Millersville University of Pennsylvania’s 29th Annual Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide will take place on Wednesday, April 1 until Friday April 3, 2009. This year’s conference is titled “Resisting Genocide: History, Culture and the Arts in the Holocaust and beyond.”

“In its inception, the conference was aimed almost exclusively at the study and analysis of the Jewish Holocaust and associated problems, such as the role of anti-Semitism,” said  director of the conference Dr. Saulius Suziedelis, history. “Over the years, however, while our primary interest still revolves around the Holocaust we have come to pay increasing attention to other genocides, for example, the events in Armenia and more recently in Rwanda and Bosnia.”

The University’s annual convention is the longest running Holocaust conference in the world, featuring noted scholars on the Holocaust and Genocide. Opening the conference is keynote speaker Robert Gellately, Earl Ray Beck professor of history at Florida State University, an internationally renowned scholar and award-winning author. 

Also included on April 1, Cristina Bejan, research fellow of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies (CAHS) and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) will be the chair discussant of “National Myths of Holocaust Resistance and Rescue: Slovakia, Turkey, Bulgaria.” In this discussion, various members of USHMM and CAHS will speak on the involvement of Turkey, Bulgaria and Slovakia’s role in the Holocaust and Genocide.

Films are also involved this year in the discussions, including Paul Bartorp of Bailik College in Australia’s discussion of “The Grey Zone and “Escape from Sobibor.” Mary Johnson, senior historian, will show “Blessed is the Match: The life of Hanna Senesh,” a story about Hanna Senesh, a poet and diarist during World War II. Senesh was involved in the only military rescue mission for Jews during the holocaust. 

Producer of “As Seen Through These Eyes,” Hilary Helstein, executive director of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival will lead the discussion “Art, Film and the Holocaust,” along with survivor of the Vilna Ghetto and artist Judith Goldstein. “As Seen Through These Eyes” will then be shown after the discussion. 

A musical program will take place on April 2 from 7:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. in Lyte Auditorium, featuring Dr. Robert Convery’s “Songs of Children,” written in memory of the children of the Terezin Concentration Camp. The Millersville University Chorale, directed by Dr. Jeffrey Gemmell, music, will perform. Tickets are $10 and more information can be found at www.muticketsonline.com.

The conference features a wide variety of discussions and perspectives on the Holocaust, from viewing the arts of World War II, to the anguish of victims through films and speeches, to discussions on the use of propaganda during a Genocide to appeal to emotions. 

“This is the longest ongoing conference of its kind in the world and it has a pronounced international element,” explained Suziedelus. “We have hosted presenters from Portugal, Lithuania, Poland, Bosnia, Rwanda, Israel and other countries.”

On April 1, all events will be held in the Lehr Room in Gordinier Conference Center. For more information on each of the events and speakers, please see the conference website at www.millersville.edu/~holo-con/. The Heritage Hotel in Lancaster, Pa. is providing lodging for those hoping to attend the conference. For reservations, call 717-898-2431. If you would like to be included on the mailing list for the conference, email Maggie Eichler at Maggie.eichler@millersville.edu with your name and address. 

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