By Rafael Medoff
One hundred and seven leading Holocaust and genocide scholars from around the world have sent a letter of protest to President Obama, urging him to cancel a planned visit to the United States by Sudanese leaders involved in the Darfur genocide.
The delegation will represent Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for his role in the Darfur genocide. Heading the delegation will be Bashir adviser Nafie Ali Nafie, a prominent participant in the mass killings.
The letter of protest was organized by The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, based in Washington, D.C. It is the latest in a series of Wyman Institute initiatives seeking U.S. action to stop the Darfur atrocities and bring Bashir to justice.
“We must make it clear to the perpetrators of genocide that the United States will treat them as outlaws and bring them to justice, not treat them as respected statesmen and bring them here for friendly visits,” the letter of protest argues.
The letter continues: “[W]e have just marked the 70th anniversary of the tragic Bermuda conference of 1943, at which the United States and England pretended to take an interest in the victims of Nazi genocide, but then did nothing to intervene. Let us not repeat that tragic mistake. The victims of Darfur must not be abandoned as were the Jews of Europe.”
The 107 signatories on the letter, who come from the United States, Germany, Canada, Israel, England, South Africa, and Sweden, include the most distinguished figures in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies. The signatories include:
Prof. David S. Wyman, author of The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941-1945.
Prof. Yehuda Bauer, former director of
Yad Vashem’s International Center for Holocaust Studies.
Prof. Deborah Lipstadt of Emory University, author of History on Trial.
Prof. Walter Reich, former director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
There are two Connecticut signatories:
Prof. Richard L. Rubenstein, President Emeritus, University of Bridgeport
Prof. Ben Kiernan, Director, Genocide Studies Program, Yale University, Author of Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur.
The complete text of the petition and a full list of signatories is included below.
Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies based in Washington, D.C., a research and education institute focusing on America’s response to the Holocaust. It is named in honor of the eminent historian and author of the 1984 best-seller The Abandonment of the Jews, the most important and influential book concerning the U.S. response to the Nazi genocide. The Institute’s Advisory Committee includes Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, Members of Congress, and other luminaries. Its Academic Council includes more than 50 leading professors of the Holocaust, American history, and Jewish history. The Institute’s Arts & Letters Council, chaired by Cynthia Ozick, includes prominent artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers. (For a complete list, please visit www.WymanInstitute.org.)
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
May 6, 2013
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
As scholars who have written or taught about the Holocaust or other genocides, we are deeply troubled by the news that your administration intends to host a visit by a delegation representing Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for his role in the Darfur genocide.
As recently as March 28, 2013, Amnesty International reported that Sudanese “government forces” are still “carrying out multiple large-scale attacks against civilians in North Darfur…Border Guards, who are under the authority of the Sudanese Military Intelligence, have been involved in attacks that have reportedly killed more than 500 people so far this year.”
We must make it clear to the perpetrators of genocide that the United States will treat them as outlaws and bring them to justice, not treat them as respected statesmen and bring them here for friendly visits.
Mr. President, we have just marked the 70th anniversary of the tragic Bermuda conference of 1943, at which the United States and England pretended to take an interest in the victims of Nazi genocide, but then did nothing to intervene. Let us not repeat that tragic mistake. The victims of Darfur must not be abandoned as were the Jews of Europe.
Respectfully yours,
Prof. David S. Wyman
University of Massachusetts-Amherst (emer.)
Prof. Yehuda Bauer
Yad Vashem and Hebrew University (emer.)
Prof. Mehnaz M. Afridi
Director, Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center
Manhattan College
Prof. Edward Alexander
University of Washington (emer.)
Dr. Marie Baird
Duquesne University
Prof. Omer Bartov
Brown University
Prof. Paul R. Bartrop
Director, Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies
Florida Gulf Coast University
Prof. William M. Batkay
Montclair State University
Prof. Alan L. Berger
Florida Atlantic University
Prof. Paul Bookbinder
University of Massachusetts-Boston
Dr. Harold Brackman
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Prof. James P. Buchanan
Director, The Edward B. Brueggeman Center for Dialogue
Xavier University
Prof. Daniel Burston
Duquesne University
Prof. Israel Charny
Executive Director, Institute on the Holocaust & Genocide, Jerusalem
Prof. Isaac Cohen
Northwestern University
Prof. Deborah Dwork
Clark University
Dr. Helen Fein
Institute for the Study of Genocide/BCSIA
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Prof. Henry Feingold
Graduate Center of CUNY (emer.)
Rev. Lawrence Frizzell
Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies
Seton Hall University
Prof. Allon Gal
Ben-Gurion University (emer.)
Snunit Gal
M. Ed., Early Childhood Education, Israel
Prof. Zev Garber
Los Angeles Valley College (emer.); Editor, Shofar
Prof. Jay Geller
Vanderbilt Divinity School
Prof. Haim Genizi
Bar Ilan University (emer.)
Prof. Sharon Gillerman
University of Southern California
Director, Edgar F. Magnin School of Graduate Studies, Hebrew Union College
Prof. Myrna Goldenberg
Montgomery College (emer.)
Prof. David Golinkin
Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies
Prof. Gershon Greenberg
American University
Dr. Alex Grobman
America-Israel Friendship League
Dr. Elvira Groezinger
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, Berlin
Prof. Elisha Gurfein
Montclair State University
Prof. Bernard Harrison
University of Utah (emer.)
University of Sussex (UK) (emer.)
Prof. Dagmar Herzog
Graduate Center, City University of New York
Prof. Susannah Heschel
Dartmouth College
Prof. Herb Hirsch
Co-Editor, Genocide Studies International
Virginia Commonwealth University
Prof. Robert K. Hitchcock
Michigan State University
Prof. Maureen S. Hiebert
University of Calgary, Canada
Prof. Ron Hollander
Montclair State University
Prof. Sara R. Horowitz
Director, Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies
York University, Canada
Dr. Steven Leonard Jacobs
The University of Alabama
Prof. Stephen M. Johnson
Montclair State University
Prof. Aristotle Kallis
Lancaster University (UK)
Prof. Ben Kiernan
Director, Genocide Studies Program, Yale University
Author of Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and
Extermination from Sparta to Darfur
Dr. Rebecca Kook
Ben-Gurion University
Prof. Neil J. Kressel
Director, Honors Program in the Social Sciences
William Paterson University
Rev. Vincent A. Lapomarda, S. J., Ph. D.
Coordinator of the Hiatt Holocaust Collection
The College of the Holy Cross
Prof. Fred A. Lazin
Ben-Gurion University (emer.)
Prof. Paul A. Levine
Uppsala University, Sweden
Prof. Jason K. Levy
Virginia Commonwealth University
Prof. Deborah Lipstadt
Emory University
Prof. Marcia Sachs Littell
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein
Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, NYC
Dr. Rafael Medoff
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
Prof. Robert Melson
Purdue University (emer.)
Prof. Rochelle L. Millen
Wittenberg University
Prof. Paul Miller
McDaniel College
Prof. James F. Moore
Valparaiso University
Tali Nates
Director, Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre
Prof. Stephen H. Norwood
University of Oklahoma
Prof. Michael Novak
Ave Maria University
Prof. Paul Oppenheimer,
The City College and Graduate Center, The City University of New York
Prof. Zsuzsanna Ozsvath
Director, Holocaust Studies Program
University of Texas at Dallas
Prof. David Patterson
Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies
University of Texas at Dallas
Natalie Pavlik
Director, Nunca Olvidar Foundation
Rev. John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Ph.D
Catholic Theological Union
Prof. Monty Noam Penkower
Machon Lander Graduate School of Jewish Studies (emer.)
Prof. Susan Pentlin
University of Central Missouri (emer.)
The Rev. Peter A. Pettit, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding
Muhlenberg College
Prof. Michael Phayer
Marquette University
Prof. Eunice G. Pollack
University of North Texas
Prof. Elena G. Procario-Foley
Chair, Religious Studies Department
Iona College
Prof. Ronald Radosh
Adjunct Fellow, The Hudson Institute
City University of New York (emer.)
Prof. Walter Reich
George Washington University
Former Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Prof. Carol Rittner
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Prof. Paul Lawrence Rose
The Pennsylvania State University
Prof. Peter Rose
Smith College (emer.)
Prof. Thane Rosenbaum
Director, Forum on Law, Culture, and Society
Fordham University School of Law
Prof. Alvin H. Rosenfeld
Director, Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism
Indiana University
Prof. John K. Roth
Claremont McKenna College (emer.)
Prof. Richard L. Rubenstein
Florida State University
President Emeritus, University of Bridgeport
Prof. Gabriel Rubin
Montclair State University
Dr. Greg Sarkissian
President, International Institute for Human Rights & Genocide Studies
Prof. Robert Moses Shapiro
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Susan Heilbrunn Shapiro
University of Chicago
Prof. Baila R. Shargel
Manhattanville College
Prof. Karen Shawn
Yeshiva University
Prof. Melvin Small
Wayne State University
Prof. Philip Spencer
Kingston University, Great Britain
Author of Genocide Since 1945
Dr. Gregory Stanton
President, Genocide Watch
Prof. Leon Stein
Roosevelt University (emer.)
Prof. Oren Stier
Florida International University
Prof. Peter Tarjan
University of Miami
Prof. Henry C. Theriault
Worcester State University
Dr. Samuel Totten
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (emer.)
Author of Genocide by Attrition: Nuba Mountains, Sudan
Prof. Gil Troy
McGill University, Canada
Prof. Katharina Von Kellenbach
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Prof. Carole Gottlieb Vopat
University of Wisconsin
Prof. Kenneth Waltzer
Director, Jewish Studies
Michigan State University
Prof. Seth Ward
University of Wyoming
Dr. Racelle Weiman
Temple University
Prof. Eric D. Weitz
Dean of Humanities and Arts
City College, City University of New York
Prof. Sonja Wentling
Concordia College
Prof. Chaim I. Waxman
Rutgers University (emer.)
Prof. Victoria Saker Woeste
American Bar Foundation
Prof. John C. Zimmerman
University of Nevada Las Vegas
Dr. Bat-Ami Zucker
Bar Ilan University
Dr. Efraim Zuroff
Simon Wiesenthal Center, Jerusalem
(Institutions listed for identification purposes only.)