IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 489 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the people of the United States should 
grieve for the loss of life that defined the Third Reich and celebrate 
the continued education efforts for tolerance and justice, reaffirming 
the commitment of the United States to the fight against intolerance 
and prejudice in any form, and honoring the legacy of transparent 
procedure, government accountability, the rule of law, the pursuit of 
justice, and the struggle for universal freedom and human rights. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas (for herself, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 
DOYLE, Mr. HONDA, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. OWENS, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. CON-
YERS, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. 
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. BISHOP 
of New York, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Ms. 
SLAUGHTER, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. 
ROTHMAN, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. STARK, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. NADLER, and 
Ms. BERKLEY) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on International Relations 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the people of the 
United States should grieve for the loss of life that 
defined the Third Reich and celebrate the continued edu-
cation efforts for tolerance and justice, reaffirming the 
commitment of the United States to the fight against 
intolerance and prejudice in any form, and honoring the 
legacy of transparent procedure, government account-
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•HCON 489 IH 
ability, the rule of law, the pursuit of justice, and the 
struggle for universal freedom and human rights. 
Whereas the Nazi Party came to power in Germany in 1933 
and consolidated its power and popularity in Germany by 
playing on the fears, frustrations, and hopes of the Ger-
man people, and Nazi rule would become a nightmare for 
Europe and the world; 
Whereas the leaders, government officials, diplomats, soldiers 
and police officers of Nazi Germany perpetrated crimes 
against humanity by implementing the so-called Final So-
lution--the systematic murder of the European Jews—as 
well as by killing millions of others targeted for ‘‘racial’’ 
reasons, including Roma (Gypsies), people with disabil-
ities, Poles and Soviet prisoners of war; 
Whereas the magnitude of death and destruction in the era 
of the Holocaust involved the murder of millions, includ-
ing 6 million Jews, more than one million of them chil-
dren and constituting two thirds of the European Jewish 
population, and marked a society for more than two gen-
erations afterwards with the brand of prejudice and rac-
ism; 
Whereas the Holocaust forces society and future generations 
to face uncomfortable questions, such as the responsibil-
ities of citizenship, the consequences of indifference and 
inaction, and the importance of education and awareness; 
Whereas the Nuremberg Trial, conducted before the Inter-
national Military Tribunal in the Palace of Justice in 
Nuremberg, Germany from November 20, 1945 until the 
verdicts were delivered on October 1, 1946 was intended 
to judge crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes 
against humanity publicly and transparently, on the basis 
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•HCON 489 IH 
of individual culpability, and to set precedents in inter-
national law to document such crimes in historical 
records and to bring a measure of justice for the victims 
of atrocities by calling to account future perpetrators be-
fore an international court of law; 
Whereas 2006 is the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg 
Trial and a year in which we commemorate specifically 
the courage of those who suffered under Nazi rule in giv-
ing testimony in trials of Nazi offenders; 
Whereas the Nuremberg Trial was convened by the Allied 
powers of the United States, Great Britain, France, and 
the Soviet Union, to prosecute 21 major war criminals in 
what would become the best-known post-World War II 
trial; 
Whereas the International Military Tribunal was authorized 
in its charter for presiding over the Nuremberg Trial ‘‘to 
try and punish persons who acting in the interest of the 
European Axis countries’’ committed one of four newly 
defined categories of crime: conspiracy, crimes against 
peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity; 
Whereas the last—crimes against humanity—was defined as 
‘‘murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation . . . or 
persecution of an individual on political, racial, or reli-
gious grounds’’; 
Whereas one of the most significant legal concepts established 
at the Nuremberg Trial was that a defendant’s argument 
that he was following orders was neither a defense nor 
an excuse justifying or mitigating the perpetration of a 
criminal act; 
Whereas captured documentation and eyewitness testimony 
presented at the Nuremberg Trial laid the initial founda-
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•HCON 489 IH 
tion for what we know about the Holocaust, including the 
killing apparatus at Auschwitz, the atrocities committed 
by the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units), and the de-
struction of the Warsaw ghetto, and for what we know 
about other Nazi crimes; 
Whereas at the Nuremberg Trial the first statistical estimate 
that the Nazis and their collaborators systematically 
murdered six million Jews was offered and evidence sup-
porting this estimate was entered into the record; 
Whereas the precedent set by the Nuremberg Trial has been 
held as a standard for special international tribunals to 
try perpetrators for crimes against humanity and crimes 
of genocide committed in the former Yugoslavia and in 
Rwanda; 
Whereas the world is watching closely as other countries, 
such as Iraq, seek to follow the framework and guiding 
vocabulary of the Nuremberg Trials to determine culpa-
bility while simultaneously allowing the accused to face 
their accusers; 
Whereas Israel, a country created in the wake of tragedy and 
born from international compromise, is a beacon of hope 
for democracy in the Middle East, and serves as an ex-
ample of a country that has been able to maintain a vi-
brant democracy amidst existential threats that have ex-
isted since its founding; 
Whereas the cries of victims of oppression and genocide, 
whether in Germany, Cambodia, Rwanda, Iraq or Sudan, 
are heard when the world demands justice and account-
ability; 
Whereas the Holocaust is a testament that democracy is frag-
ile and not immune to tyranny; and 
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•HCON 489 IH 
Whereas freedom demands that justice be pursued: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That— 
(1) it is the sense of Congress that the people 
of the United States should grieve for the loss of life 
that defined the Third Reich and celebrate the con-
tinued education efforts for tolerance and justice; 
(2) the United States reaffirms its commitment 
to the fight against intolerance and prejudice in any 
form; 
(3) Congress urges all members of the inter na-
tional community to honor those individuals of all 
races, creeds, and colors who perished at the hands 
of the Nazis; and 
(4) the United States honors the primacy of 
transparent procedure, government accountability, 
the rule of law, the pursuit of justice, and the strug-
gle for universal freedom and human rights. 
Æ 
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