Covington’s Eizenstat Named Special Adviser to the Secretary of State on Holocaust Issues

Covington’s Eizenstat Named Special Adviser to the Secretary of State on Holocaust Issues

December 23, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC, December 23, 2013 — Secretary of State John Kerry has appointed Stuart Eizenstat, co-chair of Covington & Burling’s international trade and finance practice, as his special adviser on Holocaust Issues. Ambassador Eizenstat held the same advisory position for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Ambassador Eizenstat, a former deputy secretary of the Treasury, under secretary of state for economic affairs, and Ambassador to the European Union, brings extensive experience in resolving Holocaust claims and related disputes. As the special representative of the president and secretary of state on Holocaust-era issues during the Clinton administration, he negotiated landmark agreements with the Swiss, Germans, Austrians, French, and others covering the restitution of property, compensation payments to slave and forced laborers, recovery of looted art and bank accounts and payment of insurance policies.

As the secretary’s special adviser, Ambassador Eizenstat’s principal task will be to offer policy advice on contemporary Holocaust-related matters. He is expected to coordinate closely with the State Department’s special envoy for Holocaust Issues, Douglas Davidson, in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and with the Office of International Claims and Investment Disputes in the Office of the Legal Adviser.