Fred Schwartz, President

Fred Schwartz founded the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation in Oświęcim, Poland, in 2005 as an international center for the study of the prevention of genocide.

In 1995, Mr. Schwartz founded the Auschwitz Jewish Center, after identifying a crucial need for a Jewish cultural and educational center near the concentration camps. The AJC, which is the town of Oświęcim’s sole Jewish presence, offers visitors the opportunity to memorialize victims of the Holocaust through the study of the former Jewish life and culture of Oświęcim. The AJC is a place of understanding, education, memory, and prayer for all people regardless of race, creed or religion.

Previously Mr. Schwartz was founder, chairman, and CEO of The Fur Vault Inc., which became the preeminent retail fur company in the United States, listed on the American Stock Exchange. 

Mr. Schwartz is a Trustee and Executive Committee Member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and was Founder and Chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Scholarships for the study of Leadership in Comparative Democracies at the Hebrew University.

On November 6, 1998, Mr. Schwartz was recognized for his leadership and dedication to Polish-Jewish relations, receiving the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, Poland’s highest civilian medal, presented by the President of the Republic of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski.  Recently Mr. Schwartz became an honorary citizen of the city of Oświęcim for his contributions to the community. In January 2004,  Mr. Schwartz was an official U.S. delegate to the 2004 Stockholm Forum on the Prevention of Genocide. On November 16, 2004, he was awarded the Medal “For the Promotion of Tolerance” by Fundacja Ekumeniczna “Tolerancja” in Warsaw, Poland. In January 2005, Mr. Schwartz was appointed by President Bush to the United States Delegation commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Auschwitz Camps. 

Mr. Schwartz has been involved in numerous humanitarian and community organizations, having served as Trustee of the New York City Citizens’ Budget Commission, Associate Trustee of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Trustee of New York’s Finest Association [NYC Police], member of the Advisory Council of the New York Holocaust Memorial Commission, and of the Chancellor’s Council of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. 

A graduate of the City College of New York, Mr. Schwartz has also been active in the field of education.  He was a participant in the Bronx District Attorney’s Opportunity Center, an innovative project helping disabled juveniles avoid the criminal justice system. He founded and directed the Business Development Institute, teaching the entrepreneurial spirit and principles of economics to young people in the public school system. He has served as the New York Regional President and Co-Chairman of the American Friends of Hebrew University, and is currently a member of the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

Mr. Schwartz is a recipient of the Anatoly Scharansky Freedom Award, the Distinguished Graduate Award of the Public Education Association, the Solomon Schecter Medal from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the Citizenship Award from the Mental Health Association.

Ann Kluger, Vice President

Allyne Schwartz, Secretary

Toma Lord, Treasurer



International Advisory Board

Wesley Clark

During his 34 years in the U.S. Army, Wesley Clark rose to the rank of four-star general and served as director for strategic plans and policy of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As Supreme Allied Commander and Commander in Chief of the U.S. European Command, Clark commanded Operation Allied Force, NATO’s first major combat action, which saved 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

Carla Del Ponte, LL.M.

Carla Del Ponte was recently appointed to the UN Commission of Inquiry investigating war crimes in Syria. She served as Attorney General of Switzerland from 1994 to 1998, and as Chief Prosecutor of both the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) from 1999 to 2007.

Francis Deng, J.S.D.

Francis Deng currently serves as South Sudan's first Ambassador to the United Nations. From 1992 to 2004 he served as Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons. In 2005 and 2006 he was Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the John Kluge Center of the Library of Congress. From 2007 to 2012 he served as Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide.

Phyllis Harrison-Ross, M.D.

Dr. Phyllis Harrison-Ross currently serves as Commissioner of the New York State Commission of Correction and Chair of the Commission's Medical Review Board. She is also a Trustee of the New York Society for Ethical Culture and Chairperson of the Society's Social Service Board. She is a Founder and Managing Partner of Black Psychiatrists of Greater New York and Associates.

Deborah Lipstadt, Ph.D.

Deborah Lipstadt is currently Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at the Donald A. Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, Emory University. She serves on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and is the author of Denying the Holocaust (1993), the first full-length study of Holocaust denial, and Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust (1986).

Edward Luck, Ph.D.

Edward Luck currently serves as Dean of the University of San Diego Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies. From 2007 to 2011 he worked at the International Peace Institute, beginning as a Visiting Senior Fellow and leaving as Senior Vice President, Research and Programs. From 2008 to 2012 Luck served as Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect.

Juan E. Méndez, J.D.

Juan E. Méndez is Visiting Professor of Law at the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, DC. In November 2010 he was appointed the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. From 2004 to 2007 Méndez served as the first Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide.

Owen Pell, J.D.

Owen Pell is currently a Partner of White & Case. His areas of practice include complex commercial litigation, securities litigation, litigation involving foreign sovereigns and their state-owned entities, and litigation involving issues of public international law. He has also handled important cases in the area of corporate social responsibility.