R 140
2000-H 8119
Enacted 4/4/2000


H  O  U  S  E     R  E  S  O  L  U  T  I  O  N

URGING THAT THE STATE DEPARTMENT, THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT AND GERMAN INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX RESOLVE THE REMAINING ISSUE LEFT IN THE AFTERMATH OF WORLD WAR II, NAMELY A JUST EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE SETTLEMENT OF THE SLAVE LABOR/FORCED LABOR DISCUSSIONS IN BONN AND WASHINGTON

Introduced By:  Representatives Iwuc, Munschy, Shavers, Malik and Ginaitt Date Introduced:  March 30, 2000

WHEREAS, Poland was attacked by the German Army on September 1, 1939; and

WHEREAS, Poland was attacked by the Soviet Army on September 19, 1939 and which joined forces with the German Army in celebration at Brest-Litovsk on the River Bug; and

WHEREAS, Poland was the object of the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as slated for the unprecedented state sponsored program of ethnic cleansing by the Nazi's and the Soviets; and

WHEREAS, The Soviets deported nearly two million Poles to the Gulags and Siberia; and

WHEREAS, The Germans forced nearly 2.4 million Polish citizens from their homes to the German Third Reich Complex of nearly 7000 camps; and

WHEREAS, Chancellor Shroeder has acknowledged the failings of past settlements to provide equal compensation for all Polish citizens unlike the Russians who refuse to acknowledge any responsibility; and

WHEREAS, There are citizens of the United States that survived the German and Soviet Programs of Ethnic Cleansing against the Polish Nation; and

WHEREAS, President Clinton has named Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Stuart Eizsenstat as Chairman of the State Department Negotiating Team for resolving the issue of the German Accountability to the victims of the Nazi work programs; and

WHEREAS, No Polish American representation was allowed at the current negotiations as a spokesman on behalf of Polish American survivors; and

WHEREAS, By reason of not permitting Polish American representation, the State Department has full responsibility for the current state of negotiations; and

RESOLVED, That Polish Americans' desire that the German Government bring closure to the living survivors of the Nazi atrocities; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the German Government and the German Industrial Complex which profited immensely from the slave/forced labor program make certain that this final settlement shall establish both an industrial and a Bundestag approved Government fund; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the German Government and German industry shall ensure that the industrial fund and the approved Bundestag fund combined or separately shall be comprehensive and sufficient in value to equally compensate all surviving victims of the Agrarian, Industrial, Municipal and Service slave/forced labor programs; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the State Department and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury has a mandate from Polish American survivors to make this final agreement fair, equitable and all inclusive; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he is hereby authorized and directed to transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Presiding Officers of both branches of government, and to Stuart Eizenstat Undersecretary of the Treasury and Chairman of the State Department negotiating committee for Holocaust Victims.


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