Fragments of a Lost Homeland: Remembering Armenia

The Armenian world was shattered by the 1915 genocide. Not only were thousands of lives lost but families were displaced and the narrative threads that connected them to their own past and homelands were forever severed. Many have been left with only fragments of their family histories: a story of survival passed on by a grandparent who made it through the cataclysm or, if lucky, an old photograph of a distant, silent ancestor. By contrast, the Dildilian family chose to speak. Two generations gave voice to their experience in lengthy written memoirs, in diaries and letters, and most unusually in photographs and drawings. Their descendant Armen T. Marsoobian uses all these resources to tell their story. Unlike most Armenians, the Dildilians were allowed to convert to Islam and stayed behind while their friends, colleagues and other family members perished in the death marches of 1915-1916. Their remarkable story is one of survival against overwhelming odds in the face of peril.

Dr. Armen T. Marsoobian is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University. He has lectured and published on topics in American philosophy, aesthetics, and genocide studies. He is the author of the highly praised book, Fragments of a Lost Homeland: Remembering Armenia. He is a descendant of the Dildilian family and has organized exhibitions based upon his family’s Ottoman-era photography collection. He resides with his family in Guilford, CT.

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