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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 404 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 404

 Congratulating all member states of the International Commission for 
   the International Tracing Service (ITS) on ratifying the May 2006 
 protocol granting open access to a vast archives on the Holocaust and 
     other World War II materials, located at Bad Arolsen, Germany.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 13, 2007

  Mrs. Clinton (for herself and Mr. Nelson of Florida) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Congratulating all member states of the International Commission for 
   the International Tracing Service (ITS) on ratifying the May 2006 
 protocol granting open access to a vast archives on the Holocaust and 
     other World War II materials, located at Bad Arolsen, Germany.

Whereas, for the past 62 years, until November 28, 2007, the International 
        Tracing Service (ITS) archives located in Bad Arolsen, Germany remained 
        the largest closed Holocaust-era archives in the world;
Whereas, while Holocaust survivors and their descendants have had limited access 
        to individual records, reports suggest that they faced long delays, 
        incomplete information, and even unresponsiveness when they tried to 
        access the materials in the archives;
Whereas the 1955 Bonn Accords established the International Commission (on which 
        11 member nations sit: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, 
        Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United 
        States) responsible for overseeing the administration of the ITS 
        Holocaust archives, which includes 17,500,000 individual names and 
        50,000,000 documents;
Whereas, until ITC received the ratification of the 2006 amendments to the Bonn 
        Accords from the last remaining member nation on November 28, 2007, the 
        materials remained inaccessible to researchers and research 
        institutions;
Whereas the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Director of 
        the ITS, who is an ICRC employee, oversee the day-to-day operations of 
        the ITS and report to the International Commission for the ITS at its 
        annual meetings;
Whereas the new International Committee of the Red Cross leadership at the ITS 
        should be commended for their commitment to providing expedited and 
        comprehensive responses to Holocaust survivor requests for information, 
        and for their efforts to complete the digitization of all archives as 
        soon as possible;
Whereas, since the inception of the ITS, the Government of Germany has financed 
        its operations;
Whereas, beginning in the late 1990s, the United States Holocaust Memorial 
        Museum (Holocaust Museum), Holocaust survivor organizations, and others 
        began exerting pressure on International Commission members to allow 
        unfettered access to the ITS archives;
Whereas, following years of delay, in May 2006 in Luxembourg the International 
        Commission of the ITS agreed upon amendments to the Bonn Accords which 
        would grant researchers access to the archives and would allow each 
        Commission member country to receive a digitized copy of the archives 
        and make them available to researchers, consistent with their own 
        country's respective archival and privacy laws and practices;
Whereas the first 3 Commission member states to ratify the amendments were the 
        United States, Israel, and Poland, all 3 of which are home to hundreds 
        of thousands of survivors of Nazi brutality;
Whereas the Holocaust Museum has worked assiduously for years to ensure the 
        timely release of the archives to survivors and the public;
Whereas the Department of State has been engaged in diplomatic efforts with 
        other Commission member nations to provide open access to the archives;
Whereas the House of Representatives unanimously passed H. Res. 240 on April 25, 
        2007, and the United States Senate passed S. Res. 141 on May 1, 2007, 
        urging all member countries of the International Commission of the ITS 
        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 
        archives;
Whereas, on May 15, 2007, the International Commission voted in favor of a 
        United States proposal to allow immediate transfer of a digital copy of 
        archived materials to any of the 11 member states that have adopted the 
        May 2006 amendments to the Bonn Accords, and thereafter, transfer of 
        materials to both the Holocaust Museum and to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust 
        Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Israel, was initiated;
Whereas, while it is not possible to fully compensate Holocaust survivors for 
        the pain, suffering, and loss of loved ones they have experienced, it is 
        a moral and justifiable imperative for Holocaust survivors and their 
        families to be offered expedited open access to these archives;
Whereas time is of the essence in order for Holocaust researchers to access the 
        archives while eyewitnesses to the horrific atrocities of Nazi Germany 
        are still alive;
Whereas opening the historic record is a vital contribution to the world's 
        collective memory and understanding of the Holocaust and ensures that 
        unchecked anti-Semitism and complete disrespect for the value of human 
        life--including the crimes committed against non-Jewish victims--which 
        made such horrors possible are never again permitted to take hold;
Whereas, despite overwhelming international recognition of the unconscionable 
        horrors of the Holocaust and its devastating impact on world Jewry, 
        there has been a sharp increase in anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial 
        across the globe in recent years; and
Whereas it is critical that the international community continue to heed the 
        lessons of the Holocaust, one of the darkest periods in the history of 
        humankind, and take immediate and decisive measures to combat the 
        scourge of anti-Semitism: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) commends in the strongest terms all nations that worked 
        expeditiously to ratify the amendments to the Bonn Accords to 
        allow for open access to the Holocaust Archives located at Bad 
        Arolsen, Germany;
            (2) congratulates the dedication, commitment, and 
        collaborative efforts of the United States Holocaust Memorial 
        Museum, the Department of State, and the International 
        Committee of the Red Cross to open the archives;
            (3) encourages the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 
        and the International Committee of the Red Cross to act with 
        all possible urgency to create appropriate conditions to ensure 
        that survivors, their families, and researchers have direct 
        access to the archives and are offered effective assistance in 
        navigating and interpreting these archives;
            (4) remembers and pays tribute to the murder of 6,000,000 
        innocent Jews and more than 5,000,000 other innocent victims 
        during the Holocaust by Nazi perpetrators and their 
        collaborators; and
            (5) must remain vigilant in combating global anti-Semitism, 
        intolerance, and bigotry.
                                 <all>
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