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A very personal look at the conference called "Remembering for the Future 2000"


Judy Cohen, Toronto
Survivor-Witness
Women and the Holocaust

On July 16-23, 2000, my husband and I attended the above, third International Scholars' Conference, in Oxford, England. This conference is held every four years, in different countries.

The first day, July 16, was held in London, with the Gathering of Survivors and Scholars from all over the world.

As far as I know, this was the first time that organizers of a Scholars' conference invited a large gathering of Holocaust survivors and their families. We were there to discuss the Holocaust, to exchange ideas, hear results of scholarly research and its applications for future teachings. The aim was to listen and learn from each other, while we, the survivors, are still around to do so.

About 600 hundred scholars and researchers on the Holocaust were there to share their findings and thoughts. "To evaluate the Holocaust in an Age of Genocide" as the literature indicated.

It was indeed a rare opportunity. One, that may not be repeated again, at least for us, who were eye-witnesses and survived to tell the world what we saw. We were able to exchange our ideas and our memories with members of academia, on the same forum, in the same workshops. Among the many issues, we discussed the merits of the new technology, such as the Internet as a teaching and information tool. In addition it was wonderful to meet and listen to survivors' varied experiences; laugh and cry together as we reminisced, -- espoused eloquently in a story by the Chief Rabbi of Israel. Rabbi Lau is a child survivor.

The various workshops, panel discussions, lectures, concerts, films, forums, dinners were all very interesting, and uplifting but too numerous to list here.

Of particular note, for me, personally, were the followings:

  • That my husband, Sidney, was there with me and who was lucky enough to be born in Canada.
  • Reaffirmation of the value of witnesses' testimonies -- the survivor as a teacher.
  • Helen Epstein, a noted writer on children of survivors. Her remarks, to The Second Generation, were insightful, sensitive and sensible - ending with the message: "The Holocaust was caused and carried out by ordinary people - and ordinary people, like ourselves, will have to prevent another one.
  • Yaffa Eliach in her inspiring keynote address emphasized "life and love over death". The need to teach future generations how Jews lived, loved and worked, not only how they were murdered.
  • Yehuda Bauer pointed out the utmost importance of the "political will to act" by the political powers at any given time, to intervene in order to prevent mass killings and genocide in the future.
  • Anita Lasker-Wallfish, a 75 year old survivor and author of the book "Inherit the Truth". She She gave a most moving cello concert together with her son and two grandsons, all cello players. She was, as a young woman, the only cello player in the Auschwitz orchestra. This talent helped save her and her sister's life.
  • Speakers from the Ukraine - how they are struggling to "catch up" so to speak with education about the Holocaust era - as it was experienced in their region.
  • Personally, I was gratified to learn how many scholars were familiar with my web site, "Women and the Holocaust" and use it as a teaching tool, even as far away as Australia.
  • I was pleasantly surprised to meet a couple of non-Jewish Holocaust scholars from Hungary. Also meeting a Japanese professor who teaches Yiddish at Oxford.
  • Visiting the New Wing on the Holocaust at the Imperial War Museum in London, England

Sid and I had to depart early but I can report, second hand, that the conference ended in London by a 'Public Day of Discussion', on Friday, Sid and I had to depart early but I can report, second hand, that the conference ended in London by a 'Public Day of Discussion', on Friday, July 21st. The topic was: "Evil and Indifference: Is there an end to Genocide?"

Finally, perhaps the most important achievement: On this last day, "The Genocide Prevention Research Initiative" was launched. "Billed as the world's first such institute, will bring together scientists and scholars from all over the globe, to research the causes of genocide, in order to provide vital information to governments and politicians so that trouble spots can be tackled easily and in time. Steven Smith, the non-Jewish co-founder and director of the Beth Shalom Holocaust Memorial Centre in Nottingham aptly remarked: "Preventing genocide must be better than looking for palliatives after the event."