The director of the Armenian Genocide Museum and Institute, Harutyun Marutyan, presented the results of the museum’s activities for 2019 during a press conference at the Tesaket club. He noted that last year, the museum was able to print the 2018 and 2019 editions of the Journal of Genocide Studies, reinstate the English language International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies journal after a long hiatus, organize different events and national conferences, and send 35 unpublished memoirs off for scientific evaluation.
In addition, 19 methodical seminars were organized with Armenian and foreign scholars in attendance, the scholarship in honor of Rafael Lemkin was reinstated, many exhibitions were organized, and the foundation and library were replenished. 1,156 photos and 1,588 pages of 7 unpublished memoirs were digitized.
The director also spoke about the results of international collaborations, including with the Camp des Milles Foundation, the Johannes Lepsius House Museum, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Pilke Institute in Poland, and the Contemporary Histories Research Group at the Deakin University in Australia.
Harutyun Marutyan
Marutyan noted that entrance to the museum-institute is free of charge, but paid excursions were introduced as of last August. This did not cause visits to the museum to decrease, but instead, it allowed the museum-institute to raise money.
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The museum also intends to establish a database of Armenian Genocide victims and survivors, as well as a database of memoirs and recordings. The museum is currently looking for ways to fund these projects.
“We say that we remember and demand, but who are we remembering if we do not even have a database?” Harutyun Marutyan said.
He noted that the ten million AMD debt has been paid off with the help of the Armenian government. He said that the Luys Foundation used to allocate 65 million AMD in funds, and now the government is doing so. The museum finished last year without any debt. It even was able to provide its workers with a thirteenth salary.
The museum-institute’s curator, Gohar Khanumyan, also spoke about the seminars for journalists and teachers and the lectures for students. She said that there is a lot of interest in Operation Nemesis and Soghomon Tehlirian. She also spoke about how the museum will host a conference and exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of defensive battles in Cilicia.
Gohar Khanumyan
Gohar Hakobyan
