[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 7 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 7

 Expressing the sense of Congress that the people of the United States 
  should grieve for the loss of life that defined the Third Reich and 
 celebrate the continued education efforts for tolerance and justice, 
 reaffirming the commitment of the United States to the fight against 
   intolerance and prejudice in any form, and honoring the legacy of 
transparent procedure, government accountability, the rule of law, the 
 pursuit of justice, and the struggle for universal freedom and human 
                                rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 2009

Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas submitted the following concurrent resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of Congress that the people of the United States 
  should grieve for the loss of life that defined the Third Reich and 
 celebrate the continued education efforts for tolerance and justice, 
 reaffirming the commitment of the United States to the fight against 
   intolerance and prejudice in any form, and honoring the legacy of 
transparent procedure, government accountability, the rule of law, the 
 pursuit of justice, and the struggle for universal freedom and human 
                                rights.

Whereas the Nazi Party came to power in Germany in 1933 and consolidated its 
        power and popularity in Germany by playing on the fears, frustrations, 
        and hopes of the German people, and Nazi rule would become a nightmare 
        for Europe and the world;
Whereas the leaders, government officials, diplomats, soldiers and police 
        officers of Nazi Germany perpetrated crimes against humanity by 
        implementing the so-called Final Solution--the systematic murder of the 
        European Jews--as well as by killing millions of others targeted for 
        ``racial'' reasons, including Roma (Gypsies), people with disabilities, 
        Poles, and Soviet prisoners of war;
Whereas the magnitude of death and destruction in the era of the Holocaust 
        involved the murder of millions, including six million Jews, more than 
        one million of them children and constituting two-thirds of the European 
        Jewish population, and marked a society for more than two generations 
        afterwards with the brand of prejudice and racism;
Whereas the Holocaust forces society and future generations to face 
        uncomfortable questions, such as the responsibilities of citizenship, 
        the consequences of indifference and inaction, and the importance of 
        education and awareness;
Whereas the Nuremberg Trials, conducted before the International Military 
        Tribunal in the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany, from November 
        20, 1945, until the verdicts were delivered on October 1, 1946, were 
        intended to judge crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against 
        humanity publicly and transparently, on the basis of individual 
        culpability, and to set precedents in international law to document such 
        crimes in historical records and to bring a measure of justice for the 
        victims of atrocities by calling to account future perpetrators before 
        an international court of law;
Whereas 2006 was the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials and a year in 
        which we commemorated specifically the courage of those who suffered 
        under Nazi rule in giving testimony in trials of Nazi offenders;
Whereas the Nuremberg Trials were convened by the Allied powers of the United 
        States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, to prosecute 21 
        major war criminals in what would become the best-known post-World War 
        II trials;
Whereas the International Military Tribunal was authorized in its charter for 
        presiding over the Nuremberg Trials ``to try and punish persons who 
        acting in the interest of the European Axis countries'' committed one of 
        four newly defined categories of crime: conspiracy, crimes against 
        peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity;
Whereas the last--crimes against humanity--was defined as ``murder, 
        extermination, enslavement, deportation . . . or persecution of an 
        individual on political, racial, or religious grounds'';
Whereas one of the most significant legal concepts established at the Nuremberg 
        Trials was that a defendant's argument that he was following orders was 
        neither a defense nor an excuse justifying or mitigating the 
        perpetration of a criminal act;
Whereas captured documentation and eyewitness testimony presented at the 
        Nuremberg Trials laid the initial foundation for what we know about the 
        Holocaust, including the killing apparatus at Auschwitz, the atrocities 
        committed by the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units), and the 
        destruction of the Warsaw ghetto, and for what we know about other Nazi 
        crimes;
Whereas at the Nuremberg Trials the first statistical estimate that the Nazis 
        and their collaborators systematically murdered six million Jews was 
        offered and evidence supporting this estimate was entered into the 
        record;
Whereas the precedent set by the Nuremberg Trials has been held as a standard 
        for special international tribunals to try perpetrators for crimes 
        against humanity and crimes of genocide committed in the former 
        Yugoslavia and in Rwanda;
Whereas the world is watching closely as other countries, such as Iraq, seek to 
        follow the framework and guiding vocabulary of the Nuremberg Trials to 
        determine culpability while simultaneously allowing the accused to face 
        their accusers;
Whereas Israel, a country created in the wake of tragedy and born from 
        international compromise, is a beacon of hope for democracy in the 
        Middle East, and serves as an example of a country that has been able to 
        maintain a vibrant democracy amidst existential threats that have 
        existed since its founding;
Whereas the cries of victims of oppression and genocide, whether in Germany, 
        Cambodia, Rwanda, Iraq, or Sudan, are heard when the world demands 
        justice and accountability;
Whereas the Holocaust is a testament that democracy is fragile and not immune to 
        tyranny; and
Whereas freedom demands that justice be pursued: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That--
            (1) it is the sense of Congress that the people of the 
        United States should grieve for the loss of life that defined 
        the Third Reich and celebrate the continued education efforts 
        for tolerance and justice;
            (2) the United States reaffirms its commitment to the fight 
        against intolerance and prejudice in any form;
            (3) Congress urges all members of the international 
        community to honor those individuals of all races, creeds, and 
        colors who perished at the hands of the Nazis; and
            (4) the United States honors the primacy of transparent 
        procedure, government accountability, the rule of law, the 
        pursuit of justice, and the struggle for universal freedom and 
        human rights.
                                 <all>