Holocaust Victims Redress Act
PL 105-158 (S.1564), enacted 02/13/1998

PUBLIC LAW 105-158—FEB. 13, 1998 
112 STAT. 15 
Public Law 105-158 
105th Congress 
An Act 
To provide redress for inadequate restitution of assets seized by the United States 
i? u 10 IQQO 
Grovernment during World War II which belonged to victims of the Holocaust, 
: 
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and for other purposes. 
[S. 1564] 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled. 
Holocaust 
Victims Redress 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
Act. 
This Act may be cited as the "Holocaust Victims Redress Act". 
TITLE I—HEIRLESS ASSETS 
SEC. 101. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—^The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Among the $198,000,000 in German assets located in 
the United States and seized by the United States Government 
in World War II were believed to be bank accounts, trusts, 
securities, or other assets belonging to Jewish victims of the 
Holocaust. 
(2) Among an estimated $1,200,000,000 in assets of Swiss 
nationals and institutions which were frozen by the United 
States Government during World War II (including over 
$400,000,000 in bank deposits) were assets whose beneficial 
owners were believed to include victims of the Holocaust. 
(3) In the aftermath of the war, the Congress recognized 
that some of the victims of the Holocaust whose assets were 
among those seized or frozen during the war might not have 
any legal heirs, and legislation was enacted to authorize the 
transfer of up to $3,000,000 of such assets to organizations 
dedicated to providing relief and rehabilitation for survivors 
of the Holocaust. 
(4) Although the Congress and the Administration author-
ized the transfer of such amount to the relief organizations 
referred to in paragraph (3), the enormous administrative dif-
ficulties and cost involved in proving legal ownership of such 
assets, directly or beneficially, by victims of the Holocaust, 
and proving the existence or absence of heirs of such victims, 
led the Congress in 1962 to agree to a lump-sum settlement 
and to provide $500,000 for the Jewish Restitution Successor 
Organization of New York, such sum amounting to Veth of 
the authorized maximum level of "heirless" assets to be treuis-
ferred. 
112 STAT. 16 
PUBLIC LAW 105-158—FEB. 13, 1998 
(5) In June of 1997, a representative of the Secretary 
of State, in testimony before the Congress, urged the reconsider-
ation of the Hmited $500,000 settlement. 
(6) While a precisely accurate accounting of "heirless" 
assets may be impossible, good conscience warrants the recogni-
tion that the victims of the Holocaust have a compelling moral 
claim to the unrestituted portion of assets referred to in para-
graph (3). 
(7) Furthermore, leadership by the United States in meet-
ing obligations to Holocaust victims would strengthen— 
(A) the efforts of the United States to press for the 
speedy distribution of the remaining nearly 6 metric tons 
of gold still held by the Tripartite Commission for the 
Restitution of Monetary Gold (the body established by 
France, Great Britain, and the United States at the end 
of World War II to return gold looted by Nazi Germany 
to the central banks of countries occupied by Germany 
during the war); and 
(B) the appeals by the United States to the 15 nations 
claiming a portion of such gold to contribute a substantial 
portion of any such distribution to Holocaust survivors 
in recognition of the recently documented fact that the 
gold held by the Commission includes gold stolen from 
individual victims of the Holocaust. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as follows: 
(1) To provide a measure of justice to survivors of the 
Holocaust all around the world while they are still alive. 
(2) To authorize the appropriation of an amount which 
is at least equal to the present value of the difference between 
the amount which was authorized to be transferred to successor 
organizations to compensate for assets in the United States 
of heirless victims of the Holocaust and the amount actually 
paid in 1962 to the Jewish Restitution Successor Org£inization 
of New York for that purpose. 
(3) To facilitate efforts by the United States to seek an 
agreement whereby nations with claims against gold held by 
the Tripartite Commission for the Restitution of Monetary Gold 
would contribute all, or a substantial portion, of that gold 
to charitable organizations to assist survivors of the Holocaust. 
SEC. 102. DISTRIBUTIONS BY THE TRIPARTITE GOLD COMMISSION. 
(a) DIRECTIONS TO THE PRESIDENT.—The President shall direct 
the commissioner representing the United States on the Tripartite 
Commission for the Restitution of Monetary Gold, established 
pursuant to Part III of the Paris Agreement on Reparation, to 
seek and vote for a timely agreement under which all signatories 
to the Paris Agreement on Reparation, with claims against the 
monetary gold pool in the jurisdiction of such Commission, contrib-
ute all, or a substantial portion, of such gold to charitable organiza-
tions to assist survivors of the Holocaust. 
(b) AUTHORITY TO OBLIGATE THE UNITED STATES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—From fiinds otherwise unobligated in the 
Treasury of the United States, the President is authorized 
to obligate subject to paragraph (2) an amount not to exceed 
$30,000,000 for distribution in accordance with subsections (a) 
and (b). 
PUBLIC LAW 105-158—FEB. 13, 1998 
112 STAT. 17 
(2) CONFORMANCE WITH BUDGET ACT REQUIREMENT.—Any 
budget authority contained in paragraph (1) shall be effective 
only to such extent and in such amounts as are provided 
in advance in appropriation Acts. 
SEC. 103. FULFILLMENT OF OBLIGATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized 
to be appropriated to the President such sums as may be necessary 
for fiscal years 1998, 1999, and 2000, not to exceed a total of 
$25,000,000 for all such fiscal years, for distribution to organizations 
as may be specified in any agreement concluded pursuant to section 
102. 
(b) ARCHIVAL RESEARCH.—There are authorized to be appro-
f
)riated to the President $5,000,000 for archival research and trans-
ation services to assist in the restitution of assets looted or extorted 
from victims of the Holocaust and such other activities that would 
further Holocaust remembrance and education. 
TITLE II—WORKS OF ART 
SEC. 201. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Established pre-World War II principles of international 
law, as enunciated in Articles 47 and 56 of the Regulations 
annexed to the 1907 Hague Convention (IV) Respecting the 
Laws and Customs of War on Land, prohibited pillage and 
the seizure of works of art. 
(2) In the years since World War II, international sanctions 
against confiscation of works of art have been amplified through 
such conventions as the 1970 Convention on the Means of 
Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Trans-
fer of Ownership of Cultural Property, which forbids the illegal 
export of art work and calls for its earliest possible restitution 
to its rightful owner. 
(3) In defiance of the 1907 Hague Convention, the Nazis 
extorted aind looted art fi'om individuals and institutions in 
countries it occupied during World War II and used such booty 
to help finance their war of aggression. 
(4) The Nazis' policy of looting art was a critical element 
£ind incentive in their campaign of genocide against individuals 
of Jewish and other religious and cultural heritage and, in 
this context, the Holocaust, while standing as a civil war 
against defined individuals and civilized values, must be consid-
ered a fundamental aspect of the world war unleashed on 
the continent. 
(5) Hence, the same international legal principles applied 
among states should be applied to art and other assets stolen 
) fi'om victims of the Holocaust. 
(6) In the aftermath of the war, art and other assets 
were transferred fi-om territory previously controlled by the 
Nazis to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, much of which 
has not been returned to rightfiil owners. 
SEC. 202. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS REGARDING RESTITUTION OF 
PRIVATE PROPERTY, SUCH AS WORKS OF ART. 
It is the sense of the Congress that consistent with the 1907 
Hague Convention, all governments should undertake good faith 
112 STAT. 18 
PUBLIC LAW 105-158—FEB. 13, 1998 
efforts to facilitate the return of private and public property, such 
as works of art, to the rightful owners in cases where assets 
were confiscated from the claimant during the period of Nazi rule 
and there is reasonable proof that the claimant is the rightful 
owner. 
Approved February 13, 1998. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 1564: 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD: 
Vol. 143 (1997): Nov. 13, considered and passed Senate. 
Vol. 144 (1998): Jan. 27, considered and passed House. 
WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 34 (1998): 
Feb. 13, Presidential statement