11 June 09 - Following the attack by a gunman at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, Dr James Smith, founder of the UK Holocaust Centre and Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust, commented: "The whole team at The Holocaust Centre and the Aegis Trust is shocked and deeply saddened by this shooting. Our thoughts are with the family of the murdered security guard, and with all staff at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum."
Aegis is based at The Holocaust Centre, near Newark in the East Midlands. It is also responsible for establishing and running the Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali for the Rwandan authorities. It is a site where over 250,000 victims of the 1994 genocide are buried. Following a fatal wounding at the Genocide Memorial Centre in Rwanda, Aegis is conscious of the security threat at permanent memorials. In a series of attacks, a grenade was thrown into the Genocide Memorial Centre in April 2008, killing one of the policemen on guard. "This must not deter us from commemoration and education," said Dr Smith. "In a world plagued by genocide, only by asserting the truth and applying lessons of history can we hope to make 'never again' mean something."
Freddy Umutanguha, Manager of the Kigali Memorial Centre, himself a survivor of the 1994 genocide stated, "We know what it means to lose a colleague to the violence of those who would like to silence the voice of memory. Our hearts are with our brothers and sisters at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum today."
"The Nazis were shooting at us sixty years ago and extremists still want to silence us today," says Auschwitz survivor Arek Hersh, who shares his story with schoolchildren at The Holocaust Centre on a regular basis. "However, we urge the American public, don't let this incident make you afraid. Show your resistance to those who preach racism and exclusion by visiting the USHMM in even greater numbers."
