News Release
September 25, 2013
Washington, D.C. – Seventy-five leading Holocaust and genocide scholars from around the world have sent a letter to President Obama, urging him to arrest Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, if Bashir comes to New York City this week to address the United Nations General Assembly.
Bashir was indicted in 2009 by the International Criminal Court for his central role in the Darfur genocide. He is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC.
The letter of protest was organized by The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, based in Washington, D.C. It is the latest in a series of Wyman Institute initiatives seeking U.S. action to stop the Darfur atrocities and bring Bashir to justice.
“For the past four years, Bashir –the Butcher of Darfur, as he is known– has openly traveled to numerous Arab and African countries, while the Free World has refrained from taking action against him. The time has come to act,” the letter argues.
“We urge you to arrest Bashir upon his arrival in New York City, and hand him over to the International Criminal Court for prosecution,” the scholars’ letter continues. “This will demonstrate that the United States is committed to bringing war criminals to justice, and it will serve as a powerful deterrent to future would-be perpetrators of atrocities.”
The 75 signatories on the letter, who come from the United States, Canada, Israel, England, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Australia, and Chile, include many of the most distinguished figures in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies. The signatories include:
* Prof. David S. Wyman, author of the best-selling The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941-1945.
* Prof. Yehuda Bauer, senior historian at Israel’s Yad Vashem’s Holocaust center.
* Prof. Michael Berenbaum, former director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The complete text of the petition, with all the signatories, follows below.
* * *
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
Hon. Andrew L. Somers Division of Public Education
September 24, 2013
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
As scholars who have written or taught about the Holocaust or other genocides, we are deeply troubled by the news that Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir intends to address the United Nations General Assembly this month.
Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” involving “intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing, and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property.”
For the past four years, Bashir –the Butcher of Darfur, as he is known– has openly traveled to numerous Arab and African countries, while the Free World has refrained from taking action against him. The time has come to act.
We urge you to arrest Bashir upon his arrival in New York City, and hand him over to the International Criminal Court for prosecution. This will demonstrate that the United States is committed to bringing war criminals to justice, and it will serve as a powerful deterrent to future would-be perpetrators of atrocities.
Cordially,
Prof. David S. Wyman
University of Massachusetts – Amherst (emer.)
Prof. Yehuda Bauer
Yad Vashem and Hebrew University (emer.)
Prof. Irving Abella
York University, Toronto
Prof. Taner Akçam
Clark University
Prof. Mehnaz Afridi
Director, Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center
Manhattan College
Prof. Elizabeth Baer
Gustavus Adolphus College
Prof. Marie Baird
Duquesne University
Prof. Karyn Ball
University of Alberta, Edmonton
Prof. Paul R. Bartrop
Director, Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies
Florida Gulf Coast University
Prof. Michael Berenbaum
American Jewish University
Prof. Alan L. Berger
Director, Center for the Study of Values and Violence after Auschwitz
Florida Atlantic University
Prof. Paul Bookbinder
University of Massachusetts Boston
Dr. Harold Brackman
Simon Wiesenthal Center
Prof. Daniel Burston
Duquesne University
Prof. Israel W. Charny
Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide
Prof. Abram De Swaan
University of Amsterdam – The Netherlands
Prof. Deborah Dwork
Director, Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Clark University
Prof. Allon Gal
Ben-Gurion University (emer.)
Prof. Zev Garber
Los Angeles Valley College (emer.); Editor, Shofar
Dr. Edyta Gawron
Jagiellonian University, Krakow – Poland
Dr. Myrna Goldenberg
Bethesda, MD
Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin
Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies
Dr. Alex Grobman
America-Israel Friendship League
Dr. Elvira Groezinger
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, Berlin
Prof. Bernard Harrison
University of Utah / University of Sussex (emer.)
Prof. Susannah Heschel
Dartmouth College
Dr. Steven Leonard Jacobs
The University of Alabama
Prof. Paul F. Knitter
Union Theological Seminary (emer.)
Dr. Rebecca Kook
Ben-Gurion University
Dr. Neil J. Kressel
Director, Honors Program in the Social Sciences
William Paterson University
Rev. Vincent A. Lapomarda, S. J., Ph. D.
Coordinator of the Hiatt Holocaust Collection
The College of the Holy Cross
Prof. Fred Lazin
Ben Gurion University (emer.) / New York University
Prof. Laurel Leff
Northeastern University
Prof. Marcia Sachs Littell
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (emer.)
Dr. Rafael Medoff
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
Prof. Rochelle L. Millen
Wittenberg University
Prof. Stephen H. Norwood
University of Oklahoma
Prof. David Patterson
University of Texas at Dallas
Prof. John T. Pawlikowski
Catholic Theological Union
Prof. Anton Pelinka
Central European University, Budapest – Hungary
Prof. Monty Noam Penkower
Machon Lander Graduate School of Jewish Studies (emer.)
Prof. Susan L. Pentlin
University of Central Missouri
The Rev Peter A. Pettit, PhD
Muhlenberg College
Prof. Eunice G. Pollack
University of North Texas
Prof. Elena G. Procario-Foley
Iona College
Dr. Carol Rittner, RSM
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Prof. Paul Rose
Pennsylvania State University
Prof. Thane Rosenbaum
Director, Forum on Law, Culture, & Society
Fordham University School of Law
Prof. John K. Roth
Claremont McKenna College (emer.)
Professor Suzanne D. Rutland
University of Sydney – Australia
Prof. Robert Shapiro
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Prof. Stewart Shapiro
Ohio State University
Prof. Baila R. Shargel
Manhattanville College
Prof. Kevin Simpson
John Brown University
Prof. Robert Skloot
University of Wisconsin-Madison (emer.)
Prof. Philip Spencer
Director, Bamber Centre for the Study of Rights, Conflict and Mass Violence
Kingston University
Prof. Leon Stein
Roosevelt University
Prof. Oren Baruch Stier
Florida International University
Prof. Norton S. Taichman
University of Pennsylvania (emer.)
Prof. Ana Maria Tapia
University of Chile
Prof. Peter Tarjan
University of Miami
Prof. Samuel Totten
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (emer.)
Prof. Dirk Verhofstadt
University Ghent – Belgium
Prof. Carole Gottlieb Vopat
University of Wisconsin
Prof. Kenneth Waltzer
Director, Jewish Studies Program
Michigan State University
Mary Lee Webeck, Ph.D
Director of Education, Holocaust Museum Houston
Prof. Robert Weisbord
University of Rhode Island
Prof. Sonja Schoepf Wentling
Concordia College
Victoria Saker Woeste
Research Professor, American Bar Foundation
Prof. Linda M. Woolf
Webster University
Prof. Randall C. Zachman
University of Notre Dame
Prof. John C. Zimmerman
University of Nevada Las Vegas
Prof. Bat-Ami Zucker
Bar Ilan University
Kelly J. Zúñiga, Ed.D., CFRE
Executive Director, Holocaust Museum Houston
Dr. Efraim Zuroff
Simon Wiesenthal Center, Jerusalem
(Institutions listed for identification purposes only.)