[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11558-S11559]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 73--RELATIVE TO PROPERTY CLAIMS

  Mr. D'AMATO submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 73

       Whereas Fascist and Communist dictatorships have caused 
     immeasurable human suffering and loss, degrading not only 
     every conceivable human right, but the human spirit itself;
       Whereas the villainy of communism was dedicated, in 
     particular, to the organized, and systematic destruction of 
     private property ownership;
       Whereas the wrongful and illegal confiscation of property 
     perpetrated by Fascist and Communist regimes was often 
     specifically designed to victimize people because of their 
     religion, national or social origin, or expressed opposition 
     to the regimes which repressed them;
       Whereas Fascists and Communists often obtained possession 
     of properties confiscated from the victims of the systems 
     they actively supported;
       Whereas Jewish individuals and communities were often twice 
     victimized, first by the Nazis and their collaborators and 
     then by the subsequent Communist regimes;
       Whereas churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious 
     properties were also destroyed or confiscated as a means of 
     breaking the spiritual devotion and allegiance of religious 
     adherents;
       Whereas Fascists, Nazis, and Communists have used foreign 
     financial institutions to launder and hold wrongfully and 
     illegally confiscated property and convert it to their own 
     personal use;
       Whereas some foreign financial institutions violated their 
     fiduciary duty to their customers by converting to their own 
     use financial assets belonging to Holocaust victims while 
     denying heirs access to these assets;
       Whereas refugees from communism, in addition to being 
     wrongly stripped of their private property, were often forced 
     to relinquish their citizenship in order to protect 
     themselves and their families from reprisals by the 
     Communists who ruled their countries;
       Whereas the participating states of the Organization for 
     Security and Cooperation in Europe have agreed to give full 
     recognition and protection to all types of property, 
     including private property, as well as the right to prompt, 
     just, and effective compensation in the event private 
     property is taken for public use;
       Whereas the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as 
     well as the Caucasus and Central Asia, have entered a post-
     Communist period of transition and democratic

[[Page S11559]]

     development, and many countries have begun the difficult 
     and wrenching process of trying to right the past wrongs 
     of previous totalitarian regimes;
       Whereas restrictions which require those whose properties 
     have been wrongly plundered by Nazi or Communist regimes to 
     reside in or have the citizenship of the country from which 
     they now seek restitution or compensation are arbitrary and 
     discriminatory in violation of international law; and
       Whereas the rule of law and democratic norms require that 
     the activity of governments and their administrative agencies 
     be exercised in accordance with the laws passed by their 
     parliaments or legislatures and such laws themselves must be 
     consistent with international human rights standards: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That the Congress--
       (1) welcomes the efforts of many post-Communist countries 
     to address the complex and difficult question of the status 
     of plundered properties;
       (2) urges countries which have not already done so to 
     return plundered properties to their rightful owners or, as 
     an alternative, pay compensation, in accordance with 
     principles of justice and in a manner that is just, 
     transparent, and fair;
       (3) calls for the urgent return of property formerly 
     belonging to Jewish communities as a means of redressing the 
     particularly compelling problems of aging and destitute 
     survivors of the Holocaust;
       (4) calls on the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, 
     Romania, Slovakia and any other country with restrictions 
     which require those whose properties have been wrongly 
     plundered by Nazi or Communist regimes to reside in or have 
     the citizenship of the country from which they now seek 
     restitution or compensation to remove such restrictions from 
     their restitution or compensation laws;
       (5) calls upon foreign financial institutions, and the 
     states having legal authority over their operation, that 
     possess wrongfully and illegally property confiscated from 
     Holocaust victims, from residents of former Warsaw Pact 
     states who were forbidden by Communist law from obtaining 
     restitution of such property, and from states that were 
     occupied by Nazi, Fascist, or Communist forces, to assist and 
     to cooperate fully with efforts to restore this property to 
     its rightful owners; and
       (6) urges post-Communist countries to pass and effectively 
     implement laws that provide for restitution of, or 
     compensation for, plundered property.

 Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I submit a concurrent resolution 
which addresses a number of distinct, but closely related, property 
issues. It follows up on work already done by the Helsinki Commission, 
which held a hearing on this subject on July 18, 1996. This same 
concurrent resolution is being submitted today in the House by the 
Commission's distinguished Chairman, my good friend and colleague from 
New Jersey, Congressman Chris Smith. It is cosponsored by the majority 
of the Commission.
  The substance of this concurrent resolution has been discussed with 
the Administration and parallels and supports the work being done by 
Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Stuart E. 
Eizenstat, who also serves as the U.S. Department of State Special 
Envoy for Property Claims in Central and Eastern Europe.
  I strongly believe that there must be a full, complete and final 
accounting of the assets of Holocaust victims that have been wrongfully 
held by Swiss--and possibly other banks--for some five decades now. 
Those records must be opened, and the stolen assets returned to their 
rightful heirs. This concurrent resolution addresses that issue.
  It also addresses the compelling situation of Holocaust survivors in 
Central and Eastern Europe. Many of these people, unlike their 
counterparts in Western Europe, were denied the chance to receive any 
compensation for their suffering or to receive the return of properties 
stolen by the Nazis when the iron curtain closed, leaving them at the 
mercy of new dictatorships. This concurrent resolution recognizes the 
urgent need for Jewish communal properties to be restored to their 
rightful owners, to help give these survivors the means to live out 
their final days in dignity.
  Finally, this concurrent resolution speaks to the difficult and 
complex process underway in many post-Communist countries in Central 
and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Some countries have 
already taken steps to return property or provide compensation for 
property wrongly confiscated by Communist regimes. I commend those 
countries for their efforts.
  At the same time, I am deeply troubled that some restitution or 
compensation laws have discriminated against American citizens, people 
who lost both their property and their citizenship when they sought 
refuge in this country, fleeing Communist persecution. To exclude these 
people from efforts to right past wrongs pours salt on an open wound. I 
urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this concurrent resolution, 
and in sending a message that these injustices must be remedied before 
the passage of time carries the victims beyond our mortal abilities to 
offer them some recompense for their suffering.
  While restoration of property ownership or compensation for its 
wrongful confiscation can never right the terrible wrongs done to the 
victims by their Nazi, fascist, and communist oppressors, it can go 
some way toward balancing the scales. That is what this concurrent 
resolution is about and why it deserves our support.

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