Jul 3, 2014 By: mta
In conjunction with Names, Not Numbers, our oral history project which interviews Holocaust survivors and preserves their testimony on film, students at MTA were privileged to converse with Paul Rusesabagina, the real life hero of the film, "Hotel Rwanda, who saved over 1,200 lives during the episode of ethnic cleansing that took place in Rwanda in the 1994.
Mr. Rusesabagina described his experiences during that tragic period, the helplessness of those he sheltered, and his disappointment with the world for failing to intervene. The MTA boys shared with him the lessons that they learned from their interviews and compared his heroism with that of Raoul Wallenberg, the savioiur of many Jews during the Holocaust.
The session concluded with Mr. Rusesabagina describing the importance of not being a bystander. His message to our students was that hatred and intolerance begin with words. By fighting for human rights, people can make a difference in preventing future acts of genocide in the world, wherever they may occur.
Through his conversation with MTA students, Mr. Rusesabagina joined a number of guest speakers who have been invited to add different dimensions to the Names Not Numbers project. Other speakers have included the noted Holocaust scholar and Academy Award winner, Dr. Michael Berenbaum, and newspaper editors and journalists from the New York Times and Newsday.
