[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 542 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 542

  Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau 
                concentration camp during World War II.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 12, 2020

  Mr. Gardner (for himself, Ms. Sinema, Ms. McSally, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
    Inhofe, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Rosen, Mrs. Blackburn, and Mr. Cramer) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

                              June 3, 2020

   Reported by Mr. Risch, with an amendment and an amendment to the 
                                preamble

                             June 16, 2020

      Considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended preamble

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau 
                concentration camp during World War II.

Whereas the Dachau concentration camp, established in March 1933--

    (1) was the first concentration camp established by the German National 
Socialist, or ``Nazi'', government;

    (2) served as a model for all subsequent Nazi concentration camps;

    (3) was a training center for the notoriously brutal SS concentration 
camp guards; and

    (4) operated continuously until the end of World War II in 1945;

Whereas the Dachau concentration camp housed Germans who were deemed political, 
        racial, or social threats by the Nazi regime, including Communists, 
        Social Democrats, Jews, Roma, members of the clergy, Jehovah's 
        Witnesses, and other religious and cultural minorities;
Whereas, in addition to Germans, prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp 
        included Poles, Hungarians, Austrians, Italians, Lithuanians, Czechs, 
        Slovenes, Belgians, and other foreign nationals from countries occupied 
        or invaded by Germany;
Whereas the Nazis imprisoned more than 200,000 civilians in the Dachau 
        concentration camp and the more than 100 subcamps of the Dachau 
        concentration camp;
Whereas the Nazis murdered tens of thousands of innocent civilians, and allowed 
        countless others to die from disease, starvation, malnutrition, and 
        exhaustion, at the Dachau concentration camp, one of many camps where 
        the Nazis brutally killed millions of people, including 6,000,000 Jews 
        during the Holocaust;
Whereas the Nazis tortured, and conducted medical experiments that led to the 
        death or permanent disabling of, hundreds of civilian prisoners at the 
        Dachau concentration camp, including by--

    (1) subjecting the prisoners to pressure extremes;

    (2) submersing the prisoners in freezing water;

    (3) forcing the prisoners to drink salt water; and

    (4) infecting the prisoners with malaria;

Whereas the Nazis subjected civilian prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp 
        to forced labor--

    (1) first for the initial construction and expansion of the camp; and

    (2) later primarily for armaments production to supply the German 
military;

Whereas, following the advance of Allied Forces, the Nazi regime began the 
        systematic transfer of prisoners from evacuated concentration camps to 
        the Dachau concentration camp for continued imprisonment, resulting in 
        the deaths of thousands of weakened and malnourished prisoners and 
        leading to the discovery of the infamous ``Dachau death train'', 
        consisting of nearly 40 railroad cars containing the bodies of 
        approximately 2,310 prisoners;
Whereas, in December 1943, Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed as Supreme 
        Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces and led the formal 
        coordination of the Allied Forces, with the mission to liberate Europe;
Whereas the main Dachau concentration camp was liberated on April 29, 1945;
Whereas that liberation was led by--

    (1) the 45th Infantry ``Thunderbird'' Division of the Seventh Army of 
the United States (referred to in this preamble as the ``45th Infantry 
Division''), under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Felix Sparks, 
member of the Colorado Army National Guard and Commander of the Third 
Battalion of the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division;

    (2) the 42nd Infantry ``Rainbow'' Division of the Seventh Army of the 
United States (referred to in this preamble as the ``42nd Infantry 
Division''), under the leadership of Brigadier General Henning Linden; and

    (3) the 20th Armored Division of the Seventh Army of the United States 
(referred to in this preamble as the ``20th Armored Division'');

Whereas the 45th Infantry Division--

    (1) was composed of National Guard units from Colorado, Oklahoma, 
Arizona, and New Mexico; and

    (2) deployed in June 1943 in support of the Allied Forces during World 
War II;

Whereas the 42nd Infantry Division--

    (1) was composed of personnel from every State of the United States; 
and

    (2) deployed in December 1944 in support of the Allied Forces during 
World War II;

Whereas the 20th Armored Division--

    (1) was activated at Fort Campbell and, until October of 1944, trained 
soldiers and qualified those soldiers for overseas shipment as replacement 
soldiers for armored units; and

    (2) deployed in February 1945 in support of the Allied Forces during 
World War II;

Whereas, in the European theater of operation, the 45th Infantry Division 
        suffered--

    (1) 1,831 deaths in battle; and

    (2) 7,791 battle casualties;

Whereas, in the European theater of operation, the 42nd Infantry Division 
        suffered--

    (1) 655 deaths in battle; and

    (2) 3,971 battle casualties;

Whereas, in the European theater of operation, the 20th Armored Division 
        suffered--

    (1) 59 deaths in battle; and

    (2) 186 battle casualties;

Whereas, in 1985, the United States Army Center of Military History and the 
        United States Holocaust Memorial Museum honored the 45th Infantry 
        Division, the 42nd Infantry Division, and the 20th Armored Division with 
        recognition as ``liberating units''; and
Whereas commemoration of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp will 
        instill in all people of the United States a greater awareness of the 
        unspeakable tragedies of the Holocaust: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) commemorates April 29, 2020, as the 75th anniversary of 
        the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp during World 
        War II;
            (2) calls on all people of the United States to remember 
        the tens of thousands of innocent victims murdered at the 
        Dachau concentration camp as part of the Holocaust, the 
        6,000,000 Jews killed throughout the Holocaust, and all of the 
        victims of the Nazi reign of terror; and
            (3) recognizes the valorous efforts of the 45th Infantry 
        Division, the 42nd Infantry Division, and the 20th Armored 
        Division of the Seventh Army of the United States in the 
        liberation of the thousands of individuals imprisoned at the 
        Dachau concentration camp.
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