[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 54 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 54

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Auschwitz-Birkenau state 
 museum in Poland should release seven paintings by Auschwitz survivor 
    Dina Babbitt made while she was imprisoned there, and that the 
   governments of the United States and Poland should facilitate the 
                return of Dina Babbitt's artwork to her.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 5, 1999

    Mrs. Boxer (for herself and Mr. Helms) submitted the following 
 concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Auschwitz-Birkenau state 
 museum in Poland should release seven paintings by Auschwitz survivor 
    Dina Babbitt made while she was imprisoned there, and that the 
   governments of the United States and Poland should facilitate the 
                return of Dina Babbitt's artwork to her.

Whereas Dina Babbitt (formerly known as Dinah Gottliebova), a United States 
        citizen now 76 years old, has requested the return of watercolor 
        portraits she painted while suffering a year and a half long internment 
        at the Auschwitz death camp;
Whereas Dina Babbitt was ordered to paint the portraits by the infamous war 
        criminal Dr. Josef Mengele;
Whereas Dina Babbitt's life, and her mother's life, were spared only because she 
        painted portraits of doomed inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, under orders 
        from Dr. Josef Mengele;
Whereas Dina Babbitt is unquestionably the rightful owner of the artwork, since 
        it was produced by her own talented hands as she survived the 
        unspeakable conditions that prevailed at the Auschwitz death camp;
Whereas only 22 of the 3,800 Czech Jews scheduled for death at Auschwitz in 
        March of 1944 survived the Auschwitz ordeal, and among those who were 
        murdered were relatives of Dina Babbitt;
Whereas to continue to deny Dina Babbitt the property that is rightfully hers 
        adds to the pain and suffering she has experienced because of the 
        Auschwitz ordeal;
Whereas the artwork is not available to public view at the Auschwitz-Birkenau 
        state museum and therefore this unique and important body of work is 
        essentially lost to history; and
Whereas this continued injustice can be righted through cooperation between 
        agencies of the United States and Poland: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That the Congress--
            (1) recognizes the moral right of Dina Babbitt to obtain 
        the artwork she created, and recognizes her courage in the face 
        of the evils perpetrated by the Nazi command of the Auschwitz-
        Birkenau death camp, including the atrocities committed by Dr. 
        Josef Mengele;
            (2) urges the President to make all efforts necessary to 
        retrieve the seven watercolor portraits Dina Babbitt painted, 
        while suffering a year and a half long internment at the 
        Auschwitz death camp, and return them to her;
            (3) urges the State Department to make immediate diplomatic 
        efforts to facilitate the transfer of the seven original 
        watercolors painted by Dina Babbitt from the Auschwitz-Birkenau 
        state museum to Dina Babbitt, the rightful owner;
            (4) urges the Government of Poland to immediately 
        facilitate the return of the artwork painted by Dina Babbitt 
        from the Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum to Dina Babbitt; and
            (5) urges the officials of the Auschwitz-Birkenau state 
        museum to transfer the seven original paintings to Dina Babbitt 
        as expeditiously as possible.
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