[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 114 (Thursday, August 5, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10498-S10499]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 54--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT 
  THE AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU STATE MUSEUM IN POLAND SHOULD RELEASE SEVEN 
    PAINTINGS BY AUSCHWITZ SURVIVOR DINA BABBITT MADE WHILE SHE WAS 
  IMPRISONED THERE, AND THAT THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES AND 
  POLAND SHOULD FACILITATE THE RETURN OF DINA BABBIT'S ARTWORK TO HER

  Mrs. BOXER (for herself and Mr. Helms): submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 54

       Whereas Dina Babbitt (formerly known as Dinah Gottliebova), 
     a United States citizen now 76 years old, has requested the 
     return of watercolor portraits she painted while suffering a 
     year and a half long internment at the Auschwitz death camp;
       Whereas Dina Babbitt was ordered to paint the portraits by 
     the infamous war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele;
       Whereas Dina Babbitt's life, and her mother's life, were 
     spared only because she painted portraits of doomed inmates 
     of Auschwitz-Birkenau, under orders from Dr. Josef Mengele;
       Whereas Dina Babbitt is unquestionably the rightful owner 
     of the artwork, since it was produced by her own talented 
     hands as she survived the unspeakable conditions that 
     prevailed at the Auschwitz death camp;
       Whereas only 22 of the 3,800 Czech Jews scheduled for death 
     at Auschwitz in March of 1944 survived the Auschwitz ordeal, 
     and among those who were murdered were relatives of Dina 
     Babbitt;
       Whereas to continue to deny Dina Babbitt the property that 
     is rightfully hers adds to the pain and suffering she has 
     experienced because of the Auschwitz ordeal;
       Whereas the artwork is not available to public view at the 
     Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum and therefore this unique and 
     important body of work is essentially lost to history; and
       Whereas this continued injustice can be righted through 
     cooperation between agencies of the United States and Poland: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That the Congress--
       (1) recognizes the moral right of Dina Babbitt to obtain 
     the artwork she created, and recognizes her courage in the 
     face of the evils perpetrated by the Nazi command of the 
     Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, including the atrocities 
     committed by Dr. Josef Mengele;
       (2) urges the President to make all efforts necessary to 
     retrieve the seven watercolor portraits Dina Babbitt painted, 
     while suffering a year and a half long internment at the 
     Auschwitz death camp, and return them to her;

[[Page S10499]]

       (3) urges the State Department to make immediate diplomatic 
     efforts to facilitate the transfer of the seven original 
     watercolors painted by Dina Babbitt from the Auschwitz-
     Birkenau state museum to Dina Babbitt, the rightful owner;
       (4) urges the Government of Poland to immediately 
     facilitate the return of the artwork painted by Dina Babbitt 
     from the Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum to Dina Babbitt; and
       (5) urges the officials of the Auschwitz-Birkenau state 
     museum to transfer the seven original paintings to Dina 
     Babbitt as expeditiously as possible.

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