After the Armenian genocide a century ago, many refugees settled in the Twin Cities. Now their stories of survival are finally being told at the Museum of Russian Art, in an exhibit that is sure to educate and inspire, CBS Minnesota reported. 

“The first survivor of the Armenian genocide arrived in Minnesota in 1919,” Fr. Tadeos Barseghyan, of St. Sahag Armenian Church in St. Paul, said.

Just over 100 years ago, our state and country were engaged in World War I. And while brave Minnesotans rushed to the front lines, people in other parts of the world were fleeing oppression and persecution.

“1.5 million people died in the Armenian genocide as a result of violence against Armenian people who were ethnically different, who were a Christian minority living in a Turkish empire,” Barseghyan said.

Today, about 1,000 people of Armenian descent live in the Twin Cities. They are all descendants of genocide survivors who made it through death marches and slavery, while many of their loved ones did not, the author of the article John Lauritsen wrote.

“The wounds are so deep that even 100 years later they have not fully healed,” photographer Artyom Tanoyin said.

As a way to help heal those wounds, Tanoyin began to photograph descendants and tell their stories.

“I started taking photos of my kids and I ended up doing this,” Tanoyin said.

The exhibit is called the “Treasures of Memory and Hope.”

The Treasures of Memory and Hope exhibit will be on display at the Museum of Russian Art through Tuesday. Then it will travel to the University of Minnesota in September.