Hannah Lessing, Secretary General of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria, visited Washington, DC from June 2 to 8, 2017.
On Sunday, she participated in a panel discussion about historic revisionism at the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum. At AJC’s traditional diplomatic advocacy dinner at the Austrian Embassy on the same night, she delivered a comprehensive overview about “all things Jewish” in Austria; on that occasion, she offered a moving, authentic insight into her challenging job, given her background as a former banker, an Austrian civil servant, a political appointee and most importantly as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
Besides attending the proceedings of the Global Forum, she held bilateral meetings with the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues at the U.S. State Department, with representatives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, as well as with former U.S. negotiating partners of the U.S.-Austrian “Washington Agreement” of 2001 on compensation measures for the victims of National Socialism.
Hannah Lessing is also Secretary General of the General Settlement Fund for Victims of National Socialism and of the Fund for the Restoration of the Jewish Cemeteries in Austria.
The host of the evening, Austrian Deputy Head of Mission Christian Brunmayr, welcomes AJC dinner guests.
Hannah Lessing addresses the AJC dinner guests