[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 24, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E612-E613]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HOLOCAUST DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LOUISE M. SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 24, 2001

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, this past week we observed the Holocaust 
Days of Remembrance and our nation's annual commemoration in the 
Capitol Rotunda of the victims of the Holocaust. This year marks the 
60th anniversary of the beginning of the genocide of the European Jews.
  This year's theme, ``Remembering the Past for the Sake of the 
Future,'' is part of a vow that we have taken never to forget the 
Holocaust, lest history repeat itself. This message must resonate 
through the years. Our children and our children's children must learn 
of the Holocaust to ensure that it will never happen again.
  We must also not forget that Holocaust survivors continue to wait for 
the reparations they deserve for the physical pain and mental suffering 
they endured so many years ago. Time is running out for Germany to 
provide a measure of justice to the survivors of the Holocaust, most of 
whom are now in their 70's or 80's.
  I have stood with Holocaust survivors in the Capitol Rotunda filled 
with the saddest and most tragic of memories from their lives, lives 
like that of my constituent, Mr. Alec Mutz. Two years ago, I was 
privileged to light a memorial candle with Mr. Mutz, who survived three 
ghettos and five concentration camps. Mr. Mutz is just one of an 
estimated 50,000 Jewish survivors in North America who were Nazi-era 
slave laborers.
  During the last Congress, I introduced H.R. 271, the Justice for 
Holocaust Survivors Act, a bill to allow survivors like Mr. Mutz to 
pursue just reparations from Germany for the unspeakable suffering they 
endured during the Holocaust. H.R. 271, which garnered the support of 
96 bipartisan co-sponsors, would have enabled Holocaust survivors who 
have been denied reparations by the German government to sue the German 
government in United States federal courts to claim restitution.
  On March 30, 2000, I was informed by the Administration that the 
German government had agreed to double its compensation package to the 
victims of slave labor camps from 5 billion to 10 billion Deutsche 
marks (DM), or the equivalent of 5 billion U.S. dollars. I was also 
informed that H.R. 271 served as a catalyst in the talks between the 
U.S. and Germany to reach a compensation agreement.
  On July 17, 2000, the United States and Germany signed an agreement 
to establish a German Foundation, ``Remembrance, Responsibility, and 
the Future,'' to be the exclusive forum for the resolution of all 
Holocaust-era personal injury, property loss, and damage claims against 
German banks, insurers, and

[[Page E613]]

companies. In return, the U.S. government promised that the Department 
of Justice would urge the courts to reject all existing and future 
lawsuits against German companies
  However, nine months after the agreement, not one Deutsche mark has 
been paid to the victims and last month, a federal judge in New York 
refused to dismiss a batch of lawsuits, questioning whether the money 
would be there to pay the claims. That is why in the coming weeks I 
plan to introduce legislation to increase oversight of the Foundation, 
interpret the U.S.-German Agreement more clearly, and expand 
communication between the Administration and Congress about the status 
of the Foundation.
  Mr. Speaker, as we act to remember the Holocaust with the 
commemoration of the Days of Remembrance, let us also act to give these 
courageous survivors a beacon of hope for the Just resolution of the 
wrongs that they have suffered. I urge my colleagues to take notice of 
the current failure of the U.S.-German Agreement and join me in calling 
for a resolution to the problems with the claims process before it is 
too late to grant justice to our aging Holocaust survivors.

                                 Executive Office of the President


                               Office of Management and Budget

                                   Washington, DC, April 24, 2001.

                   Statement of Administration Policy


            H.R. 503--Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2001

       The Administration supports protection for unborn children 
     and therefore supports House passage of H.R. 503. The 
     legislation would make it a separate Federal offense to cause 
     death or bodily injury to a child, who is in utero, in the 
     course of committing any one of 68 Federal offenses. The bill 
     also would make substantially identical amendments to the 
     Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Administration would 
     strongly oppose any amendment to H.R. 503, such as a so-
     called ``One-Victim'' Substitute, which would define the 
     bill's crimes as having only one victim--the pregnant woman.

     

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