Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D. NY) in her first act as chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship and international law introduced in the House today a resolution calling on the government of West Germany to modify its statute of limitations to permit the continued prosecution of Nazi war criminals.
Her resolution was co-sponsored by Rep. Hamilton Fish (R. NY) and 100 other members of the House. Sen. Alan Cranston (D. Cal.) is to introduce a companion measure in the Senate. A Cranston aide said that probably it will be the same as Holtzman’s measure but it may follow the language of the California legislature which unanimously urged the West German government to continue prosecution.
In introducing the resolution, Holtzman said “It is particularly ironic” that the West German statute barring criminal proceedings may go into effect “when worldwide efforts to locate and bring to justice those who participated in the Holocaust have been intensified.”
She painted out also that the showing of the NBC – TV film, “Holocaust,” in West Germany resulted in a flood of new allegations on undetected war criminals in West Germany itself and “there have been even allegations some valuable information is now being intentionally with held, particularly by Communist countries, to be used to embarrass the West German government,” once the statute expired against such criminals.
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