I was very involved in the campaign throughout the 1980s and led my local Soviet Jewry group in Bournemouth, England as their Chairman for 7 years. We were considered one of the most active groups in the UK, meeting with influential leaders such as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to press the cause of the Refuseniks.
Lecture subjects
Any topic relating to Soviet Jewry
Languages English
Based in: England, London
Lecture options
Lecture
Discussion / Q&A
* Available for online lecture/Q&A
Contact gillianwalnesperry@gmail.com
Biography
I was very involved in the campaign throughout the 1980s and led my local Soviet Jewry group in Bournemouth, England as their Chairman for 7 years. We were considered one of the most active groups in the UK, meeting with influential leaders such as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to press the cause of the Refuseniks. We had much press coverage for our activities (as some were quite audacious) and I was interviewed on TV and radio many times. I was personally thanked by Natan Sharansky for my campaigning on his, and others’, behalf. I visited Refuseniks in the Soviet Union twice, but because I was well known to the Soviet authorities as an activist, I was subsequently refused entry to the Soviet Union three times, including as late as 1990. I continued to meet with former Refuseniks when they lived in the West. In 2009 I arranged and hosted a reunion of Soviet Jewry activists in my home, including the late Michael Sherbourne, the writer who originally created the term ‘Refusenik’. In 1990 I was appointed the British representative of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and went on to found, along with family and friends of Mr Otto Frank, the Anne Frank Trust UK, an educational charity. I was the Executive Director of the Anne Frank Trust for 26 years and in 2010 I was honoured by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth with Membership of the Order of the British Empire for my work in education. Since I retired from running the Trust in 2016 I have been speaking and lecturing in the UK, USA and on international cruise ships. Over the past months of the pandemic, having had to cancel a speaking tour in the USA this year and two cruise lecturing assignments, I have been lecturing and speaking around the English-speaking world via Zoom on The Life and Surprising Global Legacy of Anne Frank, plus other social history topics. They are all accompanied by richly illustrated slide shows. I can supply many endorsements from appreciative audience members and organizers. Yesterday I was a panellist in a debate on the \'new normal\' in education arranged by Pearson Education. Last December I was on a panel with Abraham Foxman, Emeritus President of the ADL. I would love to give talks about the Refuseniks and the Soviet Jewry campaign as I was so actively involved. I also have a large collection of scanned photographs from the campaign, which I could use to make interesting and engaging presentations. In 2018 my first book was published ‘The Legacy of Anne Frank’, in which I have written about the Soviet Jewry campaign. I am experienced in adapting my talks to any age group or demographic, including elementary and high school age groups, university students, prisoners, 100% Muslim audience and the older age group. As a public speaker I have spoken in venues such as the United Nations, 10 Downing Street and more recently the Clinton presidential Library and Center in little Rock.
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