Speaker Announcement!
Monday, May 20, 2013 at 6:48PM We are proud to announce that Dr. Mukesh Kapila will be joining us as a speaker on Saturday, June 8, 2013!
Dr. Kapila is best known as the whistle blower on the genocide in Sudan. In 2003, he was the head of the United Nations in Sudan, where he was receiving information on a daily basis about the horrific crimes being committed. Alarmed and angered that officials were not paying attention or taking action, he knew he had to do something drastic. Dr. Kapila refused to be a bystander and decided to go to the media to let the world know what was going on in Sudan, knowing full well that this action would probably cost him his career. On a live television interview, he referred to Darfur as “the greatest scandal and tragedy of our time” and accused the Sudanese government of “ethnic cleansing on an inconceivably vast scale”. He soon afterward resigned from the United Nations and continues today to raise awareness of ongoing genocide and mass atrocities. He is a Special Representative on Crimes Against Humanity at Aegis Trust and a Professor at the University of Manchester. Watch this amazing short, three-minute video of Dr. Kapila’s journey and be sure to watch him speak at the National Mall installation on June 8, 2013.
We are also so excited to announce Eva Kor as a speaker for Sunday's Candlelight Vigil!
Eva Mozes Kor is a survivor of the Holocaust, a forgiveness advocate, and a revered public speaker. Powered by a never-give-up attitude, Eva has emerged through a life filled with trauma as a brilliant example of the power of the human spirit to overcome. She is a community leader, a champion of human rights, and tireless educator of young people. In 1944, Eva and her family were loaded into a cattle car packed with other Jewish prisoners and transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Eva and her twin sister Miriam were just 10 years old. At Auschwitz, the girls were ripped apart from their mother, father and two older sisters, never to see any of them ever again. Eva and Miriam became part of a group of children used as human guinea pigs in genetic experiments, under the direction of the now-infamous Dr. Josef Mengele. Approximately 1,500 sets of twins were abused, and most died as a result of these experiments. Eva herself became gravely ill, but through sheer determination, she stayed alive and helped Miriam survive. Approximately 200 children were found alive by the Soviet Army at the liberation of the camp on January 27, 1945. The majority of the children were Mengele twins. Eva and Miriam Mozes were among them. In 1995, Eva opened CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana, with a mission to prevent prejudice and hatred through education about the Holocaust. Thousands of people, including many school groups, have visited CANDLES since it opened. In 2003, the museum was destroyed by a hate-filled arsonist. Eva vowed to rebuild, and with the help of a generous public outpouring of support, the museum was rebuilt and reopened in 2005.
Eva has delivered her message all over the world, including several times in Germany, Israel, and Poland, and was a featured speaker at the 10th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Her story is documented in the award-winning film Forgiving Dr. Mengele and the popular young adult book Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz. Eva is an advocate for genocide prevention, having organized and participated in multiple projects dedicated to ending the genocide in Darfur and commemorating the Rwandan genocide. She has worked with fellow forgiveness advocate Kizito Kalima, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide and founder of the Amahoro Peace Project in Indianapolis, Ind.
Reader Comments