Send Your Government Officials to Auschwitz (To Learn How Best to Prevent War Crimes)

by Daniel J Gerstle · 2009-11-12 18:25:00 UTC
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My colleague Amelia Green-Dove and I had a chance to have coffee with Alex Zucker, the Media Relations guru for the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, at the Empire State Building in New York. We agreed that one of the best ways to help reduce the rate of war crimes around the world is to send government officials to Oswiecim, Poland, for one of two powerful public policy seminars offered by the Auschwitz Institute on the site of some of the world's most horrendous war crimes.

The Institute, constructed painstakingly by founder Fred Schwartz with his bare hands, just rounded up one of its Raoul Wallenberg Center seminars focused on advising education and culture ministry officials on how they might commemorate war crimes sites and include lessons in education. This November's group included Serbian, Bosnian Serb, and Croatian officials working together with Argentinian, Azerbaijani, and other officials. Wonder what dinner conversation was like?

In the spring, the Institute also offers its Raphael Lemkin Center workshops, named for the man who forged much of the world's first Genocide Convention, to advise policy-makers on conflict mitigation techniques. In April, the group will be having a reunion in Argentina to help alumnae of the seminars to network with each other. Sounds great, but what's the catch?

Well, the Institute is still new and evolving, so what they offer is just the beginning, one part of a large number of efforts needed to effectively support change. The Institute will continue to invite people from places like Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Myanmar, but it must be matched with fundraising. Some governments like the idea, but may not be able or willing to front the airfare. What do you say? Want to buy the official of a war-threatened country a ticket to go see Birkenau and, perhaps, bring some lessons back home?

[Photo: Leftover arms and legs at Auschwitz, Muddyclay.]

Daniel J Gerstle is a journalist, human rights researcher, and humanitarian aid consultant. He is Editor and Chief Correspondent for HELO: The Crisis Story Magazine.
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