[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]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      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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