April 17, 2001

Whitworth Professor to be Featured Speaker
at Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony

Recognizing the universal lessons to be learned about the devastating effects of hatred and prejudice, Spokane's Temple Beth Shalom has invited a Christian psychologist studying the seeds of extraordinary evil to be the featured speaker for its annual Yom HaShoa Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony.

James Waller, professor of psychology at Whitworth College and a widely recognized scholar in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies, will speak about the need for individuals to expand their universe of moral commitment beyond their own racial, ethnic, religious, economic, gender and political backgrounds. The ceremony - 7 p.m. April 22 at Temple Beth Shalom, 1322 E. 30th Ave. - also will include comments from Holocaust survivor Eva Lassman of Spokane, a candle-lighting ceremony, and music by the Temple Beth Shalom choir. The event, which typically draws up to 800 people, is free and open to the public.

Lassman has guest-lectured in Waller's classes and lauds his work to raise awareness among Jews and non-Jews about the lessons to be learned from the Holocaust. She was the key figure in recruiting Waller to speak at the Yom HaShoa ceremony, according to her son Joel Lassman, who chairs the event's organizing committee.

"My mother is impressed with the work Dr. Waller has done to improve relationships between human beings," Lassman says. "If we're going to achieve peace and understanding on earth, it's going to have to be a cooperative, universal effort. The more we can learn about each other to minimize the effects of hatred and intolerance, the better. So we're honored to have someone with Dr. Waller's credentials and commitment to making the world a better place as our keynote speaker."

Waller describes the opportunity to speak at the Yom HaShoa ceremony as the "most significant and meaningful" invitation he has received in his 20-year academic career. "It carries with it an awesome responsibility," he says, "and a recognition on the part of the Jewish community in Spokane that all of humanity - both Jews and non-Jews - need to be involved in the remembrance of the Holocaust."

Yom HaShoa offers members of the Jewish community a time to remember those who suffered and died in the Holocaust as well as a point of hope for those who survived and whose children and grandchildren are a testament to their survival and to the survival of Judaism. Such ceremonies also are important to non-Jews, Waller says, because they serve as reminder that all that must happen for evil to flourish is for good people to sit by and do nothing.

Waller, founder of Whitworth's acclaimed Prejudice Across America study tour and author of numerous articles, chapters and books on the psychology of prejudice and racism, has devoted his career to studying how widespread human apathy and indifference contributed to the Holocaust and other genocides. That is the subject of his upcoming book Children of Cain: How Ordinary People Commit Extraordinary Evil, to be published by Oxford University Press.

In part to combat apathy and indifference in the Spokane community, Waller chose to focus his Yom HaShoa remarks on the need for individuals to expand their universe of moral commitment to include people of different racial, ethnic, economic, religious, gender and political backgrounds.

"Part of Holocaust remembrance must include a commitment to learn the tragic lessons of apathy and indifference and to counter those with a commitment to making the world a better place," Waller says. "Non-Jews share in the communal suffering of the Jews, but we also bear the communal responsibility of an apathetic world that did little or nothing to stop that suffering. In some ways, you could argue that Holocaust remembrance is just as important for non-Jews as it is for Jews."

Waller joined the Whitworth College faculty in 1989 and has been recognized for outstanding teaching and research in the areas of social psychology, racism, and Holocaust and genocide studies. He has written 25 articles in refereed professional journals, and three chapters in edited books. He also is the author of Face to Face: The Changing State of Racism Across America (Perseus Books, 1998) and Prejudice Across America (University Press of Mississippi, 2000).

Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private, liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The college enrolls 2,000 students in more than 50 undergraduate and graduate programs.

Contacts:

Jim Waller, professor of psychology, (509) 777-4424 or jwaller@whitworth.edu.

Joel Lassman, chair of Temple Beth Shalom's Yom HaShoa organizing committee, (509) 448-4578 or joel4golf@aol.com.

Greg Orwig, director of communications, (509) 777-4580 or gorwig@whitworth.edu.