Location

Hamburg High School:
4111 Legion Drive,
Hamburg, New York 14075
Phone number: 646-3301
Please use an online directions service of your choice to learn how to get there.

OUR SPEAKERS 
Leigh Anne Hendrick is a high school history teacher at Chautauqua Lake High School. She graduated from Nazareth College of Rochester with her bachelor’s degree and she received her master’s from the State University of New York at Potsdam. Leigh Anne has been a part of USHMM teacher fellow, USHMM Belfer Next Step Team, and the USDE Teacher to Teacher Training Corps. She belongs to Kappa Delta Pi, NYSCSS, NCSS, and STCSS. Leigh Anne lives with her wonderful husband Dave and their three amazing children, Allison, Lauren, and Zachary.
Joe Diamond is an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor. Born in the peaceful town of Seredne, Czechoslovakia, he was about 15 years old when German soldiers came to his town to deport all of the Jewish citizens. He has since shared his powerful story to thousands of people throughout Western New York. Mr. Diamond currently owns Diamond Craft Homes, Inc. and lives in Williamsville with his wife Wendy Beth. He has two children and three grandchildren; Joshua, Jonathon, and Julie.
Miron B. Wasik liberated the Dachau concentration camp in 1941. He enlisted in the military at age 18 after dropping out of high at the age of 15. It took him only one year and eight months to reach he rank of master sergeant. During the war he was in charge of 162 men and is very proud that he never lost one soldier! Mr. Wasik still owns and runs his own business- his own farm that he bought at a very young age in Lockport, NY.
Charles J. Zappo was one of the men who liberated the Dachau concentration camp with the Rainbow Brigade in 1945. Mr. Zappo is a graduate of Kensington High School as well as Bryant and Stratton College with a degree in accounting. After completing his work at Bryant and Stratton, Mr. Zappo built a successful career as a cost accountant working for both New York State and the IRS. Today Mr. Zappo is a member of the Disabled American Veterans and he lives happily in Buffalo with his wife, they have a son and a daughter, many grandchildren, and a great grandchild.
Gregory L. Peterson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973 from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA in 1973 and went on to earn his Juris Doctor in 1976 from Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, PA. Currently Mr. Peterson serves as the President of the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, NY. Additionally, Mr. Peterson is a member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association, Jamestown Bar Association and Bar Association of Northern Chautauqua County, and is an attorney for Phillips Lytle. In addition to sitting on the board of many organizations such as the SUNY Fredonia Board of Directors, and the Board of Directors of the New York State Association for Retarded Children, Mr. Peterson has been honored with several awards, including the “Service to Mankind Award” presented by the Jamestown Sertoma Club in 1994; the Community Service Award, presented by three different organizations in 2000; and the Chautauqua Leadership Award in 2001. Mr. Peterson has a wife, Cynthia, and three children, Amy, Megan, and Brent.
Victor Habinshuti was born and raised in Rwanda, surviving the genocide his country experienced in 1994. After losing several family members and living in a refugee camp for several years, in 1999 he moved to the United States. He currently attends University at Buffalo where he is majoring in Electrical Engineering, and is also the Vice President of UB’s African Student Association.
David Crane is a professor at Syracuse University Law School. He has a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law and a MA in African Studies from Ohio University. He is the founder of Impurity Watch, which seeks to inform the world of human-rights violations in real time. From 2002-2005 he was the founding Chief Prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, an international war crimes tribunal, appointed to that position by the Secretary General of the United Nations. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife, Judith, and he has two children.
Fidele Diing Dhan is a lost boy of Sudan, who, along with thousands of other boys, walked for many years to find safety from the 23 years of war in southern Sudan. Fidele has his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from University at Buffalo and he is part of the Koiyom Clinic and School Project. He currently resides in Buffalo.
Pam Kefi is the Executive Director for the International Institute of Buffalo. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Pam belongs to the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association, the Western New York Refugee and Asyler Consortium, and the Standing Committee of U.S. Committees for Refugees and Immigrants. She currently lives in the Buffalo area with her three children and husband.
Rev. Ron Sajdak is the Co-Chairperson Peace & Justice Commission of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo. He earned his MAPM at Christ the King and his MTS from Washington Theological Union. He attends Speaking Engagements for ROTA (Reaching Out to Africa) and is helping Fidele raise money for ROTA and thepicklejarproject.org
Arnold Alt has been a leader of Darfur activism in Western New York with his weekly email update that goes out to over 100 teachers and community members. In addition to being an expert on the life of Raphael Lemkin, Mr. Alt is a self-professed bibliophile who enjoys doing dramatic readings of Chaucer and Shakespeare.