[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 29, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S802-S803]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-22. A resolution adopted by the Military Order of the 
     World Wars relative to the reevaluation of the national 
     military strategy; to the Committee on Armed Services.
       POM-23. A resolution adopted by the Military Order of the 
     World Wars relative to the flag; to the Committee on Armed 
     Services.
       POM-24. A resolution adopted by the Military Order of the 
     World Wars relative to terrorism; to the Committee on Armed 
     Services.
       POM-25. A resolution adopted by the Military Order of the 
     World Wars relative to the retention of nuclear deterrent 
     capabilities; to the Committee on Armed Services.
       POM-26. A resolution adopted by the Military Order of the 
     World Wars relative to national security; to the Committee on 
     Armed Services.
       POM-27. A resolution adopted by the Legislature of the 
     State of New Jersey; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

                           Resolution No. 126

       Whereas, During the horrific period when the Nazis ruled 
     Europe, many Jews in Germany and Eastern Europe saw 
     Switzerland as the only safe haven for their assets because 
     of Switzerland's neutrality and Switzerland's banking secrecy 
     laws; and
       Whereas, As a result of the Holocaust, many of the accounts 
     established in Swiss banks were dormant after the end of 
     World War II; and
       Whereas, In 1962 Switzerland set up a system in which any 
     money found in dormant accounts of which no claim had been 
     made for five years and thought to belong to Holocaust 
     victims was put into a special government account to be used 
     to support charitable organizations; and
       Whereas, The world has recently become aware of the 
     probable misuse of those funds to compensate Swiss citizens 
     for property expropriated by former communists regimes in 
     Eastern Europe; and
       Whereas, Every effort should be made to assure that 
     surviving family members of

[[Page S803]]

     Holocaust victims receive the money in dormant accounts that 
     is legitimately and properly theirs; and
       Whereas, In those instances in which no surviving members 
     come forward or can be located, the monies in those accounts 
     should be used to help Holocaust survivors throughout the 
     world who are indigent and in need of financial assistance; 
     and
       Whereas, The President of the United States and the 
     Congress of the United States should undertake all 
     appropriate actions to encourage the government of 
     Switzerland to establish a fund consisting of those unclaimed 
     monies and to make those monies available to Holocaust 
     survivors throughout the world who are indigent and in need 
     of financial assistance; now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New 
     Jersey:
       1. This House calls upon the President of the United States 
     and the Congress of the United States to undertake all 
     appropriate actions to encourage the government of 
     Switzerland to establish a fund consisting of the monies in 
     any unclaimed accounts in Swiss banks belonging to victims of 
     the Holocaust and to make those monies available to Holocaust 
     survivors throughout the world who are indigent and in need 
     of financial assistance.
       2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by 
     the Speaker of the General Assembly and attested by the Clerk 
     thereof, shall be transmitted to the President of the United 
     States, the Vice President of the United States, the Speaker 
     of the House of Representatives, the majority and minority 
     leaders of both Houses, and every member elected to the 
     Congress from this State.
                                                                    ____

       POM-28. A resolution adopted by the Metropolitan Nashville 
     Arts Commission of Nashville, Tennessee relative to the Joe 
     L. Evins Appalachian Center Crafts; to the Committee on Labor 
     and Human Resources.

                          ____________________