April 23, 2015 Auction of Souls (Ravished Armenia) and Discussion - 12 noon

To commemorate  the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Ravished Armenia, also
as Auction of Souls was screened. It  is a 1919 American film based on the autobiographical
book Ravished Armenia by Arshaluys (Aurora) Mardiganian, who also played the lead role in the
 film. It depicts the 1915 Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire from the point of view of
 Armenian survivor Mardiganian, who plays herself in the film. The first half of the film shows
Armenia as it was before Turkish and German devastation, and led up to the deportation of priests
and thousands of families into the desert. One of the concluding scenes showed young Armenian
women flogged for their refusal to enter Turkish harems and depicted the Turkish slave markets.
The total number of people killed as a result has been estimated at between 800,000 to 1.5 million.
The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the day Ottoman authorities rounded
up and arrested, subsequently executing some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders
 in Constantinople.