Respect and Being an Upstander
9:05 – 9:55 a.m.
Memorial Union, Alumni Lounge (Room 202) and Online
Oskar Knoblauch
Holocaust Survivor
My name is Oskar Knoblauch. I was born in Leipzig Germany in 1925. In 2010, I self-published my book, A Boy’s Story A Man’s Memory-Surviving the Holocaust 1933-1945. I am currently an active public speaker and a board member of the Phoenix Holocaust Survivors' Association. My campaign urges students, teachers and adults of all ages to proactively teach and promote Holocaust education. I also stress the importance of respect, tolerance and to be an upstander... to stand up and speak out for what is right! Together, I believe we can work in harmony to be the voice of tolerance in our hearts, our communities, our country and the world.
Ethnocide and the Role of Native American Boarding Schools
10:10 – 11 a.m.
Memorial Union, Alumni Lounge (Room 202) and Online
Dr. Stefanie Kunze
Northern Arizona University
Stefanie Kunze holds a PhD in political science and is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Northern Arizona University. Dr. Kunze specializes in perpetrators of genocide and ethnocide, Native American history and political, societal and social challenges. Her current work is focused on perpetrators of ethnocide in Native America, as well as policy responses to pandemic-related needs in tribal communities.
The impact of the declaration of Jihad 1914, and the participation of the Kurds in the Assyrian genocide of 1915
11:15 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.
Memorial Union, Alumni Lounge (Room 202) and Online
Sabri Atman
The University of Texas at Dallas
Mr. Atman was born in Arbo, Nisibin (Tur Abdin, Assyria) in southeastern Turkey in the indigenous lands of the Assyrians. He moved to Austria due to political reasons and then to Sweden five years later. He received his first master’s degree in economics from the University of Gothenburg. He also received his second master’s degree in Human rights and Genocide studies from Kingston University in London, University of Siena in Italy, University of Warsaw in Poland and Frankfurt University in Germany. His third master's degree is in History from Clark University in Massachusetts. Mr. Atman is the founder and director of the Assyrian Genocide Research Center (SEYFO Center) and is currently doing his PhD in History at the University of Texas, Dallas.
Comparative Panel 1: Memory and Denial
12:20 – 2 p.m.
Memorial Union, Alumni Lounge (Room 202
Panelists
Dr. Henry Theriault
Worcester State University
Henry C. Theriault is Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Worcester State University, after teaching in its philosophy department from 1998 to 2017. He has spoken and published widely on mass violence against women and girls and genocide perpetration, denial, victim-perpetrator relations and prevention. He was the lead author of Resolution with Justice: The Report of Armenian Genocide Reparations Study Group. With Samuel Totten, he co-authored The United Nations Genocide Convention: An Introduction. Theriault served as International Association of Genocide Scholars President from 2017 to 2021. He is the founding co-editor of Genocide Studies International.
Dr. Timothy Langille
Arizona State University
Timothy Langille specializes in Jewish history, memory studies, trauma studies and genocide studies. He teaches courses on Hebrew Bible, Jewish history and genocide.
Dr. Stefanie Kunze
Northern Arizona University
Stefanie Kunze holds a PhD in political science and is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Northern Arizona University. Dr. Kunze specializes in perpetrators of genocide and ethnocide, Native American history and political, societal and social challenges. Her current work is focused on perpetrators of ethnocide in Native America, as well as policy responses to pandemic-related needs in tribal communities.
Moderator: Dr. Volker Benkert
Arizona State University
Volker Benkert studied history and English at the Universities of Bonn, Edinburgh, St. Petersburg, and Fribourg. He graduated with a master's degree from the University of Bonn and a doctorate from the University of Potsdam. His research focuses on the impact of sudden regime change on biographies in 20th century Germany and Europe. In addition to relying on traditional sources, he utilizes extended biographical interviews. Furthermore, he is interested in the formation and function of discourses on the totalitarian past on an individual and collective level. Identifying pervasive discourse patterns, particularly among ordinary Germans helps to reveal the transmission of often apologetic views of the past over generations.
State Department's Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today -- "JUST" Act Report
2:15 – 3:20 p.m.
Memorial Union, Alumni Lounge (Room 202) and Onlin
Cherrie Daniels
United States Department of State
Cherrie Daniels is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. She served as the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues in the State Department from 2019-2021 and is now in full-time German language study en route to her next posting at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. Cherrie joined the State Department in 1993. Prior to her assignment as Special Envoy, she served as Director of the Executive Secretariat Staff in the Office of the Secretary of State, Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, and Political/Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo. She was a State Department detailee to the White House in 2012-2013, where she served in the Office of the Vice President as Special Advisor for Europe and Russia. Earlier in her career, Ms. Daniels served as the Director of the U.S. Embassy’s American Center in Jerusalem and as a Pearson Foreign Affairs Fellow in the office of Senator Joseph Lieberman. In 2006, she earned the Secretary of State’s Swanee Hunt Award for Advancing Women’s Role in Policy Formulation in recognition of her work to promote the participation of women as peacemakers in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hailing from Richardson, Texas, Ms. Daniels earned a BA from Princeton University and a Master of Science in foreign service from Georgetown University.
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Prior to Cherrie Daniels' talk will be a video greeting by Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat.
Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat serves as Special Adviser on Holocaust Issues to Secretary Blinken. He is a former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, and Ambassador to the European Union. Currently, he is with the law firm of Covington & Burling.
The Holocaust in Poland
3:45 – 5 p.m.
Memorial Union, Alumni Lounge (Room 202)* and Onlin
Dr. Jan Grabowski
University of Ottawa, Canada
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 has been appointed a Distinguished Fellow at the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich, Germany. In 2018 he co-edited and co-authored “Dalej jest noc” [Night Without End] (a two-volume study of the fate of the Jews in selected counties of occupied Poland), to be published later this year in English by Indiana University Press. 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.
*This speaker will be presenting virtually and broadcast into the room.
Rural Street Klezmer Band Concert
5 - 6 p.m.
Between The Memorial Union and Hayden Library, ASU Tempe Campus
Holocaust by Bullets
Keynote Speaker
6:30 – 8 p.m.
Memorial Union, Arizona Ballroom (Room 221) and Online
Father Patrick Desbois
Yahad-In Unum
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.
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The Phoenix Boys Choir will perform a short concert as the prelude to Father Desbois presentation.
The Phoenix Boys Choir provides choral music training, education, performance opportunities and learning experiences that instill excellent musicianship and critical values in young people. Our program develops responsible, caring, creative young people who will be our future leaders and citizens endowed with a passion for the performing arts and community.