August 13, 2008
Arab and Islamic political expert to discuss 'villains' and 'heroes' of the Holocaust
Did any Arabs save any Jews during the Holocaust? The question will be addressed in "In search of an Arab Schindler" a talk by Robert Satloff, executive director of The Washington Institute of Near East Policy, at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 10, in Tilton Hall, 2nd floor of the Higgins University Center, 950 Main Street. Satloff's lecture is presented by Clark University's Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Searching for a new way to engage Arabs in conversation about a taboo topic, historian Robert Satloff set off on what became a four-year, four-continent, 11-country project that uncovered a complex and largely lost chapter in the history of Jews, Arabs, and all people committed to the idea of "never again."
An expert on Arab and Islamic politics as well as U.S. Middle East policy, Robert Satloff is a key analyst of the Arab-Israeli peace process, the Islamist challenge to the growth of democracy in the region, and the need for bold and innovative public diplomacy to Arabs and Muslims. Soon after September 11, 2001, Dr. Satloff and his family moved to Rabat, capital of Morocco, where his research focused on unearthing stories of Arab "heroes" and "villains" of the Holocaust. His discoveries, which helped convince the German government to award compensation to Jewish survivors of labor camps in North Africa, are the subject of his award-winning bestseller, "Among the Righteous: Lost Stories of the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands" (Public Affairs, 2006).
This event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow. For more information, call 508-793-8897.
The Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University is an exciting forum for education about the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, and other genocides around the globe. Dedicated to teaching, research, and public service, the Center trains the Holocaust historians and genocide studies scholars of the future. The mission of the Center reaches beyond the boundaries of the University: to provide a lecture series free of charge and open to the public; to educate professionals of many fields about genocide and the Holocaust; to use scholarship to address current problems stemming from the murderous past; and to engage the world in which we live by providing an educated voice in the public arena.