A University of Aberdeen scholar will examine the causes of genocide as Aberdeen marks Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.
Professor Trevor Salmon will deliver a public lecture at the event, which aims to highlight the dangers of anti-Semitism, racism and intolerant discrimination.
The professor of International Relations at the University of Aberdeen will consider the causes and conditions of genocide in the talk at Cowdray Hall.
Holocaust Memorial Day provides a time to remember victims and survivors of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and those affected by subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and during the ongoing atrocities in Darfur.
In his talk, Professor Salmon will also reflect on lesser known examples or mass murder carried out by governments, which account for the deaths of hundreds of millions of people in the period before the 20th century, and today would be a crime under the International Criminal Court.
He said: “Political authorities - of one sort or another – may have killed at least as many people as disease.
“Many of the grotesque examples of genocide were in the twentieth century in many parts of the world.
“The world in the past has been slow to respond, but now there is hope that the international community might bring some of the perpetrators – heads of government and ordinary individuals - to justice.
“We should never forget and part of not forgetting is bringing those responsible to justice”
Professor Salmon will deliver his lecture at 1.45pm on Wednesday January 27 as part of a programme which also includes music interludes, a presentation from Harlaw Academy pupils on their experience in Auschwitz, poetry reading, and story telling.
For more information visit www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/xev_event.asp