Forum on Holocaust and Genocide Education on July 21

The Laconia Human Relations Committee will hold a public forum titled “The Importance of Holocaust and Genocide Education” at the Belknap Mill on July 21 from 5-7 p.m. The forum will feature four panelists who are members of the NH Commission on Holocaust and Genocide Education: 

• Tom White, Educational Outreach Coordinator of the Cohen Center. 

• Jay Kahn, State Senator- District 10 and Commission Chair.

• Kati Preston, Holocaust survivor teacher, author, and Commission Vice-Chair. 

• Ashley Harbel, High School teacher and Holocaust scholar. 

The Commission was established on July 23rd, 2020, by the Legislature and Governor Chris Sununu. Their charge is “… to study best practices for teaching students how intolerance, bigotry, antisemitism, and national, ethnic, racial, or religious hatred and discrimination have evolved in the past, and can evolve into mass violence and genocide, such as the Holocaust.”

The Forum will be live streamed on YouTube. The public will have opportunities to ask questions and make comments related to the Forum topic under guidelines that will be announced at the Forum.

David Stamps, committee Chair, in announcing the Forum, said that the Human Relations Committee felt that it was important for Laconia to understand the work of the commission and the larger issues of the Holocaust and genocide education. It was Winston Churchill who wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

The Human Relations Committee is part of the Laconia Mayor’s office and was established in 2001. The Laconia Human Relations Committee envisions a world where everyone is treated with dignity, fairness, respect, and kindness.