{"id":15696,"date":"2009-10-23T04:50:09","date_gmt":"2009-10-23T02:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=15696"},"modified":"2023-04-05T10:37:51","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:37:51","slug":"genocide-conference-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/10\/23\/genocide-conference-in-nyc\/","title":{"rendered":"Genocide conference in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nAs Genocide Continues to Shape World History, Landmark Conference will Seek Answers and Understanding<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

International Group of Scholars Gather to Focus Lens on Genocide through examination of Raphael Lemkin, Advocate and Initiator of United Nations Genocide Convention in 1948
\n<\/em>Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:30am EDT<\/p>\n

NEW YORK, Oct. 21 \/PRNewswire\/ — Current news headlines are a sad reminder
\nthat genocide has been, and continues to be, a stain on human existence in all
\ncorners of the world, from Rwanda to Armenia, to Darfur and beyond. Those
\nheadlines also underscore the urgency of addressing every instance of the
\ncrime, particularly in light of a statement made by Adolf Hitler before
\ninvading Poland in 1939: “… I put ready my Death’s Head units, with orders
\nto send to death, mercilessly and without compassion, all men, women, and
\nchildren of the Polish race or language. … Who, after all, still talks
\nnowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?”<\/p>\n

Inscribed on the wall of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., that quote
\nillustrates that Hitler was emboldened by the lack of international response
\nto Turkey’s killing of more than a million ethnic Armenians during World War
\nI. By contrast, however, that episode in human history was also the spark that
\nled to the tireless efforts of one man to define the crime of genocide under
\ninternational law and enable perpetrators, such as a recently arrested suspect
\nin the Rwandan genocide, to be charged and brought to justice. That man was
\nRaphael Lemkin, whose life-long devotion to the cause not only coined and
\ndefined the word “genocide,” but led to the 1948 United Nations Convention on
\nthe Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.<\/p>\n

The invaluable contributions of Lemkin will be the focus of an international
\npublic conference, “Genocide and Human Experience: Raphael Lemkin’s Thought
\nand Vision,” to be held Sunday, November 15, from 9:00 a.m.-6:30 p.m., at the
\nCenter for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street in New York City. Bringing
\ntogether for the first time an international group of historians, political
\nscientists, anthropologists, philosophers, philanthropists, and legal
\nauthorities to explore the tremendous legacy and impact of Lemkin’s work, the
\nlandmark conference will also delve into perpetually relevant questions of
\nhuman rights and the nature of human behavior.<\/p>\n

“Raphael Lemkin died in 1959, and while few people today may recognize his
\nname, most feel the impact of his work,” said Michael Glickman, Center for
\nJewish History COO. “As a young Jewish lawyer in Warsaw almost 90 years ago,
\nLemkin could not understand why it was a crime for an Armenian youth to murder
\nthe Turkish official responsible for the attempted destruction of the Armenian
\ncommunity in the Ottoman Empire, but not a crime for the government to murder
\nmore than a million Armenians. That question inspired Lemkin to devote the
\nrest of his life to fight against such horrors and to wage a campaign of
\ninternational advocacy that led to the United Nations Genocide Convention.”<\/p>\n

A wealth of Lemkin’s correspondence, along with papers documenting Lemkin’s
\nwork as an activist, are housed in the archives of the American Jewish
\nHistorical Society at the Center for Jewish History. The documents include
\ncorrespondences with public figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, General Dwight
\nD. Eisenhower, and Pearl S. Buck; Lemkin’s unfinished manuscript History of
\nGenocide; and archival footage of interviews from the 1950s. The Lemkin
\narchives will also be the subject of a special exhibition at the Center for
\nJewish History in partnership with Yeshiva University Museum scheduled to run
\nfrom November 16, 2009, to March 19, 2010.<\/p>\n

Even though the crime of genocide is often understood as mass murder alone,
\nLemkin viewed genocide as a nuanced concept, which shapes and is determined by
\nthe spheres of economics, law, society, and culture. Through Lemkin’s archival
\nwritings, the conference will focus on these gradations of genocide, as Lemkin
\nunderstood them.<\/p>\n

Opening the conference will be an historical overview and brief biographical
\naccount of Lemkin’s life, legal and other accomplishments, and perspectives on
\nthe human condition, setting the context for the panel discussions to follow.
\nTopics to be explored by three different panels fall under the broad subjects
\nof Lemkin’s perspective on cultural genocide, the complex economic and social
\nissues surrounding genocide, and the challenging relationship between
\ninternational law and genocide.<\/p>\n

Among the distinguished list of presenters are Vartan Gregorian, President,
\nCarnegie Corporation of New York; \u00a0Peter Balakian, Colgate College; Donna-Lee
\nFrieze, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia; Alexander Laban Hinton,
\nRutgers University; Jim Fussell, PreventGenocide.org; Tanya Elder, American
\nJewish Historical Society; Berel Lang, Wesleyan University; Benjamin
\nValentino, Dartmouth College; Lawrence Woocher, US Institute of Peace; Hilary
\nEarl, Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario; Benedict F. Kiernan, Yale
\nUniversity; Muhamed Mesic, Bosnia; William A. Schabas, National University of
\nIreland; and Steven Leonard Jacobs, University of Alabama.<\/p>\n

“It is the hope of the Center and the conference sponsors that this historic
\ngathering will not only provide some clearer understandings of both the
\nextraordinary courage and dynamic intellect of one individual, but will also
\nclarify the challenges that lie ahead in confronting the evil of genocide in
\nthe modern world,” continued Mr. Glickman. “It is said that those who do not
\nlearn from history are doomed to repeat it. ‘Genocide and Human Experience:
\nRaphael Lemkin’s Thought and Vision’ represents one small step to teach the
\nlessons humankind so desperately needs, as history continues to repeat itself
\nin the 21st century.”<\/p>\n

The conference is open to the general public. For more information, visit
\nwww.cjh.org\/lemkin<\/span>; or to register, log on to www.smarttix.com or call
\n212-868-4444.<\/p>\n

SOURCE \u00a0Center for Jewish History<\/p>\n

Cathy Callegari, +1-212-579-1370, cathy@callprinc.com<\/p>\n

URL: <\/span><\/div>\n

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