Elan Steinberg

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Elan Steinberg (born June 2, 1952 in Rishon LeZion , † April 6, 2012 in Manhattan , New York) was an American functionary of the World Jewish Congress (JWC), whose executive director he was from 1986 to 2004.

origin

Steinberg's parents Max and Rose were Polish Jews who mostly went into hiding during the Second World War. After the war they emigrated to Israel, and when Elan was two years than the family emigrated to Brooklyn, New York. He had a brother.

Act

Steinberg graduated from Brooklyn College and received a Masters in Political Science from City University of New York, where he later also taught.

Steinberg joined the JWC in 1978, initially becoming its representative at the United Nations , and soon became one of the JWC's leading strategists. He introduced a new, more public-facing, less reserved style. Steinberg's first successes include his contribution to the diplomatic recognition of Israel by Spain and the Vatican.

In 1985, as director of the US department of the WJC, Steinberg tried in vain to dissuade German Chancellor Helmut Kohl from visiting the military cemetery in Bitburg with US President Ronald Reagan (→ Bitburg controversy ).

Steinberg became executive director of the WJC in 1986. In the run-up to the Austrian presidential election in 1986, the JWC helped to expose Kurt Waldheim's membership in the SA and NSDStB and his function in army units that had committed serious war crimes. In an interview with Profil magazine on March 24, 1986, Steinberg and the General Secretary of the WJC Israel Singer warned against the election of Waldheim. The WJC in Austria was sometimes sharply attacked for its interventions. (→ Waldheim affair ).

Under Steinberg's leadership, the WJC and the lawyer Ed Fagan obtained in the proceedings for Jewish assets at Swiss banks that the Swiss banks agreed to a payment of 1.25 billion US dollars in restitution payments.

Steinberg protested against the erection of a large cross and a monastery for the Discalced Carmelites next to the former Auschwitz concentration camp . He convinced director Steven Spielberg not to shoot the 1993 feature film Schindler's List within the Auschwitz camp grounds.

In addition to the politician Henry Kissinger , the historians Peter Novick , Norman Finkelstein and Gulie Ne'eman Arad , the writer Elie Wiesel and others, Steinberg gave an interview in the 2001 documentary After Auschwitz: Battle for the Holocaust .

Private life

Elan Steinberg died of complications from lymph gland cancer. He left behind his wife, Sharon Steinberg, two sons, a daughter and a brother.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nesha Starcevic: Say Kohl Refused to Suggest Reagan Cancel Cemetery Visit With AM-Death Camp-Kohl , Associated Press , April 21, 1985
  2. ↑ In addition The “Campaign” and the campaign with the “Campaign” , published in: Ruth Wodak, Peter Nowak , Johann Pelinka, Helmut Gruber, Rudolf DeCilla, Richard Mitten (eds.), We are all innocent perpetrators! Discourse-historical studies on post-war anti-Semitism. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / Main 1990, pp. 59-120
  3. ↑ Joachim Riedl: They want to nestle here , Spiegel , September 4, 1989
  4. ^ After Auschwitz (videorecording): battle for the holocaust / a film by Paul Yule , Stanford University Libraries
personal data
SURNAME Steinberg, Elan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Executive Director of the World Jewish Congress
DATE OF BIRTH June 2, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Rishon LeZion
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 2012
Place of death Manhattan , New York