Organization

With a view to its wide international mandate emanating from the Terezin Declaration endorsed by 47 countries, the European Shoah Legacy Institute, a Czech public benefit organization, has a structure devised to represent as many of the countries as possible, as well as non-profit organizations from them.

The Director of the Institute is assisted by a Secretariat. Oversight is conducted by an Administrative Board and monitored by a Supervisory Board. While the Administrative Board is composed of Czechs only, the Supervisory Board may also include international representatives of entities that provide financing to the Institute. At the current time, negotiations are being conducted regarding inclusion of representatives of the United States of America and the State of Israel on the Supervisory Board.

International participation in the decision-making process occurs primarily through an Advisory Council, which serves as a consulting body to the Director of ESLI. At the present time, the Advisory Council consists of 61 renowned experts in five working groups: Social Welfare of Holocaust Survivors and Other Victims of Nazi Persecution, Immovable Property, Nazi-confiscated and Looted Art, Judaica and Jewish Cultural Assets, and Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research.

An Honorary Board helps to introduce and promote the Institute on the highest levels of world politics. At the present time, its members inlude such major personalities as Yehuda Bauer, Stuart Eizenstat, Václav Havel, Moshe Sanbar, Simone Weil, and Elie Wiesel.