[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 10, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4312-S4313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 142--OBSERVING YOM HASHOAH, HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY, 
  AND CALLING ON THE REMAINING MEMBER COUNTRIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL 
COMMISSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRACING SERVICE TO RATIFY THE MAY 2006 
AMENDMENTS TO THE 1955 BONN ACCORDS IMMEDIATELY TO ALLOW OPEN ACCESS TO 
                        THE BAD AROLSEN ARCHIVES

  Mr. BIDEN (for himself, Mr. Warner, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Levin, Mr. Kohl, 
Mr. Kerry, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Casey, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. 
Klobuchar, Mr. Baucus, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Obama, and Mr. Wyden) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 142

       Whereas April 15, 2007, marks the international observance 
     of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, a day to remember and 
     mourn the millions who died during the Holocaust of World War 
     II;
       Whereas thousands of Holocaust survivors, historians, and 
     researchers are being denied access to files, located at Bad 
     Arolsen, Germany, that tell the story of unspeakable crimes 
     committed by the Nazis;
       Whereas the Bad Arolsen archives contain 30,000,000 to 
     50,000,000 pages of documents that record the individual 
     fates of over 17,000,000 victims of Nazi persecution;
       Whereas the Bad Arolsen archives are administered by the 
     International Tracing Service, which in turn is supervised by 
     an international commission composed of 11 member countries 
     established by the Agreement Constituting an International 
     Commission for the International Tracing Service, signed at 
     Bonn June 6, 1955 (6 UST 6186) (commonly known as the ``Bonn 
     Accords'');
       Whereas the member countries of the International 
     Commission are the United States, Israel, Belgium, France, 
     Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, 
     and the United Kingdom;
       Whereas, in May 2006, after years of delay, the member 
     countries of the International Commission commendably agreed 
     to amend the Bonn Accords to make the Bad Arolsen archives 
     public for the first time and agreed to place digitized 
     copies of the documents in the archives at Holocaust research 
     centers in other countries, including the United States 
     Holocaust Memorial Museum;
       Whereas the May 2006 amendments will become effective only 
     after each of the 11 member countries completes the 
     ratification process;
       Whereas the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, 
     Poland, and the Netherlands have completed the ratification 
     process; and
       Whereas opening the Bad Arolsen archives is an urgent 
     matter: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) joins people around the world in observing Yom Hashoah, 
     Holocaust Memorial Day, and mourning the millions who were 
     lost during the Holocaust;
       (2) commends the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, 
     Poland, and the Netherlands, as the member countries of the 
     International Commission of the International Tracing Service 
     that have completed the ratification of the May 2006 
     amendments to the Agreement Constituting an International 
     Commission for the International Tracing Service, signed at 
     Bonn June 6, 1955 (6 UST 6186) (commonly known as the ``Bonn 
     Accords'');
       (3) calls on Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and 
     Luxembourg, the member countries of the International 
     Commission that have not yet ratified the May 2006 amendments 
     to the Bonn Accords, to do so immediately;
       (4) calls on the International Commission to approve the 
     immediate distribution of copies of the documents from the 
     Bad Arolsen archives that have already been digitized when 
     the International Commission meets in Amsterdam in May 2007; 
     and
       (5) respectfully requests the Secretary of the Senate to 
     transmit copies of this resolution to the Secretary of State 
     and to the ambassadors representing each of the member 
     countries of the International Commission in the United 
     States.

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, this Sunday communities across the globe 
will mark Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. As we mourn the millions 
who were lost at the hands of the Nazis, how can anyone justify denying 
victims and historians access to files documenting the Nazis' atrocious 
acts?
  Yet, that is exactly what is happening. Last December, I wrote to the 
ambassadors of nine countries about an issue of utmost importance--the 
opening of the Bad Arolsen Holocaust archives.
  Unfortunately, the response from many of these countries has been 
disappointing. Thousands of Holocaust survivors, historians, and 
researchers are still being denied access to files that tell the story 
of unspeakable crimes committed by the Nazis. Many of the files are 
about the survivors themselves; still, they cannot view them.
  The story of how this unacceptable state of events came about goes 
back 60 years. After the Allies won the Second World War, they took 
possession of millions of files and documents, penned by the Nazis 
themselves, which chronicled every aspect of their horrific Final 
Solution. To maintain this catalogue of atrocities, the Allies 
established an archive called the International Tracing Service, in the 
town of Bad Arolsen, Germany. Today, Bad Arolsen contains some 30 to 50 
million pages that record the individual fates of over 17 million 
victims of Nazi persecution.
  The Tracing Service was established to unify families and help 
survivors learn the ultimate fate of their lost loved ones. Yet, access 
to the records remains severely limited and very few survivors have 
ever been allowed direct, much less prompt access. The justification 
for this delay was supposedly privacy concerns, logistical problems 
associated with making the records widely accessible, and fears of new 
legal claims. None of these can justify the tragic result--thousands of 
elderly survivors have passed away in recent years, never knowing what 
happened to their families, even though the answer may be sitting on a 
shelf in Germany. This is simply tragic.
  Eleven countries serve on the International Commission that 
supervises the Tracing Service. Last May, after years of delay, they 
commendably agreed to make these archives public for the first time. 
They also agreed to place digitized copies at Holocaust research 
centers in other countries, but only after each of the 11 countries--
the United States, Israel, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, 
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom--completed 
their own ratification procedure. In light of the advanced age of the 
remaining survivors, all committed to make ratification an urgent 
priority, with the goal of concluding the process by the end of 2006.
  But as of December, when I wrote my letters, only the United States 
and Israel had ratified the agreement. Since then, the United Kingdom, 
Poland, and the Netherlands have joined the United States and Israel in 
completing ratification. However, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, 
Italy and Luxembourg have not done so.
  Today, I am submitting a Senate Resolution calling on the Senate to 
join people around the world in observing Yom Hashoah, Holocaust 
Memorial Day, commending the countries that have completed ratification 
of the agreement to make the Bad Arolsen archives public, calling on 
those countries yet to complete ratification to do so immediately, and 
calling on the International Commission to approve immediate 
distribution of electronic copies of the documents from Bad Arolsen to 
research centers around the world, including the United States 
Holocaust Memorial Museum, so that survivors will be able to document 
their experience, and learn the fates of their lost loved ones.
  Last fall, the Government of Iran hosted a conference; its absurd and 
outrageous premise was that the Holocaust did not occur. At a time when 
dangerously deluded efforts to deny the Holocaust are on the rise, how 
can we keep the Nazis' own records from proving their horrors to the 
world? And how can we deny the Nazis' victims--who have suffered enough 
for a thousand lifetimes--the truth they so clearly deserve?
  Yom Hashoah reminds us of one of the greatest evils that has ever 
befallen the human race, and it mourns the millions who were lost as a 
result of that evil. The countries of the International Commission have 
an opportunity to do a little good by shedding light on that evil. That 
is the best way they could observe Yom Hashoah this year.

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