Dr. Moshe Kantor is a prominent public figure, international philanthropist and scientist who has been serving as the President of the European Jewish Congress since 2007. He is globally recognized for his fight against antisemitism, racism, neo-Nazism and intolerance, and his leadership in the European Jewish Congress has cast him as the face of European Jewry.
Dr. Moshe Kantor graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute (1976). In 1981 he was awarded a PhD in Sciences with a specialization in Spacecraft Automatic Control Systems.
Son of a Jewish Red Army soldier from Ukraine, who lost many of his family members in the Holocaust, Dr. Kantor identifies both with the liberators and the survivors of the Holocaust.
Among Dr. Kantor's various activities and endeavors in the field of Shoah remembrance was his founding of the World Holocaust Forum, which was established to promote Holocaust remembrance among world leaders. In 2005, he initiated and organized the first “Let My People Live!” International Forum in Krakow, Poland, marking 60 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, attended by more than 30 world leaders including the United States, Russia and France. Subsequently, he initiated similar commemorative events including in 2006 in Kiev, in 2010 in Auschwitz, and in 2015 in Prague, all attended by heads of state, political leaders, members of parliament, diplomats, scholars and public figures from many countries. He also initiated an annual commemorative event in the European Parliament, which has been attended by EU leaders and dignitaries.
In 2006, Dr Kantor founded the European Jewish Fund (EJF), which focuses on promoting Jewish life throughout Europe by supporting educational and leadership programmes aimed at reinforcing Jewish identity, culture and tradition, and especially reconnecting people with their rich and vital Jewish heritage.
In light of rising antisemitism worldwide, in 2010, Dr. Kantor founded the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry in Tel Aviv University, which monitors antisemitism across the globe and publishes annual reports, as well as the Moshe Kantor Database for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism.
Among Dr. Kantor’s many awards are the following: Order of Friendship (Russia, 1998), Honorary Doctorate (Tel-Aviv University, 2004), Order of Merit (Poland, 2005), Order of Leopold (Belgium, 2009), Medal Deserved for Tolerance by the Ecumenical Foundation Tolerance (2011), European Jewish Leadership Award (2012), Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (France, 2012), the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 2013), Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (France, 2015) and the Order of Honour (Russia, 2016).
In 2010, Yad Vashem nominated Dr. Kantor as Vice Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council. In January 2019, Yad Vashem nominated Dr. Kantor as Chancellor of the Council.
Viatcheslav (Moshe) Kantor
