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`Ravished Armenia': A Profile of Aurora Mardiganian

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  • `Ravished Armenia': A Profile of Aurora Mardiganian

    `Ravished Armenia': A Profile of Aurora Mardiganian

    http://asbarez.com/107362/%E2%80%98ravished-armenia%E2%80%99-a-profile-of-aurora-mardiganian/
    Friday, December 28th, 2012 | Posted by Contributor

    Aurora Mardiganian

    BY ZOHRAB KUDUSHIAN

    Aurora Mardiganian was a wonderful person and a family friend. She was
    a closer friend of my aunt Serarpi. Aunt Serarpi was like a second
    mother to me, and I would often pass through my aunt's apartment on my
    way into the street, I would stop to see my aunt to say hello. There,
    I might find Lady Aurora and my aunt sitting, and taking a demitasse
    together. I was a young man, and immediately recognized the Lady as a
    very attractive woman who seemed to dress in a younger fashion than
    her age would reflect. Later on, I would make friends with her son;
    his name, as I remember it, was not Martin, as was reported in Anthony
    Slice's edited text, but Cidal.

    Cidal and I began attending Peter and Paul Episcopal Church together,
    on Westchester Avenue, just south of, but near Westchester Square, in
    the Bronx. After services, Cidal and I would climb into the bell
    tower, and watch the bell ringer ring the bells by moving a row of
    levers down one at a time, playing religious songs of inspiration.
    Church bells, don't very much ring much anymore, in fact, I haven't
    heard any in years. I don't believe Cidal married an Armenian girl. I
    believe he married a Pilipino girl; though, I'm not sure. I also
    remember hearing that Lady Mardiganian's husband may have been a
    Bolshevik, which would have set my father Manoog off, but he loved
    Armenians, and though he was committed to the Dashnak Party, our home
    was open to any Armenian who would set aside his politics for a visit.
    However, I don't believe he ever visited our home.

    Mardiganian was a very unique woman, I was told at the time; she did
    not answer her door without positive identification of the visitor,
    even if her visitor was well known to her. Aunt Serarpi had problems
    when she would decide to visit with her at her apartment. Lady Aurora
    was afraid of strange people. She felt she was being stalked for some
    reason. After the experiences of her life's history, she seemed overly
    afraid for her security. I was told that every item in her house was
    tagged with identifying remarks, as if the items were cataloged for
    posterity. I was sure she must have been left with an exceptionally
    traumatic past, as many Armenians were. I knew about the movie she had
    starred in titled: Ravished Armenia. I knew about her relationship
    with, `The League of Nations;' however, I knew nothing of the details,
    nor did I realize the great part she had played in exposing the
    history of that violent era as an eyewitness. Her copy of the book was
    loaned to my aunt, and it was passed around the family to read. I
    couldn't get beyond the forth page. It was very difficult to read
    through my tears. I've read many books on the subject of Armenian
    history of that tragic time; I've toughened up since, and have read
    her memoirs recently. She had been threatened for her testimony at the
    League of Nations, and had withdrawn from being a public figure in the
    Armenian community for years. She seemed always to be looking over her
    shoulder.

    The accounts of her early life during the genocide were horrific. What
    I learned about this wonderful lady, after reading her life's story,
    was that it filled in many of the gaps in my understanding of her
    importance. I found that Aurora Mardiganian was a young Armenian woman
    who personally witnessed many of those killed in the tragedy of 1915,
    which included her father, and other members of her own family. It was
    a horror story like so many others. She came to the United States in
    an attempt to find the brother who may, or may not, have also
    survived. She had made it to Ellis Island in New York City where she
    met an Armenian couple, who attempted to help her in her search. The
    couple placed ad's in newspapers, and even brought her story to
    attention of filmmakers in Hollywood. The Armenian story of genocide
    was being played up heavily in the newspapers of the time, and the
    studios were quick in recognizing the commercial potential of our
    Lady's story, which put forward her testimonial of firsthand accounts.
    A film was made about her experiences in 1918, with Lady Aurora
    herself actually playing a large role in the film. The film was
    released under the title, Auction of Souls, and Aurora became an
    immediate success - she was now a movie star. The film was shown
    commercially for the public, as well as privately throughout the
    social classes in the big cities of the U.S., and found monetary
    support for Armenian Relief. She was always being called on to appear
    at functions. Donors to Armenian Relief wanted to meet her personally.
    Aurora was not accustomed to her newfound celebrity. She was not
    fluent in the English language, and felt out of place. The pressures
    she found herself under so soon after losing her family only a few
    years earlier, was too much for her to cope with. It is said that
    Aurora threatened suicide, and deserted the promotional tour of her
    filmed memoirs. The studio deep into the advancement of the story,
    found several Aurora doubles to take her place on those tour. In the
    absence of eyewitness evidence, the doubles drew heavily on
    information supported by the text from the 1918 book that the movie
    was based on. To this day, only ten minutes of the original film has
    been found, with the entire film itself, lost. And there she was,
    sitting in my aunt Serarpi's living room, sipping her Armenian coffee,
    while having a sweet delight my aunt had made. Who knew?

    Oh, there were rumors that she was some sort of Armenian activist, but
    then again, so was my father. Maybe he had a history, too? Who knows!
    I certainly didn't. She he testified before the newly formed, League
    of Nations, and for her testimony there, it may have made her a person
    target for assassination, hence her reluctance to offer herself
    publicly.

    You must read the book! Again, it is titled: Ravished Armenia,
    compiled and edited by Anthony Slide (Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham,
    Md., & London, 1997, 217 pp.).

    A beautiful woman, and a genuine Armenian Heroine; Aurora!

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