IV

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 118

Urging the return of portraits painted by Dina Babbitt during her internment

at Auschwitz that are now in the possession of the Auschwitz-Birkenau

State Museum.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 1, 2001

Ms. BERKLEY (for herself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. FROST, Ms. DELAURO,

Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. CANTOR, Mr.

PALLONE, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. TOWNS, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mrs.

NAPOLITANO, Mr. WEINER, Mr. MOORE, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. BALDWIN,

Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. CARDIN, Mr.

HOLDEN, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. BERMAN, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York,

Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. KIRK, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr.

LEVIN, Mr. GONZALEZ, Ms. NORTON, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. NADLER, Mrs.

MINK of Hawaii, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. HONDA, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. HASTINGS of

Florida, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr.

ABERCROMBIE, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. HOLT, Mr. FILNER, Ms. SOLIS, Mr.

MATHESON, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. MATSUI, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. GIBBONS,

Mr. FOLEY, Mr. FRANK, and Mr. MCGOVERN) submitted the following

concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Urging the return of portraits painted by Dina Babbitt during her internment at Auschwitz that are now in the

possession of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

Whereas Dina Babbitt (formerly known as Dinah

Gottliebova), a United States citizen now in her late 70’s,

has requested the return of watercolor portraits she
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•HCON 118 IH

painted while suffering a year-and-a-half-long internment

at the Auschwitz death camp during World War II;

Whereas Dina Babbitt was ordered to paint the portraits by

the infamous war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele;

Whereas Dina Babbitt’s life, and her mother’s life, were

spared only because she painted portraits of doomed inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, under orders from Dr.

Josef Mengele;

Whereas these paintings are currently in the possession of

the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum;

Whereas Dina Babbitt is unquestionably the rightful owner

of the artwork, since the paintings were produced by her

own talented hands as she endured the unspeakable conditions that existed at the Auschwitz death camp;

Whereas only 22 of the approximately 3,800 Czech Jews

scheduled for death at Auschwitz in March 1944 survived, and among those who were murdered were relatives of Dina Babbitt;

Whereas to continue to deny Dina Babbitt the property that

is rightfully hers adds to the pain and suffering she has

experienced because of her experiences at Auschwitz;

Whereas the artwork is not available for the public to view

at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and therefore

this unique and important body of work is essentially lost

to history; and

Whereas this continued injustice can be righted through cooperation between agencies of the United States and Poland: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That the Congress—
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1 (1) recognizes the moral right of Dina Babbitt

2 to obtain the artwork she created, and recognizes

3 her courage in the face of the evils perpetrated by

4 the Nazi command of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death

5 camp, including the atrocities committed by Dr.

6 Josef Mengele; and

7 (2) urges—

8 (A) the President to make all efforts nec9 essary to retrieve the seven watercolor portraits

10 Dina Babbitt painted, while suffering a year11 and-a-half-long internment at the Auschwitz

12 death camp, and return them to her;

13 (B) the Secretary of State to make imme14 diate diplomatic efforts to facilitate the transfer

15 of the seven original watercolors painted by

16 Dina Babbitt from the Auschwitz-Birkenau

17 State Museum to Dina Babbitt, their rightful

18 owner;

19 (D) the Government of Poland to imme20 diately facilitate the return to Dina Babbitt of

21 the artwork painted by her that is now in the

22 possession of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State

23 Museum; and

24 (E) the officials of the Auschwitz-Birkenau

25 State Museum to transfer the seven original
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1 paintings to Dina Babbitt as expeditiously as

2 possible.

Æ