
survived the horrors constituted their own support groups, long before the
concept of a formal support group was invented.
[24] See also Taylor, Eugene L. and
Krikorian, Abraham D. (Sept. 6, 2021) An Introduction and Some
Background to Our Video “An Intimate Look at a
Bronze Statue of Emmanuel Fremiet’s Gorilla and
Woman” Installed in Allerton Park and Retreat Center, University of
Illinois, Monticello, Illinois. Appreciating More Fully A
Marketing Strategy Used for the Film “Ravished
Armenia” https://groong.org/orig/et-20210906.html. Also Ted Gott (2005/2006) It is
lovely to be a Gorilla, sometimes: the art and influence of Emmanuel Fremiet, Gorilla sculptor. Melbourne Art Journal special
art volume entitled Art, site and spectacle, issue 9-10, pp. 198-219.
Under the
strictest ‘rules’ of accuracy, if we can call them that, one might have added
to the title somewhere along the line, “By Aurora Mardiganian,
as told to Nora Waln.”
Now onto the
‘Foreword by Nora Waln.’
“FOREWORD”
“She stood beside me – a slight little
girl with glossy black hair. Until I spoke to her and
she lifted her eyes in which were written the indelible story of her suffering.
I could not believe that she was Aurora Mardiganian
whom I had been expecting. She could not speak English, but in Armenian she
spoke a few words of greeting.
“It was our first meeting and in the
spring of last year. Several weeks earlier a letter had come to me telling me
about this little Armenian girl who was to be expected, asking me to help her
upon her arrival. The year before an Armenian boy had come from our relief
station in the Caucasus and kind friends had made it possible to send him to
boarding school. I had formed a similar plan to send Aurora to the same school
when she should arrive.
“We talked about education that
afternoon, through her interpreter, but she shook her head sadly. She would
like to go to school, and study music as her father had planned
she should before the massacres, but now she had a message to deliver – a
message from her suffering nation to the mothers and fathers of the United
States. The determination in the child's eyes made me ask her age and she
answered “Seventeen.”
“Tired, and worn out nervously, as she
was, Aurora insisted upon telling us of the scenes she had left behind her –
massacres, families driven out across the desert, girls sold into Turkish
harems, women ravished by the roadside, little children dying of starvation.
She begged us to help her to help her people." My father said America was
the friend of the oppressed. General Andranik sent me
here because he trusted you to help me," she pleaded.
“And so her
story was translated. Sometimes there had to be intervals of rest of several days, because her suffering had so unnerved her. She wanted
to keep at it during all the heat of the summer but, by using the argument that
she would learn English, we persuaded her to go to a camp off the coast of
Connecticut for three weeks.
“You who read the story of Aurora Mardiganian’s last three years, will find it hard to
believe that in our day and generation such things are possible. Your emotions
will doubtless be similar to mine when I first heard of the suffering of her
people. I remember very distinctly my feelings, when, early in October of 1917,
I attended a luncheon given by the Executive Committee of the American
Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, for a group of 17 American Consuls
and missionaries who had just returned from Turkey after witnessing two years
of massacre and deportation. I listened to persons, the truthfulness of whose
statements I could not doubt, tell how a church had been filled with Christian
Armenians, women and children, saturated with oil and set on fire, of refined,
educated girls, from homes as good as yours or mine, sold in the slave markets
of the East, a little children starving to death, and then to the plea for help
for the pitiful survivors who have been gathered into temporary relief
stations.
“I listened almost unable to believe
and yet as I looked around the luncheon table there were familiar faces, the
faces of men and women whose word I could not doubt – Dr. James L Barton,
Chairman of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, Ambassadors,
Morgenthau and Elkus, who spoke from personal
knowledge, Cleveland H. Dodge, whose daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Huntington is in
Constantinople, and his son is in Beirut, both helping with relief work, Miss
Lucille Foreman of Germantown, C. V. Vickrey,
Executive Secretary of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief,
Dr. Samuel T Dutton of the World Court League, George T. Scott, Presbyterian
Board of Foreign Missions, and others.
“And you who read this story as
interpreted will find it even harder to believe than I did, because you will
not have the personal verification of the men and women who can speak with
authority that I had at the luncheon. Since then it is
happened that nearly every communication from the East – Persia, Russian
Caucasus and the Ottoman Empire, has passed through my hands and I know the
conditions have not been exaggerated in this book. In this introduction I want
to refer you to Lord Bryce's report, to Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, to the
recent speeches of Lord Cecil before the British Parliament, and the files of
our own State Department, and you will learn that stories similar to this one
can be told by any one of the 3,950,000 refugees, the number now estimated to
be destitute in the Near East.
“This is a human living document. Miss Mardiganian’s names, dates and places, do not correspond
exactly with similar references to these places made by Ambassador Morgenthau,
Lord Bryce and others, but we must take into consideration that she is only a
girl of seventeen, that she has lived through one of the most tragic periods of
history in that section of the world which has suffered most from the war, that
she is not a historian, that her interpreter in giving this story to the
American public has not attempted to write a history. He has simply aimed to
give her message to the American people that they may understand something of the
situation in the Near East during the past years, and helped to establish there
for the future, a sane and stable government.
“Speaking of the character of the
Armenians, Ambassador Morgenthau says in a recent article published in the New York Evening Sun " From the
times of Herodotus this portion of Asia has borne the name of Armenia. The
Armenians of the present day are the direct descendants of the people who
inhabited the country 3,000 years ago. Their origin is so ancient that it is
lost in fable and mystery. There are still undecipherable cuneiform
inscriptions on the rocky hills of Van, the largest Armenian city, that have
led certain scholars – though not many, I must admit – to identify the Armenian
race with the Hittites of the Bible. What is definitely known about the
Armenians, however, is that for ages they have constituted the most civilized
and most industrious race in the Eastern section of the Ottoman Empire. From
their mountains they have spread over the Sultan's dominions,
and form a considerable element in the population of all the large
cities. Everywhere they are known for their industry, their intelligence
and their decent and orderly lives. They are so superior to the Turks
intellectually and morally that much of the business and industry has passed
into their hands. With the Greeks, the Armenians constituted the economic
strength of the Empire. These people became Christians in the fourth century
and established the Armenian Church as their state religion. This is said to be the oldest Christian
Church in existence.
"In face of persecutions which
have had no parallel elsewhere, these people have clung to their early
Christian faith with the utmost tenacity. For 1,500 years they have lived there
in Armenia, a little island of Christians, surrounded by backward peoples of
hostile religion and hostile race. Their
long existence has been one unending martyrdom. The territory which they
inhabit forms the connecting link between Europe and Asia, and all the Asiatic
invasions –Saracens Tartars, Mongols, Kurds and Turks – have passed over their
peaceful country."
“Aurora Mardiganian
has come to America to tell the story of her suffering peoples and to do her
part in making it possible for her country to be rebuilt. he is only a little girl, but in giving her
story to the American people through the daily newspapers, in this book, and
the motion picture which is being prepared for that purpose by the American
Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, she is, I feel, playing one of the
greatest parts in helping to reestablish again " peace on earth, goodwill
to men" in ancient Bible Lands, the home in her generation of her people.
Her mother, her father, her brothers and sisters are
gone, but according to the most careful estimates, 3,950,000 destitute peoples,
mostly women and children who had been driven many of them as far as one
thousand miles from home, turn their pitiful faces toward America for help in
the reconstructive period in which we are now living.
“Dr. James L Barton, who is leaving
this month with the commission of two hundred men and women for the purpose of
helping to rehabilitate these lands from which Aurora came, is a part of the
answer to the call for help from these destitute people. The American Committee
for Armenian and Syrian Relief Campaign for $30,000,000, in which it is hoped
all of the people of America will participate, is another part of the answer.
“You who read this book can play a part
also in helping Aurora to deliver her message, by passing it on to some one else when you have finished with it.
December 2,
1918
One Madison Ave.,
New York
Nora Waln,
Publicity
Secretary,
American
Committee for
Armenian
and Syrian Relief.
[26] Brault, Samantha R. (2016) “The Barbarians of Hollywood”: the exploitation of Aurora Mardiganian by the American Film Industry. Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research vol. 2, article 18, 22-33. One will not be surprised at the unscrupulous behavior of those took advantage of Aurora under guise of being her friends and supporters.
[27] We are told in Moving Picture World May 31, 1919 p. 1379 that there were a number of “Advertising Aids:
Half-sheet, one sheet, three sheet, six sheets, twenty-four sheet. Half-sheet
window card. Herald. Three slides. 8 x 10, 11 x 14, 22 x 28 lobby display. One,
two, three and four column cuts. Real photographs of Aurora Mardiganian.
Music cue-shee[t?]” Lobby paintings in colors from
sensational stills.”
[28] Horne, Jennifer (2017) The better films movement and the very
notion of it. Feminist Media Histories 3(no. 4),
p. 46-68.
[29] See Copeaux, Etienne (1996)
Les mots de la mort dans les manuels d’historire
Turcs. In Gilles Veinstein (1996) Les Ottomans &
la Mort. Permanence & Mutations, p. 303- 324. E.J. Brill, Leiden. See also for example the
vile persistence of this practice in Daniel J. N. Weishut
(2015) Sexual torture of Palestinian men by Israeli authorities. Reproductive
Health Matters 23 (46): 71-84.
[30] There are many opportunities for scholars to
look into specific cases of censorship or interference in presentations of
“Auction of Souls” whether in film or on the stage. We are providing a series
of correspondence exchanges here to show just how annoying it must have been for
writers to navigate political considerations as seen by government and what we
might nowadays think are perfectly legitimate.
The fact is that Auction of Souls was a very widely read book by working
class people in Great Britain. There is, however, a long history of the Brits
catering to the stupid sensitivities of the Turks, imagined or real and
deserving. Years later the wonderful film Lawrence of Arabia caused a furor
which, happily, was overcome. The Brits seem to want to be all things to all
people. Again, they talk a better game than they actually play. Lawrence never
forgave ‘his people’ for their hypocrisy in dealing with ‘the Arabs.’ We, that
is ‘the West-whoever they are, still reap what the Brits early sowed in
connection with Israel and Palestine. What follows is through courtesy of both
BBFC, the British Board of Film Censors in London and National Archives, Kew.
We are appreciative of their help.
[31] Gates, H.L. (interpreted by) (1968) The Auction of Souls. The
story of Aurora Mardiganian, the Christian girl who
survived the Great Massacres. Formerly Printed in America for Private
Distribution only, as “Ravished Armenia.” Phoenix Press, London.
[32] Sarafian, Ara (2001) The absorption
of Armenian women and children into Muslim household as a structural component
of the Armenian Genocide, p. 209-221. In
“In God’s Name: genocide and religion in the twentieth century.” (Omar Bartov, and Mack, Phyllis eds.) Berghahn
Books; Bjornlund, Matthias (2009) A fate worse than
dying: sexual violence during the Armenian Genocide, p. 16-58. In Brutality and Desire; war and
sexuality in Europe’s Twentieth Century. Ed. by Dagmar Herzog. Palgrave
Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK.;Hirschfeld,
Magnus, Gaspar, Andreas et al. (1929) Sittengeschichte
des Ersten Weltkrieges,
Verlag von Karl Shustek, Hanau am Main; Hirschfeld,
Magnus (ed.) (1946) The Sexual History of the World War. Cadillac Pub Co., New
York.
[33] The poster is produced through
lithography. Payne, E.F. (1922) Lithography holds important place in modern
industry and art. The Poster (Chicago) 13, no. 10, October 1. pp. 37-38, 71.
[34]
Scripps, J.B.T (1940)
Gargantua. World’s most successful animal lives for one purpose: Murder. Life vol. 8, no. 9, pp. 63-64.
[35] Alice Walker (2010) Overcoming speechlessness. Seven Stories
Press, New York.
©
Copyright 2023 Armenian News
Network/Groong and the authors. All
Rights Reserved.
| Home | Administrative | Introduction | Armenian News | Podcasts | Feedback |