News Releases

Jewish, Armenian Communities to Explore "Generations of Genocide"

April 26, 2004

Greater PortlandÕs Jewish and Armenian communities will host an historic program to commemorate and examine the effects of the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide on subsequent generations.

"Generations of Genocide," will take place on Sunday, May 2 at 2 p.m. in the Luther Bonney Auditorium on the University of Southern Maine's Portland campus.

Vigen Guroian, professor of theology and ethics at Loyola College, Baltimore, and adjunct professor and distinguished lecturer in religious and moral education at St. MaryÕs Seminary and University, will discuss the Armenian genocide of 1915 that murdered at least one and one-half million Armenians, and its consequences for Armenians today.

Abraham Peck, director of USM's Academic Council for Post-Holocaust Christian, Jewish and Islamic Studies and adjunct professor of history, will discuss the Holocaust that murdered six million Jews during World War II and its consequences for the Jewish community.

The speakers will be followed by a panel discussion that will include several generations of the Armenian and Jewish communities, and will be moderated by Simon Payaslian from Clark University.

The 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide will be commemorated with a poetry reading by Father Joseph Bizimana of catholic charities of Maine, a Rwandan genocide survivor.

The program comes just a week after the annual Holocaust Days of Remembrance and the April 24 Armenian Genocide commemoration. It is sponsored by the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, The Armenian Cultural Association of Maine, The Academic Council for Post-Holocaust Christian, Jewish and Islamic Studies at USM and the Holocaust Human Rights Center of Maine. A reception will follow the program.

For more information call the Jewish Community Alliance, 772-1959 or the Academic Council for Post-Holocaust Christian, Jewish and Islamic Studies at USM, 780-5331.

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