[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 13, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E535]]
    URGING REMAINING EUROPEAN NATIONS TO EXPEDITE OPENING ACCESS TO 
                           HOLOCAUST ARCHIVES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 13, 2007

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce a 
resolution urging the remaining member countries of the International 
Commission of the International Tracing Service (ITS) to expedite 
opening access to the Holocaust archives located in Bad Arolsen, 
Germany.
  On March 8, 2007, a most important diplomatic meeting concluded in 
the Hague. Nine out of the 11 International Commission of the ITS 
member countries, which includes the United States, Belgium, France, 
Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, 
and the United Kingdom, met to discuss opening up the world's largest 
Holocaust era archives.
  Incredulously, 62 years after the end of the Second World War, the 
Holocaust archives located in Bad Arolsen remain the largest closed 
Second World War-era archives in the world. Inside the archives are 50 
million records that disclose the fate of some 17.5 million individual 
victims of Nazism.
  These records are some of the last remains that the Allied forces 
seized when they liberated the death camps in 1945. Years later, 
documents were given to the Red Cross for the purpose of tracing 
missing people and later for validating compensation claims by victims 
or their relatives. Over the past 60 years, the ITS has handled more 
than 11 million inquiries.
  In order to allow for open access to these important archives, each 
of the 11 members of the International Commission of the ITS must 
individually ratify through their respective parliaments the May 2006 
amendments to the 1955 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.
  Slight progress has been made since last May after the Commission 
recently amended the Bonn Accords. The Bonn Accords were amended to 
allow researchers to use the archives while granting each Commission 
member a digitized copy of the archives and make them available to 
researchers under their own country's respective archival and privacy 
laws and practices. Unfortunately, these measures have not gone into 
practice because not all of the member countries of the ITS have 
ratified the amendments.
  I support the progress made thus far by the ITS and all Commission 
member countries. Just last week, technical specialists reviewed plans 
for preparing the documents for electronic transfer and drafted 
recommendations to be reviewed by the commission in advance of the May 
2007 ITS meeting. In fact, many of the Commission's member countries 
have taken significant steps since last May's meeting in order to 
expedite the process of ratification and allow for the digitization of 
the archived materials.
  However, the facts remain the same. Generations after the Holocaust, 
7 member countries of the International Commission have still yet to 
ratify these amendments. To date, only 4 out of the 11 Commission 
member countries; the United States, Israel, Poland and the Netherlands 
have ratified the treaty. Unfortunately, many Holocaust survivors may 
be long dead before each country's parliament ratifies the amendments.
  I ask: why has it taken over 60 years to allow for open access to 
these Holocaust records? There is no reason European governments should 
not give this issue the utmost elevated attention, as this issue should 
be made a top priority in their respective parliaments.
  For the many years after the War's aftermath, the survivors and their 
families who requested information have faced cumbersome delays and 
occasional unresponsiveness from the ITS. As a result of the harrowing 
experience, many survivors had in past dealings with the ITS, many 
survivors now lack confidence that new inquiries will be answered. 
Although access to individual records may be requested by Holocaust 
survivors and their families, the millions of extensive records remain 
inaccessible to researchers. Furthermore, it will likely still take 
years before the implementation of the distribution of the digitized 
archival materials.
  Those responsible for the progress made at the meeting in the Hague 
should be widely commended. The advancements made recently are largely 
due in part to the United States Holocaust Museum and the United States 
State Department. I am grateful for their diplomatic efforts which have 
proved so fruitful at the last meeting.
  But much work still remains undone. 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.
  The short time left for the remaining Holocaust survivors does not 
afford us time to delay any longer.
  As the few remaining survivors pass away, they are being 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 family and their loved ones without hassle or 
delay.
  In passing this legislation, Congress can put itself on record 
saying, ``Enough is enough.'' I urge my colleagues to support this 
resolution and ask for its expeditious consideration.

                          ____________________