On the recordJanuary 26, 1994
I rise in strong support of the resolution, and I commend the chairman for bringing this important bill to the floor and the gentleman from New Jersey and others for sponsoring it. Mr. Speaker, in my district in New York City I am proud to represent thousands of Holocaust survivors and their families. These men and women suffered through the worst episode of man's inhumanity to man. Nothing we could ever do or say could erase the searing memories of this horrible trauma. Nothing we could ever do or say could bring the 6 million who died back to life. But as the magnificent new museum just 1 mile from this Chamber teaches us, we must do everything in our power--even little things--to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are not forgotten. And we must do whatever we can today to correct the injustices of yesterday. Hugo Princz' American citizenship didn't protect him from years of hell in Auschwitz and Dachau. It didn't protect him from seeing his family taken away and murdered. After he was liberated by American GI's from a train taking him to certain executing, Mr. Princz' American citizenship saved his life. Yet this stroke of good luck has prevented him from his rightful participation in the reparations program. For nearly 40 years, he has suffered the indignity of having to wage bureaucratic battles against the German Government. He is the only known survivor to live in this bureaucratic purgatory. The time for technicalities is over.
