[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        GERMAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD RESOLVE PRINCZ CASE IMMEDIATELY

                                 ______


                               speech of

                           HON. PETER T. KING

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 26, 1994

  Mr. KING. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express strong support for House 
Resolution 323. This measure expresses the sense of Congress that the 
U.S. Government should actively intervene on behalf of Mr. Hugo Princz. 
Passage of this resolution by the House is a positive step to correct a 
terrible injustice and a reaffirmation of our desire to ensure that 
horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten.
  Specifically, House Resolution 323 urges President Clinton and 
Secretary of State Warren Christopher to raise this matter with the 
German Chancellor and Foreign Minister when they visit Washington next 
week, and state publicly that the United States will no longer tolerate 
``continued discriminatory treatment of Mr. Princz.'' As many in this 
Chamber know, Mr. Princz, a survivor of the Holocaust, has 
unsuccessfully sought reparations from the German Government for 40 
years. I am very pleased that this institution is going on record in 
support of Mr. Princz.
  For those who are not familiar with Mr. Princz's plight, I welcome 
this opportunity to provide the facts. As Americans living in Europe, 
Mr. Princz and his family were taken prisoner by the Nazis in 1942 as 
enemy aliens. They were officially considered civilian prisoners and 
not prisoners-of-war. Despite protests by Mr. Princz' father that they 
were United States citizens, the Nazis refused to honor the validity of 
their passports since they were Jewish. Mr. Princz' parents and 
siblings were subsequently murdered in Nazi death camps and, Mr. 
Princz, after being forced to watch his brother starve to death in 
Auschwitz, was marched to the Dachau slave labor camp. Just hours 
before his scheduled execution, he was saved by American forces 
liberating the area and sent to an American military hospital for 
treatment.
  In the 1950's, the Federal Republic of Germany set up a reparations 
program for Holocaust survivors to which Mr. Princz made timely 
application. His application was rejected on the grounds that he was an 
American citizen at the time of his capture and not a stateless person 
or refugee. After exhausting all diplomatic efforts to obtain 
compensation, in 1990 Mr. Princz filed a suit against the German 
Government in Federal court, where it is still pending.
  Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, I 
am pleased that the House has acted today and passed House Resolution 
323. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Caucus in 
monitoring the German Government's actions in this matter.

                          ____________________