Margaret Ajemian Ahnert, author of the acclaimed memoir The Knock at the Door: A Journey Through the Darkness of the Armenian Genocide, will speak at the Ararat-Eskijian Museum, 15105 Mission Hills Road, Mission Hills, CA, on Sunday, February 3, at 4:00 p.m.  The lecture will be co-sponsored by the Museum and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).

In 1915, the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire were subjected to a campaign of mass killings and expulsions from their ancestral lands.  In The Knock at the Door, Ahnert relates her mother Ester’s terrifying experiences as a young woman who survived the Armenian Genocide.

At age 15, Ester was separated from her foster family during a forced march away from her birth town of Amasia.  Though she faced unspeakable horrors at the hands of many she met on the road and was forced into an abusive marriage against her will, she never lost her faith, quick wit, or ability to see the good in people.  Eventually she escaped and made her way to America