[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 136 (Wednesday, December 27, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2255-E2257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 STATEMENT VOICING CONCERN OVER THE DELAY OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRACING 
     SERVICE (ITS) IN RELEASING THE BAD AROLSEN HOLOCAUST ARCHIVES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 27, 2006

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today deeply concerned 
about the consistent delay of the commission members of the 
International Tracing Service (ITS) to permit Holocaust survivors and 
their families access to the millions of Holocaust records located at 
Bad Arolsen, Germany.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge the nations who have yet to approve the 
recently agreed upon amendments to the Bonn Accords regarding these 
archives to give this issue the utmost elevated attention and to be 
made a top priority in their respective Parliaments.
  The ITS Commission, comprised of the United States, Belgium, France, 
Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, 
and the United Kingdom, currently possesses nearly 50 million records 
documenting Holocaust victims and survivors experiences pre-World War 
II and during the Holocaust. The records are used to substantiate 
benefit claims by Holocaust survivors and their heirs and operate under 
the 1955 agreements, the Bonn Accords.
  For the past decade, Holocaust researchers and most survivors have 
sought and failed to access the Bad Arolsen archive, because the ITS 
Commission believed it would violate the privacy of the survivors and 
their families.
  Following years of delay, in May 2006, the Commission adopted 
amendments to the Bonn Accords permitting each Commission member to 
make the archives public and to receive a digitized copy of the Bad 
Arolsen archive, which they would be able to make available to 
researchers under their own country's respective privacy laws.
  Unfortunately, 9 out of the 11 ITS Commission member nations have yet 
to ratify the amendments. With the express acknowledgement of the 
variance in each country's internal procedures, and the utmost respect 
for the letter of international law, I strongly 
encourage parliamentarians from other members of the ITS Commission to 
ratify the ITS amendments promptly so that the Bad Arolsen archives can 
be opened at the earliest possible date.

  This ongoing delay is a further example of how the Holocaust 
survivors, who have been part of such unimaginable, horrendous 
genocide, and the greatest crime against humanity, are perpetually 
forced to endure severe obstacles and difficulties. Now, the few 
Holocaust survivors who are here with us today remain tormented by the 
unknown.
  In the Holocaust's aftermath, there have been far too many 
demonstrations of survivors and heirs of Holocaust victims who have 
been

[[Page E2256]]

refused their moral and legal right to information, restitution of 
assets, or compensation for slave labor from the entities that profited 
during the Holocaust.
  As the few remaining survivors pass away, many still pass away 
deprived of information concerning their loved ones and the assets that 
were rightfully theirs. Let us not continue to waste the precious time 
left for the remaining survivors. After all of the horrific acts to 
which they have been subjected, they are completely justified in 
uncovering the truth about their families and their loved ones without 
hassle or delay.
  This issue is of particular importance to me, given the fact that 
South Florida is home to the second largest concentration of Holocaust 
survivors in the United States, and the third largest in the world 
outside of Israel.
  Furthermore, as the President Emeritus of the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly in Europe (OSCE), I am 
committed to the issue of fair and just treatment of Holocaust 
survivors, and remain dedicated to the prevention of all bigotry, 
especially anti-Semitism.
  Let us not forget that anti-Semitism has not diminished; if anything 
we have seen a resurgence in recent years. The threat or occurrence of 
anti-Semitism is still very real to many Jews in the United States and 
across the world.
  Only last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad held the second 
Holocaust denial conference in one year in Tehran; the latest in a 
series of abominable threatening and anti-Semitic, Holocaust denial 
statements and actions he has taken since he rose to power.
  While extremist radicals may continue to spew such hatred and 
intolerance, I find it embarrassing that others who know better can 
turn their backs on the remaining Holocaust survivors or on the memory 
of those who perished in such a tragedy.
  I can think of no better way to commemorate the 6 million murdered in 
the Holocaust, than for each and every international community member 
to seriously commit to monitor and combat anti-Semitic acts and promote 
Holocaust remembrance and education.
  While tolerance takes time to teach, it is not too late for 
international member nations of the ITS Commission to assist the 
remaining Holocaust survivors and grant them direct access to the Bad 
Arolsen archives as soon as possible.
  Mr. Speaker, we should never forget the horrific crimes of murder and 
destruction committed by the Nazis; and we must commit ourselves to 
ensuring that future generations shall never be forced to endure the 
suffering, humiliation, and ultimate death experienced by the victims 
of the Holocaust.
                                              Holocaust Survivors'


                                              Foundation--USA,

                                     Miami, FL, December 18, 2006.
     Congressman Alcee Hastings,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Congressman Hastings: We are Holocaust survivors, and 
     elected leaders of grass roots survivor organizations with 
     thousands of members in 15 states. As individual claimants 
     and class members, we have witnessed the failed enterprise 
     known as ``Holocaust asset restitution'' as it has proceeded 
     over the last decade, in litigation over and negotiations 
     over thefts and human exploitation by European manufacturers, 
     banks, insurance companies, railroads, and governments. 
     Sunday's important story in the Associated Press about the 
     monumental documentation of Nazi crimes at the Bad Arolsen 
     archive highlights the absurdity of the process survivors 
     have been forced to endure over this past decade.
       One would have thought that Holocaust survivors, at the end 
     of our lives, would have been treated with the utmost respect 
     and dignity. In reality, however, much of what has passed for 
     ``restitution'' has been the opposite of what we would have 
     expected, with catastrophic results. Instead, the process has 
     been driven by institutional and organizational imperatives, 
     instead of by the rights, interests, and priorities of the 
     survivors. Too often; these forays have yielded incomplete 
     information disclosure and absurdly low financial 
     compensation. Instead of being principals, we the survivors 
     have been treated as pawns. Instead of receiving dignity and 
     respect, we have received lip service and been patronized by 
     organizations, judges, executive branch officials, and 
     members of Congress.
       Another hallmark of restitution, up until now, has been the 
     imperative to give European business and governmental 
     miscreants ``legal peace'' while calling for arbitrarily set 
     financial settlements to be doled out by institutions that 
     are self-interested or worse in their motives and practices. 
     For example, when the institutions and lawyers we didn't 
     selected ``settled'' with German industry, they agreed to 
     limit insurance claims against German industry to a 
     ridiculously low, arbitrary sum, without ever conducting an 
     audit of the amount of insurance theft by German insurers and 
     reinsurers. Now, it has been reported that class action 
     lawyers want to forgive Italian insurance giant Generali 
     without ever requiring full disclosure and disgorgement, 
     despite recent evidence that the company stole billions and 
     used the same punch card technology to manage its business 
     used by the Nazis in the Final Solution.
       The media and Congress have ignored the fact that in almost 
     every instance, survivors have been denied access to the 
     necessary information required to mount full and effective 
     disgorgement of the ill-gotten gains of the European 
     plunderers. They have ignored the rush to judgment by 
     representatives we didn't select to close the books on 
     restitution. Now, with 16 miles of previously suppressed 
     documents from the Nazi period being made public, isn't it 
     time to halt the rush to judgment, the rush for ``closure,'' 
     and require the full, transparent accounting that we 
     survivors are morally and legally entitled to move forward 
     without any further impediments? We call on all institutions 
     of good faith, in government, in the media, and in the 
     institutional world, to support us in our morally justified 
     demand for transparence and justice.
       Israel Arbeiter, Boston, MA.
       Nesse Godin, Washington, DC.
       David Mermelstein, Miami, FL.
       Alex Moskovic, Palm Beach, FL.
       Leo Rechter, Flushing, NY.
       David Schaecter, Miami, FL.
       Henry and Anita Schuster, Las Vegas, NV.
       Fred Taucher, Seattle, WA.
       Lea Weems, Houston, TX.
       Esther Widman, Brooklyn, NY.
                                                     Greater Miami


                                            Jewish Federation,

                                     Miami, FL, December 11, 2006.
     Hon. Alcee Hastings,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Congressman Hastings: On November 25, Arthur Max, 
     Chief of the Amsterdam Bureau of the Associated Press, 
     published an astonishing report about the massive and 
     previously closed collection of information from the Nazi 
     death camps under the jurisdiction of the International Red 
     Cross and now located at Bad Arolsen, Germany. The scope of 
     the records reported by Mr. Max is breathtaking, as are the 
     moral and policy implications of the revelation.
       South Florida is the home to the second largest 
     concentration of Holocaust survivors in the United States, 
     and the third largest in the world outside of Israel. 
     According to Mr. Max's report, survivors and their families 
     have been unjustly denied access to many of the records at 
     Bad Arolsen regarding their own experiences in the camps, or 
     those of their family members. We are mandated by history and 
     morality to remember that this greatest crime against 
     humanity was in fact millions of crimes against millions of 
     human beings, all of whom have the absolute right to receive 
     all of the unvarnished truth about their fate and the fate of 
     their loved ones they wish to learn about today.
       We are also painfully aware that far too many examples 
     exist of survivors and heirs of Holocaust victims who have 
     attempted to obtain morally and legally justified restitution 
     of assets, or compensation for horrific slave labor from the 
     entities that profited from the Holocaust, only to be met 
     with rejections, and then, as added insult, to be denied 
     access to the available sources of information they are told 
     justify these rejections.
       In addition, there is now abundant evidence that tens of 
     thousands of destitute survivors live in our midst, in the 
     United States and Canada, in Israel, in the Former Soviet 
     Union, in Europe and Australia, and in Latin America, and 
     that government, and community--and restitution-based 
     resources are inadequate to meet their basic human needs. In 
     the United States alone, there are over 45,000 Holocaust 
     survivors living near or below the federal poverty level, and 
     who cannot afford adequate nutrition, housing, home care, 
     medications, or simple and necessary devices such as 
     dentures, eyeglasses, or hearing aids. This is unthinkable 
     in the year 2006, but it is true. As the following chart 
     attests, these numbers are staggering, and widespread 
     around the world.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Survivors
                                                                living
                                                  Survivor     below or
                                                 population      near
                                                               poverty
                                                                 line
------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States.................................      175,000       87,500
Israel........................................      393,000      137,300
Former Soviet Union...........................      146,000     126,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources: Sheskin, Estimates of the Number of Nazi Victims and Their
  Economic Status, January 2004; Brodsky and DellaPergola, Health
  Problems and Socioeconomic Neediness Among Jewish Shoah Survivors in
  Israel, April 2005; American Joint Distribution Committee,
  Presentation on the Condition and Needs of Jewish Nazi Victims in the
  Former Soviet Union. January 2004.

       We would hope that a thorough accounting of the real thefts 
     suffered by the families of the Holocaust would not only 
     allow for proper and overdue restitution to individuals, but 
     would be a step toward creating sufficient financial 
     resources to provide a dignified level of human existence for 
     every survivor in the world who needs or requests relief.
       As leaders of our general and Jewish communities, locally 
     and nationally and even internationally, the Federation Board 
     believes that our generation owes the survivors the dignity 
     of justice in their final years.
       In light of these compelling facts, we call upon Congress 
     to take all steps necessary to guarantee immediate access to 
     the Bad Arolsen archive by a qualified group of researchers 
     in order to create a comprehensive and accessible database of 
     information for all affected families without any further 
     delay. As a starting point, we urge you to bring together the 
     responsible U.S. and Red Cross officials to determine the 
     scope of the task and identify the personnel and resources to 
     make this information accessible as soon as humanly possible, 
     beginning immediately. If necessary, we are asking that

[[Page E2257]]

     Congress enact legislation, with funding if necessary, for 
     the immediate completion of these tasks.
       In addition, we ask the United States Congress to explore 
     and encourage any and all methods, including on an emergency 
     basis, legislation, to provide all survivors and heirs a full 
     opportunity to access the Bad Arolsen materials and to 
     utilize said materials in support of their claims without 
     regard to any previous denials or deadlines.
       We look forward to working with you to complete this 
     historically and morally necessary task with the utmost 
     speed. You will find enclosed two relevant articles 
     pertaining to this letter. Please contact either one of us if 
     you have any questions or concerns or wish to discuss in more 
     detail.
           Sincerely,
     Saby Behar,
       President.
     Jacob Solomon,
       Executive Vice President.