In many elements of SURF’s work addressing the consequences of the Rwandan genocide, there is a relation to the Holocaust as well as other genocides too.

On our current project with UK-based survivors and schools, we have been privileged to have Shirley Murgraff introducing sessions on Oral History, sharing her experience of interviewing Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg’s USC Shoah Foundation Institute. Her contribution, as well as further information on the project was featured in an article by Pete Horton in the Rugby Advertiser this week (click below to enlarge).

Rebecca Tinsley of Waging Peace, a vital supporter of SURF, writes a strong article on Darfur’s invisible killing fields, demonstrating that the international community has failed to learn the lessons from their inaction that allowed the Rwandan genocide.

Agnes Grunwald-Spier, a trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and another supporter of SURF has written The Other Schindlers, Why Some People Chose To Save Jews in the Holocaust. This focuses on the role of those that chose not to remain as bystanders in the Holocaust, an area of enquiry that is reflected in The Rwandan Rescuers’ Project too.

SURF has been fortunate to benefit from support from a number of organisations working with Holocaust survivors, in particular the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre.

June 12th is Anne Frank Day, Anne Frank’s Birthday, which this year marks the extraordinary life of Anne’s father Otto Frank and how one person can make a difference.  The Anne Frank Trust has made available an Anne Frank Day 2010 Assembly to teachers to highlight the commemoration.

July 5th is Speaking2Survivors, an event that we hope will mark the beginning of an annual commemoration of the end of the Rwandan genocide to focus attention on the situation of survivors today. To learn more about that initiative, then please visit here.