[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 77 (Monday, May 12, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4030-S4031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. SMITH (for himself, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mrs. Boxer, Mr.
Cardin, Mr. Specter, and Mr. Coleman):
S. 3007. A bill to hold the surviving Nazi war criminals accountable
for the war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity they
committed during World War II, by encouraging foreign governments to
more efficiently prosecute and extradite wanted criminals; to the
Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation with
Senator Nelson of Florida in support of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's
``Operation: Last Chance,'' a final effort to bring the remaining Nazi
war criminals to justice.
The atrocities committed by Nazis and their allies were vast,
redefining the modern conception of crimes against humanity. In the
Nuremburg trials and other courts, many Nazis faced accountability for
their atrocities committed under the shroud of World War II.
Unfortunately, some of the most guilty perpetrators of these acts
escaped justice, when they fled to South America, Eastern Europe, or
simply faded into postwar anonymity.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which is committed to raising awareness
of the Holocaust, is determined not to let the remaining perpetrators
escape justice. In 2002, the center initiated ``Operation: Last
Chance,'' which sought to capitalize on the opening of the Soviet
archives to identify the remaining Nazi war criminals. However, time is
running short, and several of the most wanted Nazis remain at large.
We are thus introducing a bill to support the center's efforts. This
legislation would require that the President report on foreign
cooperation in prosecuting, extraditing, and receiving extradition of
wanted Nazis. It would also indicate that the United States should take
such cooperation into account when considering target countries for
admission into or renewal of the Visa Waiver Program.
For too many victims of the Holocaust, the crimes committed by the
Nazis and their allies over 60 years ago have not been adequately
redressed. Too many countries are ambiguous about helping in the search
for the remaining Nazi fugitives, and so little time remains. I thus
hope that this bill can help the Simon Wiesenthal Center in its pursuit
of justice, and in doing so, finally lay to rest some of the terrible
ghosts of the twentieth century.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 3007
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``World War II War Crimes
Accountability Act of 2008''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Surviving Nazi war criminals are becoming increasingly
rare.
(2) The identities of many of the remaining criminals were
made known only after the end of the Cold War and the
collapse of Communist governments throughout eastern Europe.
(3) In most of these formerly communist countries, the
volume of available information is enormous, and the
available resources to study it and identify war crimes
suspects is comparatively small.
(4) In the United States, the Office of Special
Investigations (OSI) of the Department of Justice is
responsible for detecting, investigating and taking legal
action to denaturalize or deport persons who took part in
Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution committed abroad between
1933 and 1945.
(5) As of April 2008, OSI had successfully prosecuted more
than 100 people involved in Nazi war crimes who were residing
in the United States.
(6) As a government office with limited resources, OSI is
under enormous strain to
[[Page S4031]]
identify and prosecute those criminals identified by newly-
released records before it is too late.
(7) Some foreign governments hinder the efforts of OSI,
Congress, and the United States government to extradite or
deport convicted Nazi war criminals from the United States to
their country of origin or other relevant jurisdiction.
(8) Certain nongovernmental organizations have been
instrumental in the search for wanted Nazi war crimes
suspects for over 60 years.
(9) In 2002, the Simon Wiesenthal Center launched
Operation: Last Chance to maximize the identification and
help facilitate the prosecution of the remaining unprosecuted
Nazi war criminals, helping to achieve justice for the
victims of the Holocaust.
(10) Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of the Nazi death camps
whose work stands as a reminder and a warning for future
generations, dedicated his life to--
(A) documenting the crimes of the Holocaust; and
(B) hunting down the perpetrators still at large.
(11) As founder and head of the Jewish Documentation Center
in Vienna, Simon Wiesenthal successfully brought to justice
wanted Nazi war criminals, including--
(A) Franz Stangl, the commandant of the Treblinka death
camp;
(B) Franz Murer, ``The Butcher of Wilno''; and
(C) Erich Rajakowitsch, who was in charge of the ``death
transports'' in Holland.
(12) Mr. Wiesenthal's work, which contributed enormously to
the modern understanding of justice, war crimes, and crimes
against humanity, should be continued.
(13) Of the most guilty Nazis and Nazi collaborators still
at large, Operation: Last Chance has identified the following
suspects:
(A) Dr. Aribert Heim, who served as a medical doctor at the
Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, and Mauthausen concentration
camps, is the most wanted ex-Nazi still at large. His most
terrible crimes were committed at Mauthausen, where he
murdered hundreds of inmates by administering lethal
injections of phenol to their hearts or by other torturous
killing methods during the fall of 1941. His whereabouts are
unknown.
(B) Dr. Sandor Kepiro, who served as an officer in the
Hungarian gendarmerie, was 1 of several Hungarian officers
convicted in 1944 for the mass murder of several thousand
civilians (mostly Jews) in the city of Novi Sad on January
23, 1942. In the wake of the occupation of Hungary in March
1944, he was pardoned, promoted, and returned to active
service. He escaped to Austria in 1945, fled to Argentina in
1948, and returned to Hungary in 1996.
(C) Milivoj Asner, who served as the police chief of the
city of Slavonska Pozega. During 1941 and 1942, Mr. Asner
orchestrated the robbery, persecution and destruction of the
local Serb, Jewish and Gypsy communities, which culminated in
the deportation of hundreds of civilians to Ustasha
concentration camps, where most of the deportees were
murdered. After his exposure in Operation: Last Chance, the
former police chief later escaped once again to Klagenfurt,
Austria where he currently resides.
(D) Charles Zentai is accused of murdering 18-year-old
Peter Balazs, a Jewish boy he caught riding a Budapest tram
without the requisite yellow star on November 8, 1944. After
Hungarian requests for his extradition went unanswered,
Zentai was able to immigrate to Australia in February 1950,
where he currently lives.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF THE SENATE.
It is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the United States should actively encourage extradition
and prosecution of the remaining Nazi war criminals (as
described by 8 U.S.C. 1182 (a)(3)(e));
(2) the Simon Wiesenthal Center should be commended for its
historic work in bringing to light the atrocities of the
Holocaust and in advancing justice for Nazi war criminals
through Operation: Last Chance; and
(3) the Office of Special Investigation of the Department
of Justice is advancing the declared foreign policy of the
United States by bringing wanted World War II criminals to
justice and should be commended for its actions.
SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF VISA WAIVER PROGRAM COUNTRIES.
(a) Cooperation.--After a country is initially designated
as a visa waiver program country under section 217(c) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)), the
Attorney General, in evaluating the effect that such
designation would have on the law enforcement and security
interests of the United States under paragraph (2)(C) of such
section, shall consider the extent to which such country is
cooperating in--
(1) extraditing or prosecuting wanted or indicted Nazi war
criminals to the relevant jurisdiction; and
(2) admitting into their territory aliens described in
section 212(a)(3)(E)(i) and ordered removed from the United
States by a United States immigration judge, the Board of
Immigration Appeals, or a Federal court .
(b) Presidential Discretion.--
(1) In general.--If the President determines that it would
not be in the national interest of the United States to
terminate a country's designation as a visa waiver program
country based on the evaluation under subsection (a), the
President may decline to terminate such designation after
providing advance written notification to--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
(C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives; and
(D) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives.
(2) Contents.--In providing notification under paragraph
(1), the President shall--
(A) identify each crime suspect described in subsection
(a)(2) whose admission has not been effected; and
(B) submit copies of all decisions rendered by United
States immigration judges, the Board of Immigration Appeals,
and Federal courts that relate to such crime suspects.
SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT.
In each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2013, the
President shall submit an annual report to the committees
listed in section 4(b)(1), which describes, for each country
that has a pending application for entry into or renewal of
the visa waiver program, whether such country is--
(1) cooperating satisfactorily in extraditing or deporting
wanted Nazi war crimes suspects to the jurisdiction in which
they have been indicted or convicted;
(2) prosecuting wanted Nazi war crimes suspects effectively
within such country's jurisdiction; and
(3) cooperating satisfactorily in admitting to the
territory of such country aliens described in section
212(a)(3)(E)(i) and ordered removed from the United States
territory by a United States immigration judge, the Board of
Immigration Appeals, or a Federal court.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon and I are
introducing the World War II Accountability Act, which seeks to compel
foreign governments harboring Nazi war criminals to prosecute and
extradite those individuals. It is a sad truth that more than 60 years
after World War II some countries continue to provide safe haven for
these war criminals. Bringing these surviving Nazis to justice is a
time-sensitive affair, and one that can bring much needed peace to
those remaining holocaust survivors who have already suffered so much.
In the United States, the Office of Special Investigations, OSI, of
the Department of Justice is responsible for detecting, investigating
and taking legal action to denaturalize or deport persons who took part
in Nazi sponsored acts of persecution committed between 1933 and 1945.
As of August 2005, OSI had successfully prosecuted 100 persons involved
in Nazi war crimes who were residing in the U.S.
Nongovernmental organizations are also integral to these detection
and investigation efforts. In 2002, the Simon Wiesenthal Center
launched Operation: Last Chance to maximize identification and to help
facilitate the prosecution of remaining Nazi war criminals.
Of the most egregious Nazi war criminals, Operation: Last Chance has
identified suspects like Mr. Milivoj Asner, who served as the police
chief of the city of Slavonska Pozega. Mr. Asner orchestrated the
persecution and destruction of the local Serb, Jewish, and Gypsy
communities, which culminated in the deportation of hundreds of
civilians to Ustasha concentration camps. Mr. Asner currently resides
in Klagenfurt, Austria. The center has also identified Dr. Aribert
Heim, who served as a medical doctor at the Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald,
and Mauthausen concentration camps. His most terrible crimes occurred
at Mauthausen, where he murdered hundreds of prisoners by administering
lethal injections into their hearts or by other tortuous killing
methods. Dr. Heim's whereabouts are unknown.
Unfortunately, even the best efforts of OSI and organizations like
the Simon Wiesenthal Center to identify and investigate Nazi war
criminals are not enough. Some foreign governments hinder the
extradition of convicted Nazi war criminals between the U.S. and their
country of origin.
The World War II Accountability Act seeks to remedy this situation by
making cooperation in the extradition of Nazi war criminals a
prerequisite to a country's inclusion in the U.S. visa waiver program.
This is a powerful incentive for countries that continue to harbor
these criminals. I believe it is a necessary tool to compel the
relevant countries to cooperate with our search for justice. For
holocaust survivors, this justice is long overdue.
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