Ellen Germain
Head of the United States Delegation to the IHRA
Member country since: 1998
Remembrance Days: 27 January (International Holocaust Remembrance Day), 11 April (Yom HaShoah)
Stacy Bernard Davis (U.S. Department of State) – Deputy Head of Delegation
Ethel Brooks (Rutgers University) – Academic Working Group
Jennifer Ciardelli (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) – Education Working Group
Steven Katz (Elie Wiesel Centre for Judaic Studies, Boston University) – Academic Working Group
Klaus Mueller (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) – Academic Working Group
Stephen Smith (USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education) – Academic Working Group
Lesley Weiss (National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry) – Museums and Memorials Working Group
Mark Weitzman (Simon Wiesenthal Center) – Museums and Memorials Working Group
Robert Williams (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) – Museums and Memorials Working Group
Kori Street (USC Shoah Foundation) – Education Working Group
The IHRA gives Holocaust-related institutions in the United States an unprecedented forum for dialogue with communities and experts across the country and throughout the world. From the first IHRA Holocaust educational book, published under the direction of the Swedish government in 1998, to the expertise offered today by the Working Groups, the IHRA enables organizations worldwide to develop meaningful opportunities in key areas of education, research, and memorialization in schools, universities and communities.
The IHRA helps build the political will necessary for the institutionalization of these key areas, and advances the need for open and transparent access to Holocaust-era archives.
Statement by President Joe Biden on the Rise of Antisemitic Attacks
Statement released on 28 May 2021
"In the last weeks, our nation has seen a series of anti-Semitic attacks, targeting and terrorizing American Jews.
"We have seen a brick thrown through window of a Jewish-owned business in Manhattan, a swastika carved into the door of a synagogue in Salt Lake City, families threatened outside a restaurant in Los Angeles, and museums in Florida and Alaska, dedicated to celebrating Jewish life and culture and remembering the Holocaust, vandalized with anti-Jewish messages.
"These attacks are despicable, unconscionable, un-American, and they must stop.
"I will not allow our fellow Americans to be intimidated or attacked because of who they are or the faith they practice.
"We cannot allow the toxic combination of hatred, dangerous lies, and conspiracy theories to put our fellow Americans at risk.
"As Attorney General Garland announced yesterday, the Department of Justice will be deploying all of the tools at its disposal to combat hate crimes.
"In recent days, we have seen that no community is immune. We must all stand together to silence these terrible and terrifying echoes of the worst chapters in world history, and pledge to give hate no safe harbor.
"May is Jewish American Heritage Month, when we honor Jewish Americans who have inextricably woven their experience and their accomplishments into the fabric of our national identity; overcoming the pain of history, and helping lead our struggle for a more fair, just, and tolerant society.
"Let us all take up that work and create a nation that stands for, and stands up for, the dignity and safety of all of our people."
Download the 2019 United States country report (the content of the report is the responsibility of the reporting country).