President’s Holocaust Commission Adopts Proposals

The President’s Commission on the Holocaust will recommend to President Carter that financing the overall permanent national program combining a physical memorial and an education foundation to memorialize the Holocaust victims should be a ” public private partnership” of government and private fund.

This was one of a series of recommendations adopted by the Commission last Thursday in its last ” voting” meeting before it reports formally to President Carter on Aug. 15. After rendering its report, the Commission will automatically dissolve in accordance with the terms of its establishment last year with author Elie Wiesel as chairman. Acting on a subcommittee’s conclusions, the Commission deliberately left undetermined the amount of money that might be allocated for the museum and “a broad range of programs and joint projects” that would flow from the foundation.

The Commission had previously voted that the museum be located in Washington to ” appropriately incorporate exhibits reflecting the Holocaust with primary focus on the six million Jews– the uniquely total fury singled out the Jews– as well as the other millions of victims of the Holocaust” by the Nazis before and during World War II.

“The Commission recommends that funding be carried out by a public private partnership involving both government participation and private sector fund-raising such as was done for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and other major memorials. “the Commission said.” Government participation should be in the form of seed money up to $1 million for broad design of facilities as well as program and a challenge grant to be matched by fund-raising in the private sector, phased in over a three year period. The Commission requested “direct-moral support, endorsement and involvement of the White House for its fund-raising efforts.”

LINK TO SMITHSONIAN PROPOSED

The museum, the Commission proposed, would be an “autonomous bureau” of the Smithsonian Institution, a federal agency. “Like the Smithsonian, it would offer extension services to the public, to scholars, to other institutions.”

Other recommendations adopted included a request that the President appoint a “Committee of Conscience” to meet regularly at the National Memorial to receive reports of genocide or potential genocide anywhere in the world; that the U.S. government ” by direct intervention and executive action take steps” to provide adequate funds and staffing for investigating and prosecuting accused Nazi war criminals in the U.S.”