III 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 141 

Urging all member countries of the International Commission of the International Tracing Service who have yet to ratify the May 2006 amendments to the 1955 Bonn Accords to expedite the ratification process 

to allow for open access to the Holocaust archives located at Bad Arolsen, 

Germany. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 10, 2007 

Mrs. CLINTON (for herself, Mr. BROWN, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. 

LAUTENBERG, Mr. KERRY, Mr. SCHUMER, and Mr. DODD) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Urging all member countries of the International Commission 

of the International Tracing Service who have yet to 

ratify the May 2006 amendments to the 1955 Bonn 

Accords to expedite the ratification process to allow for 

open access to the Holocaust archives located at Bad 

Arolsen, Germany. 

Whereas the International Tracing Service (ITS) archives located in Bad Arolsen, Germany, which are administered 

by the International Committee of the Red Cross, contain 

an estimated 50,000,000 records on the fates of some 

17,500,000 individual victims of Nazi war crimes; 


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•SRES 141 IS 

Whereas the ITS archives at Bad Arolsen remain the largest 

closed Holocaust-era archives in the world; 

Whereas, although access to individual records can be requested by Holocaust survivors and their descendants, 

many who have requested information from the ITS archives have reported facing significant delays and even 

unresponsiveness; 

Whereas the ITS archives remain inaccessible to researchers 

and research institutions; 

Whereas the Agreement Constituting an International Commission for the International Tracing Service, signed at 

Bonn June 6, 1955 (6 UST 6186) (commonly known as 

the ‘‘Bonn Accords’’) established an international commission of 11 member countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United 

States) charged with overseeing the administration of the 

ITS Holocaust archives; 

Whereas, following years of delay, in May 2006 in Luxembourg, the International Commission of the ITS agreed 

upon amendments to the Bonn Accords that would allow 

researchers to use the archives and would allow each 

member country of the International Commission to receive digitized copies of archive materials and make the 

records available to researchers under the respective national laws relating to archives and privacy; 

Whereas the May 2006 amendments to the Bonn Accords require each of the 11 member countries of the International Commission to ratify the amendments before 

open access to the Holocaust archives is permitted; 


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•SRES 141 IS 

Whereas, although the final signature was affixed to the 

amendments in October 2006, only 5 out of the 11 member countries of the International Commission, the 

United States, Israel, Poland, the Netherlands, and the 

United Kingdom, have ratified the amendments; 

Whereas the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has 

for years been working tirelessly to provide public access 

to the materials in the Bad Arolsen archives; 

Whereas, on March 8, 2007, representatives from the 11 

member countries of the International Commission of the 

ITS met in the Netherlands and reviewed the current 

ratification status of each country and the ratification 

process in its entirety; 

Whereas it is a moral and humanitarian imperative to permit 

public access to the millions of Holocaust records housed 

at Bad Arolsen; 

Whereas it is essential that researchers obtain access while 

Holocaust survivors are living, so that the researchers 

can benefit in their scholarly work from the insights of 

eyewitnesses; 

Whereas, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, there have been 

far too many instances of survivors and heirs of Holocaust victims being refused their moral and legal right to 

information, for restitution purposes, slave labor compensation, and personal closure; 

Whereas opening the historic records is a vital contribution 

to the world’s collective memory and understanding of 

the Holocaust and efforts to ensure that the anti-Semitism that made such horrors possible is never again permitted to take hold; 


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•SRES 141 IS 

Whereas anti-Semitism has seen a resurgence in recent years, 

and as recently as December 2006, the President of Iran, 

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, held the second Holocaust denial 

conference in Tehran in one year; and 

Whereas in light of this conference, the anti-Semitic rhetoric 

of President Ahmadinejad, and a resurgence of anti-Semitism in part of the world, the opening of the archives at 

Bad Arolsen could not be more urgent: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) commends in the strongest terms all coun3 tries that have to date ratified the amendments to 

4 the Agreement Constituting an International Com5 mission for the International Tracing Service, signed 

6 at Bonn June 6, 1955 (6 UST 6186) (commonly 

7 known as the ‘‘Bonn Accords’’) to allow for open ac8 cess to the Holocaust archives of the International 

9 Tracing Service (ITS) located at Bad Arolsen, Ger10 many; 

11 (2) commends the countries that have com12 mitted to expedite the process of releasing the ar13 chives and expects those countries to abide by their 

14 commitments; 

15 (3) strongly urges all countries that have to yet 

16 to ratify the amendments to abide by the treaty obli17 gations made in May 2006 and to expedite the rati18 fication of the amendments; 


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•SRES 141 IS 

1 (4) strongly urges all member countries of the 

2 International Commission of the ITS to consider the 

3 short time left to Holocaust survivors and unani4 mously consent to open the ITS archives should all 

5 countries not ratify the amendments by May 2007; 

6 (5) expresses the hope that bureaucratic and 

7 diplomatic processes will not further delay this proc8 ess; and 

9 (6) refuses to forget the murder of 6,000,000 

10 Jews and more than 5,000,000 other victims during 

11 the Holocaust by Nazi perpetrators and their col12 laborators. 

Æ 


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