H. Res. 240 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

April 25, 2007. 

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; 

Whereas the ITS archives at Bad Arolsen remain the largest 

closed Holocaust-era archives in the world; while access 

to individual records can be requested by Holocaust survivors and their descendants, many who have requested 

information in the past have reported facing significant 

delays and even unresponsiveness; furthermore, the 

records remain inaccessible to researchers and research 

institutions; 

Whereas the 1955 Bonn Accords, the treaty governing the 

administration of the ITS, 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 which would 
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allow researchers to use the archives and would allow 

each Commission member country 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 members of the International Commission to ratify the amendments before open access to 

the Holocaust archives is permitted; 

Whereas although the final signature was affixed to the 

amendments in October 2006, only 4 out of the 11 Commission member countries (the United States, Israel, Poland, and the Netherlands) have ratified the amendments 

to date; 

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 Holocaust researchers obtain access now, while survivors are living, so that the researchers can benefit in their scholarly work from the insights 

of eyewitnesses; 

Whereas in the Holocaust’s aftermath, there have been far 

too many instances of survivors and heirs of Holocaust 
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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; 

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

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, President Ahmadinejad’s 

anti-Semitic rhetoric, 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 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) commends in the strongest terms all countries 

that have to date ratified the amendments to the Bonn 

Accords to allow for open access to the Holocaust archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS) located 

at Bad Arolsen, Germany; 

(2) commends those countries that have committed 

to expedite the process of releasing the archives and expects those countries to abide by their commitments; 

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

ratify the amendments to abide by their treaty obliga-
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tions made in May 2006 and to expedite the ratification 

of these amendments; 

(4) strongly urges all Commission members to consider the short time left to Holocaust survivors and 

unanimously consent to open the ITS archives should all 

countries not ratify the amendments by May 2007; 

(5) expresses the hope that bureaucratic and diplomatic processes will not further delay this process; and 

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

and more than 5,000,000 other victims during the Holocaust by Nazi perpetrators and their collaborators. 

Attest: 

Clerk.