London School of Economics Students Union Marks End of Simon Wiesenthal's Term as Honorary President

October 25, 2006

CENTRE SIMON WIESENTHAL - SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE - CENTRO SIMON WIESENTHAL 64, avenue Marceau - 75008 Paris - Tel. +33 (0) 1 47 23 76 37 - Fax: +33 (0) 1 47 20 84 01
E-mail: csweurope@compuserve.com 

London School of Economics Students Union Marks End of Simon Wiesenthal's Term as Honorary President

London

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre had received word in October 2005 that its mentor, the late Nazi war criminal investigator, had been elected by two to one over the late Orientalist, Edward Said, as Honorary President of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Student Union.

It has often been the case that the annual election honours the memory of deceased personalities.

Student Union Secretary-General Jimmy Tam, and his predecessor Rishi Madlani, had worked with the Centre to organize a commemorative event at the end of the incumbent's term. Well attended by members of the Moslem Society and their non-Moslem friends, symbolically observing the fast of Ramadan, Mr Wiesenthal was eulogized by his grandson, Israeli lawyer Joeri Kreisberg and his wife Tamar.

Simon Wiesenthal Centre - UK Chairman, Graham Morris, offered "to build on Simon's Presidency by developing a Tolerance Education programme with the Union."

The Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, himself a LSE graduate, received the award for Mr Wiesenthal, calling the event "an act of justice by the Student Union of one of Britain's most prestigious and progressive Universities. This event challenges the effete attempts to impose an academic boycott of Israeli universities and those scholars who support them."

"By honouring Wiesenthal, LSE students have rejected the Nazi-inspired discrimination and boycott of Jews and the Jewish state", noted Samuels.

Photo: Wiesenthal grandson, Joeri Kreisberg, accepting certificate of the late Simon Wiesenthal's election as Honorary President of the LSE Student Union. Also pictured are : (right) Student Union Secretary-General Jimmy Tam and Dr Graciela Samuels; (left) Simon Wiesenthal Centre - UK Chairman Graham Morris, and International Relations Director Dr Shimon Samuels

The award to the Union's Honorary Vice-President, Thet Win Aung, the Burmese Prisoner of Conscience who died in jail after fifty-nine years of incarceration, was accepted by a representative of Amnesty International.

Also attending was Dr Graciela Samuels of UNESCO.

The ceremony may be seen on the LSE television site www.loosetv.co.uk For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33 609770158