Los Angeles -- Dr. Vahram Shemmassian is seeking information on Musa Daghtsis in Buenos Aires, Argentina and other cities in South America for their socio-economic study during the period between the two world wars (1918-1939). Memoirs, interviews, correspondence, private papers like travel documents, and pictures could all be useful. People with pertinent information can contact Dr. Vahram at shemmassian@yahoo.com.

Los Angeles --You can now keep up with community news, events, videos and archived documents by visiting and becoming a fan of Mousa Ler Online's page on Facebook.

Los Angeles -- "Anjar: Flowers, Goats and Heroes" is the title of a documentary film by Canadian Musa Daghian Noura Kevorkian, which is going to be shown during the 12th Annual ARPA International Firlm Festival.

Directed by Canadian-Armenian and native Anjartsi Noura Kevorkian, the backdrop to the film is the history of the people of Musa Dagh – one of only three groups of Armenians to collectively survive the 1915 genocide. The film celebrates the heroism of Musa Dagh and the resilience of the people of Lebanon. It is told through the eyes of the filmmaker as an eight-year-old girl growing up during the Lebanese Civil War and the stories of the elders of her village Anjar who fought for their lives and survived the Armenian Genocide.

The film will be shown on Saturday, October 24, at the the legendary EGYPTIAN THEATER in Hollywood.

Los Angeles -- On the occasion of Musa Daghian Reverend Khoren Habeshian's latest publication titled "Kir Gyanki" a presentation will take place on Thursday, August 27, at 7:30pm, at the Armenian Prelacy located at 6252 Honolulu Avenue in La Crescenta.

The event is organized by Mousa Ler Association of California, under the auspices of Prelate Moushegh Archbishop Mardirosian. The book will be presented by Sarkis Mahserejian of Asbarez Daily.

Los Angeles -- We just got word that the 94th anniversary of the heroic battle of Musa Dagh will be commemorated in Camp Arev near Frazier Park, California, over the weekend of September 26-27.

Organized by Mousa Ler Association of California, the event will include the traditional blessing of the Herissa and mass on Sunday.

Washington, D.C. --Rare and historically significant photographs of the Armenians of Musa Dagh will be among the Genocide-era images featured in the Armenian Genocide Museum of America (AGMA), thanks to the generosity of a private collector who is providing the museum with exclusive access to the photos.

This unique collection of black-and-white photographs, dating from 1915 to 1939, is the life's work of Dr. Vahram Shemmassian, a Los Angeles-based historian who is the world's leading expert on the Armenians of Musa Dagh.

"We are profoundly grateful to Dr. Shemmassian for allowing the museum to use his priceless photo collection to help tell the heroic story of the Musa Dagh Armenians against the backdrop of the larger and much more tragic story of the Armenian Genocide," said Van Z. Krikorian, AGMA Board Trustee and Building and Operations Committee Chairman.

Krikorian said the Musa Dagh photo collection is the fourth significant collection of Genocide-era visual materials which, in the past year, have been made available for use by AGMA. AGMA has been granted access to the archives of the Near East Foundation and the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan, Armenia, and has received a donation of a privately-held research library containing books, maps, photographs and other materials focused on the Armenian Genocide and its documentation.

Dr. Shemmassian has also undertaken pioneering research on the fate of Armenian women and children during and in the aftermath of the Genocide, another focus area of the museum. Shemmassian, who is currently Director of the Armenian Studies Program at California State University, Northridge, said the Armenian Genocide Museum in Washington, DC is a "perfect match" for his collection.

"The thousands of people resisted and most of them survived, but they were forced to leave their homes. These photographs document the trying conditions and difficult challenges that the displaced Musa Dagh Armenians faced as survivors and refugees," Dr. Shemmassian said.

According to Dr. Rouben Adalian, Director of the museum's research arm, the Armenian National Institute, "There are no known photographs of the actual defense of Musa Dagh, however, the rescue and delivery to safety in Egypt of over 4,000 survivors made headline news." The Austrian author Franz Werfel also immortalized the gripping events in his "Forty Days of Musa Dagh," which became a best-seller upon its release in 1933 and was subsequently translated into numerous languages. The AGMA recently received a copy of the Dutch edition of "Forty Days of Musa Dagh" from a Canadian donor whose family had lived through World War II. Adalian added, "The book is important supplemental material to the Musa Dagh photo collection, and points to the world-wide impact of the story of the resistance of the Armenians of Musa Dagh." "Franz Werfel's book was widely read in Europe and made the Jewish author unpopular with the Nazi regime, prompting Werfel to flee Austria in 1938,"

Adalian said. He noted that according to Professor Yair Auron of the Open University of Israel, Werfel's novel was a source of inspiration and reflection for Jews who were trapped by the Nazi occupation of Europe. In one historical account, a Holocaust survivor from the Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania stated: "Our analysis of the book indicated that if the world did not come to the rescue of the Armenians, who were Christians after all, how could we, Jews, expect help? No doubt Hitler knew all about those massacres and the criminal neglect by the free world, and was convinced that he could proceed with impunity against the helpless Jews."

Quebec, Canada --Recently Raider Publishing International, New York, officially published Shoghig Kazandjian's book "The Lost I", which is now available for sale all over the world.

The book is about a Lebanese story from the days of the civil war.