OSCEs Parlamentariske Forsamling 2019-20, Retsudvalget 2019-20, Udenrigsudvalget 2019-20
OSCE Alm.del Bilag 4, REU Alm.del Bilag 71, URU Alm.del Bilag 27
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RABBI ANDREW BAKER
ALC DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL JEWISH AFFAIRS
Rabbi Andrew Baker is Director of International Jewish Affairs for the American Jewish Committee. In
this positio he is respo si le for ai tai i g a d de elopi g AJC’s et ork of relatio
ships with Jewish
communities throughout the Diaspora and addressing the accompanying international issues and
concerns. He has been a prominent figure in addressing Holocaust-era issues in Europe and in
international efforts to combat anti-Semitism.
In January 2009 he was appointed the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chair-in Office on Combating
Anti-Semitism and has been reappointed in each successive year. The Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, an intergovernmental body of 57 nations headquartered in Vienna, has become
a central arena for addressing the problems of a resurgent anti-Semitism.
He has played an active role in confronting the legacy of the Holocaust. He is a Vice President of the
Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, the Jewish umbrella organization that has
worked on restitution issues for over half a century.
I 00 he as a arded the Offi er’s Cross of the
Order of Merit (First Class) by the President of Germany for his work in German-Jewish relations. He was
a member of Government Commissions in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia that were established
to address the claims of Holocaust Victims.
He was a founding member of the National Historical Commission of Lithuania and involved in
restitution negotiations there. He currently serves as co-chairman of the Lithuanian Good Will
Foundation, established in 2012 to administer communal compensation payments. In 2006 the
Preside t of Lithua ia prese ted hi
ith the Offi er’s Cross of Merit for his
work, and in 2012 he was
awarded the Lithuanian Diplomacy Star. For similar work he was awarded the Order of the Three Stars
by the President of Latvia in 2007. He helped the Romanian Government establish a national
commission to examine its Holocaust history and served as one of its founding members. For this work
he was awarded the National Order of Merit (Commander) by the President of Romania in 2009.
Rabbi Baker directed AJC efforts in the development and construction of the Belzec Memorial and
Museum, a joint project of AJC and the Polish Government on the site of the former Nazi death camp in
Southeastern Poland. In May 2006 he was appointed by the Prime Minister of Poland to a six year term
on the International Auschwitz Council, the official governmental body that oversees the work of the
Auschwitz State Museum.
A long-time resident of Washington, DC, Rabbi Baker has served as President of the Washington Board
of Rabbis, President of the Interfaith Conference of Washington and Commissioner on the District of
Columbia Human Rights Commission. He has also served as a congregational rabbi in Chicago and a
chaplain at San Quentin Prison in California.
A native of Worcester, Massachusetts, Rabbi Baker received a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a
Masters Degree and Rabbinic Ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New
York City. He is the father of four children.