JBANC Meets with New ........

Kuumad uudised | 25 Jun 2003 | EWR

JBANC Meets with New
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
President Jay Katzen

Washington DC (JBANC) --- Members of JBANC’s Board of Directors met on June 17 with Jay Katzen, the new President and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, to discuss the status of the Foundation and common goals and interests.

Katzen, a former foreign service officer, and later active in Virginia politics, recently replaced Lee Edwards as the Foundation’s primary fund-raiser.

Katzen explained that the Foundation remains even more committed in reaching its goals of establishing a memorial in Washington, DC to honor the approximately 100 million victims of communist regimes around the world. Other plans are to finance a “virtual museum” which will be available online and to establish a local university connection, to allow researchers to work more closely with the Foundation. Katzen said he is optimistic that the Foundation will be able to obtain seed money from the U.S. Congress to aid in the project. The private sector will have to provide matching funds.

The Foundation plans to continue holding annual Captive Nations Week events and awards banquets honoring Freedom Fighters. Prior Truman-Reagan Freedom Award recipients have included Lane Kirkland, Vytautas Landsbergis, Elena Bonner, Vladimir Bukovsky, Sen. Jesse Helms, Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Viktor Orban. The Foundation will be working closely with embassies in Washington, DC and American-based organizations to reach its objectives.

JBANC expressed support for the projects and said it would make its publics aware of the undertaking.

Participating at the meeting in addition to Katzen were Lorraine Ambrose-Boothly of the Foundation and Janis Bolsteins, Mati Kõiva, Ramunas Kondratas and Karl Altau of JBANC.

For more information, please contact the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation at:
1513 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 387-7015; Fax: (202) 387-7017; E-mail:

The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. represents the Estonian American National Council, Inc., the American Latvian Association, Inc. and the Lithuanian American Council, Inc.

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