Wexler to Chair Europe Subcommittee Hearing on Upcoming Prague Holocaust Conference
Prague Conference on Holocaust Era Assets is June 26th to June 30th, 2009

(Washington, DC) Thursday, June 18, 2009, Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe and a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, will hold a hearing on the upcoming Prague Conference on Holocaust Era Assets. The Prague Conference will include representatives from 49 countries and take place in the Czech Republic from June 26 to 30, 2009. The Prague Conference is a follow-up to the 1998 Holocaust Era Assets Conference that took place in Washington, D.C. Testifying at the hearing will be Ambassador J. Christian Kennedy, U.S. Department of State’s Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues and Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat, former Treasury Deputy Secretary and former Department of State Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, who will head the U.S. Delegation to the Holocaust Era Assets Conference

The Europe subcommittee will focus on the goals and objectives of the upcoming Prague Conference, which will provide a venue for governments, non-governmental organizations, Holocaust survivors, and the international community to address a multitude of outstanding Holocaust era related issues.  According to the Conference organizers, the Conference will focus on progress made since the 1998 Washington Conference in the areas of the recovery of looted art and objects of cultural, historical and religious value; property restitution and financial compensation schemes; and the social needs of Holocaust survivors.

Congressman Wexler will join the American delegation in Prague and participate at the concluding ceremony at the Terezin Concentration Camp, where a conference declaration is expected to be unveiled.

The hearing notice is available below:

SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING NOTICE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WASHINGTON, D.C.  20515

Subcommittee on Europe

Robert Wexler (D-FL), Chairman
                       
TO:    MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

You are respectfully requested to attend the following OPEN hearing of the Subcommittee on Europe to be held in Room 2200 of the Rayburn House Office Building:

DATE:        Thursday, June 18, 2009

TIME:        1:30 p.m.

SUBJECT:    The Prague Conference on Holocaust Era Assets: An Overview   

WITNESSES:   
The Honorable J. Christian Kennedy
Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues
United States Department of State

The Honorable Stuart E. Eizenstat
Head of U.S. Delegation to the Prague Holocaust Era Assets Conferences, June 26-30, 2009
United States Department of State

*** NOTE: Witness has been added
  
By Direction of the Chairman

The Committee on Foreign Affairs seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities.  If you are in need of special accommodations please call 202-225-5021 at least four business days in advance of the event, whenever practicable.  Questions with regard to special accommodations in general (including availability of Committee materials in alternative formats and assistive listening devices) may be directed to the Committee as noted above.

Congressman Robert Wexler is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe and a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. Recently, Congressman Wexler served as an advisor on Middle East issues to President Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.

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