Richard Schifter
Richard Schifter | |
---|---|
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor | |
In office October 31, 1985 – April 3, 1992 | |
President | Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush |
Preceded by | Elliott Abrams |
Succeeded by | Patricia Diaz Dennis |
Personal details | |
Born | LL.B) | July 31, 1923
Military service | |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Unit | Ritchie Boys |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Richard Schifter (July 31, 1923 – October 4, 2020) was an Austrian-American attorney and diplomat who served as
Early life and education
Richard Schifter was born in Vienna, Austria, on July 31, 1923, into a Jewish family from Poland.[1][2] In the wake of the Anschluss by which the First Austrian Republic was annexed by Nazi Germany, Schifter's family sought permission for all of them to emigrate to the United States, but Richard was the only member of the family able to obtain a visa. His parents, who had been born in Poland, were in the Polish quota, and placed on a long waiting list.[3] He immigrated to the United States without his family in December 1938, at the age of 15.[4] In the U.S., he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of the City of New York in 1943.[5]
Schifter enrolled in
Military service
Schifter joined the United States Army in 1943, becoming one of the Ritchie Boys, a unit of, among others, young Jewish-German refugees who the U.S. Army trained in psychological warfare.[4]
He was present for the
Career
After graduating from law school, Schifter joined the
From 1981 to 1982, Schifter was U.S. representative to the
In 1985,
After the election of Bill Clinton, he was appointed to special assistant to the United States National Security Council.[10] He served in this capacity until 2001.[11]
Since leaving government in 2001, Schifter headed the American Jewish International Relations Institute and the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeastern Europe.[11] He was also a trustee of the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies.[11]
Personal life
Schifter died on October 4, 2020.[12][13]
References
- ^ a b "Hear Ambassador Richard Schifter’s personal Holocaust story", Gazette.net, Apr. 26, 2006
- ^ https://memory.loc.gov/service/mss/mfdip/2007/2007sch02/2007sch02.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Don't Wave Goodbye," Jason and Posner, Praeger/Greenwood (2004)
- ^ a b c d e Profile from Ritchie Boys website
- ^ a b c d Continuation of Richard Schifter as an Assistant Secretary of State, June 14, 1989
- ^ "Don't Wave Goodbye," Jason and Posner, Praeger/Greenwood (2004)
- ^ a b Edward Lazarus, Black Hills, White Justice: The Sioux Nation Versus the United States, 1775 to the Present (University of Nebraska Press, 1999), p. 226
- ^ a b c d Nomination of Richard Schifter To Be an Assistant Secretary of State, Oct. 1, 1985
- ^ Stefan A. Halper and Jonathan Clarke, America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 83
- ^ Paul D. Molineaux, "Richard Schifter: Human Rights or 'Population Exchange' Advocate?", Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June 1994
- ^ a b c Profile from Virginia Law School
- ^ "Richard Schifter, Legendary US Jewish Diplomat and Human Rights Advocate, Dies at Age 97". The Algemeiner. October 5, 2020. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020.
- ^ staff, T. O. I. "Former US diplomat and presidential adviser Richard Schifter dead at 97". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved October 5, 2020.