St. Nicolas at the Ritz
A GALA BENEFIT FOR DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN WORLDWIDE

The Charities:

UNESCO

- CHILDREN VICTIMS OF WAR
- STREET CHILDREN

Today, more than 130 million children around the world are struggling for survival. Given the scale of the situation, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has created emergency programs designed to help children who are the innocent victims of war, poverty and abuse. The activities of these two programs are carried out in close collaboration with local organizations. Education is the only means by which children can truly reconstruct their lives and re integrate into the community.

THE INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE

THE CHILDREN'S MEDICAL PROJECT

The Children's Medical Project has provided lifesaving medical care to over 400 war injured and sick children in the former Yugoslavia. Children of all ethnic groups are treated at the Institution for Mother and Child Health in Zagreb. They are all innocent victims of the conflict who have been deprived of medical care or have suffered serious injuries on account of the war. In addition to funding their care in Zagreb, a special emergency fund is being created to evacuate injured or sick children in life-threatening situations to medical facilities in the United States where specialized care can be given.

THE INSTITUTES FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF HUMAN POTENTIAL

BRAIN-INJURED CHILDREN

The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential are a group of non-profit institutes serving brain-injured children and teaching parents from more than one hundred nations on five continents. Created in 1955, the objective of The Institutes is to raise the abilities of brain-injured children in physical, intellectual and social growth in order to achieve their highest potential. The treatment program for brain-injured children is unique in that its ultimate goal is to make even profoundly brain-injured children totally normal. Liza Minnelli has been an active supporter of The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential and has been on the Board of Directors since the age of 22.

Hôtel Ritz
PARIS

JUL 3 1 1995

July 3, 1995

Dr. and Mrs. Henry Kissinger
350 Park Avenue, 26th floor
10022 New York, N.Y.

Dear Dr. and Mrs. Kissinger,

It was a pleasure having you both at the Ritz again recently and I sincerely hope that you enjoyed your stay with us.

I was delighted to hear through Mrs. Berna Huebner that Dr. Kissinger has so graciously agreed to write the feature article for the program of our charity gala. I am certain that your unique insight will give great depth to our publication and I thank you for having accepted to assist us in this manner.

St. Nicholas at the Ritz will take place on December 6, 1995 and is being organized under the guidance of Marisa Berenson, Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO, and Mrs. Huebner. Liza Minnelli will be donating her performance for the evening and international celebrities will be hosting each table. It is our intention to raise substantial funds through table and seating reservations, silent and live auctions and paid advertisements in the program.

The proceeds of the event will go to three charities : UNESCO, The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, benefiting children with brain injuries and The International Rescue Committee's Children's Medical Program. You will find herewith a resume of these three organizations.

Also herewith is an outline of the souvenir program. Dr. Kissinger's feature will be the main piece and it would be wonderful if it could cover roughly four pages (or 1000) words.

I would be honored if you would agree to be Honorary Chairmen of St. Nicholas at the Ritz. I am confident that your acceptance would greatly help us create a movement of generosity benefiting disadvantaged children from all over the world.

I look forward to hearing from you and thank you in advance for helping us make a difference.

Frank J. Klein
President

Hôtel Ritz 15. Place Vendôme 75041 Paris Cedex 01

TÉLÉPHONE (33-1) 43 16 30 30 · TELEX MESSAGES RITZ MSG 220 262 · TELEX RESERVATION RITZRES 670 112 · TÉLÉFAX RESERVATION (33-1) 43 16 36 68/43 16 36 69

CABLES RITZOTEL PARIS B1 · TÉLÉFAX 33-1) 43 16 31 78/43 16 31 79 · RCS PARIS B 572 219 913 · SIRET 572 219 913 00017

Point de vue

Point of view

HENRY KISSINGER

En tant que président honoraire de La Saint-Nicolas au Ritz, je considère, ainsi que mon épouse, comme un privilège de pouvoir participer à ce premier effort de l'Hôtel Ritz pour étendre l'hospitalité tant célébrée du 15, place Vendôme aux enfants du monde.

Tous ceux d'entre nous qui apportent leur soutien à cet événement, ont le sentiment d'être un peu les parents de la génération à venir. Car le monde recommence à chaque fois que naît un enfant. L'effort que demande ce commencement n'est que peu de choses comparé à tout ce qu'il faut faire pour donner un sens à cette jeune vie, comme le demandent la civilisation, la pérennité et l'espoir qui sont le salut de l'espèce humaine.

Aujourd'hui, c'est cet espoir même qui est en péril. Au cours de ce seul siècle, nous avons vécu, au sens physique, deux conflits majeurs et une guerre froide, potentiellement encore plus dévastatrice. Ce que nous avons appelé le Nouvel Ordre du Monde qui émergerait de ces remous,

As Honorary Chairmen of Saint Nicholas at the Ritz, Mrs. Kissinger and I indeed feel privileged to be part of the Hotel Ritz's inaugural program to extend its celebrated hospitality beyond the doors at 15, Place Vendôme to the children of the world.

All of us participating in this event achieve, through our support, a sense of being parents to the generation that is to come. For the world begins anew each time a child is born. The enormous effort of that beginning pales before the exertions required to infuse a young life with meaning as the requisite to providing our civilization with the continuity and hope that is the salvation of human kind.

It is that hope which is just now in such peril. In this century alone, we have mastered two devastating physical wars and the potentially even more ominous Cold War. The so-called New World Order emerging in the wake of these conflicts is more fragmented even as it is more uniform through instant communications

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Point de vue | Point of view

se retrouve encore plus chaotique, alors que les technologies et la communication devraient au contraire le rendre plus uni. Il est déchiré par la pire sorte de peur - la méfiance entre nous - par le nationalisme et la purification ethnique qui génèrent des actes de haine et de brutalité, dont les victimes sont trop souvent des innocents.

Plus que jamais, ce sont des réfugiés, auxquels est dénié le secours même d'un environnement familier. Le déracinement de très nombreux individus à la suite des conflits ethniques dans les Balkans, au Rwanda, en Tchétchénie et dans le Caucase, pour ne mentionner que les plus présents à notre esprit, a créé une nouvelle génération de victimes : les personnes déplacées. Pendant que les hommes valides continuent à faire la guerre, les personnes âgées, les femmes et les enfants sont forcés à l'exil, deviennent des sans-abri, abandonnés à la pauvreté et au désespoir. Ils sont frappés par le traumatisme de la peur, et celui de la perte, de toute vision du futur, de tout

and technology; it is driven with the worst kind of fear - our distrust of each other - as nationalism and ethnic self-assertion give rise to hatreds and brutality; and the victims of these tendencies are far too often the innocent.

More than ever before, these victims are refugees, denied even the succor of a familiar environment. The displacement of enormous numbers of people due to ethnic conflicts in the Balkans, Rwanda, Chechnya and the Caucasus - to mention only the most obvious ones - is thus creating a new generation of victims: the displaced person. While able-bodied men continue to wage the wars, it is the elderly, the women and most pitiably the children who are forced into exile, homelessness, poverty, and despair. They are beset by the twin traumas of fear and loss - above all the loss of any vision or hope for the future.

Most disturbing is that the hopelessness and dislocation extend to societies that are beyond the trouble

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Point de vue | Point of view

espoir. Il est très déstabilisant de constater
que la fin de l'espoir et le chaos s'étendent
à des sociétés qui n'appartiennent pas
à ces régions troublées dont nous parlent
tant les médias, ni strictement au Tiers-
Monde. Même dans des sociétés qui
semblent aisées, les problèmes sociaux
engendrés par la dissolution des cadres
traditionnels de la famille et des structures
sociales deviennent manifestes.

La souffrance des enfants est totalement
injustifiée. Elle étouffe tous les espoirs.
Les mauvais traitements sont de plus en
plus fréquents, ou en tout cas ils deviennent
de plus en plus connus.

Quoi qu'il en soit, nous réalisons
enfin que nos enfants sont ce par quoi
tout commence. Prendre soin d'eux, c'est
leur offrir de la nourriture, les vêtements,
un abri, ainsi que de l'amour. Mais il faut
aussi tenter de leur donner des objectifs,
des valeurs et des croyances qui créeront
demain un monde plus humain.

spots embraced by the media or confined
strictly to the Third World. For even in
seemingly affluent societies, the social
problems engendered by the dissolution
of traditional patterns of family and social
structure are becoming manifest.

The suffering of children is truly and
inherently unnecessary for it blights
hopes that were never given a chance.

Child abuse is either becoming more
widespread or the alarming statistics are
an indication that its reporting is only
catching up with the inherent tragedy.

Whatever the case, we are at last
paying attention to where it must all begin
and end: in nurturing our young. This
process begins where it must: providing
food, clothing, shelter, and the care and
love of other humans. But it extends
as well to investing the young with goals
and values and beliefs that will create
a more humane world order.

It is fitting that the great institutions
should take the lead in the fight to save

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Point de vue | Point of view

Il est normal que les grandes institutions et nous-mêmes prennent la tête du combat pour sauver nos enfants. La Saint-Nicolas au Ritz peut apporter une réelle contribution. Le but de ce gala est de lever des fonds qui seront distribués à des organisations caritatives reconnues dans le monde entier pour leur action auprès des quelque 130 millions d'enfants en détresse. Chacun de ces organismes a été sélectionné sur la base d'une réputation démontrée d'excellence et d'intégrité, et pour son expertise dans le domaine où ses services sont les plus utiles.

L'UNESCO (L'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'Éducation, la Science et la Culture) a multiplié les programmes d'urgence pour aider les enfants, victimes de la guerre, de la pauvreté, et des mauvais traitements. Ses programmes pour les *Enfants Victimes de Guerre* et les *Enfants de la Rue* sont menés en collaboration étroite avec les organismes éducatifs qui permettent aux enfants de reconstruire leur vie et de réé integrer la communauté sociale.

our children - and ourselves. To this end, the Saint Nicholas at the Ritz program can make a real contribution. Its goal is to raise funds to be distributed among three charities recognized all over the world for their dedicated work on behalf of some 130 million struggling children. Each of the charities has been selected on the basis of its demonstrated reputation for excellence and integrity, and for its expertise in an area where its services are needed most.

UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has spawned emergency programs designed to help children who are the innocent victims of war, poverty and abuse. The activities of its Children Victims of War and Street Children programs are carried out in close collaboration with educational organizations which enable children to reconstruct their lives and to reintegrate themselves into the community.

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Point de vue | Point of view

Le *Children's Medical Project*, sous les auspices de l'*International Rescue Committee*, un groupe dont je peux témoigner de l'efficacité puisque je siège à son conseil d'administration depuis de nombreuses années, a apporté des soins médicaux à plus de 400 enfants blessés ou malades dans l'ex-Yougoslavie. Les enfants de tous les groupes ethniques sont traités à l'Institution pour la Santé de la Mère et de l'Enfant à Zagreb. De plus, un fond spécial d'urgence a été créé pour évacuer les enfants blessés ou malades en situation de péril grave dans des hôpitaux aux États-Unis.

Les Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential sont un groupe d'organismes à but non lucratif offrant une assistance médicale aux enfants victimes d'atteintes au cerveau et une formation à leurs parents, dans plus de 100 pays sur cinq continents.

Le programme de soins pour les enfants atteints au cerveau est unique

The Children's Medical Program under the auspices of the International Rescue Committee - a group whose good work I have observed first-hand for many years through serving on its board - has provided lifesaving medical care to over 400 war injured and sick children in the former Yugoslavia. Children of all ethnic groups are treated at the Institution for Mother and Child Health in Zagreb. In addition, a special emergency fund is being created to evacuate injured or sick children in life-threatening situations to medical facilities in the United States.

The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential are a group of non-profit organizations providing medical assistance to brain-injured children and education to their parents in more than 100 nations on five continents. The treatment program for brain-injured children is unique in that its ultimate goal is to make the most severely injured victims whole again.

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Point de vue | Point of view

dans le sens où son objectif ultime est de rendre à la vie normale les victimes les plus sévèrement atteintes.

Même dans les circonstances les plus défavorables, les enfants possèdent une extraordinaire capacité à conserver leur faculté d'étonnement devant un monde qui est chaque jour nouveau, plein de possibilités et d'espoir. C'est dans cet esprit que Saint-Nicolas passera ce soir par le Ritz.

In even the most adverse circumstances, children have an extraordinary capacity to retain their sense of permanent wonder at a world that is at every step utterly new and, therefore, full of possibility, hope and renewal. It is in the spirit of keeping these alive for them during times of extreme adversity that Saint Nicholas is being brought to the Ritz.

HENRY KISSINGER

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