REMEMBERING THE PAST

April 2004
		Two people who have survived periods of horrific genocide have teamed up to tell people about their experiences in the Holocaust and Rwanda's civil war, with the hope of preventing such acts from happening again. David Gewirtzman and Jacqueline Murekatete answer your questions.

Forum Introduction What is it within a society that causes genocide and what can one do? What locations and situations in the world currently hold the potential for genocide? What is it within you that keeps you from being bitter and what would you hope to instill in people to carry with them in their daily lives? Are you ever criticized by other Jews for drawing the connection between the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide, as well as similar atrocities in the history of humanity? When you were in Poland, were you were able to contact the family who hid you and your family? Mr. Gewirtzman, it was about 50 years before you went back to Poland. Why so long? And Ms. Murekatete, how will you decide when to go back to Rwanda? Is there a book written about Rwanda, or are there materials to illustrate the similarities between the Rwanda experience and the Holocaust? How do you feel about the United States government's inaction in Rwanda? Have you shared your story with anyone in the U.S. government? What factors caused one tribe to rise up against another in Rwanda?	Rick from Horseheads, N.Y., asks: What locations and situations in the world currently hold the potential for genocide? David Gewirtzman responds: The situation in Iraq, Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan are but a few of the situations in which the potential for genocide exists. Hatred, whipped up by unscrupulous individuals, for the purpose of their own extremist views is a harbinger of things to come. Russell of Batavia, N.Y., asks: What is it within you that keeps you from being bitter and what would you hope to instill in people to carry with them in their daily lives? David Gewirtzman responds: What keeps me from being bitter are the pictures still vivid in my mind of where perpetuating hatred can lead to. Few reciprocate with kindness when faced with vengeance. Kindness in our daily life can be infectious. It may even help when dealing nation to nation. Jacqueline Murekatete responds: I am not going to lie and say that I am not angry at what happened in my country in 1994, or I am not going to say that I am not extremely disappointed at the way the international community responded to the genocide and allowed it to happen. But at the same time as I always tell those who I speak to, I do not go about my daily life being angry and bitter because I know that this will only consume and destroy me, no one else.