"Holocaust Remembrance Day is a solemn time for all to pause and reflect - both on the tragedy of those dark days and on our responsibility to those who face similar threats of genocide in our time. Just one year ago, our State Department declared that ISIS has been committing genocide against the Yazidis and Christians of Iraq and Syria. We must not shirk our duty to these embattled religious minorities in the Middle East. It is by defending them that we can honor those lost in the Holocaust and give meaning to the pledge 'Never Again'." - Annette Lantos, Chair, Lantos Foundation
ISIS’ “Most Wanted” Woman Vian Dakhil to be Named 2016 Lantos Prize Laureate
The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice is proud to announce that our highest honor, the Lantos Human Rights Prize, will be awarded to Iraqi parliamentarian and ISIS’ “most wanted” woman, Vian Dakhil, at an award ceremony in Washington, D.C. on February 8, 2017 at the U.S. Capitol.
Dakhil will be given the 2016 award for her courageous defense of the Yazidi people as they faced mass genocide two years ago at the hands of the Islamic State and for her ongoing rescue mission on behalf of enslaved Yazidi women. Former recipients of the Lantos Prize include, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Professor Elie Wiesel, and Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Lantos Foundation President Katrina Lantos Swett said in a statement regarding the selection of Dakhil, “Two years ago, MP Vian Dakhil, through an eloquent speech before the Iraqi parliament, single-handedly moved the governments of Iraq and the United States to intervene on behalf of the Yazidi people. As a result of her impassioned plea, thousands of lives were saved. However, her efforts did not stop there. She has done more than almost anyone else to try to free women and children who have been enslaved and brutalized by ISIS. In addition to using her membership in parliament to advocate on behalf of the Yazidi people, Dakhil has also led dangerous rescue missions – one of which almost took her life. Vian Dakhil is truly a hero and savior, and we are tremendously excited to present her with this award.”
The Lantos Foundation established the Lantos Human Rights Prize in 2009 to honor and bring attention to heroes of the human rights movement. It is awarded annually to an individual or organization that best exemplifies the Foundation’s mission, namely to be a vital voice standing up for the values of decency, dignity, freedom, and justice in every corner of the world. The prize also serves to honor the memory and legacy of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress and a leading advocate for human rights during his nearly three decades as a U.S. Representative.
Congressman Lantos Statue Unveiling - Vice President Biden Remembers Tom
This week, in recognition of Tom Lantos' exemplary leadership on behalf of human rights and democracy and his extraordinary friendship and love for the state of Israel, a magnificent statue of him was unveiled and dedicated on the Tom Lantos Boulevard in Netanya, Israel. Vice President Joe Biden, honored us by sharing his memories of Tom. Addressing the crowd by electronic means, he spoke of Tom’s deep love for Israel and his fellow man.
Lantos Foundation Statement on Cairo Church Attack
The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice is outraged and deeply saddened by the weekend terror attack on Cairo's St. Peter's church adjacent to the Grand Cathedral of St. Mark. This brutal bombing left over two dozen people dead and countless more injured. Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation and past Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom called on President al-Sisi to take immediate steps to bring the murderers to justice. " At times in the past, the Egyptian government has fostered a climate of impunity by failing to aggressively prosecute all those involved in terror attacks on the Coptic community. We welcome the governments expressions of solidarity with the Coptic community and call on President al-Sissi to decisively deal with those responsible for this despicable attack."
Lantos Foundation Criticizes Southern Poverty Law Center for Targeting Brave Muslim Reformers
The SPLC included two respected thinkers, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Maajid Nawaz, on their anti-Muslim extremist list.
Read the letter to the SPLC, here.
The Catalyst: "Protecting Religious Freedom Abroad Makes America Safer", Essay by Katrina Lantos Swett
"The protection of freedom of religion, conscience, and belief should be a significant priority of our nation. To permit the rampant abuse of this essential human right not only violates the core of our humanity, it harms the order and well-being of societies, including our own.
In short, protecting religious liberty is not just the right thing to do. It is almost always the smart thing to do."
Read full essay: http://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/freedom/swett-protecting-religious-freedom.html
The Lantos Foundation Remembers Shimon Peres
It is with profound grief that the Lantos Foundation marks the passing of Shimon Peres, one of the giants of our time. The last of Israel's Founding Fathers, he was a statesman of the world and his death is a deep loss to all people of goodwill. He was a man of great intellect and principle whose devotion to his nation was equaled by his determination to seek peace.
He had a close and abiding friendship with Congressman Lantos, who held dear the memory of celebrating his 80th birthday with President Peres in Israel. It has been one of the Lantos Foundation’s great honors to have awarded our highest recognition, the Lantos Prize, to President Peres in 2014.
We will forever be grateful for his eternally optimistic, hopeful, and loving vision of a world united in freedom, respect, and peace. While many, including the Lantos Foundation, will strive to carry forward his noble legacy, the world will be hard-pressed to find his equal.
International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation Commends Returning of Knight's Cross
Letter sent to The Guardian by Mr. Eduardo Eurnekian and Mr. Baruch Tenembaum, Chairman and Founder of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
Sir,
Ref.: "Daughter of US Congressman among those returning Hungarian award" - The Guardian - Sept., 4, 2016
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation strongly repudiates the decision to award the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit to Mr. Zsolt Bayer, a so-called journalist and author who advanced heinous racist remarks against Roma, Jewish and Muslims.
One of the co-founders of our NGO was the late US Congressman and Holocaust survivor, Mr. Tom Lantos. We were not surprised by his daughter's decision to return the aforementioned Hungary award following the ill-judged decision to offer the same distinction to a racist. We applaud her and all the other laureates who decided to take the same step in protest.
We call upon President Janos Ader and Prime Minister Viktor Orban to recall the award to Mr. Bayer.
Hungary was a country plagued with antisemitism during WWII. The infamous Arrow Cross Militia were Hitler's henchmen and oftentimes, they were more vicious than the Nazis themselves.
It was precisely in Hungary, where Raoul Wallenberg, the young Swede, embarked in an unprecedented life-saving operation which actually spared the lives of scores of Jews and other innocent victims of the Nazis and their Hungarian partners.
Any form of racism and discrimination should not be rewarded but strongly condemned. Instead, it seems that seven decades later, the present Hungarian government has learned very little from Raoul Wallenberg's legacy. This should be immediately rectified and addressed.
Our current flagship programme, named "Houses of Life", identifies and marks physical sites in Europe that served as shelters during the Holocaust for the benefit of the victims of the Nazi persecution. Hundreds of Houses of Life have been located across Europe, including in Hungary. The underlying idea is to spread around the brave exploits of the rescuers, instilling their values of solidarity in the hearts and minds of the young generations.
This could serve as an example for the Hungarian government to stress the legacy of the Hungarian rescuers rather than granting awards to those who propagate hatred and divide.
Eduardo Eurnekian – Chairman
Baruch Tenembaum – Founder
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
34 East 67th Street
New York, NY 10065
USA
Tel: +1-212-7373275
Tom Lantos’ Daughter Returns Knight’s Cross to Hungarian Government in Protest
September 2, 2016
For Immediate Release
Contact: Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett
603-226-3636
It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to return the Knight’s Cross – a distinguished state award from Hungary that I was honored to receive in 2009. I am Katrina Lantos Swett, the daughter of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who was the only survivor ever elected to the United States Congress.
Despite the unspeakable tragedies that my father experienced in Hungary during that darkest time of history, he never lost his love for his native homeland. During nearly three decades of Congressional service, Tom Lantos was a stalwart advocate for a free and democratic Hungary and a devoted friend to the Hungarian people. He passed his deep love of Hungary on to his children and grandchildren, many of whom have both studied and worked in Hungary. I am keeping that flame of love alive for the great-grandchildren who never met my father as I teach the language, the history, and the songs of Hungary to my own grandchildren.
The Knight’s Cross, which was bestowed on me by Prime Minister Bajnai, was a great honor that I hoped one day to pass on to my sons and daughters. It gives me real sorrow that I will not be able to do this. However, the government’s decision to award the Knight’s Cross to Zsolt Bayer has sullied this noble award. Mr. Bayer’s despicable record of overt and hateful anti-Semitism and racism is beneath contempt. He deserves censure, not honor, for his loathsome writings and speech. Indeed, earlier this year the publication he writes for was fined for engaging in hate speech on account of his words. I feel compelled to join the many others who have denounced the shamefulness of granting this state honor to a hate-filled xenophobe like Zsolt Bayer. Accordingly, with a heavy heart, I am returning the Knight’s Cross to the government of Hungary.
My father is no longer with us, but I remember clearly the incredible pride he felt when he was awarded Hungary’s highest civilian honor, the Grand Cross, at a ceremony in the magnificent Hungarian Parliament. It was a proud and happy day. I do not presume to know exactly what my father would do were he still alive. However, I feel confident he would call on Hungary to restore the honor and virtue of this award by stripping Mr. Bayer of this unmerited recognition.
Katrina Lantos Swett with her father Tom Lantos and her husband Ambassador Richard Swett.
Congressman Tom Lantos receiving Hungary's Grand Cross in Hungarian Parliament.
Lantos Foundation Calls on Russia to Release all New Documents on Raoul Wallenberg
August 4, 2016 would have been the 94th birthday of the great Swedish diplomat and hero, Raoul Wallenberg. A few days after this anniversary, the New York Times reported that the recently published diaries of the first KGB Chief, Ivan Serov, contain previously unknown references to Stalin ordering the death of Wallenberg in 1947. (Read the New York Times article here.)
The famed humanitarian was kidnapped by the Soviets in Budapest in January of 1945. Wallenberg’s disappearance and ultimate fate in the Soviet Gulag has been the source of mystery, speculation, and frequent dissimulation on the part of Russian leadership for over seven decades.
The Lantos Foundation calls on the Russian government, once and for all, to make all relevant documents available to researchers, Wallenberg family members, and the Swedish government so that the mystery surrounding the cruel and unjust fate of one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century can finally be resolved.
Lantos Foundation President, Katrina Lantos Swett, said, “It is past time for Russia to come clean on all the circumstances surrounding the death of Raoul Wallenberg in Soviet custody. Both history and justice demand a full accounting of what happened to one of the most important rescuers and heroes of the Holocaust."
She added that, “The Raoul Wallenberg Research Initiative (RWI-70), launched in the past year with the goal of answering the many unanswered questions about Raoul’s fate, should be given full and free access to these recently discovered materials and all other relevant documents.”
Raoul Wallenberg is credited with saving tens of thousands of Jewish lives in Budapest in 1944, including the late Congressman Tom Lantos. In 1981 President Ronald Reagan signed into law Congressman Lantos’ legislation granting Raoul Wallenberg honorary US citizenship, only the second man so honored in US history.
Dr. Lantos Swett added, “While many questions remain about what happened to Raoul Wallenberg, what is beyond question is that through his courage and decency, Wallenberg not only rescued countless innocent lives, he also rescued our faith in the power of decency and goodness to stand up even in the face of unimaginable evil. His legacy of humanity and courage will live forever.”