S. Con. Res. 46 Agreed to September 12, 2016

One Hundred Fourteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, 

the fourth day of January, two thousand and sixteen 

Concurrent Resolution 

Whereas the annihilation of 6,000,000 Jews during the Holocaust 

and the murder of millions of others by the Nazi German state 

constitutes one of the most tragic and heinous crimes in human 

history; 

Whereas hundreds of thousands of Jews survived persecution by 

the Nazi regime despite being imprisoned, subjected to slave 

labor, moved into ghettos, forced to live in hiding or under false 

identity or curfew, or required to wear the ‘‘yellow star’’; 

Whereas in fear of the oncoming Nazi Einsatzgruppen, or ‘‘Nazi 

Killing Squads’’, and the likelihood of extermination, hundreds 

of thousands of Jewish Nazi victims fled for their lives; 

Whereas whatever type of persecution suffered by Jews during 

the Holocaust, the common thread that binds Holocaust victims 

is that they were targeted for extermination and they lived with 

a constant fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones; 

Whereas Holocaust victims immigrated to the United States from 

Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the former Soviet 

Union between 1933 and the date of adoption of this resolution; 

Whereas it is estimated that there are at least 100,000 Holocaust 

victims living in the United States and approximately 500,000 

Holocaust victims living around the world, including child survivors of the Holocaust; 

Whereas tens of thousands of Holocaust victims are at least 80 

years old, and the number of surviving Holocaust victims is 

diminishing; 

Whereas at least 50 percent of Holocaust victims alive today will 

pass away within the next decade, and those living victims are 

becoming frailer and have increasing health and welfare needs; 

Whereas Holocaust victims throughout the world continue to suffer 

from permanent physical and psychological injuries and disabilities and live with the emotional scars of a systematic genocide 

against the Jewish people; 

Whereas many of the emotional and psychological scars of Holocaust 

victims are exacerbated in the old age of the Holocaust victims; 

Whereas the past haunts and overwhelms many aspects of the 

lives of Holocaust victims when their health fails them; 

Whereas Holocaust victims suffer particular trauma when their 

emotional and physical circumstances force them to leave the 

security of their homes and enter institutional or other group 

living residential facilities; 
S. Con. Res. 46—2 

Whereas tens of thousands of Holocaust victims live in poverty 

and cannot afford, and do not receive, sufficient medical care, 

home care, mental health care, medicine, food, transportation, 

and other vital life-sustaining services that allow individuals 

to live their final years with comfort and dignity; 

Whereas Holocaust victims often lack family support networks and 

require social worker-supported case management in order to 

manage their daily lives and access government-funded services; 

Whereas in response to a letter sent by Members of Congress 

to the Minister of Finance of Germany in December 2015 relating 

to increased funding for Holocaust victims, German officials 

acknowledged that ‘‘recent experience has shown that the care 

financed by the German Government to date is insufficient’’ and 

that ‘‘it is imperative to expand these assistance measures quickly 

given the advanced age of many of the affected persons’’; 

Whereas German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer acknowledged, in 

1951, the responsibility of Germany to provide moral and financial 

compensation to Holocaust victims worldwide; 

Whereas every successive German Chancellor has reaffirmed that 

acknowledgment, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, in 

2007, reaffirmed that ‘‘only by fully accepting its enduring responsibility for this most appalling period and for the cruelest crimes 

in its history, can Germany shape the future’’; 

Whereas, in 2015, the spokesperson of Chancellor Angela Merkel 

confirmed that ‘‘all Germans know the history of the murderous 

race mania of the Nazis that led to the break with civilization 

that was the Holocaust . . . we know the responsibility for this 

crime against humanity is German and very much our own’’; 

and 

Whereas Congress believes it is the moral and historical responsibility of Germany to comprehensively, permanently, and urgently 

provide resources for the medical, mental health, and long-term 

care needs of all Holocaust victims: Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That Congress— 

(1) acknowledges the financial and moral commitment of 

the Federal Republic of Germany over the past seven decades 

to provide a measure of justice for Holocaust victims; and 
S. Con. Res. 46—3 

(2) supports the goal of ensuring that all Holocaust victims 

in the United States and around the world are able to live 

with dignity, comfort, and security in their remaining years. 

Attest: 

Secretary of the Senate. 

Attest: 

Clerk of the House of Representatives.