The Florida Holocaust Museum Presents Genocide and Human Rights Awareness Month

The opening reception was on Saturday, March. 31, 2012 – Peace Should Not Be This Fragile – A Portrait of Panzi with Special Guest Michael Berenbaum, Ph.D. The art exhibition is on view from April 1st through July 1st, 2012. Through the artwork of area students and Philadelphia-based sculptor Peter Frantz, visitors to the Florida Holocaust Museum learn about the humanitarian crisis and the vibrant culture imperiled by violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Special guest Berenbaum is a writer, lecturer, and teacher consulting in the conceptual development of museums and the development of historical films. He is the author and editor of twenty books, scores of scholarly articles, and hundreds of journalistic pieces. Berenbaum is the director of the “Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust at the American Jewish University,” where he is also a professor of Jewish Studies. He was the Director of the United States Holocaust Research Institute at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Hymen Goldman Adjunct Professor of Theology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Berenbaum served as Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, overseeing its creation. He also served as Deputy Director of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust where he authored its Report to the President.

Panzi Foundation USA is a partner of Artfully AWARE. The mission of Panzi Foundation is to raise awareness about the challenges in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and to partner with the Panzi Hospital located in Bukavu, Kivu to heal women and restore lives. Please visit our photo album from the event by clicking here.

Genocide and Human Rights Awareness Month (GHRAM) is an annual initiative of the Florida Holocaust Museum. The goal of GHRAM is to build public awareness about the current genocide in Darfur and past genocides including the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, the Rwandan genocide as well as other human rights violations. Programming during GHRAM includes exhibitions, commemorative events and programs focused on public awareness. The following events are all free with no RSVPs required:

Carl Wilkens, I’m Not Leaving – Rwanda’s Remarkable Journey Out of Genocide. April 5, 2012, 6:30pm at the Florida Holocaust Museum. As a humanitarian aid worker, Carl Wilkens moved his young family to Rwanda in the spring of 1990. When the genocide was launched in April 1994, Wilkens refused to leave, even when urged to do so by close friends, his church and the United States government. He was the only American to remain in the country. Venturing out each day into streets crackling with mortars and gunfire, he worked his way through roadblocks of angry, bloodstained soldiers and civilians armed with machetes and assault rifles to bring food, water and medicine to groups of orphans trapped around the city. His actions saved the lives of hundreds. Wilkens will discuss his experiences which are recounted in his book, I’m Not Leaving.

Yom HaShoah Commemoration (Holocaust Remembrance Day). My Lost Childhood – Survival – Revisiting Poland 68 Years Later: Have Faith, Never Give Up, Never Lose Hope – Witnessing the Terror and Calamity of the Holocaust as a Child. April 19, 2012, 6:30pm at the Florida Holocaust Museum. After a commemorative ceremony led by the Pinellas County Board of Rabbis, keynote speaker, Dr. E. Edward Herman will share his story as a Holocaust Survivor and his experience of returning to Poland where he lived in the ghetto before escaping to Hungary.

Erase Hate Tampa Bay Festival. April 21, 2012, 12pm – 9pm at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. The Erase Hate Tampa Bay Festival will raise awareness of the dangers of bullying and hate driven behaviors. The family-friendly event features live music and performers. Activities include rock climbing, facing painting and more.

Armenian Genocide Commemoration. April 24, 2012, 6:30pm at St. Hagop Armenian Church, 7010 90th Avenue, Pinellas Park, FL 33782 with contact number 727.545.0380. Keynote speaker, Ronald Grigor Suny is the Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor of Social and Political History and Director of the Eisenberg Institute of Historical Studies at the University of Michigan and Emeritus Professor of Political Science and History at the University of Chicago. He was the first holder of the Alex Manoogian Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan, where he founded and directed the Armenian Studies Program. He is the author of several books, including Armenia in the Twentieth Century. He is currently working on a two-volume biography of Stalin for Oxford University Press, a short history of the Armenian Genocide, a series of essays on empire and nations and studies of emotions and ethnic politics. He has appeared numerous times on the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, CBS Evening News, CNN, Voice of America and National Public Radio.

Pardoll Family Lecture Series: Escape from Slavery by Francis Bok. April 30, 2012, 6:30pm at the Florida Holocaust Museum. Francis Bok was a seven year-old Sudanese Dinka boy when he was captured by Arab gunmen and forced into slavery. He spent ten grueling years as a slave, tending large herds of goats and cattle, enduring numerous beatings and living on scraps from his owner’s meals. Finally, on his third attempt, he was successful in escaping. Bok made his way to a refugee camp where he spoke openly abiout his captivity. He was soon sent to prison for “speaking out against the government.” After his release from prison, he eventually was granted UN refugee status and came to the United States. He was the first escaped slave to testify before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and has met with former President George Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright and other important leaders. His book, Escape from Slavery is considered an important record of the experience of contemporary slavery.