Libya RPCV Frank Nicosia will share his expertise on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust as the keynote speaker for the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers annual meeting



Nicosia served with the Peace Corps in Libya from 1968 to 1969 until Mouammar Gadhaffi came to power and threw volunteers out of the country. Nicosia is the interim director for Holocaust studies at the University of Vermont; he has been a history professor at St. Michael's College since 1979. "The average German citizens weren't killers ... They were people who looked the other way," he said. "I don't ever want to be the equivalent of what was considered a good German by looking the other way," Nicosia said.

Libya RPCV Frank Nicosia will share his expertise on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust as the keynote speaker for the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers annual meeting

Peace Corps talk to focus on Holocaust

Published: Saturday, October 27, 2007
By Julia Melloni
Correspondent

Frank Nicosia will share his expertise on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust as the keynote speaker for the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers annual meeting Sunday at St. Michael's College.

Nicosia wants to inspire attendees to continue to be activists at home and to get involved in issues important to the betterment of society.

Nicosia served with the Peace Corps in Libya from 1968 to 1969 until Mouammar Gadhaffi came to power and threw volunteers out of the country. Nicosia is the interim director for Holocaust studies at the University of Vermont; he has been a history professor at St. Michael's College since 1979.

Nicosia and returned volunteers embrace the Peace Corps' mission to share their experiences and understanding of people from oversees while helping Americans understand other cultures.

In 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy challenged college students at the University of Michigan to serve their country by promoting peace by serving in developing countries. The Peace Corps was founded the following year.

Vermont has the highest number of Peace Corps volunteers per capita of any state. Close to 1,300 Vermonters have served in developing countries since the program's inception. More than 700 returned volunteers are living in Vermont and are involved in a variety of local activism projects such as helping with the Refugee Resettlement Program, sending bikes to developing countries through the Pedals for Progress program, and supporting the Committee on Temporary Shelter, or COTS.

Nicosia said he was an activist even before he joined the Peace Corps; his study of German history fueled his desire to prevent what happened during the Holocaust from happening again.

"The average German citizens weren't killers ... They were people who looked the other way," he said. "I don't ever want to be the equivalent of what was considered a good German by looking the other way," Nicosia said.

To learn more For information about the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers contact dorseyhogg@gmail.com or visit www.peacecorps.gov

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Headlines: October, 2007; Peace Corps Libya; Directory of Libya RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Libya RPCVs; Jewish Issues; Vermont