THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

                          PRESIDENT CLINTON 
                NAMES MILES LERMAN AS CHAIR AND MEMBER 
           OF THE UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL COUNCIL

     The President today announced his intent to appoint Miles Lerman 

as Chair and Member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

Mr. Miles Lerman, of Vineland, New Jersey, has served on the Holocaust Memorial Council since its inception in 1980 and has been its Chairman since 1993. A businessman, Mr. Lerman has long been involved in the building of American and international Jewish institutional life, performing key roles in the State of Israel Bond Organization, the United Jewish Federation, and the International Auschwitz Committee, among others. As a member of the Council, Mr. Lerman directed the International Relations Committee and served as National Chairman of the Campaign to Remember, leading the initiative to raise the $190 million to build the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Mr. Lerman also spearheaded agreements with foreign governments that have brought archival materials and artifacts to the Museum. Negotiating official agreements with every Central and Eastern European country except Albania, he not only paved the way for artifact collection, but also enabled the Museum to copy massive amounts of archival material previously inaccessible to scholars. During the Holocaust, Mr. Lerman fought as a partisan in the forests of southern Poland.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Council was established in 1979 to provide for the annual commemoration and observance of the Days of Remembrance of the Holocaust, and to construct and operate a living memorial to its victims.

-30-30-30-