Biographies

ori z. soltes, Executive Director

Ori Z. Soltes is Professorial Lecturer in Fine Arts and Theology at Georgetown University, as well as a frequent lecturer in the National and Resident Associate Programs of the Smithsonian Institution. He is the former Director and Curator of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum in Washington, DC and has taught and lectured in 22 other universities and museums throughout the country. He has curated exhibitions across the country and overseas, and is the author of over 130 books, articles and catalog essays.

julius kaplan, Chairman of the Board

Julius Kaplan spent much of his professional career as an international lawyer. He began his legal career as an attorney in the Agency for International Development in the US Department of State during the Kennedy Administration. He then became a founder and senior partner of Kaplan, Russin & Vecchi, an international law firm which has, or has had, offices in Washington, DC, New York, San Francisco, Bangkok, Taiwan, Jakarta, Saigon, Moscow, Beirut, Madrid, Vladivostoc, Bogota, and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). In 1995 he joined Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft. He retired from the practice of law in 1999 to devote time to this Museum Project.

elie wiesel, Honorary Chairman

Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel is the author of over 30 fiction and nonfiction books dealing mainly with the Holocaust, and the moral responsibility of all to fight against hatred, racism and genocide. He is the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Presidential Peace Prize among many other awards.