[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 118 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 118

   Urging the return of portraits painted by Dina Babbitt during her 
     internment at Auschwitz that are now in the possession of the 
                    Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 1, 2001

  Ms. Berkley (for herself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Frost, Ms. DeLauro, 
 Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Ackerman, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Cantor, Mr. Pallone, Mr. 
 Delahunt, Mr. Towns, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Weiner, 
   Mr. Moore, Mr. Wexler, Ms. Baldwin, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Mr. 
   McDermott, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Holden, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Berman, Mrs. 
 McCarthy of New York, Ms. McCarthy of Missouri, Mr. Engel, Mr. Kirk, 
 Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Levin, Mr. Gonzalez, Ms. Norton, Mr. Langevin, Mr. 
Nadler, Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. McKinney, Mr. Honda, Mr. 
Hinchey, Mr. Hoeffel, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Hastings of Florida, 
Mr. Deutsch, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Neal of Massachusetts, Mr. Abercrombie, 
    Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Holt, Mr. Filner, Ms. Solis, Mr. Matheson, Ms. 
Kilpatrick, Mr. Matsui, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. Foley, Mr. Frank, 
and Mr. McGovern) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which 
        was referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
   Urging the return of portraits painted by Dina Babbitt during her 
     internment at Auschwitz that are now in the possession of the 
                    Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

Whereas Dina Babbitt (formerly known as Dinah Gottliebova), a United States 
        citizen now in her late 70's, has requested the return of watercolor 
        portraits she painted while suffering a year-and-a-half-long internment 
        at the Auschwitz death camp during World War II;
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 these paintings are currently in the possession of the Auschwitz-
        Birkenau State Museum;
Whereas Dina Babbitt is unquestionably the rightful owner of the artwork, since 
        the paintings were produced by her own talented hands as she endured the 
        unspeakable conditions that existed at the Auschwitz death camp;
Whereas only 22 of the approximately 3,800 Czech Jews scheduled for death at 
        Auschwitz in March 1944 survived, 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 her 
        experiences at Auschwitz;
Whereas the artwork is not available for the public to 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 House of Representatives (the Senate 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; and
            (2) urges--
                    (A) 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;
                    (B) the Secretary of State 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, 
                their rightful owner;
                    (D) the Government of Poland to immediately 
                facilitate the return to Dina Babbitt of the artwork 
                painted by her that is now in the possession of the 
                Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum; and
                    (E) 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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