LIBRARY NOTES
 
Paul Rusesabagina
An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography
Monday, March 5, 2007 at 7:00 PM
Temple Israel, 112 East 75th Street
In the spring of 1994 in Rwanda, 800,000 people were slaughtered, most
hacked to death by machete. Rusesabagina, manager of a Belgian luxury hotel,
took in more than a thousand of those in danger and for 100 days kept them away
from the murderous mobs outside the gate through a combination of persuasion,
diplomacy, and bribery. His courageous actions inspired the film
Hotel Rwanda
and are now recounted in his memoir
An Ordinary Man. The book also contextualizes
the massacres with details of Rwandan culture and geography and makes
essential points about race, ethnicity, human weakness, and human resilience. Mr.
Rusesabagina will be introduced by Rabbi David J. Gelfand of Temple Israel, who
was active in Rwandan relief during the crisis.
Paul Rusesabagina has been called "the Oskar Schindler of Rwanda" for
his humanitarian work during the genocide of 1994. He is a recipient of the
Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Civil Rights Museum's 2005
Freedom Award. He now lives in Belgium with his family.
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