Aurora Mardiganian speaks here as a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. But from 1918-1920, she was also the face of the Genocide to literally millions of Americans and to others throughout the world. Her tragic, horrific story was told through a 1918 semi-autobiographical book, Ravished Armenia, and a 1919 screen adaptation, also known as Auction of Souls. With the immediacy of a newsreel, the human side to the Genocide was brought to the screen.

Through her research, writing and teaching, Andrea Peto is introducing her students and colleagues at Central European University to the many scholarly applications of the Visual History Archive.Peto’s research interests are oral history and women’s history, and she has authored books on women’s employment in 1950s, women’s associations 1945-1951, a biography of Julia Rajk and the female perpetrators in Hungary during World War II.