IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 17 
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 
JANUARY 5, 2007 
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas submitted the following concurrent resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
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-
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-
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•HCON 17 IH 
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 six 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 Trials, 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, were in-
tended to judge crimes against peace, war crimes, and 
crimes against humanity publicly and transparently, on 
the basis of individual culpability, and to set precedents 
in international 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; 
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•HCON 17 IH 
Whereas 2006 was the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg 
Trials and a year in which we commemorated specifically 
the courage of those who suffered under Nazi rule in giv-
ing testimony in trials of Nazi offenders; 
Whereas the Nuremberg Trials were 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 
trials; 
Whereas the International Military Tribunal was authorized 
in its charter for presiding over the Nuremberg Trials 
‘‘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 Trials was that a defendant’s argu-
ment 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 Trials laid the initial foun-
dation for what we know about the Holocaust, including 
the killing apparatus at Auschwitz, the atrocities com-
mitted by the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units), and 
the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto, and for what we 
know about other Nazi crimes; 
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•HCON 17 IH 
Whereas at the Nuremberg Trials the first statistical esti-
mate that the Nazis and their collaborators systemati-
cally murdered six million Jews was offered and evidence 
supporting this estimate was entered into the record; 
Whereas the precedent set by the Nuremberg Trials 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 
Whereas freedom demands that justice be pursued: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That— 
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•HCON 17 IH 
(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-
national 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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