There is no universal consensus on the “just recovery” of traumatic experiences from the Holocaust, the “Dirty War” in Argentina, the genocide in Rwanda, the “Killing Fields” of Cambodia and other massacres. This session will explore the fundamental necessity of preserving historical memory and truth as means to not only address collective trauma, but also engage in processes of transitional justice and transformation world-wide, and in the United States as it nears a period of authentic racial reckoning.
Jeanette Spiegel was born October 17, 1923 in Vienna, Austria to the Jewish couple Ossie and Etta Koenigsberg, and had an older sister Irma. Her father owned a furniture store and they lived in an assimilated borough of Vienna. She remembers the Nazis marching into Vienna March 15,1938 as the Austrians cheered them on with open arms. Jeanette was sent on a Child Transport to Belgium in January 1939 and hid in plain sight keeping a step ahead of the Gestapo until April 1944 when she was arrested for being a Jew and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. In January 1945 Jeanette escaped a Death March and made her way back to Vienna in hopes of finding family. She was the only Survivor.
Jeanette Spiegel lives in NYC with her husband of 65 years, Herbert Spiegel. She has three children, six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren with a third on the way, and one rather large British Blue Shorthair cat named Clementine.
Fernando Travesí is the Executive Director of the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ). He has over 20 years of international experience in transitional justice, human rights, and rule of law, working for both international organizations and NGOs. Prior to joining ICTJ in 2014, he was the Director of the United Nations Transitional Justice Basket Fund in Colombia. He also served as UNDP Senior Justice Advisor in Tunisia after the Jasmine Revolution. In Nepal and Colombia, Travesí held regional responsibilities with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to protect civilian populations affected by the armed conflict, including documenting violations of international humanitarian law, monitoring prisons and detention places and managing the dossier of missing and disappeared. He also worked in Sierra Leone, as Country Director of the Spanish Red Cross, where he led Red Cross’ projects on rehabilitation of child combatants and children affected by the war. Prior to that, he worked for the NGO Movimiento por la Paz, as Regional Director for the Balkans leading a cross-border program on access to justice for refugees, displaced people, and returnees and; as Country Director in Albania during the Kosovo war. Mr. Travesí is a Lawyer who also completed post-graduate specialized courses in international public law and practiced in Spain mostly on criminal, immigration and civil issues. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution and Negotiation from the University Pontificia Javeriana of Colombia that awarded him with the Annual University Honor Medal for Academic Merits. He is a recognized novelist and playwright, winning awards such as the Spanish National Prize of Theater.
Emmanuel Rutikanga from Kigali, Rwanda, is holder of bachelors degree in Economics and business studies majored in Finance at Kigali Independent University he is also a holder of diploma in community driven social changes from Goldin Institute based in Chicago Illinois, he is a co-author of an article called “Of Milk Pots and Cattle Keepers.” in African Arts, Winter 2018, Volume 51, No. 4: 70-85. Emmanuel is a board member in HCH (House of culture heritage), an organization which serves the community through vocational service-based activities via cultural art, Emmanuel also volunteers at the Streets Ahead Children's Centre Association (SACCA), a local NGO registered in Rwanda which works to protect and rehabilitate children at risk of homelessness in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. He is the Co-Founder and Executive Secretary of the Hope and Peace Foundation Rwanda, which is dedicated to: 1. Fostering unity and reconciliation among youth survivors, youths whose parents participated in the Genocide and Youth born from rape in 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi. 2. women still haunted from suffering rape of 1994 genocide against Tutsi, 3. To take care of the ladies and girls who were raped during the Genocide. 4. To take care of elderly widows without children and he started the Hope and Peace Foundation to unite and reconcile youths whose families were on different sides of the Genocide.
Tulaine Montgomery is an entrepreneur, educator, writer and organizer. She has played leadership roles in the launch and expansion of social enterprises across the U.S., Caribbean, East Africa, Indonesia and
South Africa.
Tulaine currently serves as CEO of New Profit, a venture philanthropy organization that backs breakthrough social entrepreneurs who are advancing education, economic mobility and opportunity in America. During her time at New Profit, Tulaine has led initiatives focused on strengthening education-to-employment pathways for overlooked youth, driving resources and support to entrepreneurs who have been directly impacted by the American legal system, and building a more diverse, effective and inclusive social impact sector. Tulaine has also served as the lead architect of New Profit’s Inclusive Impact strategy and Proximate Capital, a $100M fund which seeks to bridge the resource gap by providing unrestricted capital and capacity support to Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous, and rural social entrepreneurs.
Outside of New Profit, Tulaine is a trusted advisor to nonprofit organizations and socially responsible companies, and serves as the Board Chair for GirlTrek, the largest public health nonprofit for African-American women and girls in the nation. Her other board positions include Beyond 12, College for Social Innovation, and Jitegemee (a youth-serving organization in Kenya). She is also the Host and Co-Producer of "Say More with Tulaine,” a podcast that explores what it would take to build a world that works for everyone.
Tulaine is a highly sought after speaker who has presented at many conferences such as Skoll World Forum, ASU+GSV, SXSW EDU and many others. Her writing has been featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Root, Worth Media, and more. She has a master’s in public policy from Tufts University and a bachelor’s degree from Smith College. Tulaine is an experienced cellist and writer; she has written and produced five original plays.
President, Samueli Family Philanthropies and COO, H&S Ventures, Samueli Foundation
Lindsey Spindle serves as President of the Samueli Family Philanthropies and Chief Operating Officer of H&S Ventures which oversees all the Samueli Family’s for-profit and not-for-profit activities. The philanthropic entities operating under the oversight of H&S Ventures include the Samueli Foundation, the Anaheim Ducks Foundation, the San Diego Gulls Foundation, the Irvine Ice Foundation, and The Rinks Foundation.
Spindle was President of The Jeff Skoll Group, where she connected and advised Mr. Skoll’s entrepreneurial portfolio of philanthropic and commercial organizations that include the impact entertainment company Participant, Capricorn Investment Group, and the Skoll Foundation. The Skoll Foundation’s mission is centered on social entrepreneurship and innovation, with a focus on five main, interrelated areas: climate change, inclusive economies, protection of democracy, pandemics prevention and health systems strengthening, and racial justice. Participant has produced more than
