100 LIVES co-founders and guests who came to Armenia to partake in the inaugural Aurora Prize Ceremony, including leading humanitarians, academics and philanthropists, visited the Memorial Complex at Tsitsernakaberd to pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan, 100 LIVES Co-Founders Nubar Afeyan, Vartan Gregorian and Ruben Vardanyan, joined by American actor and philanthropist George Clooney and French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour, laid flowers by the eternal flame and participated in a commemoration ceremony conducted by Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II.
The guests also visited the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute and toured its exhibition dedicated to the history of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, the missionaries and individuals who helped Armenians survive and the quest for international recognition.
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Marguerite Barankitse, Aurora Prize Finalist
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Marguerite Barankitse, Aurora Prize Finalist
“It is very important to remember a crime, but it is also important to move on and draw a new line in history. We came here in sorrow, but to celebrate victory over death. We have to have a memorial so our children can remember and say ‘never again.’
People who have suffered from Genocide – Armenians, Jews, Cambodians and others – should come together and say, ‘Stop this, it shouldn’t happen again. I was very moved last year when the Pope declared a year of forgiveness. He said that the doors of churches in Vatican would be open even for criminals.
I left my home on April 24 of last year, and today I am here. It is like a sign from God. We are always actors of hope: if we continue feeling like victims, we prolong the crime that was committed against us. We have to learn to move on to reconcile with ourselves. It is not so easy to achieve, but we should try. I have a scar on my head where I was hit with a machete; most of my children have scars. When I touch mine, I say ‘I move on’ and I touch it differently. But beyond the forgiveness, you need justice.”
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Aaron Sherinian with his son at the Armenian Genocide Memorial
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Aaron Sherinian, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer of the United Nations Foundation
“It is necessary to have the younger generation speak with the older generation. I am visiting the memorial with my son. I want this to be especially memorable for him, because as I look at pictures of my ancestors, I don’t want the same thing to happen to my children, or anyone’s children. My grandparents came from the Samsun Region. It is a powerful reminder. Today I think of the refugees and minorities living in my city, in Washington DC, about how we treat the and how we help them.”
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Dr. Steven Luckert at the Aurora Prize Dialogues
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Dr. Steven Luckert, Senior Program Curator, Levine Institute for Holocaust Education, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“The whole ceremony with laying flowers was extremely important, but what is most important is the participation of the local population, their dedication to remembering, to commemorating and honoring the victims. The Genocide Museum did an excellent job laying out very complicated information and explaining it to the wider audience in a very visual and effective way.”
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Dr. Leymah Gbowee lays flowers at the Armenian Genocide Memorial
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Dr. Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist and women’s rights advocate, Nobel Laureate, Aurora Prize Selection Committee Member
“For me, visiting the Armenian Genocide Museum brought to life what I read in Vartan Gregorian’s book before I came here. But also, as a survivor of war, it really pains my heart that history never taught humanity anything. I don’t know when we are going to stop, but I think the world needs to continue visiting places like this memorial.”
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Dr. Josephine Kulea at the Aurora Dialogues
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Dr. Josephine Kulea, Founder and Executive Director, Samburu Girls Foundation
“The Aurora Prize honors heroes on a very special day for Armenians. I am happy to be here, it is a very big emotion.”
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Commemoration ceremony at the Armenian Genocide Memorial
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Carl Wilkens, founder of World Outside My Shoes and the only American to remain in Rwanda during the Genocide
"I think naming this event [the Aurora Prize] after an individual [Aurora Mardiganian] and then inviting folks here to walk around the land, talk to people and then come to the museum and to see the story told as they do here, not only moves you personally, but is also obviously not something you're going to forget. It's something you're going to want to share with other people. Especially in my line of work, it both breaks my heart and it also deepens the sense of conviction of what we're doing and why we're doing it."
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Aerial view of the Armenian Genocide Memorial
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Nora Sassounian, a young American Armenian
"I think the 100 LIVES and Aurora team has done an extraordinary job educating the participants about Armenia's history, namely the Genocide. And bringing everybody here today, by having everyone personally stand on the soil, feel the experience, and then go to the museum to learn the background, it's extremely educational."
