[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 130, 114th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
HOLOCAUST VICTIMS--LIVING <> WITH DIGNITY, COMFORT, AND SECURITY

Whereas the annihilation of 6,000,000 Jews during the Holocaust and the
murder of millions of others by the Nazi German state constitutes
one of the most tragic and heinous crimes in human history;

Whereas hundreds of thousands of Jews survived persecution by the Nazi
regime despite being imprisoned, subjected to slave labor, moved
into ghettos, forced to live in hiding or under false identity or
curfew, or required to wear the ``yellow star'';

Whereas in fear of the oncoming Nazi Einsatzgruppen, or ``Nazi Killing
Squads'', and the likelihood of extermination, hundreds of thousands
of Jewish Nazi victims fled for their lives;

Whereas whatever type of persecution suffered by Jews during the
Holocaust, the common thread that binds Holocaust victims is that
they were targeted for extermination and they lived with a constant
fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones;

Whereas Holocaust victims immigrated to the United States from Europe,
the Middle East, North Africa, and the former Soviet Union between
1933 and the date of adoption of this resolution;

Whereas it is estimated that there are at least 100,000 Holocaust
victims living in the United States and approximately 500,000
Holocaust victims living around the world, including child survivors
of the Holocaust;


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Whereas tens of thousands of Holocaust victims are at least 80 years
old, and the number of surviving Holocaust victims is diminishing;

Whereas at least 50 percent of Holocaust victims alive today will pass
away within the next decade, and those living victims are becoming
frailer and have increasing health and welfare needs;

Whereas Holocaust victims throughout the world continue to suffer from
permanent physical and psychological injuries and disabilities and
live with the emotional scars of a systematic genocide against the
Jewish people;

Whereas many of the emotional and psychological scars of Holocaust
victims are exacerbated in the old age of the Holocaust victims;

Whereas the past haunts and overwhelms many aspects of the lives of
Holocaust victims when their health fails them;

Whereas Holocaust victims suffer particular trauma when their emotional
and physical circumstances force them to leave the security of their
homes and enter institutional or other group living residential
facilities;

Whereas tens of thousands of Holocaust victims live in poverty and
cannot afford, and do not receive, sufficient medical care, home
care, mental health care, medicine, food, transportation, and other
vital life-sustaining services that allow individuals to live their
final years with comfort and dignity;

Whereas Holocaust victims often lack family support networks and require
social worker-supported case management in order to manage their
daily lives and access government-funded services;

Whereas in response to a letter sent by Members of Congress to the
Minister of Finance of Germany in December 2015 relating to
increased funding for Holocaust victims, German officials
acknowledged that ``recent experience has shown that the care
financed by the German Government to date is insufficient'' and that
``it is imperative to expand these assistance measures quickly given
the advanced age of many of the affected persons'';

Whereas German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer acknowledged, in 1951, the
responsibility of Germany to provide moral and financial
compensation to Holocaust victims worldwide;

Whereas every successive German Chancellor has reaffirmed that
acknowledgment, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, in 2007,
reaffirmed that ``only by fully accepting its enduring
responsibility for this most appalling period and for the cruelest
crimes in its history, can Germany shape the future'';

Whereas, in 2015, the spokesperson of Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed
that ``all Germans know the history of the murderous race mania of
the Nazis that led to the break with civilization that was the
Holocaust . . . we know the responsibility for this crime against
humanity is German and very much our own''; and

Whereas Congress believes it is the moral and historical responsibility
of Germany to comprehensively, permanently, and urgently provide
resources for the medical, mental health, and long-term care needs
of all Holocaust victims: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),
That Congress--

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(1) acknowledges the financial and moral commitment of the
Federal Republic of Germany over the past seven decades to
provide a measure of justice for Holocaust victims; and
(2) supports the goal of ensuring that all Holocaust victims
in the United States and around the world are able to live with
dignity, comfort, and security in their remaining years.

Agreed to September 12, 2016.