Survivors

With a family history that deeply influenced his worldview, Pedro Mouratian played a key role in passing the Argentinian law recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Manuschak Karnusian was born in 1960 to a Swiss mother and an Armenian father. She grew up in Gstaad, Switzerland, and pursued a career as a bookseller and a flight attendant with Swissair before becoming a trainee journalist with the Berner Zeitung newspaper. She worked as a journalist and editor for the Förderband radio station and the newspaper Tessiner Zeitung. Manuschak and her partner Jürg Steiner ran a press office in the Swiss canton of Ticino and co-authored two travel guides for the area. Today, Manuschak Karnusian is the head of communications at the Swiss organization “Brot für alle” (“Bread for Everyone”). She lives with her partner and their two children in the vicinity of Bern.

Ever since I was a child, I knew that being Armenian was part of my identity. Whenever I was lost, I would say things like “My name is Maral Necole Attallah, I am Armenian Orthodox, I live at…” My parents said I included the “Armenian Orthodox” part on my own.

Professor Garabed Antranikian is a world-famous and highly regarded microbiologist. He is a recipient of the most coveted European environmental award, the Environment Prize of the German Environment Foundation. Antranikian has achieved unprecedented success in developing environmentally friendly products, particularly in the production of new materials and fuels obtained from renewable resources.

Forbes magazine calls Alexis Ohanian “Mayor of the Internet” and has included him in its “30 Under 30” list as an important figure in the technology industry for two years in a row. He was featured as “Champion of Innovation” in Wired magazine in 2013. A fan of System of a Down, Alexis believes that the band’s best show so far has been the April 23 concert in Yerevan this year.

Opera singer Natalie Aroyan is one of Australia’s finest sopranos. Though she leads a life of global travel and stage success, she remains acutely aware of her Armenian roots. She marked the centennial of the Armenian Genocide by writing and performing a new stage production, “An Armenian Journey,” at the Sydney Concert Hall.

His father named him Antranig in memory of the Manoukian tribe patriarch, who fought as a fedayi under the renowned General Antranig. He goes by his second name, André, but his fans affectionately call their favorite TV presenter “Dédé.” By blood he is 100 percent Armenian, minus the melancholy.

Being Armenian is a huge part of my identity. I am a third generation Armenian, born from a line of Armenian Genocide survivors who have handed down a cross for me to carry, a reminder that as an Armenian descendant I must continue to thrive and maintain our rich Indo-European culture.

Every voice deserves to be heard and every story is worth telling. Here are five survival stories submitted by our users. More coming soon!

World-renowned actor and performance artist Eric Bogosian is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Captain Daniel Ross on the hit TV detective show “Law and Order.” He has authored six plays and starred in many of his own plays, including “Talk Radio” and “subUrbia.” Born in Boston, he grew up in Woburn, Massachusetts, where he graduated from high school before moving to Ohio to attend Oberlin College.