Stephen Smith Speaks at The Aladdin Project’s International Seminar on Holocaust Education
USC Shoah Foundation executive director Stephen Smith delivered the keynote address at The Aladdin Project’s International Seminar on Holocaust Education today in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Aladdin Project, based in Paris, aims to encourage Jewish-Muslim dialogue and a greater understanding of the Holocaust in the Middle East. The seminar is hosted in cooperation with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
The two-day seminar has gathered more than 40 scholars from all over the world to discuss topics including the importance of teaching Muslim audiences about the Holocaust and strategies for teaching the Holocaust to audiences with no historical link to it or distorted perceptions of what happened.
Smith was named the inaugural UNESCO Chair on Genocide Education Oct. 3, to advance education, research, documentation, and collaboration between researchers and educators on genocide education around the world.
Smith founded the UK Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire, England and cofounded the Aegis Trust for the prevention of crimes against humanity and genocide. He was also the inaugural Chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, which runs the National Holocaust Memorial Day in the United Kingdom. Smith is the executive producer of Kwibuka 20, the 20th anniversary commemoration of the Rwanda Genocide to be held in 2014. He is currently a delegate of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. He was the project director responsible for the creation of the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Rwanda and trustee of the South Africa Holocaust and Genocide Foundation.
As an international speaker, Smith lectures widely on issues relating to the history and collective response to the Holocaust, genocide, and crimes against humanity. His publications include Never Again! Yet Again!: A Personal Struggle with the Holocaust and Genocide and The Holocaust and the Christian World.
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