Secretary Blinken has appointed Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat as his Special Adviser on Holocaust Issues. He is a former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, and Ambassador to the European Union, and is currently with the law firm of Covington & Burling. Ambassador Eizenstat held the same advisory position for Secretaries of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Kerry. He served as an Expert Advisor on Holocaust Issues during the Trump Administration.
Ambassador Eizenstat brings with him extensive experience in resolving Holocaust claims and related disputes. As the Special Representative of the President and Secretary of State on Holocaust-era issues during the administration of President Clinton, he negotiated landmark agreements with the Swiss, Germans, Austrians, French, and others covering the restitution of property, compensation payments to slave and forced laborers, recovery of looted art and bank accounts, and payment of insurance policies.
In the Carter Administration, Ambassador Eizenstat was Chief White House Domestic Policy Adviser. His recommendation to President Carter to create the Presidential Commission on the Holocaust headed by Elie Wiesel led directly to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, for which he is recognized as a key founder.
As the Secretary’s Special Adviser, Ambassador Eizenstat’s principal task will be to offer policy advice on contemporary Holocaust-related matters. He will do so in close coordination with the Department of State’s Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Ellen Germain, in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and with the Office of International Claims and Investment Disputes in the Office of the Legal Adviser.
