Thursday, April 5 | 6:30-8:00 pm 
In partnership with the Illinois Holocaust & Genocide Commission, the Museum presents Former Ambassador atlarge for War Crimes Issues, David Scheffer, as he provides a fascinating insider’s account of the formation of the war crimes tribunals following atrocities in the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia. 

Within days of Madeleine Albright’s confirmation as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 1993, she instructed David Scheffer to spearhead the historic mission to create a war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. As senior adviser to Albright and then as President Clinton’s ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, Scheffer was at the forefront of the efforts that led to criminal tribunals for the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia, and that resulted in the creation of the permanent International Criminal Court. All the Missing Souls is Scheffer’s gripping insider’s account of the international gamble to prosecute those responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and to redress some of the bloodiest human rights atrocities in our time. 

David Scheffer is the Mayer Brown/Robert A. Helman Professor of Law and director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University School of Law.  

Email reservation requests to education@ilhmec.org or call 847-967-4889.

I believe it is important to start that education early, so that the students can become the teachers. If you have universities that focus on the study of genocide, then you can create academically trained educators. I think it is too early in Bosnia for that process. It has only been sixteen years, and the wound has to heal first. Political leaders need to unite and recognize that this happened and that we need to move forward. What happened needs to be absorbed by your history, so that it can be taught from your history. I know that this can’t happen overnight. The process of change and healing will happen through education, collaboration and conversations.


(For interview, please download attachment)

I respectfully ask that the committee provide an explanation upon what information this new statement is based. It would be very informative for my colleagues and me to understand the process undertaken which resulted in such a grossly incorrect rendering of facts and history.  My understanding of the task that is placed upon the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission is that it is dedicated to obtaining, organizing, and distributing information on genocides and ensuring that schools, organizations, and committees have access to such information, factual data, and history.

(To read the letter, please download attachment)

April 12, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn today appointed nine individuals to serve on the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission.
“We must never forget the atrocities and horrors of the Holocaust,” said Quinn. “This commission will increase awareness of the Holocaust and other past genocides to make sure that ‘never again’ is not a meaningless slogan.”
Quinn last year signed legislation, House Bill 6059, creating the commission. The panel will work with public and private organizations in planning and developing awareness programs.
    

(To read more, please download attachment)

Adam Braun of Chicago is the deputy director for the Governor’s Office of Legislative Affairs. A grandson of Holocaust survivors, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Jewish History from the Jewish Theological Seminary and is a graduate of Columbia University and Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

(To read more, please download attachment)

This document outlines the commission's contact and its function.

(To read more, please download attachment)