YOM HASHOAH
Day of Remembrance ~ "In memory of those who perished during the Nazi reign of terror."

Sunday, May 4, 2008, at 4:00 P.M.
Jewish Community Center Gymnasium
851 N. Maitland Ave.
Maitland, FL 32751
407-628-0555

Keynote Presenter: Gregg Rickman
Special Envoy to the U.S. State Department to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism
Topic: Anti-Semitism Today

Dr. Gregg Rickman, the United States Secretary of State’s Special Envoy to monitor and Combat Ant-Semitism, will be the speaker for the Yom HaShoah Commemoration. Dr. Rickman, responsible for global monitoring acts of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic incitement and the creation of policies to combat such acts, will present a look at world wide anti-Semitism today and how his office is responding to it.

The legislation to create the Special Envoy position, introduced in 2004 by U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos (D-Calif), requires the U.S. government to monitor and report on Antisemitism around the world. And it mandated appointment of an ambassador to focus on fighting Antisemitism.

From 1995-1998 Dr. Rickman directed the three –year United State Senate Banking Committee investigation, including five Congressional hearings, into the deposition of assets of Holocaust victims held by Swiss banks since world War II, ending with a $1.25 billion settlement on behalf of the survivors.

He has served as the Director of Congressional Affairs at the Republican Jewish Coalition where he worked on legislative of concern to the Jewish community including anti-Semitism, counter-terrorism and immigration. He has also led outreach to Jewish social action groups and coalitions.

Most recently, he served as staff of the House International Relations Committee where he served first on the Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, and then as Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation where he directed the Committee’s investigation into the UN OIL-for-Food program and was the main author of the Committee’s Report on the investigation.

He is the author of two books, Swiss Banks and Jewish Souls, 1999 (Transaction), and Conquest and Redemption, A History of Jewish Assets from the Holocaust, 2006 (Transaction).

In his swearing –in ceremony Dr. Rickman stated, “….It must be clear that there is no place in the world for this most ancient form of prejudice and bigotry. I want you to know that I will do all that I can to make it clear that in order for freedom and democracy to prevail, anti-Semitism in all its forms must be prevented. One important way is through education aimed at instilling democratic values, including tolerance for those of all religions. If we have learned anything from the past, it is that anti-Semitism left unchecked results in disaster. I was taught this much by my grandfather who fled the pogroms and revolution in the Russian empire in 1919…….and was given a safe haven in this country.”

The Yom HaShoah program will feature:

• Awards presentations to student winners of the Yom HaShoah Creative Arts Contest
  
• Proclamation reading by a local mayor
• Musical performances by members of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
• Candle lighting ceremony
• Responsive reading and prayer by local clergy

The public is invited. Admission is free.

For more information, call the Holocaust Memorial Center at 407-628-0555.