The Promise Film
Using films can be an important way to help students make connections to the past. The Promise is a historical fiction film that conveys a multi-perspective history of the Armenian Genocide. As the plot of The Promise unfolds in the Ottoman Empire during 1914, on the brink of its entrance into the First World War and the Armenian Genocide, viewers discover the symbolic love between friends, family, and one's national identity. The Promise shares the story of Ottoman Armenian people and the brave men and women who risked their lives to help save them from complete annihilation.
Classroom and Family Activities
Classroom Activities
Designed for middle and high school students, these classroom activities guide students through exploration of themes related to the Armenian Genocide like "us vs. them" and the role different stakeholders played in publicizing the genocide and providing relief — ending in exploration of current examples of U.S. involvement in other countries experiencing crisis, conflict, and/or genocide.
Family Activity
This guide contains support for you and your family as you learn more about the Armenian Genocide and the lessons that we can take from it today. This activity follows a Discuss, Watch, Act format to guide your family in making connections between the past, and current events, to find ways to take action to promote understanding, compassion, and remembrance.
Supporting Testimony Clips
- Aivazian remembers his grandmother's reaction to a Turkish neighbor who proposed that his family should convert to Islam to avoid deportation in the Armenian Genocide.
- Hagop speaks of the deaths of his family members and expresses his personal pain and frustration that the denial of the Armenian Genocide causes him.
- Baronian describes meeting a young Armenian woman and discovering that she and her father had survived by pretending to be Turks.
- Albert talks about being the only doctor for civilians after WWI, serving Armenian orphans in Izmit, Turkey and then being sent to Talas, Turkey where he helped 2,700 Christian orphans leave the area.
- Arshag recalls how doctors at an American hospital saved many Armenians by giving them medication and food.
- Dr. Hovannisian explains that Turkish leaders used propaganda to dehumanize Armenians and convince the Muslim majority that they needed to be eliminated.
- Hovannisian explains how social Darwinism informed the genocidal practices of the Turkish regime during the Armenian Genocide.
- Marie discusses how Armenians were portrayed as inferior by the Turks to create divisions in society.
- Mardiganian explains that the Turks wanted to massacre the Armenians for two reasons: they wanted their land, and they wanted to wipe out Christianity.
- Haiastan shares how Leslie Davis, US Consul to Harput, hid many Armenians from the Harput province in the American Consulate during the time of the Armenian Genocide.
About The Partners
The USC Shoah Foundation preserves and amplifies the voices of the past to build a future that remembers. The 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. Established in 1994, the USC Shoah Foundation found a permanent home at the University of Southern California in 2006. With survivor testimony at the center, the USC Shoah Foundation's innovative programming, global-impact strategies, and forward-looking research initiatives help foster insights and practical solutions to preserve Holocaust memory and history, confront antisemitism and strengthen democratic values.
Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in nearly 100 countries and territories.