[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 83 (Thursday, June 14, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S6350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 49--URGING THE RETURN OF PORTRAITS PAINTED 
BY DINA BABBITT DURING HER INTERNMENT AT AUSCHWITZ THAT ARE NOW IN THE 
           POSSESSION OF THE AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU STATE MUSEUM.

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

                            S. Con. Res. 49

       Whereas Dina Babbitt (formerly known as Dinah Gottliebova), 
     a United States citizen now in her late 70's, has requested 
     the return of watercolor portraits she painted while 
     suffering a 1\1/2\-year-long internment at the Auschwitz 
     death camp during World War II;
       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 these paintings are currently in the possession of 
     the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum;
       Whereas Dina Babbitt is unquestionably the rightful owner 
     of the artwork, since the paintings were produced by her own 
     talented hands as she endured the unspeakable conditions that 
     existed at the Auschwitz death camp;
       Whereas the artwork is not available for the public to 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 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 7 watercolor portraits Dina Babbitt painted, 
     while suffering a 1\1/2\-year-long internment at the 
     Auschwitz death camp, and return them to her;
       (3) urges the Secretary of State to make immediate 
     diplomatic efforts to facilitate the transfer of the 7 
     original watercolors painted by Dina Babbitt from the 
     Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum to Dina Babbitt, their 
     rightful owner;
       (4) urges the Government of Poland to immediately 
     facilitate the return to Dina Babbitt of the artwork painted 
     by her that is now in the possession of the Auschwitz-
     Birkenau State Museum; and
       (5) urges the officials of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State 
     Museum to transfer the 7 original paintings to Dina Babbitt 
     as expeditiously as possible.

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I rise today to submit a resolution 
regarding the artwork of a woman named Dina Babbitt. Mrs. Babbitt, who 
was born Dinah Gottliebova, was an inmate at Auschwitz during the 
Holocaust. During her internment, she was forced by the notorious Dr. 
Joseph Mengele to paint pictures of doomed inmates. Because of her 
paintings, Ms. Babbitt and her mother were two of only 22 inmates who 
survived their internment at Auschwitz.
  Seven of the paintings were found at Auschwitz after the camp was 
liberated and were sold to the Polish State Museum in Osweicim. The 
museum contacted Mrs. Babbitt in 1973 to inform her that they had the 
pieces, but refused to relinquish them to her. She has been fighting 
with the museum since then to get her paintings back.
  Mrs. Babbitt has a simple motivation for retrieving her paintings. 
The people in the portraits became her friends, and they perished in 
the gas chambers. The paintings are the only reminder she has of them 
and the internment camp, as she has said, ``everything else was taken 
from me.''
  Mrs. Babbitt, who now resides in the United States, is in her late 
70s. She has fought for too long to have these paintings returned. 
There is no doubt that she painted these works and has a moral right to 
have them in her possession. This resolution urges the President and 
the Secretary of State to work with the Polish government and the 
Auschwitz-Birkenau museum to see that the seven watercolors in question 
are returned to their rightful owner.
  I hope that my colleagues will support his resolution.

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