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Silver&Blue
July/August 1996
Teaching Tolerance
by
Laurie Hall
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to
repeat it. Remembering the atrocities of the Holocaust,
why it happened and working for a peaceful future are
the driving forces behind the university's Center
for Holocaust, Genocide and Peace Studies.
While
several institutes around the world study either the
Holocaust, genocide or peace, only the Reno center focuses
on all three. That three-pronged approach is essential.
Center founder and director Viktoria Hertling says,
"Unless you can understand how this happens, how
can you prevent it from happening again?"
Hertling
points at the recent episodes of genocide occurring
in Bosnia and Rwanda as examples of how far we still
have to go in learning the lessons of the Holocaust.
And how hard we must work for peace in the future. The
Holocaust grimly reminds us how verbal projections of
hate can accelerate into actions of attack. "The
Holocaust didn't just happen. It came about piece by
piece. Hurtful speech can lead to hurtful actions."
Reno
may seem far removed from the Holocaust, but in just
over two years the center has touched a nerve within
the community and university: More than 600 spectators
packed a university auditorium to hear "Remembering
for the Future," a panel discussion of Reno-area
death camp survivors and liberators. A television program
Memories of the Holocaust - based on the presentation
- aired on northern Nevada public television and was
nominated for an Emmy award.
A
visit from Leopold and Mila Page, whose story of rescue
by Oskar Schindler inspired "Schindler's List,"
drew huge crowds. Last spring, a Festival for Peace
aimed at local schoolchildren led hundreds of kids to
create posters, songs and skits about what peace and
tolerance mean to them.
On
campus, there's talk of a new university minor in Holocaust,
Genocide and Peace Studies. And Hertling is beating
the bushes for funds to put a copy of "Memories
of the Holocaust" in every middle and high
school in Nevada.
Though
the Holocaust and genocide are admittedly frightening
topics, Hertling is confident future generations can
learn from their past. "Generation X" gets
a bad rap," she adds. "We hear they don't
care. But students really respond to the issues."
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