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Holocaust-Era Claims in the 21St Century Hearing S. HRG. 112–551 HOLOCAUST-ERA CLAIMS IN THE 21ST CENTURY HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JUNE 20, 2012 Serial No. J–112–82 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 76–040 WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CHUCK GRASSLEY, Iowa DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah CHUCK SCHUMER, New York JON KYL, Arizona DICK DURBIN, Illinois JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota JOHN CORNYN, Texas AL FRANKEN, Minnesota MICHAEL S. LEE, Utah CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware TOM COBURN, Oklahoma RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut BRUCE A. COHEN, Chief Counsel and Staff Director KOLAN DAVIS, Republican Chief Counsel and Staff Director (II) C O N T E N T S STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS Page Schumer, Hon. Chuck, a U.S. Senator from the State of New York ................... 3 Sessions, Hon. Jeff, a U.S. Senator from the State of Alabama .......................... 6 WITNESSES Bindenagel, J.D., Vice President for Community, Government, and Inter- national Affairs, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois ...................................... 15 Bretholz, Leo, Holocaust Survivor, Author of ‘‘Leap into Darkness,’’ Baltimore, Maryland ............................................................................................................... 10 Firestone, Renee, Holocaust Survivor, Los Angeles, California ........................... 14 Nelson, Hon. Bill, a U.S. Senator from the State of Florida ................................ 1 Rosenberg, Samuel L., Delegate, 41st District of Maryland, Baltimore, Mary- land ........................................................................................................................ 8 Swaine, Edward T., Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School, Washington, DC ...................................................................................... 12 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Responses of Samuel Rosenberg to questions submitted by Senator Sessions ... 22 Responses of Edward Swaine to questions submitted by Senator Sessions ....... 27 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD AIA, Jewish Journal, South Florida, article .......................................................... 31 AVHO, June 18, 2012, ICHEIC statistics .............................................................. 32 Balitzer, Alfred, Foundation for California, Long Beach, California, June 24, 2012, letter ............................................................................................................ 33 Bet Tzedek, Los Angeles, California, June 18, 2012, letter ................................. 37 Bindenagel, J.D., Vice President for Community, Government, and Inter- national Affairs, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois statement .......................................................................................................... 39 DePaul University, June 22, 2012, letter ....................................................... 48 Blumenfield, Bob, Assembly member, Fortieth District, Sacramento, Cali- fornia, June 18, 2012, letter ................................................................................ 52 Bretholz, Leo, Holocaust Survivor, Author of ‘‘Leap into Darkness,’’ Baltimore, Maryland ............................................................................................................... 54 Congress of the United States, Washington, DC, Hon. Bill Nelson, Senator; Hon. Marco Rubio, Senator; Dennis Ross, Member of Congress; Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Member of Congress; Vern Buchanan, Member of Con- gress, Thomas J. Rooney, Member of Congress; Mario Diaz-Balart, Member of Congress; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Member of Congress; Ted Deutch, Mem- ber of Congress; Allen B. West, Member of Congress; Frederica Wilson, Member of Congress; David Rivera, Member of Congress; Gus Bilirakis, Member of Congress, September 20, 2011, joint letter ..................................... 60 CRIF, Richard Prasquier, President, Paris, France, May 31, 2012, letter ......... 62 DePaul University College of Law, Chicago, Illinois, article ............................... 65 Department of State, Washington, DC: Davidson, Douglas, Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, statement ............ 66 fact sheet ........................................................................................................... 69 Emsellem, Bernard, Senior Vice President, Paris, France, letter, statement and attachment .................................................................................................... 70 Firestone, Renee, Holocaust Survivor, Los Angeles, California, statement ........ 87 (III) IV Page Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA, David Schaecter, President: JTA - The Golobal News Service of the Jewish People, April 4, 2012, joint letter ...................................................................................................... 97 June 26, 2012, joint letter ................................................................................ 106 David Harris, President, New York, New York, November 30, 2011, joint letter ............................................................................................................... 113 Jewish Community Organizations Group, joint statement and attachment ...... 119 Jewish Week, New York, December 27, 2011, article ........................................... 129 Kent, Roman, Treasurer, Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Ger- many, New York, New York, statement ............................................................. 133 Lantos, Annette, Washington, DC, statement ....................................................... 145 Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles California, June 15, 2012, article .................... 146 Neiman, Richard H., Superintendent of Banks, New York State Banking Department, New York, New York, statement .................................................. 148 New York Times International, June 2, 2011, article .......................................... 157 Politico, POLITICO.com, June 20, 2012, article ................................................... 159 Republican Jewish Coalition, Noah Silverman, Congressional Affairs Director, Washington, DC, letters ...................................................................................... 161 Rosenberg, Samuel L., Delegate, 41st District of Maryland, Baltimore, Mary- land, statement .................................................................................................... 165 SNCF Invoices .......................................................................................................... 174 Swaine, Edward T., Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School, Washington, DC, statement ................................................................... 180 ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Submissions for the record not printed due to voluminous nature, previously printed by an agency of the Federal Government or other criteria deter- mined by the Committee, list: J.S. Bindenagel Additional Submissions New York Banking Department Executive Summary from 2011 HCOP Insurance Report HOLOCAUST-ERA CLAIMS IN THE 21ST CENTURY WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, D.C. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:39 p.m., in room S– 115, The Capitol, Hon. Charles Schumer, presiding. Present: Senators Schumer, Klobuchar, Blumenthal, Grassley, and Sessions. Senator SCHUMER. The hearing will come to order, and I want to apologize in advance. We are going to have to keep order here, please. We are going to have to keep order and close the door, if need be. Anyway, I want to apologize to everybody. Because of all these votes 10 minutes apart, we had to move the hearing room from our usual Judiciary room to right here, and we are going to have to be skedaddling back and forth, unfortunately, to go upstairs and vote and come back. But it is a much quicker walk and will delay us a lot less. I have an opening statement which I will read, but again, be- cause of how the votes are working, Senator Nelson, who is the spirit and the driving force to have this hearing and who has done such a good job on this issue, is going to make his opening state- ment before mine. Then I will make mine, and then we will call on the witnesses. Senator Nelson. STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA Senator NELSON. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. The first thing I would like to insert in the record is an op-ed by Annette Lantos, who just came in, the widow of our former col- league, Tom Lantos, and it is directly on point. So I will give this to you, Mr. Chairman. Senator SCHUMER. And without objection, we will put the entire statement in the record. [The op-ed appears as a submission for the record.] Senator NELSON. I appreciate you calling this, and for the cramped quarters we apologize, but please understand this was the only room available here close to the Senate chamber, and the choice was either a postponing of the hearing or going ahead with it in this location because of the votes upstairs on the second floor. (1) 2 This issue
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