Rosenbluth Family Foundation Genocide Awareness Week 10-Year Anniversary 2012–2022
Genocides and Mass Atrocities Discussed at GAW 1. Holocaust 2. Holodomor 3. Bosnia 4. Cambodia 5. Darfur 6. Rwanda 7. North America - Native Americans 8. Latin America - Indigenous Peoples 9. Armenia 10. Assyria - Christians 11. Guatemala - Mayan 12. Mexico - Indigenous Peoples 13. China - Uighurs 14. Myanmar - Rohingya 15. India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh 16. German Southwest Africa - Herero and Nama 17. Iraq - Yazidis 18. East Timor 19. Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey - Kurds
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Mission Statement Rosenbluth Family Foundation Genocide Awareness Week (GAW) is a week-long event seeking to address how we, as a global society, confront violent actions and current and ongoing threats of genocide and related mass atrocity crimes, throughout the world, while also looking to the past for guidance and to honor those affected by genocide.
GAW pursues three principal goals:
1. F ostering genocide education for students and interested community members, through in-person, remote and online delivery 2. P romoting interdisciplinary and comparative research 3. P roviding resources and training for teachers, police, and public servants. As a collaboration between Arizona’s public universities, GAW also supports and works with a host of organizations dedicated to genocide education throughout our state and region in the interest of sharing and co-developing genocide education resources and events
GAW @ ASU GAW, celebrating its 10-year anniversary, will bring together genocide research from all Arizona universities. GAW will be a hub for research on different genocides and comparative genocide studies with a corresponding publication of papers. GAW will leverage our place, recognizing Arizona as a home of diverse survivor communities and working with community groups, teachers, and public servants in our state to raise awareness for genocide education. GAW will coordinate genocide, social justice, World War II, and memory-related courses (onground, online and continuing education) offered across ASU, NAU, and the U of A, for which GAW would be a culminating experience. GAW’s reach to both students and life-long learners will be immense, reflecting in-person participation, live online access and the availability of recorded sessions. Graduate students and junior faculty will enjoy the opportunity to present their research, while undergraduate and community members will be invited to participate as conference volunteers.
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Letter from John Liffiton, GAW Founder Ten years ago, I had the opportunity to work with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to set up an educators’ workshop in the middle of a very dry and hot Arizona summer; Attendance was exceptionally high and showed that there was a need to offer more on the Holocaust and genocide in Arizona. I thought it would be possible to do exactly that by setting up a small two-day conference in April (Genocide Awareness Month) when educators, students, and the public would be on-hand to attend. With the full blessing and support of Dr. Jan Gehler, then president of Scottsdale Community College, I started arranging speakers and what was to be a two-day event, turned into a six-day event with day and evening speakers. Twelve hundred students, faculty, and the public attended and a second educators’ workshop was successful. I suggested doing it again and getting new speakers and different topics; and thus, the annual Genocide Awareness Week Conference (GAW) was born. Over the years, speakers have been survivors, liberators, authors, film directors, lawyers, politicians, academics, and activists. They have spoken on a myriad of topics regarding the Holocaust, the Holodomor, Armenia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur, German SW Africa, Guatemala, and Native Americans to name a few, with topics ranging from the respective genocides to art repatriation and restitution, history, diasporas, and global warming. GAW’s success has been due to partnerships with a host of organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the USHMM, Yahad in Unum, the Mémorial de la Shoah, the Phoenix Holocaust Association, St. Apkar’s Apostolic Armenian Church, the Assyrian American Cultural Association, the Arnold Leibster Foundation, ASU, NAU’s Martin-Springer Institute, and the U of A, along with numerous other universities and NGOs. These are successful partnerships and by working together GAW has become very successful over the years with attendance nearing 3,000. It has outgrown SCC and needs a larger venue; thus, the move to ASU, which has always been a major supporter. In 2018, I approached Dr. Volker Benkert who was certain that ASU could provide the venue for growth and sustainability, and fostered the idea of NAU and the U of A as major colleagues to ensure that GAW remain not only the largest genocide conference in North America, but become the premier conference in the world. I know that GAW is in good hands and will continue making certain that the world is knowledgeable about past and current genocides. On a personal level, I would like to thank the following supporters for all they have done to make GAW what it is and what it will become: Alex Alvarez, Richard Amesbury, Volker Benkert, Sheryl Bronkesh, Keith Brown, Jason Bruner, Anna Chichopek-Gajraj, Jeffery Cohen, Amy Cohn, Adrianne Curley, Barlow Der Mugredechian, Deborah Farnault-Sinclair, Janice Friebaum, Jan Hancock, Steve Hilton, Kathryn Howard, Kathleen Iudicello, Kim Klett, Oskar Knoblauch, Björn Krondorfer, Tim Langille, Fr. Sarkis Seribekyan, Robert Sutz, Hava Tirosh-Samuleson, Carl Wilkens, Cory Williams, and especially former President of SCC, Jan Gehler.
Sincerely, John Liffiton Founder and Director Genocide Awareness Week
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The Board of Directors GAW is committed to fostering genocide education, promoting research on diverse genocides and providing resources for teachers, police and other public servants. Its members come from all three public research universities in Arizona.
Alex Alvarez
Volker Benkert
Jason Bruner
Timothy Langille
Alex Alvarez is a Professor in the
Volker Benkert is an Assistant
Jason Bruner is an Associate
Timothy Langille is a Lecturer
Department of Criminology and
Professor of History at Arizona State
Professor of Religious Studies at
in Jewish Studies and Religious
Criminal Justice at Northern Arizona
University. His research explores
Arizona State University. His research
Studies at Arizona State University.
University. He has published and
the history and memory of both
interests include religion and violence,
His teaching and research focus on
presented widely on genocide
totalitarian regimes on German soil.
African history, and European
Jewish history, genocide, as well as
colonialism.
trauma and memory.
and other forms of collective and interpersonal violence.
John Liffiton
Edward O’Donnell
Gil Ribak
Hava Tirosh-Samuelson
John Liffiton is the founder of GAW
Edward O’Donnell served as
Gil Ribak is an Associate Professor
Professor Hava Tirosh-Samuelson
and has been the director for the
Ambassador and Special Envoy
of Judaic Studies at the University
is Regents Professor of History,
last 10 years of what has become
for Holocaust Issues from 2003 to
of Arizona. He has published
Irving and Miriam Lowe Professor
the largest genocide conference. He
2006. His primary responsibility
widely in the field of Modern Jewish
of Modern Judaism, and Director
has been presented with the Shofar
as the senior U.S. Government
history, especially in the context of
of Jewish Studies at Arizona State
Zahkor Award from the Phoenix
negotiator was seeking a “measure of
immigration, interethnic and interracial
University. Tirosh-Samuelson is
Holocaust Association, recognized
justice” for Holocaust survivors and
relations, and Yiddish culture.
a Jewish intellectual historian who
by the Assyrian American Cultural
the families of the victims. He also
focuses on the interplay of philosophy
Organization of America and given a
negotiated (with numerous countries
and mysticism, Judaism and science,
blessing and commendation by the
concerning) Holocaust education and
and Judaism and ecology.
Archbishop of the Western Diocese of
remembrance programs and led U.S.
the Armenian Church for his work in
diplomatic efforts in multilateral fora
genocide and Holocaust education.
to fight against antisemitism and other forms of prejudice (hate, stereotyping, and persecution). Ambassador O’Donnell is currently a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University. shprs.asu.edu/GAW
Notable Past Speakers 2013
2014
2014
2014
Carl Wilkens, author and rescuer—Rwanda
Ambasasador Harry Thomas Jr.
Ambasasador David Dunn
Ambasasador Douglas Harwick
2015
2016
2017
2018
Ambassador Clint Williamson—Armenia
Mona Golabek, Kindertransport author and concert pianist
Harold Minuskin, survivor and partisan—WWII
2019
Oskar Knoublauch, author and survivor—Holocaust
2020
2021
GAW was cancelled due to COVID-19
Clemantine Wamariya, author and survivor— Rwanda
Past Partners of GAW
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Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation
GAW Through the Years
GAW Testimonials “Phoenix Holocaust Association is proud to be associated with Genocide Awareness Week. This annual conference brings an impressive array of national and international speakers to share their knowledge with engaged audiences. It is critical to maintain discussion about the Holocaust and other genocides in order to prevent future atrocities.” -Sheryl Bronkesh, President of Phoenix Holocaust Association
“We are honored to support Genocide Awareness Week which raises awareness to crimes against humanity in areas around the world where mass atrocities are taking place. Through this essential program thousands of teachers, students and community leaders have learned from experts in the field, scholars and survivors; reminding us that Never Again is our moral responsibility.” -Amy and Andrew Cohn, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“Regrettably, our world seems to be slipping back into an age in which genocide is not only unthinkable but effectively tolerated. This ‘crime of crimes’ must be eradicated from the repertoire of human activity: it is barbarism. Education is the only answer and Genocide Awareness Week does that.” -Ambassador John Evans
“Genocide Awareness Week responds to a critical need in the 21st century world for education in the tools and practices of genocide prevention. GAW takes a broad view of this task, emphasizing subjects that are too often neglected, including sexualized violence and the role played by sexism and misogyny in the genocidal process. In bringing together scholars, activists, practitioners, teachers, students, survivors and other members of the global public to engage with difficult issues and imagine a positive path forward, the GAW offers us one of the most hopeful innovations in peace building in existence today.” -Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Endowed Chair, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College
“If we want to build a better future we must learn about the past! GAW is of vital importance, not just to our community but also to the world! If we want better-informed future generations, then we must start educating our youth now!” -Oskar Knoblauch, a Holocaust survivor and educator
“All too often, we find ourselves in silos when addressing the Holocaust as separate from other genocides, and genocides as separate from other hate crimes. GAW is a space where these legacies and injustices are thoughtfully explored every year over the course of a whole week.” -Björn Krondorfer, Director of the Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University and Endowed Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies.
“Having participated in a symposium organized by the Genocide Awareness Week at Scottsdale Community College in 2017, I have to say that this was one of the most rewarding experiences of my academic life. What made the gathering so special was the combination of intellectual rigor and compassion with which it addressed the very challenging subject matter at hand, and the exceptional community outreach the meeting engendered. Rarely have I encountered such an inspiring mix of teachers, townspeople, and students (this was emphatically not a case of academics talking to themselves). In my view, the Genocide Awareness program deserves institutional support wherever it carries its sobering but necessary message—that genocide remains a terrible part of our modern experience and can be eliminated only if we acknowledge its existence and take active measures to suppress it.” -Professor David Clay Large, University of California, Berkeley
“Commanding the first U.S. and Allied Peace Keeping Forces in Bosnia, I saw the tragedy of genocide first hand. I support Genocide Awareness Week as an important platform of genocide education, which is much needed for the prevention of genocides such as in Bosnia.” -T. Joseph Lopez, Admiral, U.S. Navy, Retired“
“Prevention starts with education. It is critical, therefore, that we keep ourselves informed about past and current cases of genocide, their causes, and their devastating after-effects. At the same time, we must continually make the effort to raise awareness of genocide as an ongoing scourge of humanity. Genocide Awareness Week provides an excellent opportunity to analyze, educate and address genocide with the hope of its prevention. During the week, it sets a precedent for the level of awareness that the global community should aspire to going forward. As a chronic problem of humanity, genocide is everyone’s business.” -George Shirinian, Executive Director, The International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A Division of the Zoryan Institute).
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Public Service @ GAW Educators, law enforcement and the justice system are at the frontline of combatting hatred, prejudice, bigotry, and ultimately genocide. This is especially important now at a time of national crisis. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has long warned that far-right groups “pose the biggest domestic violence threat to the U.S.,” and the infamous events of January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol only underscore this point.
Teaching Training Workshop
Together with renowned organizations such as Mémorial de la Shoah, Anti-Defamation League, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Echoes and Reflections, GAW offers workshops attended by more than 900 teachers in the last 10 years. These workshops provide teachers with curriculum and resources to teach the Holocaust and other genocides thus instilling ethics and empathy in our state’s youth.
Police Training Workshop
Genocide Awareness Week has long-standing partnerships with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Anti-Defamation League, who together fight hate groups, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and far-right extremist groups. Workshops for law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys provide public servants with information on how to recognize and combat such threats. GAW thus offers an important public platform for those who serve in education, law enforcement, and the judicial system.
Advisory Board Introduction The Advisory Board is composed of distinguished individuals dedicated to the success of GAW. The Board will also award the Arizona Human Rights Award to an individual who through philanthropy, education, or service has made a lasting impact to further genocide awareness.
Members of the Board will agree to:
• Provide advice and leadership on priorities, strategies, goals, challenges, and opportunities • Attend virtual or live advisory board meetings, estimated to be two per year • Assist with professional networking • Expand the visibility of GAW as an educational leader • Consider hosting an event promoting the work of GAW and forming new partnership/philanthropic opportunities • Assist with identifying, strategizing and shepherding philanthropic opportunities; and make a meaningful contribution supporting GAW or play an integral role in such a solicitation • The Board will also include Honorary Members of national and international stature who are involved in Holocaust studies, genocide awareness, and human rights initiatives
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GAW @ ASU Details Keynote Speaker on Monday, April 4, 2022 Sponsored by the Phoenix Holocaust Association Father Patrick Desbois Father Patrick Desbois is a distinguished author, university professor, historian, forensic detective and world renowned human-rights activist. He has dedicated his life to fighting the bigotry that fuels the disease of genocide and bridging the divide between faiths. His ongoing work brings closure to the victims and survivors of genocide and calls for legal justice for the perpetrators. He is the founder of Yahad-In Unum (“Together In One”), a non-profit organization dedicated to discovering genocidal practices wherever they are found around the world, providing documented proof of crimes against humanity, and a leading voice of protest on behalf of all past and present victims of mass murder. In 2015, he became a Braman Endowed Professor of the Practice of the Forensic Study of the Holocaust at the Center for Jewish Civilization of Georgetown University. He has received numerous honors for his groundbreaking work, including the Humanitarian Award from the US Holocaust Museum and the 2017 Lantos Human Rights Prize. Very notably, Yahad-In Unum and Father Desbois have been lauded by world leaders including Pope Francis as well as French President, Emmanuel Macron, who awarded him the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest honor, for his work documenting the Holocaust.
Phoenix Holocaust Association Phoenix Holocaust Association is a partnership of Holocaust survivors, their descendants and the larger community. We honor the memory and legacy of the survivors and victims, promote awareness of the Holocaust, provide education of this and other genocides, and contribute to tikkun olam, repair of the world. We are instrumental in educational efforts, for example spearheading a Holocaust Education Taskforce to provide Arizona teachers with materials and resources to teach the Holocaust and other genocides.
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Ambassador Michaela Küchler Ambassador Michaela Küchler currently serves as the Special Representative for Relations with Jewish Organisations, Issues Relating to Antisemitism, International Sinti and Roma Affairs, and Holocaust Remembrance. Her portfolio includes a wide range of issues, including cooperation with international organisations such as the OSCE/ODIHR, UNESCO, the EU, as well as with Israel and France, in the fight against antisemitism; dialogue with Jewish organizations in Germany, the United States and Central and Eastern Europe; and the promotion of Holocaust remembrance projects as well as projects to commemorate the genocide of the Sinti and Roma. As chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance her work in particular addresses the denial, distortion and diminishing of the Holocaust.
Dr. Esad Boskailo Dr. Esad Boskailo, MD is a Psychiatry Specialist in Phoenix, AZ and has over 37 years of experience in the medical field. He is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix and Associate Director of Psychiatric Residency Training at the Maricopa Integrated Health System. Trained in family medicine in Bosnia, he works with survivors of trauma from domestic abuse to war. He wrote, “Wounded I Am More Awake,” which follows Esad Boskailo, a doctor who survives six concentration camps in Bosnia and emerges with powerful new lessons for healing in an age of genocide. This gripping account raises questions for healers, survivors, and readers striving to understand the reality of war and the aftermath of terror. Is it possible to find meaning after enduring crimes against humanity?
Oskar Knoblauch As a Holocaust survivor I experienced the rise of Nazism and the ensuing European Holocaust. In 2010, I published my book, “A Boy’s Story A Man’s Memory: Surviving the Holocaust 1933-1945.” It details my family’s struggle to survive those years, a brutal time for all European Jews and millions other innocent people. My story is filled with ideals of hope, courage, love, respect, and tolerance. My voice urges students, teachers, and adults to proactively teach Holocaust education, and stresses the importance of respect and tolerance. Together we can instill tolerance into our hearts, our community, and the world!
Jan Grabowski Jan Grabowski is a Professor of History at the University of Ottawa and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His interests focus on the Holocaust in Poland and, more specifically, on the relations between Jews and Poles during the war. Professor Grabowski’s book: Hunt for the Jews. Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied Poland has been awarded the Yad Vashem International Book Prize for 2014. In 2020 Grabowski was appointed a Distinguished Fellow at the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich, Germany. In 2018 he co-edited and coauthored “Dalej jest noc” (a two-volume study of the fate of the Jews in selected counties of occupied Poland), to be published later this year in English. His most recent book On Duty. The Role of the Polish “Blue” Police in the Holocaust (Na Posterunku. Udział Polskiej Policji Granatowej i kryminalnej w Zagładzie Żydów, Czarne Publishing House), has been published in Poland in March 2020.
Clint Williamson Ambassador Clint Williamson is the senior director for International Rule of Law, Governance and Security at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at ASU and a Professor of Practice at the Sandra Day O’Connor Law School at ASU. He served as U.S. Ambassador-atLarge for War Crimes Issues from June 2006 to September 2009. Prior to this appointment, he served as Senior Director for Relief, Stabilization, and Development and as Director for Stability Operations at the National Security Council between January 2003 and June 2006. Most recently, from October 2011 to August 2014, he served as the Chief Prosecutor of the EU Special Investigative Task Force
in Brussels. In earlier postings, he worked in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations as Director of the Department of Justice in the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and as a Trial Attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Naomi Kikoler Naomi Kikoler is the director of the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide. As the Center’s deputy director, she led the Center’s policy engagement with the United States government and work on Bearing Witness countries, including undertaking the documentation of the commission of genocide by ISIS. Previously she developed and implemented the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect’s work on populations at risk and efforts to advance R2P globally and led the Centre’s advocacy, including targeting the United Nations Security Council. Prior to joining the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect in 2008, she worked on national security and refugee law and policy for Amnesty International Canada. She has also worked for the UN Office of the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, the Office of the Prosecutor at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the BrookingsBern Project on Internal Displacement at the Brookings Institution. Additionally, she has worked as an election monitor in Kenya with the Carter Center.
Mollie Zapata Mollie Zapata is the research manager for the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, where she is responsible for conducting quantitative and qualitative research on a wide range of issues related to genocide prevention, with a primary focus on the Center’s Early Warning Project. Previously Mollie had been doing natural language processing analytics at Monitor 360, an international affairs consulting firm, for various government and foundation clients. Her areas of interest are North and West Africa, conflict prediction, border security, security sector reform, transnational criminal and terrorist networks, and corruption.
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Giving to GAW Presenting Sponsor | $25,000 (Taken)
• Naming honor: Rosenbluth Family Foundation Genocide Awareness Week (GAW) • On-stage opportunity to welcome and thank guests at the opening event • Recognition of your support from the podium at all events • Display advertising at all GAW events • Your name or logo will appear in extra-large print on all electronic and print promotional materials including poster, email, print advertising, and program. • Extra-large name or logo on GAW website with link • Unlimited VIP Seating at opening session and other events • Limited edition certificate of recognition
Hero Sponsor I $15,000
• Recognition of your support from the podium at the opening event. • Display advertising at opening event. • The name or logo will appear in large print on all • Electronic and print promotional materials including poster, print advertising and program. • Large name or logo on GAW website • VIP Seating at opening session and other events (20 seats) • Limited edition certificate of recognition
Champion Sponsor | $7,500
• The name or logo will appear in medium print on all electronic and print promotional materials including poster, print advertising and program • Medium name or logo on GAW website • VIP seating at opening session (10 seats) • Limited edition certificate of recognition
Guardian Sponsor | $5,000
• The name or logo will appear in small print on electronic and print promotional materials including poster, print advertising and program • Small name and logo on GAW website • VIP Seating at Opening Session (8 seats) • Limited edition certificate of recognition
Justice Sponsor | $2,500
• The name or logo will appear on GAW website and program • VIP Seating at Opening Session (6 seats) • Limited edition certificate of recognition
Courage Sponsor | $1,000
• Acknowledgment on the GAW website • VIP Seating at Opening Session (2 seats) • Limited edition certificate of recognition
For more information on giving to Rosenbluth Family Foundation Genocide Awareness Week, please contact Alan Sandler, Associate Director of Development, Humanities in The College of Liberal Arts and Science at ASU: alan.sandler@asu.edu or (415)-518-2706.
Can’t be a sponsor?
Please consider making a donation to support this important program. For more information about supporting Rosenbluth Family Foundation Genocide Awareness Week visit:
asufoundation.org/genocideawarenessweek