Lessons of "Kristallnacht" International Seminar at UNESCO

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE -EUROPE
66 rue Laugier -75017 Paris
Tel.+33-147237637 - Fax: +33-147208401
e-mail: csweurope@gmail.com

Lessons of "Kristallnacht" International Seminar at UNESCO

Paris,

Five years of Nazi rule preceding "Kristallnacht" should have set offshrill alarm bells. The response, however, was appeasement, Nelson'seye and a deaf ear. Demonization, delegitimization, boycott,exclusion and assault on the Jews should have shaken every governmentand all concerned with civic responsibility.

Have we learned the lessons well enough to apply them pre-emptivelyand preventively? Is recurrence inevitable?

An international seminar, organized by Association Verbe et Lumière – Vigilance and the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, was opened by UNESCO Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura, in Paris.

<--Photo: UNESCO Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura with Michael Phillips, Harriet Tamen (both of Verbe et Lumière - Vigilance), RabbiAbraham Cooper and Shimon Samuels.

A historical overview of the "Night of Broken Glass" – the November1938 prelude to the Holocaust – was given by Diane Afoumado, RabbiPauline Bebe and Michael Berkowitz.

A session, entitled "Ever Again", held a series of eye-witnesstestimonies to "Kristallnacht" itself (Paul Schaffer), assaults onRoma in 1938 and today (Ian Hancock), atrocities in Rwanda (AssumptaMugiraneza) and in Bosnia (Muhamed Mesic).

Under the theme of "Warnings Ignored", media responsibility then and nowwas examined, with case studies from France, Italy and the Maghreb(Michel Gurfinkiel, Martino Pablo Oro, Jacky Kadoch and RobertAssaraf, Michel Zerbib, Gideon Kouts).

On "Warnings Ahead", Vatican Secretary for Relations with the Jews,Father Norbert Hofmann, addressed the role of the Church, theCentre's Associate Dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, presented onlinehate-incitement, and columnist Amir Taheri drew parallels with thegenocidal language and intent of Iran's Ahmadinejad.

Introduced by Verbe et Lumière's Harriet Tamen, the keynote speakeron "Lessons, Risks, Responses" was British historian Sir MartinGilbert, who spoke of available mechanisms of rescue andintervention.

In the presence of UNESCO officials and diplomats, the 50-panelexhibition, "Nazi Euthanasia of the Handicapped: Hitler's FirstVictims" was inaugurated by its creator, Giovanni de Martis of theItalian Historical Association "Olokaustos". The exhibit will nowbegin an international tour.

The seminar was closed by Verbe et Lumière President, Michael Phillips,and Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr ShimonSamuels, with the day summarized by Eric de Rothschild, President ofthe Paris Memorial to the Shoah.

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at+33.609.77.01.58.

<--Photo: International première of the exhibition "Nazi Euthanasiaof the Handicapped: Hitler's First Victims" L-R: Graham Morris (Chairman of SWC-UK), Ambassador Giuseppe Moscato (Permanent Delegate of Italy to UNESCO), AssumptaMugiraneza(University of Kigali, Rwanda), Graciela Samuels (UNESCO), Giovanni Costantini (Olokaustos, Venice), Ambassador Catherine Colonna (Permanent Delegate of France to UNESCO), Adv.Harriet Tamen (Verbe et Lumière), Michael Phillips (Verbe et Lumière), Ambassador Günter Overfeld (Permanent Delegate of Germany to UNESCO), Giovanni De Martis (Olokaustos, Venice), SirMartin Gilbert, Eric de Rothschild (President, Mémorial de la Shoah), Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Shimon Samuels

The proceedings will soon be available on www.verbelumiere.org andwww.wiesenthal-europe.com