Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues

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Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues
Executive branch of the United States
Annual budget$1.5 million (2022)
Agency executive
Parent departmentU.S. Department of State
WebsiteOfficial website

The Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues is an diplomatic office of the

restitution, secure compensation for Nazi-era wrongs, and promote Holocaust commemoration.[1]

The office is led by the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues (SEHI), who reports to the

Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs. Career Foreign Service officer Ellen Germain has served as Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues since August 23, 2021.[2]

Responsibilities

Within the State Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, the office is charged with developing and implementing U.S. policy to promote the restitution of Jewish property that was expropriated during World War II to Holocaust survivors and their heirs. The office also works alongside the State Department's Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism to promote Holocaust education, track and combat antisemitism, and preserve Holocaust-era archives.[3][4]

Since 2005, the Special Envoy leads the U.S. government's efforts to organize Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations. Since 2017, the office has issued reports on how countries are implementing the Terezin Declaration, a 2009 non-binding declaration by 47 countries to right economic wrongs during the Holocaust.[4]

The Special Envoy sits on the board of the

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and is the U.S. representative to the 33-member International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.[3]

History

In the late 1990s, many countries were coming to terms with the treatment of their Jewish communities during

Clinton Administration to establish a formal position to demonstrate its commitment to assisting Holocaust survivors and their descendants seek restitution.[4]

Trump Administration

Veteran diplomat Cherie Daniels served as Special Envoy from August 19, 2019 to August 6, 2021.[5]

Biden Administration

President

Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo from 2018 to 2021.[2]

Juozas Krikštaponis and Jonas Noreika in Lithuania; Roman Shukhevych in Ukraine; and Miklos Horthy in Hungary as examples of people memorialized for their anti-Soviet campaigns who also collaborated with the Nazis.[4]

See also

References

  1. State Department
    . Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  2. ^
    U.S. Department of State
    . Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b Monsen, Lauren. "U.S. special envoy for Holocaust issues looks to the past — and the future". America.gov. U.S. government. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  4. ^
    Times of Israel
    . Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Cherrie Daniels biography". U.S. State Department. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
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