Advertising poster for the film “Ravished Armenia”

Advertising poster for the film “Ravished Armenia”. The film was made in Hollywood in 1918.

At the age of 14, Arshaluys (Aurora) Mardiganian lost her family before her own eyes. During the deportation she suffered violence from German officers, in the harems of Turkish officials and at the hands of Kurdish tribal chiefs. After 2 years of suffering she reached the USA. Her story became the basis of the book “Ravished Armenia”, published in 1918, and in the same year the silent film “Ravished Armenia, or Auction of Souls” was made — the first feature film about the Armenian Genocide. Aurora played herself and became the author of the screenplay. All the proceeds from the screenings, 30 million dollars, went to help 60,000 Armenian orphans in the Middle East.

The poster gives the film’s title in English, “Auction of Souls”, shows a photograph of Aurora and states that she appears in the film herself.