History

The HIA Board of Directors held its first meeting in December 1997, a month after HIA was incorporated in the State of Delaware. In its first year, the HIA Board set its goals, organized the American, Danish and Dutch Advisory Boards and began raising money to affect the planning and administration of its programs. The Executive Director and the project directors in Denmark and The Netherlands, working closely with the three Advisory Boards, organized lectures, site visits, host families and the solicitation and selection of university students as HIA Fellows. The Board decided to fund all costs relating to educational activities, transportation and accommodations to ensure the selection of Fellows on the basis of merit irrespective of financial need.

HIA associated with The Netherlands American Commission for Educational Exchange, a Dutch organization that administers the Fulbright and other American-Dutch educational fellowships. In Denmark, the project directors were independent educational consultants.
The HIA programs were developed in association with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and in consultation with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. In the United States, a group of mentors was formed to aid the HIA fellows in their outreach responsibilities.

In the summer of 1999, HIA organized its first programs in Washington, Copenhagen and Amsterdam for 40 American, Danish, and Dutch university students. A considerable number of American, Danish and Dutch board members, exemplifying their close involvement with HIA, participated in the programs in the three cities. The final phase of the first program took place in October 1999 when the Danish and Dutch fellows visited Washington and New York for a week of seminars. Based upon intensive seminars, site visits, and research the HIA Fellows wrote and published jointly their reports that focused on European past and present minority issues.

In 2001, HIA expanded its core programs to include Germany. HIA thus increased the number of HIA Fellows to 60 each year, including 30 Americans and 10 from Denmark, 10 from Germany and 10 from The Netherlands. In 2001, HIA began to develop internships in Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands and the Untied States to provide continuing opportunities for the HIA fellows. In 2006, HIA expanded once more to establish programs in Poland, France, and the United States. 146 Fellows, including several from Central & Eastern Europe, participated in the 2006 program. This experience was made possible through the newly established boards in Poland, France, and The United States.
To sustain the students' engagement in the issues raised in the programs and to enhance their roles as leaders, HIA is committed to maintaining close ties to the students after they have completed the programs in Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland and the United States. These ties involve mutual obligations and responsibilities. After the core program, all HIA students are obliged to inform their peers and communities about the HIA programs and make presentations about their experiences, research and reports. Seminars, public talks to schools, churches, synagogues and voluntary organizations, exhibitions and articles in the media provide some of the forums for informing others about the HIA program. Senior Fellow Associations have been established in the United States and Europe. The American Senior Fellows meet annually in New York in the spring for a series of discussions and lectures. Senior Fellows also are involved in fundraising for the Foundation. European Senior Fellows also have an annual meeting and arrange several occasions for HIA sponsored lectures and special projects.

HIA has issued and widely distributed several publications since its inception, among them two newsletters per year, reports by each year's HIA Fellows, a brochure to accompany an HIA sponsored photography exhibition on the rescue of Danish Jewry during World War II and, finally, the HIA website.

The HIA Board of Directors, based in New York and the Program Boards in Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland and the United States now guided the development and expansion of HIA programs.