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.)