News Release

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September 19, 2005

Samuel Pisar

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Renowned International Lawyer and Holocaust Survivor To Keynote Frank Church Conference At Boise State

Samuel Pisar, a world-renowned international lawyer and one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust, will be a keynote speaker at the 22nd annual Frank Church Conference on Public Affairs. This year’s conference, “Global Flash Points: Clash of Cultures,” will be Thursday, Nov. 3, in the Boise State University Jordan Ballroom. The daylong conference runs from 8:30 a.m-4 p.m.; Pisar will speak at 7 p.m. The conference is free and open to the public

Pisar was 10 years old when Hitler and Stalin invaded his native Poland. After two years of Soviet captivity and four years in Auschwitz and other death camps, he emerged at age 16 as the only survivor of his family and his school.

Pisar resumed his education in Australia, and later earned doctorates from Harvard and the Sorbonne. In 1961 he was made a U.S. citizen by an act of Congress. Today, he practices international law in New York, London and Paris, where he lives with his wife, Judith.

Pisar is the founder-president of Yad Vashem France, administrator of the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah, and a trustee of the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He has lectured extensively throughout the world, including the Economic Forum in Davos, the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, and the Commission on Human Rights in Paris. His books, including “Of Blood and Hope” and “Coexistence and Commerce,” have been published in 20 languages.

Other principal conference speakers include:

  • Paul Heinbecker, former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, and an adviser to former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
  • John Habib, diplomat in residence at Michigan State University, and head of the Center for American Studies at Mohamad V University in Rabat, Morocco
  • Greg Raymond, Frank Church Professor of International Relations at Boise State.
  • This year’s conference is presented in partnership with the Cenarussa Center at Boise State and the Boise Independent School District.

    For more information about the Frank Church Conference, contact Garry Wenske, executive director of the Frank Church Institute, at (208) 426-2941 or GarryWenske@boisestate.edu

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    Contact: Garry Wenske, Frank Church Institute, (208) 426-2941, GarryWenske@boisesetate.edu

    Media Contact: Kathleen Craven, University Relations, (208) 426-3275, kcraven@boisestate.edu



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    Last reviewed on Thursday, December 22, 2005