London, 25 June 1999

Meeting Opening

Jeremy Cresswell (Chair, UK) informed delegates of the French Government's decision to become full members of the Task Force although they remained observers at this meeting.

Directory/Survey of International Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research Efforts

Each delegation to nominate an individual to participate in an Editorial Group for Task Force information projects headed by Dr Fisher (US).

Archival Website

Dr. Fisher to ensure that the website contains a brief statement explaining that the website is not a 'comprehensive' archival guide.

Remembrance Day

The Task Force supported Stephen Smith's (Beth Shalom, UK) project to build on the work done by Yad Vashem and further collate information on Holocaust commemoration worldwide.

The Task Force agreed to take up Professor David Cesarani's (Weiner Library, UK) and Stephen Smith's offer to produce a concept paper by midJuly. This paper, once endorsed by the Task Force, could be used as part of a diplomatic strategy to stimulate debate and encourage consideration of the Remembrance Day idea by nonTask Force governments.

The Remembrance Day initiative should be brought to the attention of the Council of Europe

Liaison Projects

The Liaison Projects Concept paper was agreed. The Swedish delegation will write to President Havel's office to see whether the Czechs have developed a response to Task Force proposals for cooperation. Delegations and particularly NGOs should be encouraged to consider whether they want to make contributions to the Czech Liaison Project. Offers should be relayed to the Swedish delegation.

It was noted that there was a growing interest in liaison projects by more and more countries e.g. the Baltic States, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Argentina and Russia. Delegations should report serious expressions of interest to the Chair: it was important to collate such information, inter alia in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of activity.

The Task Force was grateful for the Dutch presentation and looked forward to seeing how the Dutch ideas will fit with other Liaison Project activities. The US suggested approaching, in conjunction with other Task Force members, those governments who might wish to know more about Task Force developments and activities. In the broader context, it was recognized that the idea of a permanent Task Force secretariat was a valid, if difficult one, which warrants further discussion.

Endowment Fund

Not underestimating the difficulties with this concept, the Swedish delegation will work with Professor Bauer to produce one substantive paper on the concept by September 1999 for circulation to delegations ahead of the October working group meeting in Jerusalem.

Stockholm Conference

The Task Force was grateful to the Swedish delegation for briefing the group on progress to date and stood ready to provide support as and when it was needed.

Academic Research Proposal

Task Force governments should nominate (by 15 July) one academic expert to sit on a subcommittee, to be set up with Professor Bauer's help, which will look at current work in this field and work on proposals for new work to be put to the Task Force. Nominees should not be government representatives.

Task Force Membership

The Task Force welcomed Italy's application to join and unanimously agreed its application. The Task Force also informally agreed to place a moratorium on further expansion until at least after the Stockholm Conference, but the Chairman should remain open to expressions of interest. Offering observer status to interested countries was one possible way accommodating them, Another useful, but potentially difficult, suggestion was the establishment of a set of criteria which potential members would have to meet. Also noted in this session was the possible complementary nature of Task Force efforts with other international organizations (Council of Europe, OSCE, UN Human Rights Commission).

The UK, as outgoing Chairman and Sweden were invited to approach the Council of Europe and the European Parliament and to report at the next meeting.

Yad Vashem International Conference

The Task Force was grateful to Yad Vashem for briefing the group on the Conference scheduled in October 1999.

Publicity/Public Information

Dr Fisher's offer for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum team to design a Task Force logo was gratefully accepted. A discussion should be held at the next working group meeting on an updated substantive report on the Task Force's work for the Stockholm Conference. The Israeli chair was encouraged to issue a press release on the occasion of the next working group meeting.

Historical Commissions

A discussion on the work of Historical Commissions whose remits included Holocaust education should be included on the agenda at the next working group meeting.

Polish Activities

The Task Force noted various activities reported by the Polish delegation:

Task Force Chairmanship

Israel would take over the Chairmanship from the UK on I July 1999. Sweden would take over in late 1999, Germany and the Netherlands expressed willingness in principle to take on the Chair later in 2000.

The next working group meeting would be held on 1314 October with the first day at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the second day at Yad Vashem. Mr. Shmuel ben Shmuel, Director, World Jewish Affairs Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would replace Ambassador BenAmi as head of the Israeli delegation and would be Chairman.