State of the World Forum

SHOULD GREAT CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY BE FORGIVEN

THE CHALLENGE OF RECONCILIATION AND JUSTICE IN THE 21ST CENTURY

THE IMPERIAL PALACE VIENNA

MARCH 21-24, 1999

I. Executive Summary

Reconciliation and forgiveness have become major global issues. From the National Accord of Reconciliation and Reconstruction which ended 40 years of civil strife in Guatemala, to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, to President Clinton´s remarks regarding slavery while touring Africa in April, 1998, people the world over are grappling with how best to come to terms with reconciliation and forgiveness in the aftermath of great criminality.

Inspired by the question of forgiveness raised by Simon Wiesenthal in his book, The Sunflower, the State of the World Forum plans to convene a conference at the Imperial Palace (the Hofburg) in Vienna on March 21-24, 1999, to look at the deeper aspects of reconciliation and forgiveness.

The conference will focus on the issues of apologies requested,forgiveness given, justice demanded and reconciliation extended as it is affecting those in regions such as Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Guatemala and Cambodia; in institutions such as the Catholic Church on the issue of anti-semitism; the Swissbanks with regard to repayment for Jewis accounts confiscated during World War II; and as it relates to the U.S. experience of slavery and exploitation of its indigenous peoples.

By delving into these different but interrelated experiences, the conference seeks a deeper understanding of the complexities of human nature and behavior with the intent to discern a practical vision that can ensure that the 21st century be less violent than the 20th. This conference seeks to delve into the imperative for and power of reconciliation and forgiveness from the perspective of how they can be more firmly institutionalized in society. Only then can human society become more humane and the foundation be laid in which the atrocities so prevalent in our collective past and present become not only morally repugnant, but institutionally impossible to sustain.

II. The Issue

Nearly 200 million people have perished in the wars and conflicts of the 20th century. From the Armenian genocide and the Jewish Holocaust, to the Killing Fields of Cambodia and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and Rwanda, this century has been fraught with war and carnage. As a result, nations and regions around the world are struggling with the challenge of reconciling past atrocities. In all cases, violence is perpetuated as both sides engage in an endless series of actions based on ideology or revenge for past grievances or new provocations. When reconciliation takes hold, either because of mediation or a realignment of forces, a central question which emerges is the issue of justice for past crimes. How should society treat people who violate all manner of international and moral norms after those societies have developed more democratic regimes, and are giving priority to reconstruction and reconciliation?

This is a central question not only for specific nations, but for humanity at large, particularly at a time when conflicts are less and less between nations for geo-strategic reasons and more and more within nations for deeply ingrained ethnic and religious reasons. In an era of globalization, as the lethality of weapons increases, there is no greater challenge than to settle conflicts before they spill over into violent confrontation, destroying communities and their environments.

Reconciliation can take place on two levels: the external level of politics, treaties and agreements; and the internal level of attitudes, beliefs and opinions. This proposal is directed at addressing both of these levels; specifically to convene an international gathering to assess the possibilities and limits of forgiveness within the context of great crimes against humanity.

The question of forgiveness is the cornerstone of reconciliation and thus cannot be treated lightly or quickly. It can only be addressed seriously by those who have themselves gone through the fires of destructiveness, and who have also grappled seriously with the question of forgiveness for the sake of reconciliation.

One such individual is Simon Wiesenthal. Mr. Wiesenthal pursued the demand for justice emanating out of the Nazi atrocities of World War II. At the same time, this Nazi hunter has had the intellectual integrity to grapple with the equally important question of forgiveness.

Like millions of other Jews during World War II, Mr Wiesenthal was condemned to the

Nazi death camps. One day while at a concentration camp near Mauthausen, Austria[sic], he was taken by a nurse from his duties to a room in the hospital where a young SS officer lay dying. The officer had bribed the nurse to find a Jew to whom he could confess his participation in unspeakable atrocities against Jews, Gypsies and Slavs. His request of Mr Wiesenthal was forgiveness for his deeds. Wiesenthal remained silent, and the officer died later that day without knowing whether he received the forgiveness he sought.

Several years later, Wiesenthal visited the mother of the SS officer. She explained that her son had been raised as a good Catholic, and would not have engaged in any of the atrocities of which the SS were accused. While having the opportunity to tell the truth about the young officer to his mother, Wiesenthal again remained silent, preferring to spare the mother the pain of knowing the truth.

Moved and troubled by these encounters, Simon Wiesenthal wrote this story down, at the end of which he put forward the following question:

"Was my silence at the bedside of the dying Nazi right or wrong? This is a profound moral question that challenges the conscience of the reader of this episode, just as much as it once challenged my heart and my mind.

There are those who can appreciate my dilemma, and so endorse my

attitude, and there are others who will be ready to condemn me for refusing to ease the last moment of a repentant murderer.

The crux of the matter is, of course, the question of forgiveness.

Forgetting is something that time alone takes care of, but forgiveness is an act of volition, and only the sufferer is qualified to make the decision.

You, who have just read this sad and tragic episode in my life, can mentally change places with me and ask yourself the crucial question,

‘What would you have done?’"

III. The Conference

Inspired by this question and taking note of the numerous attempts at reconciliation worldwide, the State of the World Forum plans a special conference which will draw thinkers and leaders, victims and victimizers to come together for several days of deliberations. The intent is not to focus on the Holocaust itself, but rather on the deeper universal questions of justice and mercy, forgiveness and atonement, reconstruction and reconciliation in a world in which there is no greater challenge than to leam to coexist with neighbors and strangers, whether individually or collectively, and engage in the serious task of building community.

From March 21-24, 1999, at the Imperial Palace in Venice [sic], keynote and plenary discussions will focus on the challenges of reconciliation in the aftermath of great criminality, drawing from examples including:

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa and the War Crimes Tribunals of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia

The people of South Africa are pursuing a means toward reconciliation and forgiveness that is remarkably and uniquely different from the people of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Can justice be served when there is no penalty for great crimes committed? Can victims truly forgive and leam to build communities with their unpunished, and often remorseless victimizers?

• Cambodia and Vietnam

The end of French colonialism, followed by the spread of Communism and the ensuing conflict with the U.S., left Cambodia extremely unstable after U.S. troops pulled out of the region in 1970. The devastating civil conflicts that ensued left more than a million people dead, and the remaining population permanently scarred in ways not fully known. To date, no one has been held accountable or tried for those atrocities, and in Cambodia, the brutal past still remains a current reality. What would justice contribute to reconciliation for the people of this region? Is there a correlation between the absence of reconciliation efforts and continues civil conflicts?

• "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah'

On March 16, 1998, the Vatican issued a document described as "an act of repentance" for the failure of Catholics to deter the mass killing of Jews during World War II. The delay in producing the document, which was under preparation for 11 years, indicates the deep divisions in the Vatican over the extent to which the Church, its leaders and teachings contributed to the reign of vicious anti-semitism and genocideperpetrated by the Nazis. Many felt the Vatican did not go far enough in acknowledging greater responsibility for the moral climate that allowed for Nazi domination over much of Catholic Europe. This raises the larger issue of the role of religion in conflict and reconciliation.

• The Reparation of Swiss Banks

International attention to the fate of Nazi-looted assets has intensified since reports released in 1997 stated that Switzerland had been the primary trafficker of Nazi-looted gold during the war. Switzerland has since reviewed its wartime role and established funds for survivors. The Swiss Parliament lifted bank and other professional secrecy laws, opened all government records for five years, and established an Independent Commission of Experts to investigate the fate of assets looted by "Nazi Germany. Prior to this, Jewish organizations and the Swiss Bankers Association had established an independent council, called the Volcker Commission, to audit all searches made by Swiss banks on dormant accounts. The episode raises anew the question of the extensiveness of the complicity with the Nazis and the extent to which the world should go, some 50 years later, to ensure complete disclosure and justice.

• Northern Ireland Peace Agreement

Despite the unification of Europe, there remain segments of society where the value of coexistence over conflict has not yet been realized. Northern Ireland is one such region where peace has not firmly taken hold. After many years of ’troubles’, the divided communities are involved in a peace process that has wide-spread support from both sides. Can people work toward reconciliation and accept history’s burden without asking and granting forgiveness? What role can conflict resolution and negotiation play in eroding traditional modes of behavior and thought steeped in centuries of division and hatred?

• The U.S. Posture Towards Slavery

President Clinton’s 12-day tour of Africa in March, 1998 served to highlight the issue of slavery and beckons the question of a formal apology by the U.S. Government. Prior to his trip, the President stated that he was considering issuing a national apology for slavery, and while in Africa remarked that Europeans and Americans "... received the fruits of the slave trade. And we were wrong in that ..." Why is it so difficult for leaders and nations to apologize for great evils committed in the past? Can forgiveness occur or be complete without an apology?

In addition to the plenary and keynote addresses, there will be a series of round-table sessions to allow participants to meet in small groups and engage in thoughtful

dialogue on themes including:

• The ethics of remembering

• forgiveness as a political and spiritual phenomenon

• The meaning of victim and victimizer in the process of forgiveness

• The possibilities and limits of forgiveness in history

• Models of reconciliation

• Collateral guilt and denial

• Enemy formation

• Racism and violence

• Youth and war/Youth and reconciliation

These issues will be taken up by the speakers to whom we have extended invitations listed in the following section.

IV. Speakers

Those invited to participate will include individuals involved in reconciliation issues in nations such as South Africa, Guatemala, the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Rwanda and Burundi, Northern Ireland and the Middle East, as well as those grappling with forgiveness and reconciliation in the fields of theology, psychotherapy, politics and the arts. This list is only a partial list. Many more speakers and participants will be invited over the next several months.

Initial List of Invited Speakers:

Gerry Adams, President, Sinn Fein; Member of the British Parliament from West Belfast.

Mahnaz Afkhami, Minister of State for Women’s Affairs, Iran (1976-1978); Director, Sisterhood is Global Institute.

Sven Alkalaj, Ambassador to the United States, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, President, Haiti (1991-1996).

Hanaan Ashrawi, Cabinet Minister, Palestine National Authority.

Smail Balic, Professor, Department of Islamic-Theological Studies, University of Sarajevo; Author, "Das unbekannte Bosnien" (The Unknown Bosnia).

Moshe Bejski, Former Chair, Commission for Recognition of Righteous Gentiles, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.

Alan L. Berger, Raddock Eminent Scholar and Chairman, Holocaust Studies, Florida Atlantic University; Author, "Crisis and Covenant and Judaism in the Modern World".

Bill Bradley, former U.S. Senator.

Robert McAfee Brown, Professor Emeritus of Theology and Ethics, Pacific School of Religion; Author, "Theology in a New Key; Elie Wiesel: Messenger to All Humanity and Spirituality" and "Religion and Violence: A Primer for White America".

Lee Butler, Commander, U.S. Strategic Air Command (1990–1994).

Harry James Cargas, Vice President, Annual Scholars Conference on the Holocaust; Member, Executive Board, Catholic Center for Holocaust Studies; Author, "A Christian Response to the Holocaust; Conversations and Elie Wiesel"; "Voices from the Holocaust and Reflections of a Post-Auschwitz Christian".

Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy, President of the Vatican Commision on Religious Relations With the Jews.

Rosann Catalano, Catholic theologian at the Institute for Christian-Jewish Studies.

Daniel Callahan, Director of the Hastings Institute of Ethics.

Robert Coles, Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Humanities, Harvard Medical School; James Agee Professor of Social Ethics, Harvard University; Author, "Children of Crisis; The Moral Life of Children"; "The Spiritual Life of Children; The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination"; and "The Call of Service: A Witness to Idealism".

Yael Dayan, Member, Israeli Knesset.

The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1989.

The Most ReverendPierre Duprey, Vice President of the Vatican Commision on Religious Relations With the Jews

Eugene J. Fisher, Associate Director, Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Edward H. Flannery, Member, National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations; Member, Executive Committee, National Christian Leadershop Conference for Israel; Author, "The Anguish of the Jew".

Eva Fleischner, Professor Emerita of Religion, Montclair State University; Member, Church Relations Committee of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council; Member, Advisory Board of the U.S. Catholic Conference, Office of Catholic-Jewish Relations; Author, "The View of Judaism in German Christian Theology" and "Auschwitz: Beginning a New Era?"

Lynn Green, Leader, The Reconciliation Walk.

Edward M. Gurowitz, Ph.D., Author, "The Molecular Basis of Memory; ‘The Need for Forgiveness’", Manager Magazine, Germany.

Mikhail Gorbachev, President, Soviet Union (1985–1991); Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1990.

Thich Nhat Hahn, Vietnamese Buddhist Leader.

Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Writer, "The Jerusalem Report"; Author, "Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist".

Vaclav Havel, President, The Czech Republic

Arthur Hertzberg, Bronfman Visiting Professor of the Humanities, New York University; Professor Emeritus of Religion, Dartmouth College; Author, "The Zionist Idea"; "The French Enlightenment and the Jews"; "The Jews in America and Judaism".

Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., President Emeritus, Notre Dame.

John Hume, Member, European Parliament

Mirsad Jacevic, Former President, United Nations Youth Group, Sarajevo; Leader of AIESEC; Head, World University Service, Vienna Office; Coordinator, Academic Lifeline for Bosnia Herzegovina, North America.

Jesse Jackson, President, The Rainbow Coalition

Gerald Jampolsky, Founder, Center for Attitudinal Healing; Author, "Love is Letting Go of Fear".

Kim Dae-jung, President, South Korea.

Laity Kama, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Sam Keen, Author, "Faces of the Enemy".

Ethel Kennedy, Widow of Robert F. Kennedy.

Sisi V. Khampepe, Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner, South Africa.

Coretta Scott King, Widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Henry Kissinger, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1973; Chairman, Kissinger and Associates.

Cardinal Franz König, Former Archbishop of Vienna; Appointed Cardinal, 1958; Author, "The Bible in View of World History and Christ" and "World Religions".

Harold S. Kushner, Rabbi Laureate, Temple Israel, Natick, Massachusetts; Author, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People";.

Rabbi Israel Lau, Chief Rabbi of Israel.

Michael Lapsley, Member of the Anglican Church.

Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the City University of New Yory; Director of the Center on Violence and Human Survival at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; Author, "Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust 1933-1945" and "Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory".

Franklin H. Littell, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Temple University; Author "The Crucifixion of the Jews".

Hubert G. Locke, Co-founder and Vice President, Annual Scholars Conference on the Holocaust; Author "Exile in the Fatherland: Martin Niemoeller’s Letters from Moabit Prison" and "The Church Confronts the Nazis".

Erich H. Loewy, Professor and Alumni Chair of Bioethics, University of California, Davis; Author, "Ethical Dilemmas in Modern Medicine: A Physician’s Viewpoint" and "Suffering and the Beneficent Community".

Catherine McGuinness, Chair, Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, Ireland.

Nelson Mandela, President, South Africa.

Martin E. Marty, Teacher of American Religious History, University of Chicago; Senior Editor, "The Christian Century"; Author, "Modern American Religion".

Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1994.

George J. Mitchell, former Senate Majority leader; Chairman, Northern Ireland Peace Talks.

Eva Morales, Human Rights Activist, Guatemala; Labor Organizer, Founder, Mothers of the Disappeared.

Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda.

John T. Pawlikowski, Servite Order Priest; Professor of Social Ethics, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago; Author, "The Challenge of the Holocaust for Christian Theology" and "Jesus and the Theology of Israel".

Navenethem Pillay, Associate Justice, South Africa Supreme Court; Member, Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal.

Arn Chorn Pond, Survivor of the Cambodian killing fields; Co-founder, Children of War; Recipient, Reebok Human Rights Award on behalf of Children of War

Shimon Peres, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1995; Founder, The Peres Center for Peace.

Jose Ramos Horta, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1994.

Lea Rabin, First Lady, Israel (1992-1995).

David Rosen, Rabbi, Director of the Israel Office of the Anti-Defamation League and co-liaison with the Vatican.

John Rowles, Professor of Law at Harvard School of Law.

Jehan Sadat, First Lady, Egypt (1970-1981).

Nathan Sharansky, Member of the Israeli Knesset.

Dorothee Soelle, Theologian and Teacher, Union Theological Seminary, New York; Author, "Choosing Life; Of War and Love"; "Political Theology"; and "Beyond Mere Obedience".

André Stein, Professor, Department of Human Communication, University of Toronto; Author, "Broken Silence: Dialogues from the Edge"; "Quiet Heroes: True Stories of the Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Holland" and "Hidden Children: Forgotten Survivors of the Holocaust".

Elan Steinberg, Executive Director, World Jewish Congress; Special U.S. Envoy on property restitution in Central and Eastern Europe.

Nechama Tec, Professor of Sociology, University of Connecticut; Author, "Defiance: The Bielski Partisans"; "Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood" and "When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland".

Joseph Telushkin, Rabbi, Synagogue of the Performing Arts, Los Angeles; Author, "Jewish Literacy"; and "Words That Hurt, Words That Heal".

David Trimble, Head of the Ulster Unionist Party.

The Most Reverend Desmund Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1984; Chair, South Africa Truth Commission; Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.

Tzvetan Todorov, Director of Research, Centre National de Recherches, Paris; Author, "Facing the Extreme: Moral Life in the Concentration Camps".

Paul Volcker, former Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve Bank; Chair, Volcker Commission.

Cornel West, Professor of Religion and Director of Afro-American Studies, Princeton University; Professor of Afro-American Studies and the Philosophy of Religion, Harvard University.

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1986.

Simon Wiesenthal, Co-founder, Jewish Historical Documentation Center, whose tasks were to identify and locate Nazi war criminals; was instrumental in bringing over 1,100 Nazi criminals to justice; Author, "The Murders Among Us"; "Justice, Not Vengeance"; "Sails of Hope"; and "Every Day Remembrance Day".

Eric Williams, former Prime Minister, Trinidad and Tobago; Author, Capitalism and Slavery.

Harry Wu, Imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Government for nineteen years in a labor camp in Laogai, China; Author, "Laogai: Bitter Winds"; and "Troublemaker".

Edith Wyschogrod, J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Religious Thought Professor, Rice University; Author, "Spirit in Ashes: Hegel, Heidegger and Man-Made Mass Death";"The Ethics of Remembering: History, Heterology and the Nameless Others".

Alexander Yakovlev, Director, Russian Presidential Commission on the Rehabilitation of Prisoners, tasked to investigate the crimes of the Stalin regime.

Andrew Young, Former Aide to Martin Luther King, Jr.; Former Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia; United States Ambassador to the United Nations.