Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the US

Press Release

For Immediate Release

Contact: Stu Loeser mailto:sloeser@pcha.gov
(202) 371-6400, ext. 456

May 11, 1999 

SENATOR GORDON SMITH NAMED TO COMMISSION

Washington, DC -- Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott announced his intention to name Senator Gordon H. Smith (R-Oregon) to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States tomorrow.

Senator Smith completes the Commission’s roster of 21 Members, including individuals from the private sector, Members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Chair of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Commission, and representatives of the U.S. Departments of the Army, Justice, State, and Treasury.

Senator Smith is Chairman of the European Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Smith also serves as Chairman of the Water and Power Subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and sits on the Senate Budget Committee and the Special Senate Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem.

Senator Smith has held hearings and chaired roundtable seminars on the rise of anti-Semitism in Russia, for which he was honored with the American Jewish Committee’s Congressional Leadership Award.

“We are delighted to have an individual with the knowledge and expertise of Senator Smith join us on the Commission,” Commission Chair Edgar M. Bronfman said. “We look forward to his contributions as we continue our work.”

The Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States was created by the U.S. Holocaust Assets Commission Act of 1998 (PL 105-186) and given the mandate to:

Conduct original research into what happened to the assets of Holocaust victims - including gold, other financial instruments and art and cultural objects - that passed into the possession or control of the Federal government, including the Federal Reserve;

Survey the research done by others about what happened to the assets of Holocaust victims that passed into non-Federal hands, including State governments; and

Report to the President, making recommendations for future actions, whether legislative or administrative.

The Members of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States are: Mr. Edgar M. Bronfman - Chair, Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA), Sen. Christopher Dodd (CT), Hon. Stuart Eizenstat (Department of State), Rep. Ben Gilman (NY), Hon. Patrick Henry (Department of the Army), Mr. Roman R. Kent, Rep. Rick Lazio (NY), Mr. Ira H. Leesfield, Chairman Miles Lerman (US Holocaust Memorial Committee), Rep. James Maloney (CT), Dr. Jehuda Reinharz, Hon. Peggy Milner Richardson, Hon. James Robinson (Department of Justice), Hon. Patricia Scott Schroeder, Rep. Brad Sherman (CA), Hon. William S. Singer, Sen. Gordon Smith (OR), Sen. Arlen Specter (PA), Reverend Cecil Williams, Mr. Neal Wolin (Department of Treasury).