III 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 603 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the restitution of or compensation 

for property seized during the Nazi and Communist eras. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 26, 2008 

Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself, Mr. SMITH, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. COLEMAN, 

and Mr. MENENDEZ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the restitution of 

or compensation for property seized during the Nazi 

and Communist eras. 

Whereas many East European countries were dominated for 

parts of the last century by Nazi or Communist regimes, 

without the consent of their people; 

Whereas victims of Nazi persecution included individuals persecuted or targeted for persecution by the Nazi or Naziallied governments based on their religious, ethnic, or cultural identity, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or disability; 

Whereas the Nazi regime and the authoritarian and totalitarian regimes that emerged in Eastern Europe after 

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fiscation of property belonging to the victims of Nazi persecution, including real property, personal property, and 

financial assets; 

Whereas communal and religious property was an early target of the Nazi regime and, by expropriating churches, 

synagogues and other community-controlled property, the 

Nazis denied religious communities the temporal facilities 

that held those communities together; 

Whereas, after World War II, Communist regimes expanded 

the systematic expropriation of communal and religious 

property in an effort to eliminate the influence of religion; 

Whereas many insurance companies that issued policies in 

pre-World War II Eastern Europe were nationalized or 

had their subsidiary assets nationalized by Communist 

regimes; 

Whereas such nationalized companies and those with nationalized subsidiaries have generally not paid the proceeds 

or compensation due on pre-war policies, because control 

of those companies or their East European subsidiaries 

had passed to the government; 

Whereas East European countries involved in these nationalizations have not participated in a compensation process 

for Holocaust-era insurance policies for victims of Nazi 

persecution; 

Whereas the protection of and respect for private property 

rights is a basic principle for all democratic governments 

that operate according to the rule of law; 

Whereas the rule of law and democratic norms require that 

the activity of governments and their administrative 

agencies be exercised in accordance with the laws passed 


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by their parliaments or legislatures and such laws themselves must be consistent with international human rights 

standards; 

Whereas the Paris Declaration of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary 

Assembly in July 2001 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 OSCE participating States; 

Whereas the OSCE participating States have agreed to 

achieve or maintain full recognition and protection of all 

types of property, including private property and the 

right to prompt, just, and effective compensation for the 

private property that is taken for public use; 

Whereas the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has called on 

the OSCE participating States to ensure that they implement appropriate legislation to secure the restitution of 

or compensation for property losses of victims of Nazi 

persecution and property losses of communal organizations and institutions during the Nazi era, irrespective of 

the current citizenship or place of residence of victims or 

their heirs or the relevant successor to communal property; 

Whereas Congress passed resolutions in the 104th and 105th 

Congresses that emphasized the longstanding support of 

the United States for the restitution of or compensation 

for property wrongly confiscated during the Nazi or Communist eras; 

Whereas certain post-Communist countries in Europe have 

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cution whose property was confiscated by the Nazis or 

their allies or collaborators during World War II or subsequently seized by Communist governments after World 

War II; 

Whereas, at the 1998 Washington Conference on HolocaustEra Assets, 44 countries adopted Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art to guide the restitution of looted artwork and 

cultural property; 

Whereas the Government of Lithuania has promised to adopt 

an effective legal framework to provide for the restitution 

of or compensation for wrongly confiscated communal 

property, but so far has not done so; 

Whereas successive governments in Poland have promised to 

adopt an effective general property compensation law, but 

so far the current Government of Poland has not adopted 

one; 

Whereas the legislation providing for the restitution of or 

compensation for wrongly confiscated property in Europe 

has, in various instances, not always been implemented in 

an effective, transparent, and timely manner; 

Whereas such legislation is of the utmost importance in returning or compensating property wrongfully seized by 

totalitarian or authoritarian governments to its rightful 

owners; 

Whereas compensation and restitution programs can never 

bring back to Holocaust survivors what was taken from 

them, or in any way make up for their suffering; and 

Whereas there are Holocaust survivors, now in the twilight of 

their lives, who are impoverished and in urgent need of 

assistance, lacking the resources to support basic needs, 


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including adequate shelter, food, or medical care: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) appreciates the efforts of those countries in 

3 Europe that have enacted legislation for the restitu4 tion of or compensation for private, communal, and 

5 religious property wrongly confiscated during the 

6 Nazi or Communist eras, and urges each of those 

7 countries to ensure that the legislation is effectively 

8 and justly implemented; 

9 (2) welcomes the efforts of many post-Com10 munist countries to address the complex and dif11 ficult question of the status of confiscated prop12 erties, and urges those countries to ensure that their 

13 restitution or compensation programs are imple14 mented in a timely, non-discriminatory manner; 

15 (3) urges the Government of Poland and the 

16 governments of other countries in Europe that have 

17 not already done so to immediately enact fair, com18 prehensive, and just legislation so that victims of 

19 Nazi persecution (or the heirs of such persons) who 

20 had their private property looted and wrongly con21 fiscated by the Nazis during World War II and in 

22 turn seized by a Communist government are able to 

23 obtain either restitution of their property or, where 

24 restitution is not possible, fair compensation; 


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1 (4) urges the Government of Lithuania and the 

2 governments of other countries in Europe that have 

3 not already done so to immediately enact fair, com4 prehensive, and just legislation so that communities 

5 that had communal and religious property looted 

6 and wrongly confiscated by the Nazis during World 

7 War II and in turn seized by a Communist govern8 ment (or the relevant successors to the communal 

9 and religious property or the relevant foundations) 

10 are able to obtain either restitution of their property 

11 or, where restitution is not possible, fair compensa12 tion; 

13 (5) urges the countries of Europe which have 

14 not already done so to ensure that all such restitu15 tion and compensation legislation is established in 

16 accordance with principles of justice and provides a 

17 simple, transparent, and prompt process, so that it 

18 results in a tangible benefit to those surviving vic19 tims of Nazi persecution who suffered from the un20 just confiscation of their property, many of whom 

21 are well into their senior years; 

22 (6) calls on the President and the Secretary of 

23 State to engage in an open dialogue with leaders of 

24 those countries which have not already enacted such 

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1 quiring the fair, comprehensive, and nondiscrim2 inatory restitution of or compensation for private, 

3 communal, and religious property that was seized 

4 and confiscated during the Nazi and Communist 

5 eras; and 

6 (7) welcomes a country in Europe to host in 

7 2009 a follow-up international conference a decade 

8 after the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era 

9 Assets, for governments and non-governmental orga10 nizations, which would— 

11 (A) address the issues of restitution of or 

12 compensation for real property, personal prop13 erty (including art and cultural property), and 

14 financial assets wrongly confiscated by the 

15 Nazis and their allies or collaborators and the 

16 subsequent wrongful confiscations by Com17 munist regimes; and 

18 (B) review issues related to the opening of 

19 archives and the work of historical commissions, 

20 review progress made, and focus on the next 

21 steps required on these issues. 

Æ 


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