[Archived] City of Alexandria to Mark Remembrance of Holocaust with Ceremony on May 3

City Press Release


	City of Alexandria, Virginia Office of the City Manager Alexandria City Hall 301 King Street, Suite 3500 Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3211 www.alexandriava.gov Telephone: 703.838.4300 Fax : 703.838.6343

The City of Alexandria will observe the Days of Remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust with a ceremony at 12 noon on Wednesday, May 3, in Market Square, in front of City Hall (301 King Street) in Alexandria. The principal speaker will be civil litigator Michael D. Hausfeld, a senior partner in Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, a well-known law firm.

Hausfeld, who specializes in antitrust, civil rights, and plaintiff class action issues, recently attracted national and international attention for brokering an unprecedented legal settlement that forced Swiss private banks to pay $1.25 billion to Holocaust survivors to settle legal claims arising from the banks’ conduct during and after World War II. Currently, he is working on obtaining compensation for war-time slave laborers from certain East European countries.

The Days of Remembrance ceremony is hosted by the Alexandria City Council and is open to the public. In the event of inclement weather, the observance will be held in the Vola Lawson Lobby of City Hall (Cameron Street side).

Every year since 1988, the City of Alexandria has sponsored a ceremony observing the Days of Remembrance of the Holocaust, known internationally as Yom Hashoah. The Alexandria event, which is planned by a committee of local citizens and City staff, is the only community-government sponsored commemoration of Yom Hashoah in the Washington metropolitan area.

At the May 3 ceremony, Alexandria Mayor Kerry Donley will deliver a City Council proclamation designating the week of Sunday, April 30 through Sunday, May 7 in Alexandria as Days of Remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust.

"This is the thirteenth consecutive year that the City has observed Yom Hashoah, it is the community’s opportunity to publicly reflect and remember the suffering of six millions Jews and others who perished during the Holocaust," Donley said. "This event must be held each year to ensure that today’s generation of Alexandrians and the generations to come never forget this tragic chapter in the world’s history."

During the event, participants will use, for the first time, an electric candelabrum, donated to the City by Holocaust survivor Charlene Schiff and her husband, Ed. The 54-inch-high solid brass candelabrum was presented to the City in memory of Charlene Schiff’s parents, sister and the six million Jews and millions of others who perished in the Holocaust.

"I donated the candelabrum to thank the City of Alexandria for being so kind to the survivors," Schiff said. "This is a legacy for the future when there are no more survivors left.

"This candelabra will be here as reminder of the Holocaust and also as a warning to the future generations," Schiff said.
Shma Keileinu, a student musician group, will perform a musical selection during the ceremony. The observance alsowill include two students from St. Stephens and St. Agnes School, who will provide remarks regarding their participation the play, "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," which portrays life in TheResienstat, one of the model ghetto’s Hitler created for Jews.

The Days of Remembrance is being held in conjunction with civic observances planned throughout the nation during the week of April 11 to commemorate the six million Jews and other victims of Nazism who lost their lives during World War II.

Biographical Sketch
Michael D. Hausfeld

Michael D. Hausfeld specializes in antitrust, securities fraud, civil rights, employment discrimination, environmental and consumers rights cases.

Since the beginning of Mr. Hausfeld's practice in 1969, he has represented small businesses, minorities, shareholders, consumers, communities and institutions.

One of the country's leading civil rights' columnists, Nat Hentoff, described Mr. Hausfeld as an "extraordinarily penetrating lawyer"; and he was described by a colleague in the Washington Post as a lawyer who "has a very inventive mind when it comes to litigation. He thinks of things most lawyers don't because they have originality pounded out of them in law school."

Mr. Hausfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946, was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia in 1969. Education: Brooklyn College (A.B., cum laude, 1966); The National Law Center, The George Washington University (J.D., with honors, 1969). Order of Coif. Member, Board of Editors, George Washington Law Review, 1968-69. Adjunct Professor teaching Complex Litigation, Georgetown University Law Center, 1980-1987. Lecturer, "A Matter of Conscience, Social Responsibility in Business Decisions," University of Michigan, School of Business, April 1996. Invited Speaker, "Consumer Rights Under State Antitrust Laws," American Bar Association, Annual National Antitrust Meeting, April 1977. Recipient of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Award for Distinguished Service.

Some of Mr. Hausfeld's more notable cases are described below.

In In re Ampicillin Antitrust Litigation, Mr. Hausfeld represented the State of Michigan in a lawsuit alleging a price-fixing conspiracy by pharmaceutical companies that manufactured ampicillin. In In re Sugar Antitrust Litigation he represented a class of small businesses and consumers alleging a price-fixing conspiracy among sugar refiners and obtained a multi-million dollar settlement; In re Corrugated Container Antitrust Litigation, was a class-action in which Mr. Hausfeld represented small businesses alleging price-fixing. He was involved in the successful trial and eventual settlement for approximately $366 million.

Michael Hausfeld has also represented individual small business in major antitrust litigations involving claims of monopolization. In one of the most important antitrust cases of the 1970's, Mr. Hausfeld represented a small fabricator of copper in Redding Industries v. Kennecott Copper Corporation, in claims the United States Justice Department investigated for a decade involving a world-wide price-fixing conspiracy. Mr. Hausfeld also represented a number of small independent interconnect telephone companies against AT&T in Chastian v. AT&T. In Cox v. Champion, Mr. Hausfeld represented a small individual lumber company against an international pulp manufacturer alleging a price-fixing scheme and monopolization of the lumber industry.

Michael Hausfeld has represented numerous franchisees, distributors and small individual companies against major corporations for various violations of the antitrust laws. In California Sales and Marketing v. Satoshi Iue, Mr. Hausfeld was retained by 33 franchisees of the Sanyo Fisher USA Corporation, who alleged a breach of contract and antitrust violations as a result of termination of their supply rights. In Call Carl, Inc. v. British Petroleum, Mr. Hausfeld was retained by independent gasoline dealer franchisees of British Petroleum, alleging unlawful termination. Mr. Hausfeld was retained by Burger Chef franchisees in Vaughn v. General Foods who claimed a scheme of fraud and deception in their franchise relationship. Mr. Hausfeld was also retained by franchisees of Entre Computers alleging grey market sales and resale price maintenance by their franchisor.

In Friedman v. Union Bank of Switzerland, et al., Mr. Hausfeld represents a class of victims of the Holocaust whose assets were wrongfully held in private Swiss banks during or after World War II. The case raises novel issues of international banking law and international human rights law.

Roberts v. Texaco, Inc., the historic class action employment case, focused the country on racial bias in corporate America.

Mr. Hausfeld was recently names one of the top 10 civil litigators in Washington, D.C. by the National Law Journal.

Biographical sketch courtesy Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll.