|
|
News Release from
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
October 11, 2004
Congress Passes Lantos's Antisemitism Bill
Both houses of Congress have unanimously passed legislation requiring the U.S. to monitor anti-Semitism around the world, despite the State Department’s opposition.
The bill, known as the Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (H.R. 4230), was introduced by Congressman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), in response to the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East. Lantos is the only Holocaust survivor serving in the Congress. The bill requires the State Department to compile an annual report on anti-Semitism around the world, and establishes an office within the department to focus on the issue.
The State Department at first stalled the bill, by arguing that Lantos’s proposal would “extend exclusive status to one religious or ethnic group.” But the legislation moved forward in recent weeks after the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and former Congressman Stephen Solarz organized more than 100 prominent Americans to sign a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, protesting the State Department’s position.
As the San Francisco Chronicle reported: “One key to advancing Lantos’ bill may have been the surprise intervention of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. The Pennsylvania-based organization, named for a historian who has written about the West's response to the Holocaust, organized an open letter to Powell signed by 104 prominent Americans. They included former Republican vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp, former United Nations ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, ex-CIA director James Woolsey and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Garry Wills. ‘I was delighted and totally surprised by this bipartisan, multi-faith group,’ said Lantos.”
The letter was signed by prominent Americans from across the spectrum of the religious, political, academic and entertainment worlds. In addition to Kemp and Kirkpatrick, the signatories included former National Security Advisor Anthony Lake, singers Janis Ian and Peter Himmelman, comedian David Brenner, former State Department Legal Advisor Abraham Sofaer, writers Cynthia Ozick and Thane Rosenbaum, and leaders of four top Christian religious seminaries: the Union Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School, Drew Theological Seminary and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.
The Wyman Institute’s letter stated: “The State Department’s position on the Lantos legislation carries troubling echoes of the past…During the Holocaust, the State Department did its best to downplay the Jewish identity of Hitler’s victims – even though the Nazi regime had clearly singled out Jews for annihilation. Statements by U.S. officials about Nazi atrocities seldom mentioned the Jews. This made it harder for the American public to understand what was happening and hindered efforts to rally public support for rescue of Jews from Hitler.”
(For the full text of the letter, with all the signatories, click here)
Wyman Institute director Dr. Rafael Medoff praised Congressman Lantos for his “vision, courage, and determination in overcoming the State Department’s obstacles and achieving this crucial step in the battle against antisemitism.”
ABOUT THE WYMAN INSTITUTE: The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, located on the campus of Gratz College (near Philadelphia), is a research and education institute focusing on America's response to the Holocaust. It is named in honor of the eminent historian and author of the 1984 best-seller The Abandonment of the Jews, the most important and influential book concerning the U.S. response to the Nazi genocide.
The Institute's Advisory Committee includes Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, Members of Congress, and other luminaries. The Institute's Academic Council includes 45 leading professors of the Holocaust, American history, and Jewish history. The Institute's Arts & Letters Council, chaired by Cynthia Ozick, includes prominent artists, writers, and filmmakers. (A complete list is available upon request.)
(Return to top)
|
220 Christian & Jewish Clergy Urge Arrest of Sudan's President for Darfur War Crimes
November 20, 2009
100 Holocast Praise Uganda's Darfur Arrest Threat
July 20, 2009
Marvel Publishes Comic Strip About Fight for Auschwitz Paintings
March 9, 2009
FDR Biographers Top List of Year's "Ten Most Absurd Statements About the Allies' Response to the Holocaust"
February 2, 2009
400 Rabbis Urge Yad Vashem To Recognize Bergson Group
January 27, 2009
130 Holocaust Scholars Urge: Prosecute Sudan’s President for Genocide
September 15, 2008
Families of 1936 Anti-Nazi Olympics Protesters Urge China to Restore Visa to Skater Who Spoke Out
August 11, 2008
120 Israeli Leaders Urge Yad Vashem to Recognize Bergson Group
June 23, 2008
Writing About the Allies’ Response to the Holocaust: The Ten Most Absurd Statements of 2007
February 4, 2008
Morgenthau-Holocaust Mystery, Cited in PBS TV Series, Will Be Solved in Forthcoming Book
January 18, 2008
President Bush Is Right: U.S. Should Have --And Could Have-- Bombed Auschwitz
January 11, 2008
D.C. Radio Station Pledges to Be “More Sensitive” Following “Concentration Camp” Controversy
October 31, 2007
Jailing of Holocaust-Deniers in Europe Dealt Blow to Denial Movement in 2006, Report Finds
December 28, 2006
Author Admits He Wrongly Portrayed Holocaust Rescue Activists as Draft-Dodgers
December 15, 2006
35 Catholic and Jewish Scholars Urge Vatican: Open Holocaust Archives
December 11, 2006
450 Cartoonists Urge Poland to Return Auschwitz Paintings
September 20, 2006
Jewish Groups Should Withdraw Invitations to Gibson, in Response to News of His Ties to Holocaust-Deniers
August 21, 2006
"Don't Help Jews or British POWs,"U.S. Diplomat Ordered Staff in 1940
May 25, 2006
Newspaper Association Acknowledges Failure to Aid Jewish Journalists Fleeing Hitler
March 10, 2006
Holocaust-Deniers Gained in Arab & Muslim World in 2005, But Lost Ground in U.S. and Europe
December 21, 2005
U.S. Journalism Schools and Publishers Snubbed Refugees From Hitler, Scholar Reveals
December 20, 2005
Press Release Archive
|
