Brother Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat, Alpha Pi (The University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill) 1964, is serving the U.S. State Department in a new role as a contemporary leader in Holocaust-related matters. He was appointed as Special Adviser on Holocaust Issues on Dec. 27.

Working with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Brother Eizenstat’s principal task is to offer policy advice on contemporary Holocaust-related matters.  He does so in close coordination with the Department of State’s Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Ellen Germain, 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.

Brother Eizenstat is a prominent voice in international relations in the U.S. During a decade and a half of public service in three presidential administrations, Ambassador Eizenstat has held several key senior positions. These included serving as chief White House domestic policy adviser to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981 and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union from 1993-1996. Much of the interest in providing belated justice for victims of the Holocaust and other victims of Nazi tyranny during World War II was the result of his leadership during the Clinton Administration as Special Representative of the President and Secretary of State on Holocaust-Era Issues in the 1990s.  He successfully negotiated major agreements with the Swiss, Germans, Austrian and French, and other European countries, covering restitution of property, payment for slave and forced laborers, recovery of looted art, bank accounts, and payment of insurance policies. His book on these events, Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II, has been favorably received in publications like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Business Week, and Publisher’s Weekly.

It was Brother Eizenstat’s recommendation to President Carter to create the Presidential Commission on the Holocaust headed by Elie Wiesel which led directly to the establishment of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, for which he is recognized as a key founder.

Brother Eizenstat also is a ZBT volunteer educator, including a role in a recent ZBT Live program, Inspired to Serve. In 2020, he was the recipient of the Fraternity’s Alumnus Heritage Award, honoring a member of the Jewish community who distinguishes himself or herself in a communal, philanthropic, artistic or professional endeavor. In 2015, he was named ZBT’s Man of the Year. We are proud of this brother and thankful for his service across the globe.