I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 271
To amend title 28, United States Code, relating to jurisdictional immunities
of the Federal Republic of Germany, to grant jurisdiction to the courts
of the United States in certain cases involving acts of genocide occurring
against certain individuals during World War II in the predecessor states
of the Federal Republic of Germany, or in any territories or areas
occupied, annexed, or otherwise controlled by those states.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 6, 1999
Ms. SLAUGHTER (for herself, Mr. HORN, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. FROST,
Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr.
CALVERT, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. MCNULTY, Mrs. KELLY, Mr.
FOLEY, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California,
Mrs. LOWEY, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. TOWNS,
Mr. ENGEL, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. WEXLER, Mr.
PASCRELL, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. WATERS, Mr. DEUTSCH, Ms. ROS-
LEHTINEN, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. LEVIN, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr.
NADER, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. FORBES, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO´, Mr.
WEYGAND, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey, Mr. WALSH, Mr.
MATSUI, Mr. REYES, Mr. BENTSEN, Mr. HEFLEY, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr.
SHERMAN, and Mr. CLYBURN) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 28, United States Code, relating to jurisdic-
tional immunities of the Federal Republic of Germany,
to grant jurisdiction to the courts of the United States
in certain cases involving acts of genocide occurring
against certain individuals during World War II in the
predecessor states of the Federal Republic of Germany,
or in any territories or areas occupied, annexed, or other-
wise controlled by those states.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justice for Holocaust
Survivors Act’’.
SEC. 2. EXCEPTION TO FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY
FOR CERTAIN CASES INVOLVING ACTS OF
GENOCIDE IN A FOREIGN STATE.
Section 1605 of title 28, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of para-
graph (6);
(B) by striking the period at the end of
paragraph (7) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(8) not otherwise encompassed in paragraph
(2), in which money damages are sought against the
Federal Republic of Germany for the personal injury
of a United States citizen occurring in the prede-
cessor states of the Federal Republic of Germany, or
in any territories or areas occupied, annexed, or oth-
erwise controlled by those states and caused by an
act of genocide committed against that citizen dur-
ing World War II by, or under the direction or su-
pervision of, such predecessor state or by, or under
the direction or supervision of, an official or em-
ployee of such predecessor state while acting within
the scope of his or her office or employment, wheth-
er or not the individual whose injury gave rise to the
action was a United States citizen at the time the
conduct causing such injury occurred, except that—
‘‘(A) the court shall decline to hear a claim
under this paragraph if the claimant has not
exhausted adequate and available remedies
under the law of the Federal Republic of Ger-
many, unless pursuing such remedies would
cause or would have caused the claimant undue
hardship on account of the nature of the inju-
ries sustained and their effects on the ability of
the claimant to pursue such remedies; and
‘‘(B) an action under this paragraph shall
not be maintained unless the cause of action is
brought within 24 months after the date of the
enactment of this paragraph.’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(h) For purposes of paragraph (8) of subsection (a),
the term ‘act of genocide’ means conduct that would be