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  **Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright**\
  Statement on Establishment of the German Foundation \"Remembrance,
  Responsibility and the Future\"\
  Washington, D.C., October 20, 2000\
  As released by the Office of the Spokesman\
  U.S. Department of State

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| **SECRETARY ALBRIGHT:** The United States and the Federal Republic of |
| Germany (\"Germany\") are proud to have worked together, in close     |
| partnership, towards the establishment of the Foundation,             |
| \"Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future\" (\"Foundation\"). The  |
| establishment of the Foundation is a great and historic achievement,  |
| as it will provide a measure of justice to more than a million        |
| victims of the Nazi era. It represents a fulfillment of the United    |
| States\' and Germany\'s 50 year effort to address the consequences of |
| the Nazi era. The establishment of this Foundation will contribute    |
| substantially to U.S.-German efforts to create a stable and humane    |
| international community based on democracy, rule of law, and respect  |
| for human rights. Continued cooperation between two of the world\'s   |
| strongest allies is crucial to the foreign policies of both countries |
| and to the promotion of peace and prosperity in the world.            |
|                                                                       |
| This statement explains why the establishment of the Foundation is in |
| the foreign policy interests of the United States and why it would be |
| in the foreign policy interests of the United States for the          |
| Foundation to be the exclusive forum and remedy for the resolution of |
| all claims asserted against German companies arising out of the Nazi  |
| era and the Second World War.                                         |
|                                                                       |
| The establishment of the Foundation will result in benefits for       |
| U.S.-German economic relations and the economic interests of the      |
| United States. German investment in the United States is responsible  |
| for more than 600,000 jobs. German corporations have helped create    |
| important industrial investments in several regions of the United     |
| States. The operations of more than 1800 American companies in        |
| Germany make an important contribution to both the German and         |
| American economies. Dismissal of the litigation involving Nazi-era    |
| claims against German companies will help to maintain this economic   |
| cooperation and increase the possibilities for further development of |
| this cooperation. Therefore, it is in the foreign policy interests of |
| the United States to have a resolution of these issues that is        |
| non-adversarial and non-confrontational, outside of litigation.       |
|                                                                       |
| German-American cooperation has been exemplary throughout these       |
| discussions. Our two governments, represented by Deputy Treasury      |
| Secretary Eizenstat and Count Lambsdorff, have served as facilitators |
| of this historic effort to reconcile the complex and painful results  |
| of the Nazi era and the Second World War. The cooperation between     |
| Germany and the United States and the strong U.S.-German relationship |
| enabled the co-chairmen to resolve a series of very complex and       |
| difficult political issues during the negotiations. This cooperation  |
| has reflected the spirit of the close relationship that has developed |
| between the United States and Germany during the past fifty years.    |
| Our ties to Germany are central to American interests in Europe.      |
| Germany has been a key partner in Allied efforts to renew NATO so     |
| that America and its European partners can effectively address the    |
| changed European security environment of the post Cold War era.       |
| Germany participated actively in NATO\'s Kosovo campaign and German   |
| and American troops serve side-by-side in Kosovo and Bosnia. The      |
| strong U.S.-German relationship provides a firm basis for increased   |
| U.S.-EU cooperation on a wide range of foreign policy issues. The     |
| establishment of this Foundation will strengthen these ties.          |
|                                                                       |
| The Foundation will cover, under relaxed standards of proof, some one |
| million victims, including those who worked for German companies now  |
| defunct or not subject to U.S. jurisdiction, including SS companies   |
| and companies owned by the German government. Indeed, the German      |
| legislation will permit the Reconciliation Foundations in Central and |
| Eastern European countries to even pay forced agricultural workers,   |
| if they wish to do so. For these groups of people, the Foundation     |
| represents the only possible avenue for obtaining a measure of        |
| long-awaited justice.                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| The establishment of this Foundation will also serve as one of the    |
| high points in the United States\' relationship with the Central and  |
| Eastern European Governments that participated in the negotiations    |
| leading up to the establishment of the Foundation. As a result of the |
| close cooperation between the United States and the participating     |
| Central and Eastern European Governments, nearly one million          |
| residents of Central and Eastern Europe will be receiving a           |
| long-awaited and deserved measure of justice. One of the most         |
| important achievements of the Foundation will be to provide a measure |
| of justice not only to Jewish victims of the Nazi era, but belated    |
| recognition and payments to these double victims of two of the 20th   |
| Century\'s worst evils \-- Nazism and Communism.                      |
|                                                                       |
| Moreover, by bringing together the Central and Eastern European       |
| states and the State of Israel, the Foundation will begin a new       |
| relationship among nations and peoples who suffered so severely under |
| Nazi terror. The cooperation among these states was reinvigorated,    |
| and was never more evident than, during the eighteen months of        |
| discussions concerning the German Foundation.                         |
|                                                                       |
| The establishment of the Foundation will significantly reduce the     |
| tensions surrounding a number of very sensitive issues. It will fund  |
| payments to victims of the Nazi era who otherwise would have to       |
| engage in continued litigation over the subject, without any          |
| certainty of recovery. The United States and German Governments would |
| inevitably be drawn into ongoing debates among victims\'              |
| representatives, as would the Governments of six Central and Eastern  |
| European countries and the State of Israel, which participated in the |
| negotiations leading to the establishment of the Foundation. The vast |
| majority of the survivors reside in these countries. The debates      |
| would likely be contentious and, in the United States, result in      |
| threats of boycotts, and political and legal action at the federal,   |
| state, and local levels against German companies and the German       |
| Government. This could then trigger retaliatory action not only by    |
| Germany, one of our most valued allies, but by the European Union as  |
| well. Merely the threat of sanctions and boycotts could have a        |
| chilling effect on our political and economic relations with Germany  |
| and Europe.                                                           |
|                                                                       |
| Finally, it is in the foreign policy interests of the United States   |
| to take steps to address the consequences of the Nazi era, to learn   |
| the lessons of, and teach the world about, this dark chapter in       |
| Germany\'s history and to seek to ensure that it never happens again. |
| As all too recent history has shown us, e.g., in Bosnia and Kosovo,   |
| massive human rights violations and ethnic cleansing continue to      |
| occur and continue to necessitate United States involvement. In an    |
| effort to teach the world, not only about the atrocities of the Nazi  |
| era, but the threat posed by totalitarian, unlawful regimes, and      |
| tyranny, the Foundation has at its disposal over \$300 million of the |
| Foundation\'s capital, which will be dedicated, in part, to heighten  |
| understanding of the causes of the Holocaust and the Nazis\' rise to  |
| power, as well as to help the heirs of deceased slave and forced      |
| laborers.                                                             |
|                                                                       |
| For all of the above reasons, and because the German Government asked |
| the United States to work as partners with it in facilitating this    |
| historic initiative, from February 1999 until July 2000, the United   |
| States played a central role in facilitating discussions among the    |
| Governments of Belarus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Russia,  |
| and the Ukraine, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims, other      |
| victims\' representatives, and German companies to establish this     |
| Foundation, which will provide funds for dignified payments to those  |
| who worked as private and public sector forced and slave laborers     |
| during the Nazi era who suffered at the hands of German companies     |
| during this period.                                                   |
|                                                                       |
| German companies and the German Government have both agreed to        |
| contribute DM 5 billion to establish this Foundation. In return, they |
| seek and deserve legal peace for the acts of German companies arising |
| out of the Nazi era and World War II. Our mutual interest in this     |
| regard is reflected by the Executive Agreement between our two        |
| governments. Moreover, President Clinton has determined that it would |
| be in the United States\' foreign policy interest for the Foundation  |
| to be the exclusive remedy for all claims against German companies    |
| arising out of the Nazi era and the Second World War                  |
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