$1 Million Endowment Grant to Establish Jacob Blaustein Institute for Human Rights

The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, dedicated to the furtherance of Jewish security and universal human rights, for all men everywhere, is to be established as a memorial to the late Baltimore industrialist, statesman and philanthropist. The Institute will function as an arm of the American Jewish Committee, and will be located at the New York headquarters of the Committee in the Institute of Human Relations, which also houses the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Library and Center for Human Relations Research. The establishment of the Institute was announced by Dr. Morton K. Blaustein of Baltimore, Jacob Blaustein’s son, at the 65th annual dinner of the AJCommittee. Blaustein was president of the American Jewish Committee from 1949 to 1954, and honorary president from 1954 until the time of his death last November at the age of 78.

Dr. Blaustein, speaking for himself and on behalf of his mother. Mrs. Hilda K. Blaustein, and other members of the family, explained that the Institute would be established by a $1,000,000 endowment grant from the family. The Institute will engage in a wide variety of short-range and long-range projects involving action and research programs, particularly on the international and human rights scene. The activities of the new Institute will reflect the four major human-rights and human-relations concerns that occupied. Blaustein during his lifetime, Dr. Blaustein explained. The Institute will: seek to further public understanding of human rights concepts and to promote their translation into internationally binding agreements; seek to build understanding and support for the State of Israel. Within the framework of American interests, and at the same time will strive to deepen the Israeli people’s understanding of Jewry in the United States and other countries; foster interreligious understanding here and abroad and will conduct activities and projects to advance Jewish-Christian relations; assist Jewish communities of Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Latin America in reconstructing their communal and cultural life; and will aid threatened Jewish communities to combat rising discrimination and persecution. The AJCommittee, concluding its annual meeting today reelected to a third term Philip E. Hoffman as president, and reelected Max M. Fisher of Detroit chairman of its executive council.