On the recordJanuary 26, 1994
today I join my colleagues in urging President Clinton and Secretary of State Christopher to engage in strong and swift diplomatic action with the German Government to resolve the case of Hugo Princz. I am proud to be a cosponsor of House Resolution 323 and to lend my strong support to its passage. First, I would like to commend Chairman Hamilton and my colleagues on the Foreign Affairs Committee for their swift and forthright action in bringing this resolution to the House floor. The story of Mr. Princz is one of an American citizen who needs the help of this Congress and I am glad we could be there to provide it. Mr. Princz was an American Jew living in Czechoslovakia with his family during the outbreak of World War II until Nazi authorities arrested him and his family and sent them to the concentration camps at Dachau and Auschwitz. Mr. Princz was the only one who survived. In 1945 on a train to certain death, Mr. Princz was liberated by American soldiers. Army officials recognized Mr. Princz as an American and brought him to an Army hospital for treatment. While this action probably saved his life, it has prevented Mr. Princz from receiving the reparations paid by the German Government to Holocaust survivors. Astonishingly, the German Government has refused Mr. Princz' request because he is an American citizen and was never processed by German officials as a refugee or stateless person.
