09.08.2024


Recently, American-born Armenian hip-hop performer and therapist Mark Toureille visited the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) with his mother, Dayan Kupelyan, as part of his first visit to Armenia. Dayan, whose roots trace back to Marash, joined Mark in sharing their family's history—passed down orally through generations—with Shushan Khachatryan, head of AGMI’s Armenian Genocide Victims’ Documentation and Data Collection Department.

During their conversation, Mrs. Kupelyan shared intriguing details about the attempted screen adaptation of the 1930s novel 40 Days of Musa Dagh. She revealed that in 1934, her mother, a witness and survivor of the Armenian Genocide, was part of a consulting group for the film’s preparation by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. However, due to Turkish pressure, the American company ultimately abandoned the project. The film would have been the second Hollywood production about the Armenian Genocide, following the 1919 film Auction of Souls, which depicted the life of fourteen-year-old Arshaluys Martikian (Aurora Mardiganyan), a Genocide survivor.

Before sharing their family history, the guests visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex, accompanied by Suren Manukyan, head of the Department of Comparative Genocide Studies named after V. Dadrian. They paid tribute to the memory of the victims at the Eternal Fire, toured the museum, and explored both permanent and temporary exhibitions.

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute provides a platform for descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors to share their family stories. You are invited to contribute oral and written histories, photographs of ancestors who survived the Genocide, and relics from those days. The memories you share are invaluable; all stories will be studied, made public, and, if desired, preserved in AGMI’s scientific archives.