Latvian President Visits American Jewish Committee

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 16 May 2000

Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga visited the American Jewish Committee headquarters yesterday to continue discussions with AJC officials on issues of common concern.

"America needs to remember its success stories," said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris, "and through 11 years of struggle Latvia remains a success story."

Among the issues discussed were U.S.-Latvia relations, Israel-Latvia relations, the Jewish community in Latvia, Holocaust education in Latvia, the integration of Russians into Latvian society and the recent Russian elections.

President Vike-Freiberga, who last visited AJC in September during the opening of the UN General Assembly, described the work of the Latvian Historical Commission which is responsible for detailing the events of the Holocaust and the Soviet occupation in Latvia. She expressed her hope that the Commission would also shed light on the thriving pre-war Jewish community and appealed to "people of Latvian-Jewish origin to come forward with their histories, records and photos to help us complete our picture of Jewish history in Latvia."

A conference on Holocaust education held in April brought together nearly 150 Latvian teachers who have expressed special interest in teaching the subject, and 35 teachers are prepared to travel to Israel for training in Jewish history and education, observed Steven Springfield, president of the Jewish Survivors of Latvia and a member of the Latvian Historical Commission, who also participated in the AJC meeting.

President Vike-Freiberga also spoke of Latvia's desire to join the European Union and NATO, and asked for America's support. She was openly critical of Russian efforts to foment discord between Latvia and Western nations by unfairly criticizing its human rights policies. She labeled this a "campaign of defamation" and said EU Foreign Ministers and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had condemned it.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org