[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 46 Referred in House (RFH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. CON. RES. 46


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 18, 2016

              Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing support for the goal of ensuring that all Holocaust victims 
live with dignity, comfort, and security in their remaining years, and 
  urging the Federal Republic of Germany to continue to reaffirm its 
  commitment to comprehensively address the unique health and welfare 
 needs of vulnerable Holocaust victims, including home care and other 
                      medically prescribed needs.

Whereas the annihilation of 6,000,000 Jews during the Holocaust and the murder 
        of millions of others by the Nazi German state constitutes one of the 
        most tragic and heinous crimes in human history;
Whereas hundreds of thousands of Jews survived persecution by the Nazi regime 
        despite being imprisoned, subjected to slave labor, moved into ghettos, 
        forced to live in hiding or under false identity or curfew, or required 
        to wear the ``yellow star'';
Whereas in fear of the oncoming Nazi Einsatzgruppen, or ``Nazi Killing Squads'', 
        and the likelihood of extermination, hundreds of thousands of Jewish 
        Nazi victims fled for their lives;
Whereas whatever type of persecution suffered by Jews during the Holocaust, the 
        common thread that binds Holocaust victims is that they were targeted 
        for extermination and they lived with a constant fear for their lives 
        and the lives of their loved ones;
Whereas Holocaust victims immigrated to the United States from Europe, the 
        Middle East, North Africa, and the former Soviet Union between 1933 and 
        the date of adoption of this resolution;
Whereas it is estimated that there are at least 100,000 Holocaust victims living 
        in the United States and approximately 500,000 Holocaust victims living 
        around the world, including child survivors of the Holocaust;
Whereas tens of thousands of Holocaust victims are at least 80 years old, and 
        the number of surviving Holocaust victims is diminishing;
Whereas at least 50 percent of Holocaust victims alive today will pass away 
        within the next decade, and those living victims are becoming frailer 
        and have increasing health and welfare needs;
Whereas Holocaust victims throughout the world continue to suffer from permanent 
        physical and psychological injuries and disabilities and live with the 
        emotional scars of a systematic genocide against the Jewish people;
Whereas many of the emotional and psychological scars of Holocaust victims are 
        exacerbated in the old age of the Holocaust victims;
Whereas the past haunts and overwhelms many aspects of the lives of Holocaust 
        victims when their health fails them;
Whereas Holocaust victims suffer particular trauma when their emotional and 
        physical circumstances force them to leave the security of their homes 
        and enter institutional or other group living residential facilities;
Whereas tens of thousands of Holocaust victims live in poverty and cannot 
        afford, and do not receive, sufficient medical care, home care, mental 
        health care, medicine, food, transportation, and other vital life-
        sustaining services that allow individuals to live their final years 
        with comfort and dignity;
Whereas Holocaust victims often lack family support networks and require social 
        worker-supported case management in order to manage their daily lives 
        and access government-funded services;
Whereas in response to a letter sent by Members of Congress to the Minister of 
        Finance of Germany in December 2015 relating to increased funding for 
        Holocaust victims, German officials acknowledged that ``recent 
        experience has shown that the care financed by the German Government to 
        date is insufficient'' and that ``it is imperative to expand these 
        assistance measures quickly given the advanced age of many of the 
        affected persons'';
Whereas German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer acknowledged, in 1951, the 
        responsibility of Germany to provide moral and financial compensation to 
        Holocaust victims worldwide;
Whereas every successive German Chancellor has reaffirmed that acknowledgment, 
        including Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, in 2007, reaffirmed that ``only 
        by fully accepting its enduring responsibility for this most appalling 
        period and for the cruelest crimes in its history, can Germany shape the 
        future'';
Whereas, in 2015, the spokesperson of Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed that 
        ``all Germans know the history of the murderous race mania of the Nazis 
        that led to the break with civilization that was the Holocaust . . . we 
        know the responsibility for this crime against humanity is German and 
        very much our own''; and
Whereas Congress believes it is the moral and historical responsibility of 
        Germany to comprehensively, permanently, and urgently provide resources 
        for the medical, mental health, and long-term care needs of all 
        Holocaust victims: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) acknowledges the financial and moral commitment of the 
        Federal Republic of Germany over the past seven decades to 
        provide a measure of justice for Holocaust victims; and
            (2) supports the goal of ensuring that all Holocaust 
        victims in the United States and around the world are able to 
        live with dignity, comfort, and security in their remaining 
        years.

            Passed the Senate July 14, 2016.

            Attest:

                                                JULIE E. ADAMS,

                                                             Secretary.