Sayon Soeun from Cambodia was joined by Holocaust survivor Maurice “Ries” Vanderpol, Bosnian Jasmina Cesci, and Katchig Mouradian, whose family survived the Armenian Genocide to share their experiences in a panel presentation at the Chelmsford High School Performing Arts Center in Massachusetts, sponsored by the school’s Holocaust classes and teacher Jennifer Doak along with the Be the Change Project and the Armenian Genocide Education Committee of the Merrimack Valley.
A common theme was the endurance of human rights violations staring with discrimination and continuing towards genocide, something Mouradian said could happen anywhere to anyone.
“You think about the geographical locations. An entire century between the Armenian genocide (of 1916) and Bosnia, Cambodia…(genocide) can affect every time, every society, everywhere,” said Mouradian.
It was that awareness and education for future generations that panelists said was essential to combating genocide and other human rights violations now and in the future, ChelmsfordPatch reports.
