ROHNERT PARK: MEMORIAL AND EXHIBIT PLANNED FOR HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE

CBS 5, Bay City CA
April 27 2007

Photographs of local Holocaust survivors will be displayed at Sonoma
State University from May 1 to 28, and a memorial grove honoring
survivors of genocide is expected to be dedicated in early 2008,
the university reported.

Ilka Hartman’s photographs of survivors will be part of an exhibit
called "A Second Gift of Life" and will be on display in the gallery
of the Center for Culture, Gender and Sexuality on the first floor
of the Sonoma State University student union.

The university reported that the concept of a memorial for Holocaust
and genocide survivors was conceived of at a special event in September
honoring more than 50 Holocaust survivors in Sonoma County.

According to the university, Hartman’s photos of survivors were also
displayed at this event.

The new memorial will feature an original symbolic sculpture and will
be built on the east side of the campus adjacent to the alumni grove
and near the lakes area. The memorial grove will be a collaboration
between the community group "Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust,"
the university’s Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide
and the School of Social Sciences.

Dr. Elaine Leeder, dean of social sciences at the university, lost
her grandmother, aunt, uncle and dozens of cousins in the Holocaust.

"The special memorial is an important addition to SSU’s landscape,"
she said. "It makes tangible all the work that the Center for the Study
of Holocaust and Genocide and the Alliance have done at the campus
for almost 25 years and honors those who were lost in atrocities
committed throughout the world."

Myrna Goodman, director of the SSU’s Center for the Study of the
Holocaust and Genocide said that while the Holocaust marked a crucial
point in history, the first genocide of the 20th century was actually
the Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1917. Since the second half of the
20th century, the world has witnessed approximately one genocide per
decade, according to the university.

The memorial will be made of two 40-foot-long railroad tracks embedded
in the lawn with an illuminated glass column. Rows of ivory colored
memorial blocks will be available for purchase to be inscribed with
names and memorial expressions.

Information about purchasing memorial bricks is available
by contacting Kate McClintock at (707) 664-2693 or online at