Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 116 Part 2.djvu/641

 PUBLIC LAW 107-228—SEPT. 30, 2002 116 STAT. 1423 preparation of the Federal Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future", done at Berlin on July 17, 2000. (3) GERMAN FOUNDATION. —The term "German Foundation" means the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future" referred to in the Agreement. (4) ICHEIC. — The term "ICHEIC" means the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims referred to in Article 1(4) of the Agreement. SEC. 705. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON RETURN OF PORTRAITS OF HOLO- CAUST VICTIMS TO THE ARTIST DINA BABBITT. (a) FINDINGS. —Congress fmds that— (1) Dina Babbitt (formerly known as Dinah Gottliebova), Dinah a United States citizen has requested the return of watercolor Gottliebova. portraits she painted while suffering a IVb-year-long internment at the Auschwitz death camp during World War II; (2) Dina Babbitt was ordered to paint the portraits by the infamous war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele; (3) Dina Babbitt's life, and her mother's life, were spared only because she painted portraits of doomed inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, under orders from Dr. Josef Mengele; (4) these paintings are currently in the possession of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum; (5) Dina Babbitt is the rightful owner of the artwork, since the paintings were produced by her own talented hands as she endured the unspeakable conditions that existed at the Auschwitz death camp; (6) the artwork is not available for the public to view at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and therefore this unique and important body of work is essentially lost to history; and (7) this continued injustice can be righted through cooperation between agencies of the United States and Poland. (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS. —Congress— (1) recognizes the moral right of Dina Babbitt to obtain the artwork she created, and recognizes her courage in the face of the evils perpetrated by the Nazi command of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, including the atrocities committed by Dr. Josef Mengele; (2) urges the President to make all efforts necessary to retrieve the 7 watercolor portraits Dina Babbitt painted, while suffering a lV2-year-long internment at the Auschwitz death camp, and return them to her; (3) urges the Secretary to make immediate diplomatic efforts to facilitate the transfer of the 7 original watercolors painted by Dina Babbitt from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum to Dina Babbitt, their rightful owner; (4) urges the Government of Poland to immediately facilitate the return to Dina Babbitt of the artwork painted by her that is now in the possession of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum; and (5) urges the officials of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum to transfer the 7 original paintings to Dina Babbitt as expeditiously as possible.

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