Stone, Wood, Fire Linda Zheng

More than 100 years have passed since the Armenian Genocide and in that time, commemoration has taken on many different forms. In the beginning, remembrance started off very traditional, but since then it has evolved. In this episode, we hear from Armenians who have participated or played a hand in shifting commemoration.

Armenians openly commemorate the Armenian Genocide today, but this has not always been the case. Under the Soviet Union, they were forced to remember their tragedy in silence. To practice commemoration the way they wanted to, Armenians had to fight for it themselves.

After Armenians settled in Binghamton, they formed a small community through their shared religion and collective trauma. For years, the survivors could not talk about the Genocide, but now that the children and grandchildren of these survivors have grown up, the descendants have taken it upon themselves to commemorate their national tragedy.

PART 1: The Armenian Genocide of 1915 dispersed many Armenians all around the world. A few of them ended up in Binghamton, a small city in Upstate New York. In this episode, we talk to descendants of the survivors in Binghamton to hear more about how religion brought them together as a community.