YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Manuk Avedikyan will document the testimonies of Armenian Genocide survivors for USC (the University of Southern California) Shoah Foundation. The latter has agreement with The Armenian Film Foundation to preserve and disseminate those testimonies. “Armenpress” reports the aforementioned referring to dailytrojan.com.

“An Armenian’s identity is inevitably tied to the Armenian Genocide,” Avedikyan said. 

Avedikyan’s grandparents survived the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. “I have been surrounded by the topic of the Armenian Genocide through so many aspects of my life; from my grandparents as survivors, to my Armenian school, my Armenian history, my parents being raised in Turkey, lectures I’ve attended in Los Angeles since my teenage years and my college education,” Avedikyan said.

Avedikyan said the testimonies add depth to history. “Many of the testimonies are impactful in different ways,” Avedikyan said. “Some due to their eloquent and unique historic details and others due to the emotion and extremely sad story.”

It is the first time that nearly 400 testimonies about the Armenian Genocide will be presented to the public. The Armenian Genocide collection is the second largest in size behind the Holocaust and ahead of the Cambodia, Nanjing and Rwanda collections.