Purdue News

March 26, 1999 Holocaust conference offers hope for human rights WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The 18th annual Holocaust Remembrance Conference will be April 17 and 18 at Purdue University with the theme of "Reawakening Trust -- Rebirth of Hope." "This year, many of our 'stars' are under age 30," conference coordinator Rabbi Gedalyah Engel said of the people who are speaking at the conference. "We are seeing a trust developing between the older and younger generations as they work together for human rights." The annual conference attracts a diverse group of participants for the discussion of human rights topics. In addition to this year's sessions on the Holocaust, there will be presentations on violations in Kosovo, Nigeria and China. All sessions are free and open to the public and will be in the Class of 1950 Lecture Hall on Purdue's campus. Among the conference participants: Hafsat Abiola, director of the Kudirat Institute for Nigerian Democracy. The conference is dedicated to the memory of her father, Moshood, 1993 president-elect of Nigeria who recently died in jail under suspicious circumstances. She will speak at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 18. Harry E. Ashton, director of Operation Bosnia and Operation Kosovo. He completed a research externship in Bosnia-Herzegovina with constitutional court justices. His activist efforts include developing an Internet data base for providing free information to citizens, media and the courts. He will speak at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 17. Ruth Bevan, chairwoman of the Yeshiva University Department of Political Science. She traveled to Bulgaria in 1995 to study the 1943 Bulgarian resistance to the Nazi-ordered deportation of all Jews. Her talk will be at 2:10 p.m. Saturday. Irwin Levin, an Indianapolis attorney who is one of 10 lawyers in the United States who served on the executive committee of the worldwide action against Swiss banks. The suit recently was settled for $1.25 billion in reparations for Holocaust survivors or their progeny. He continues to work on additional cases, including one against manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and poison gas used in Nazi medical research and killings. His talk will be at 3 p.m. Sunday. Charlotte Guthmann Opfermann, survivor of Thieresenstadt concentration camp. She escaped to the United States in 1946 and returns to Germany several times a year to teach and help create educational movies distributed by the German government. She will speak at 8:55 p.m. Saturday. Johanna Reiss, Holocaust survivor and author born in the Netherlands. Her books include "Upstairs Room" about her war years in hiding and "The Journey Back," which describes what it was like to be free again. Her talk will be at 3 p.m. Saturday. Gregory Wegner, of the Foundations of Educational Policy Department at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He has studied the history of Nazi education and the race biology curriculum as well as the legacy of the Holocaust in divided Germany and Holocaust education in unified Germany and the United States. He will speak at 3:55 p.m. Saturday. Jin Xu, a graduate student in fine arts at Boston College and daughter of Chinese dissident Wenli Xu. Her father was jailed in 1998 for trying to register a new political party in China. Jin is asking the conference for help in trying to free her father, whom she contends acted legally according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights signed by China. She will speak at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The annual Holocaust Remembrance Conference is sponsored by the Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Committee with grants from Cinergy Foundation/PSI, Eli Lilly and Co., and Gannett Foundation. The event is held in cooperation with the Diocese of Lafayette -- St. Thomas Aquinas Center, Hillel Foundation, Jewish Federation of Greater Lafayette, Tippecanoe County Ministers Association and University Religious Leaders. It also receives support from Purdue, including the Office of Human Relations, School of Education, Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship, School of Liberal Arts and the Jewish Studies Program. The schedule: Saturday, April 17 Class of 1950 Lecture Hall, Purdue University 1 p.m. Registration. 1:30 p.m. "Who's Responsible for Human Rights?" Harry E. Ashton, director of Operation Kosovo. Session Chair: Myra Mason, Conference Chair. 2:10 p.m. "Saving Bulgarian Jews." Ruth Bevan, Yeshiva University, historian. Introduced by Charles Ingrao. 3 p.m. "Rebirth from Ashes." Johanna Reiss, survivor and author. Introduced by Donna Schurman. 3.45 p.m. "Destruction and Self-destruction." Michael Golomb, survivor and mathematician. 3:55 p.m. "Germany's Silent Partners." Gregory Wegner, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Introduced by Lynn Nelson. 4:30 p.m. Concurrent Workshops on Human Rights: Nigeria: Hafsat Abiola. Chair: Arne Kvaalen. Recorder: Jim D'Amico. China: Jin Xu. Chair: Leonard Gordon. Recorder: Seth Humphrey. United Nations: Harry Ashton, Mahera Khaleque, Mathueiu Kouame, Bernardo Nelkenbaum, Lisa Neube, Rennez Traicova, Wei Hsung Wang. Chair: Rick Humphrey. Recorder: Alysa Schulhoff. Teaching the Holocaust: Rachel Peck, Trudy Nelson, Charlotte Guthmann Opfermann, Johanna Reiss, Gregory Wegner, Ben Weisel. Chair: Donna Schurman. Recorder: Emily Zauss. 8 p.m. "Ann Frank Returns -- Gleanings From Her Diary." Erika Cornstuble, actress. Introduced by Johanna Gartenhaus. Session Chair: Heather Moskowitz. 8:20 p.m. "Survivors and Protectors." Johanna Reiss, survivor. Introduced by Gordon Mork. 8:55 p.m. "Surviving the Death Camps." Charlotte Guthmann Opfermann, survivor. Introduced by Cyril Brown. 9:30 p.m. Documentary film, "My Knees Were Jumping, Remembering the Kindertransports." Introduced by Joe Haberer. Sunday, April 18 10:30 a.m. Concurrent Sessions: Class of 1950 Lecture Hall: "Semitic Diversity: Among Arabs, Among Jews." Coordinator: Joe Rubinstein. Facilitator: Ralph Webb Jr. Dayton Memorial Presbyterian Church, 731 Walnut St., (St Rd. 38), Dayton, Ind. "Childhood Recollections." Johanna Gartenhaus, survivor. Class of 1950 Lecture Hall 1:30 p.m. Mayors' Proclamation: Dave Heath and Sonya Margerum. Flame of Remembrance -- Candle of Hope. Session Chair: Herman Cember, Conference Chair. 2 p.m. "Bringing Freedom and Democracy to Nigeria." Hafsat Abiola, director, Kudirat Institute. Introduced by Marvin Blade. 2:30 p.m. "Freedom Is Subversive -- China in Chains." Jin Xu, daughter of jailed dissident Wenli Xu. Introduced by Leonard Gordon. 3 p.m. "Current Holocaust Litigation." Irwin Levin, attorney for survivors. Introduced by Marcia Goldstone, Indiana Jewish Community Relations Council. 3:45 p.m. Workshop Reports. 3:55 p.m. Panel, "Human Rights in 2000: Students as World Citizens." Moderator: Alysa Rollock, Purdue interim vice president for human relations. Panelists: Emmett Koehler, Lisa Ncube, Renne Traicova, Wei Hsung Wang, Ben Weisel. 4:45 p.m. Resolutions. Chair: the Rev. Stan Bomgarden. Related events Wednesday, April 14 12:30 p.m. Room 204 Stewart Center. Jewish Studies Noon Lecture and Discussion Series. "Switzerland and the Holocaust." Louis Beres, Purdue professor of political science. Friday, April 16 9 a.m.-Noon. Liberal Arts and Education Building. Purdue Educators' Holocaust Conference. For information, contact Purdue's Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship, (765) 494-2372. 6:45 p.m. Hillel Shabbat, 912 W. State St., West Lafayette. Services and dinner with Johanna Reiss. 8 p.m. Sons of Abraham, 661 N. Seventh St., Lafayette. Conversation Oneg, "Am I My Brother's Keeper?" Ruth Bevan. 7:30 p.m. Temple Israel, 620 Cumberland Ave., West Lafayette. "Despair and Hope in the Camps." Charlotte Guthmann Opfermann. Monday, April 19 8:30 a.m. Baptist Student Foundation, 200 Russell St., West Lafayette. University religious leaders and Tippecanoe County ministers: Hafsat Abiola, Johanna Gartenhaus, Dan Schwartz. 4:30 p.m. Krannert Auditorium, Purdue Jewish Studies Lecture. "Imagining the Holocaust: Eli Wiesel and Art Spiegelman." Dan Schwartz, professor of English, Cornell University. Source: Rabbi Gedalyah Engel, (765) 743-1716 Writer: Beth Forbes, (765) 494-9723; beth_forbes@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: The mayors of Lafayette and West Lafayette will sign a proclamation in support of the Holocaust Remembrance Conference at 10 a.m. Friday, April 16, at West Lafayette City Hall. Journalists may attend and ask questions of conference organizer Rabbi Gedalyah Engel. Photos of conference speakers are available from Engel at (765) 743-1716. To the Purdue News and Photos Page