Building Bridges: Jewish and Armenian Legacies After Genocide

How does the physical displacement and emotional trauma of genocide shape cultural identity? Join us for a meaningful dialogue as we explore this in depth with descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors and descendants of Holocaust survivors. This question defined a significant portion of the twentieth century for both the Armenian and Jewish communities in Los Angeles.

Panelists include:

Ara Oshagan is a diasporic multi-disciplinary artist and curator whose practice explores collective and personal histories of dispossession, legacies of violence, identity, de-colonization and (un)imagined futures. Oshagan is a descendant of survivors of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. He was born in diaspora and was himself displaced due to war as a youth.

Jack Hadjinian is former mayor and city councilmember of Montebello, California. His grandfather survived the Armenian genocide and was deported by the Nazis during World War II to a forced labor camp, where Hadjinian's mother was born.

Jenna Schweitzer is the maternal granddaughter of Holocaust survivors from Czechoslovakia/Hungary who lost many of their close relatives, including parents and siblings. After the war, they immigrated to the United States, where they rebuilt their lives. Jenna serves on the board of 3G@HMLA and is an active participant in the DOR (Descendants of Remembrance) program.

Bobbye Tigerman is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors from Poland. Her maternal grandfather Siegfried Halbreich was one of Holocaust Museum LA's early founders in the 1960s.

Panel conversation moderated by Jennifer L. Rodgers, PhD, Director of Academic Programs at the USC Shoah Foundation

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