Nazi Victims

Nazi Victims: Declaration by Under Secretary of State William j Burns in 2011

United States views on international law (based on the document “Digest of U.S. Practice in International Law”): I, William J. Burns, hereby declare and state as follows:

1. I am the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, a position I have held since May 2008. Prior to my current position, I have served in a number of posts since entering the Foreign Service in 1982, including, among others Ambassador to Russia, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and Ambassador to Jordan.

Developments

2. The United States and Germany signed an Executive Agreement on July 17, 2000, in which Germany committed to establish the Foundation, “Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future,” to compensate victims of the Nazi era, and the United States committed to take certain steps to assist Germany and German Companies in achieving “legal peace” in the United States with respect to such claims. The background of these efforts and a statement of U.S. foreign policy interests in the implementation of the Agreement are stated in the October 19, 2000 declaration of former Deputy Secretary of Treasury Stuart Eizenstat, and the October 20, 2000 statement of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (attached).

Details

3. The foreign policy interests in “legal peace” for covered companies described by Secretary Albright and Deputy Secretary Eizenstat are enduring and extend beyond Germany's successful implementation of the Agreement. The United States' efforts to facilitate this cooperative compensation arrangement are part of a larger policy to ensure the greatest compensation for the greatest number of Holocaust victims and their heirs, in their lifetimes, as well as to support a broad “legal peace” for countries and companies subject to ongoing claims.

Resources

See Also

• International Claims
• State Responsability
• Nazi Era Claims
• Holocaust
• Victims