State Department Hosts Federal Holocaust Remembrance Program on May 8

The U.S. Department of State will host the 31st Annual Federal Inter-Agency Holocaust Remembrance Program, "Stories of Courage," on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. (EDT). The hybrid event will be livestreamed to federal employees and the public from the Burns Auditorium of the Marshall Center at State.

The Department of State co-hosts for the program include the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs' Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues (EUR/SEHI), the Secretary's Office of Diversity and Inclusion (S/ODI), and the Office of Civil Rights (S/OCR).

This year's program will feature two Holocaust survivors: Ruth Cohen, from North Bethesda, Maryland, and Allan Hall, from Miami, Florida. The program will be moderated by Ellen Germain, Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues at the U.S. Department of State and feature remarks from other federal officials, including Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, among others.

Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the U.S. State Department Sarah Morgenthau, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, will talk about the role her grandfather Henry Morgenthau Jr., FDR's U.S. Treasury Secretary, played in establishing the War Refugee Board, which saved Jewish and other Holocaust refugees.

The Federal Inter-Agency Holocaust Remembrance Program began at the Department of Education in 1994 and now is comprised of over 40 federal agencies. For more information about the program, please visit www.holocaustremembrance.org.