Under Secretary Grossman to Give Keynote Address to the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research

Under Secretary Marc Grossman will give the keynote address at the plenary session of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, Wednesday, December 3, at 10:45 a.m. in the Loy Henderson auditorium. A speech by Rabbi Andrew Baker of the American Jewish Committee will then follow.

The Task Force consists of government and non-governmental organization representatives and works on the basis of consensus. Its purpose is to place political and social leaders’ support behind the need for Holocaust education, remembrance, and research both nationally and internationally. Initiated by Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson in 1998, the Task Force has fifteen member countries: Argentina, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, the UK, and the U.S. Professor Yehuda Bauer, former chair of the Yad Vashem Research Institute in Jerusalem, is Task Force academic advisor. Delegations will attend as liaison countries or observers from Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Romania, and Slovakia.

The U.S. is represented on the Task Force by the State Department, the Association of Holocaust Organizations, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The U.S. assumed annual chairmanship of the Task Force in February 2003, and this meeting is the second hosted by the U.S. this year. This meeting, focusing heavily on Holocaust education, is especially timely in light of a recent surge in violent anti-Semitic incidents.

Media representatives may cover the Mr. Grossman's address on presentation of one of the following: 1) a U.S. Government-issued identification card (State Department, White House, Congress, Defense Department, or Foreign Press Center); 2) a photo ID issued by the employing media organization; or 3) a letter on official letterhead from employing organization verifying their employment as a journalist, accompanied by an official photo ID (valid driver's license or passport). Media representatives should use the 23rd Street entrance (between D and C Streets) and should arrive at least 10 minutes before the start of the speech.

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