Chairman Robert Wexler
Hearing of the Subcommittee on Europe
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Opening up of the Bad Arolsen Holocaust Archives in Germany
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
I want to welcome everyone for this timely hearing on American and international efforts to open the Bad Arolsen Holocaust Archives in Germany. I want to welcome our distinguished witnesses, including my good friend and colleague from Florida, the Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, Alcee Hastings. Chairman Hastings has led the effort in Congress to open the Bad Arolsen Archives, ensuring that Holocaust Survivors in our state of Florida and across the world have unfettered access to the most extensive Holocaust archives in existence.
I also want to welcome J. Christian Kennedy, the State Department's Special Envoy for Holocaust issues; Mr. Paul Shapiro Director of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Mr. David Schaecter, President of the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA; and Mr. Leo Rechter, President of the National Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors (NAHOS).
The horrors of the Second World War came to an end over 60 years ago, but sadly there are aspects of this dark period in history that remain unresolved. Most notably, the archives held in Bad Arolsen, Germany have for the better part of 60 years been inaccessible to Holocaust survivors, researchers and institutions.
The Bad Arolsen Archive is believed to contain between 35 and 50 million reference files documenting the more than 17 million people who passed through the concentration camps and forced-labor camps of the Third Reich. The archives contain information pertaining to Schindler's List, Anne Frank's deportation and 3 ½ million testimonies of survivors explaining their harrowing experience.
The information at Bad Arolsen was originally collected and maintained to help reunite non-German families separated during the war and trace missing family members. Countless files and documentation from across Germany were relocated to Bad Arolsen by Allied forces after World War II. Shortly after the end of the war, the Bonn Accord Treaty was signed by 11 nations, including the United States, forming an International Commission to govern the International Tracing Service (ITS) which was charged with maintaining the massive Nazi Archives.
Regrettably, many families seeking critical information from the ITS received incomplete responses sometimes years after their requests were submitted, and often the information was inadequate.
Following public pressure from Holocaust survivors and researchers who disagreed with cutting off access to the archives -- ITS commission members declared themselves in favor of opening up Bad Arolsen in 1998. Unfortunately, that declaration was an empty gesture and it took until May of 2006 -- before the International Commission declared that it would take the legal steps necessary to open the archives.
Currently only five out of eleven Commission members including, the United States, Israel, Poland, United Kingdom and the Netherlands have ratified the necessary treaty changes. Unfortunately, six countries have not ratified the treaty and I urge the governments of Germany, Luxembourg, France, Greece, Italy and Belgium to adopt these amendments immediately.
It is unconscionable that Holocaust Survivors and their families are facing this delay and are met with bureaucratic red tape when they seek to trace the true events of their families' history. Shamefully, many survivors die each year without knowing the details of family members' deportation, incarceration or death. The international community has a moral obligation to address this injustice.
I want to call upon the Ranking Member Mr. Gallegly for his opening remarks.
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