New interactive biography with Armenian Genocide scholar brings history to life
LOS ANGELES — The USC Shoah Foundation is pleased to announce the addition of the first interactive biography (Dimensions in Testimony) connected to the Armenian experience on its educational platform, IWitness. This innovative resource captures the testimony and expertise of Dr. Khatchig Mouradian, a leading voice in Armenian Genocide scholarship.
Interactive biographies enable people to ask questions that prompt real-time responses from pre-recorded video interviews with Holocaust survivors, other witnesses to genocide and, now, a third-generation Armenian Genocide descendant and scholar.
Dr. Mouradian’s interactive biography hinges on his depth of expertise in academic and research roles — lecturer at Columbia University and the Armenian and Georgian Area Specialist at the Library of Congress — and his influential research and award-winning publications, such as his book, The Resistance Network: The Armenian Genocide and Humanitarianism in Ottoman Syria, 1915–1918 (2021). Users can ask about topics anywhere from Dr. Mouradian’s personal experiences growing up during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) to specific aspects of Armenian Genocide history, like humanitarianism, unarmed resistance and concentration camps.
Dr. Mouradian’s interview is accessible to educators, students and the general public worldwide on IWitness. Visitors to the platform can find guidelines that support meaningful conversations with Dr. Mouradian’s interactive biography and testimony-based resources that contextualize and humanize the history of the Armenian Genocide. To learn more about the development of Dr. Mouradian’s interactive biography and strategies for integrating it into secondary school classrooms, view the on-demand free webinar.
By Spring 2026, two additional interactive biographies of third-generation Armenian Genocide descendants, Salpi Ghazarian and Ani Hovannisian, will also be accessible on IWitness. Register now for a free webinar on March 19 to learn about how these new interactive biographies offer a deeper understanding of the Armenian experience of survival and resilience.
The interactive biography was created in partnership with the USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies, and is now part of the USC Shoah Foundation’s Keep the Promise–Armenian Genocide Education program.
About the USC Shoah Foundation
The mission of the USC Shoah Foundation is to collect, preserve and share survivor testimonies in order to increase knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust and to build a future for all that rejects antisemitism, hatred, dehumanization and genocide. With offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., the USC Shoah Foundation provides innovative educational, research and outreach opportunities as well as key learning resources for the world. The testimony archive is home to more than 59,000 testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust, contemporary antisemitism, the Armenian Genocide and other historical events of genocide. It is the largest such collection in the world.
