[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 100 (Friday, June 29, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4775-S4776]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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   SENATE RESOLUTION 516--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE ON THE 
RESTITUTION OF OR COMPENSATION FOR PROPERTY SEIZED DURING THE NAZI AND 
                             COMMUNIST ERAS

  Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself and Mr. Brown of Ohio) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 516

       Whereas protecting and respecting private property rights 
     is a basic principle for all democratic governments that 
     operate according to the rule of law;
       Whereas Nazi or Communist regimes dominated many Eastern 
     European countries without the consent of their people for 
     parts of the 20th century;
       Whereas the authoritarian and totalitarian regimes that 
     emerged in Eastern Europe

[[Page S4776]]

     after World War II perpetuated the wrongful and unjust 
     confiscation of property, including immovable property, 
     personal property, and financial assets, that belonged to 
     victims of Nazi persecution;
       Whereas the Nazi regime considered religious property an 
     early target and denied religious communities the temporal 
     facilities that held them together by expropriating churches, 
     synagogues, religious seminaries, cemeteries, and other 
     communal property;
       Whereas, after World War II, Communist regimes expanded the 
     systematic expropriation of private, communal, and religious 
     property in an effort to eliminate the influence of religion;
       Whereas, since the fall of the Iron Curtain, only part of 
     the immovable property confiscated during and after the 
     Holocaust has been recovered or compensated;
       Whereas, in July 2001, the Paris Declaration of the 
     Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe 
     Parliamentary Assembly noted that the process of restitution, 
     compensation, and material reparation of victims of Nazi 
     persecution has not been pursued with the same degree of 
     comprehensiveness by all of the participating states of that 
     Organization;
       Whereas the Organization for Security and Co-operation in 
     Europe Parliamentary Assembly has called on each 
     participating state to adopt and implement appropriate 
     legislation to ensure that victims of Nazi persecution, 
     including communal organizations and institutions, receive 
     restitution of or compensation for lost property, without 
     regard to the current citizenship or place of residence of 
     the victims or their heirs or the relevant successors to 
     communal property;
       Whereas the United States Congress has, unanimously and on 
     numerous occasions, urged countries in Europe that have not 
     yet done so to immediately enact fair, comprehensive, 
     nondiscriminatory, and just legislation to provide 
     restitution, or fair compensation in cases in which 
     restitution is not possible, to victims of persecution who 
     had private property looted or wrongfully confiscated by 
     Nazis during World War II or subsequently seized by a 
     Communist government and the heirs of those victims;
       Whereas the representatives of 44 countries that 
     participated in the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust-
     Era Assets agreed on principles intended to guide just and 
     equitable solutions to confiscated art, insurance, and 
     communal property, but did not address the complex issue of 
     private property;
       Whereas, 11 years later, representatives of more than 45 
     countries participated in the Prague Holocaust-Era Assets 
     Conference in June 2009, and agreed to the Terezin 
     Declaration of June 30, 2009, which--
       (1) recognized that Holocaust (Shoah) survivors and other 
     victims of Nazi persecution have reached an advanced age and 
     that respecting their personal dignity and addressing their 
     social welfare needs is an issue of utmost urgency;
       (2) recognized that wrongful property seizures, such as 
     confiscation, forced sales, and sales under duress of 
     property, were part of the persecution by the Nazis of 
     innocent people, many of whom died without heirs;
       (3) recognized the importance of restituting communal and 
     individual property that belonged to victims of the Holocaust 
     (Shoah) and other victims of Nazi persecution and urged that 
     every effort be made to rectify the consequences of wrongful 
     property seizure;
       (4) urged that every effort be made to provide for the 
     restitution of former Jewish communal and religious property 
     through in rem restitution or compensation in cases in which 
     restitution has not yet been effectively achieved; and
       (5) recognized that in some countries heirless property 
     could serve as a basis to address the material necessities of 
     Holocaust (Shoah) survivors and to ensure ongoing education 
     about the Holocaust (Shoah) and its causes and consequences;
       Whereas nearly 3 years have passed since the adoption of 
     the Terezin Declaration and the governments of some countries 
     have still not fulfilled or made progress toward fulfilling 
     the moral obligations expressed in that document, including--
       (1) the Government of Poland, which is virtually alone 
     among post-Communist countries in not having adopted any 
     legislation providing a process for restitution of or 
     compensation for private property that Nazi or Communist 
     regimes confiscated despite numerous public promises from 
     various administrations;
       (2) the Government of Romania, which has halted 
     implementation of legislation to return former communal 
     property or pay compensation to claimants;
       (3) the Government of Latvia, which has failed to press 
     forward with legislation to return Jewish communal and 
     religious properties or provide financial compensation for 
     the loss of those properties despite numerous promises to 
     domestic and international claimants;
       (4) the Government of Slovenia, which has refused to pay 
     compensation for officially recognized former Jewish 
     property; and
       (5) the Government of Croatia, which has still not adopted 
     appropriate legislation to provide compensation for property 
     that the Nazis and their allies confiscated during the 
     Holocaust;
       Whereas the governments of Serbia and Lithuania have 
     recently enacted restitution and compensation programs for 
     private and Jewish communal property, respectively, serving 
     as a potential model for other governments to follow;
       Whereas some Holocaust survivors, now in the twilight of 
     their lives, are impoverished and in urgent need of 
     assistance, lacking the resources to support basic needs, 
     including adequate shelter, food, or medical care;
       Whereas the Washington and Prague conferences on Holocaust-
     era assets should not be the last opportunity for the 
     international community to address property restitution at 
     the highest level;
       Whereas the European Shoah Legacy Institute will hold an 
     Immoveable Property Review Conference in late November 2012 
     in Prague to review compliance with the Terezin Declaration 
     as well as the document entitled ``Guidelines and Best 
     Practices for the Restitution and Compensation of Immovable 
     (Real) Property Confiscated or Otherwise Wrongfully Seized by 
     the Nazis, Fascists and Their Collaborators during the 
     Holocaust (Shoah) Era between 1933-1945, Including the Period 
     of World War II'', which 43 countries adopted following the 
     Prague Conference; and
       Whereas, although those documents are not legally binding, 
     the governments of all countries bear a moral responsibility 
     to uphold and defend the plight and dignity of Holocaust 
     survivors, ensure their well-being, and respond to their 
     social needs: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the unmet needs of many Holocaust survivors 
     and the urgency of addressing those needs;
       (2) appreciates the efforts of the governments of countries 
     in Europe that have enacted and implemented legislation for 
     the restitution of or compensation for private, communal, and 
     religious property wrongly confiscated during the Nazi or 
     Communist eras;
       (3) welcomes the efforts of the governments of many post-
     Communist countries to address complex and difficult 
     questions relating to the status of wrongly confiscated 
     property;
       (4) urges each government that has not already done so to 
     complete the process of adopting and implementing necessary 
     and proper legislation to effect the in rem return of or the 
     payment of compensation for wrongly confiscated property;
       (5) calls on each government to establish restitution and 
     compensation schemes in a simple, transparent, and timely 
     manner to provide a real benefit to those who suffered from 
     the unjust confiscation of their property; and
       (6) calls on the Secretary of State to issue an updated 
     report on property restitution in Central and Eastern Europe 
     that evaluates whether the governments of those countries 
     have met the basic standards and best practices of the 
     international community.

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