[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 106 (Thursday, June 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4611-S4612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO ERIKA SCHLAGER

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, we could not have accomplished any of 
these achievements without an incredible dedicated staff to the mission 
of the Helsinki Commission, and I want to just acknowledge one 
individual who recently announced that she is retiring, Erika Schlager, 
after 34 years of service to the Commission and to the global 
community.
  Erika received her bachelor's degree from the University of North 
Carolina in Greensboro, where she graduated magna cum laude and was 
elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her A.M. degree from Harvard 
University in Soviet Union studies and her juris doctor degree with 
honors from the George Washington University Law School. She studied at 
Warsaw University as a Fulbright fellow and received a diploma from the 
International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Quite a 
record.
  She used that academic preparation to make a difference in the 
world--and what a difference she made. Erika has been an unfailing 
professional in her dedication to doing whatever is necessary to ensure 
that the Commission meets its mandate and defends human rights abroad. 
Her deep expertise, which she has honed over decades of work, is 
renowned both among policy professionals in the United States and in 
the countries of Central Europe that she followed for the Commission.
  Erika is one of our Nation's top experts on Europe's most vulnerable 
communities. She is a leading voice on Roma rights--Europe's largest 
minority, with significant populations also in the United States.
  I have joined Erika in the crusade to speak up for the Roma 
population, a group that has been denied citizenship in so much of 
Europe. What a difference she has made in their lives.
  Erika has worked with Members of Congress, the Department of State 
and the OSCE to address issues ranging from the enslavement and 
sterilization of Roma to a permanent memorial in Berlin dedicated to 
the Sinti and Roma victims of the Nazi regime, to annual recognition of 
International Roma Day.
  She has brought to my attention the candidacy of Ethel Brooks to be 
the first Roma board member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. I 
know that Erika will continue to bring Roma perspective and history on 
the Holocaust to further the tolerance, education, and human rights 
work of the museum.
  I have the honor of representing the Senate on the Holocaust Memorial 
Museum board, and I can tell you that Erika is so deeply respected by 
the professionals at that museum for the work she has done in 
furthering the goal of that institution to prevent atrocities against 
any groups of people.
  Erika has long been one of my top advisers on the Holocaust 
restitution and Europe's Jewish community. She has worked closely with 
me over the years to raise concerns about the rise of Holocaust 
revisionism in countries like Hungary and Poland; to foster 
implementation of the Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets 
measures to right the economic wrongs that accompanied the Holocaust; 
and to hold accountable a French railway that transported thousands of 
Holocaust victims to their deaths. She worked on all of these issues 
and made significant progress.
  Erika has been instrumental in ensuring that the Helsinki Commission 
works to hold the United States accountable for our own human rights 
record, examining U.S. policies and conduct concerning Guantanamo Bay 
detention camps and U.S. policy regarding torture.
  Erika's counsel greatly assisted me in my role as the Parliamentary 
Assembly of the OSCE's Special Representative on Anti-Semitism, Racism, 
and Intolerance, where I was focused on human rights and justice here 
at home and across the expanse of the 57 participating states of the 
OSCE.
  From the plight of African Americans and Muslims to migrants and 
refugees, Erika has been integral to the Helsinki Commission's mandate 
of upholding the myriad of human rights commitments defined in the 
Helsinki Final Act and subsequent OSCE agreements.
  In addition to her many professional milestones and achievements, 
Erika retires from the Commission having left a deeply personal mark on 
those she worked with, from diplomats and civil servants to the staff 
of the Helsinki Commission. She is a natural teacher

[[Page S4612]]

with a gift of taking a complex issue and distilling it in a way that 
makes it both relevant and accessible.
  Erika has taught our diplomats at the Foreign Service Institute and 
spoken at international meetings and at universities across the Nation 
and around the world. She displayed her exceptional teaching ability at 
the Department of State's annual training program on Roma rights, and 
she has ensured that Roma civil society groups could also participate.
  She has actively sought out dialogue and collaboration with new 
colleagues to help deepen their understanding of the Helsinki 
Commission's role, of the challenges the Commission could usefully seek 
to address abroad, and of the unique tools at its disposal to do just 
that.
  Erika is always quick to ask about a colleague's well-being or 
inquire after a family member's well-being. She has fostered 
collegiality among the Commission's staff through her unfailing 
kindness and good nature. In so doing, she has repeatedly demonstrated 
how deeply she cares, not just for the work she has dedicated her 
career to but also for the people whose great privilege it is to call 
her a colleague and a friend.
  I will say on a personal basis that I have benefited so much from her 
friendship, from her understanding, from her strategic thinking, from 
where we can make a difference. We know there are a lot of problems 
around the world. We know we can't settle all the issues. But Erika 
helped us focus on areas where we can make a difference, and thanks to 
her input, we have made a difference.
  I know I speak on behalf of all Helsinki Commission members and staff 
and scores of other individuals--many who may not know her name--and 
groups concerned about advancing human rights around the globe and here 
at home when I say how we will miss Erika.
  Henry David Thoreau said: ``Aim above morality. Be not simply good; 
be good for something.'' Erika has embodied that maxim in her 
professional career and in her life. She has made an enormous 
difference, and she will continue to do so.
  I wish her all the best with respect to her future endeavors. I know 
we will continue to hear from her.
  Thank you, Erika, for the way you served the Commission, our country, 
and the global community.
  With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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