THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                           (Auburn, New York)
_________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                   September 1, 1999

                        PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES
          STANISLAUS A. BLEJWAS, SUSAN ESTRICH, BENJAMIN MEED
                                  AND
                         MENACHEM Z. ROSENSAFT
            TO THE UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL COUNCIL

     The President today announced his intent to appoint Stanislaus A.

Blejwas, Susan Estrich, Benjamin Meed and Menachem Z. Rosensaft as members to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

Professor Stanislaus A. Blejwas, of Collinsville, Connecticut, is University Professor of History and Holder of the Endowed Chair in Polish and Polish American Studies at Central Connecticut State University. He is also Co-Chair of the National Polish American-Jewish American Council and served on the Boards of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America and the Jozef Pilsudski Institute. Professor Blejwas is widely published on Polish history, and brings special emphasis to commemoration of the memory of Polish victims of the Holocaust. He received an AB from Providence College, and his MA and Ph. D from Columbia University.

Professor Susan Estrich, of Los Angeles, California, is the Robert Kingsely Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Southern California Law Center. Earlier, she was Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Ms. Estrich is also a syndicated columnist appearing in a number of national newspapers including the Washington Post, Boston Herald, Denver Post and Houston Chronicle; is on the Board of Editorial Contributors for USA Today; is a legal and political analyst for Fox News; and writes a monthly column, "Portia", for American Lawyer Media. She is also author of a number of books and articles, including Getting Away with Murder: How Politics is Destroying the Criminal Justice System. She was the first woman President of the Harvard Law Review and the first woman to run a presidential campaign. Her board memberships include the Center for Early Education and the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization and the National Advisory Board for Global Ethics. She received a BA with highest honors from Wellesley College and a JD magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Mr. Benjamin Meed, of New York City, is one of the principal founders and President of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and is the founder and organizer of the National Registry of Jewish Holocaust Survivors now located in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He has been a member of the Holocaust Memorial Council since 1979 and served as Vice Chair of the Opening Committee of the Museum. Mr. Meed worked with Senator Danforth to develop the National Yom Hashoah - Days of Remembrance - and serves as Chair of the committee organizing this annual event in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Mr. Meed was born in Warsaw, Poland, worked as a slave laborer for Germans outside the Ghetto during World War II, and was an active member of the Warsaw Underground. Together with his wife, Vladka, Mr. Meed performed many dangerous missions on both sides of the Ghetto walls. He now serves as the President of the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance Organization (WAGRO).

Mr. Menachem Z. Rosensaft, of New York City, is Executive Vice President of the Jewish Renaissance Foundation. Previously, he was Vice President and Senior Associate Counsel with the Chase Manhattan Bank from 1989 to 1993, Special Counsel with Hahn & Hessen from 1994 to 1995 and Senior International Counsel to the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation from 1995 to 1997. Mr. Rosensaft was born in the Displaced Persons camp of Bergen Belsen, Germany. He is the Founding Chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and a former National President of the Labor Zionist Alliance. Mr. Rosensaft is Secretary of the Park Avenue Synagogue, and has served as an officer and board member of numerous other organizations, including the World Jewish Congress. He is also widely published on a number of issues, including achieving peace in the Middle East, the Holocaust, politics and the arts. Mr. Rosensaft received a BA and MA from Johns Hopkins University, and an MA and a JD from Columbia University.

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. The Holocaust Memorial Museum was dedicated in 1993.

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