March 11, 2002
NEWLY APPOINTED CHAIR OF THE UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL COUNCIL WILL LEAD MUSEUM INTO ITS SECOND DECADE
WASHINGTON, DC — Fred S. Zeidman, who has been appointed by President George W. Bush to lead the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, has pledged a “deep commitment and a moral responsibility” to preserve and pursue the mission and work of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“As the Museum’s first leader who is not of the survivor generation, I carry a particular moral responsibility to those who came before me and to those who will succeed me, to ensure that the history of the Holocaust is appropriately preserved and transmitted as we enter the next decade of our work,” Mr. Zeidman says.
“As the eyewitness generation, Holocaust survivors, their rescuers and liberators, fades into history, the call to ensure the continued authenticity of the work of education and remembrance increases in urgency. It is a solemn obligation, an immense challenge, and a precious legacy. I pledge my deep commitment and promise my energetic efforts to work with the Council and staff in its service.”
The current Vice-Chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Ruth B. Mandel, will continue to serve in that position.
“As we approach our 10th anniversary and prepare for our second decade, Fred is an ideal leader for the institution,” the Director of the Museum, Sara J. Bloomfield says. “He is dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, understands institutional leadership, the importance of the Museum’s moral integrity and has a proven ability to work effectively with a wide variety of people. I look forward to a strong partnership with Council members and our remarkable staff, as we work together to advance the important work of this great institution.”
Mr. Zeidman, 55, is a prominent Houston-based business and civic leader. He is Managing Partner of WoodRock & Company; Chairman, Southwest Region, Anti-Defamation League; Vice Chairman of the Board of Regents, Texas Southern University; Texas State Chairman, Israel Bonds; Vice Chairman, Republican Jewish Coalition; Vice President and Director, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs; and is a member of the Investment in Discovery Campaign Committee, Baylor College of Medicine. He also serves on the Executive Committees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC); the Houston Jewish Community Foundation; the Texas Inter-Faith Housing Corporation; and the Houston Ear Research Foundation. He has played a leadership role in a number of other organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, the American Jewish Committee, the North American Jewish Forum, the Houston Grand Opera, and Washington University. In 2001, AIPAC recognized his efforts with its Southwest Region Distinguished Leadership Award.
Professor Mandel is Director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, where she also holds a faculty appointment as Board of Governors Professor of Politics. She has served as Director of Eagleton’s Center for the American Woman and Politics, where she remains affiliated as a senior scholar. She is a member of the board of the Charles H. Revson foundation and has served on the board of the National Council for Research on Women; the National Commission for the Renewal of American Democracy; Princeton University’s Center for Jewish Life; and the Mercer County Commission of the Status of Women.
Professor Mandel was appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council in 1991 and has served as Vice-Chair since 1993. She is a member of the Executive and Academic Committees. She led the process to establish the Museum’s Committee on Conscience which was established in 1996 and served as its founding chair. As a child, with her parents, she was a passenger on the ill-fated St. Louis liner that left Germany with Jewish passengers, was turned away by Cuban, U.S. and Canadian governments and had to return to Europe. She has donated various materials to the Museum’s collection.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America’s national institution for the documentation, study and interpretation of Holocaust history and serves as this country’s memorial to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust. Since opening in April 1993, the Museum has welcomed more than 17 million visitors. The Museum’s primary mission is to advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy; to preserve the memory of those who suffered; and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the moral questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.
