Never Again, Yet Again

Stephen Smith, one of world’s leading advocates of Holocaust education and genocide prevention, to make presentation at Spertus Museum

Chicago, IL—(April 7, 2010)—Join Dr. Stephen Smith, Executive Director of the Shoah Foundation Institute at the University of Southern California, as he engages USC Alumni, family, and friends in a discussion about some of the big issues affecting humanity today, and how we might respond to them.  This event is on Sunday, April 18, at 5 p.m. at the Spertus Museum, 610 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL  60605.

Smith is one of the world’s leading advocates of Holocaust education and genocide prevention.  He was founding director of the UK Holocaust Centre—Britain’s first dedicated Holocaust memorial and education institution—and he chairs the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, the body that runs national Holocaust commemoration in the UK.  He also founded the Aegis Trust, an agency that works globally to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity.  Smith assumed his role as Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute in August 2009.

“I’m excited to have this chance to meet with extended members of the Trojan family who live in the Chicago area,” Smith said.  “In their professional and personal lives, alumni carry out the central mission of the University, which is the development of human beings and society.  As ambassadors of this ideal, they each have a stake in what the Institute is doing to address humanitarian challenges through education.  I look forward to what is certain to be an informative, inspiring, and thought-provoking discussion.”

Smith has been involved in memorial projects throughout the world, including the creation of the Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda, and he was a consultant to the Cape Town Holocaust Centre, which he now serves as a trustee.  He has taught extensively in Lithuania, and has been a member of the International Task Force for Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, since its inception in 1998.