Durbin Delivers Opening Statement In Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Conducting Oversight On Investigation Into Nazi-Connected Swiss Bank Accounts

Durbin Delivers Opening Statement In Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Conducting Oversight On Investigation Into Nazi-Connected Swiss Bank Accounts

"Today's hearing is a reminder that we still have a responsibility to reckon with the true events of the Holocaust and the role various actors played in its propagation and aftermath," Durbin said during his opening statement in today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered opening remarks in today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled "The Truth Revealed: Hidden Facts Regarding Nazis and Swiss Banks," which conducted oversight of an ongoing investigation by the Swiss bank UBS into Nazi-linked Credit Suisse accounts. In 2021, in response to concerns raised by the Jewish human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center, Credit Suisse initiated an internal investigation into its servicing of Nazi accounts in the 1930s and 1940s. A report from the investigation confirmed previously undisclosed relationships with Nazi-connected Credit Suisse account holders and initially identified at least 64,000 potentially relevant records meriting further investigation. The investigation is ongoing.

In his opening statement, Durbin credited U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) with leading oversight on this investigation. Durbin further emphasized that American leaders have a responsibility to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Key Quotes:

"Thanks to the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Grassley, and to Senator Whitehouse for their extraordinary work on this issue."

"January 27 was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On that day in 1945, the Allies, in particular the Soviet Red Army, liberated Auschwitz. Over six million Jewish people-two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population-were exterminated by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust, including [more than] one million lives lost at Auschwitz."

"As time goes on and living memory fades, it becomes increasingly important that the events and lessons of the Holocaust are not forgotten, are not revised, and are not rewritten."

"Today's hearing is a reminder that we still have a responsibility to reckon with the true events of the Holocaust and the role various actors played in its propagation and aftermath."

"This hearing provides us with an opportunity to examine the past in order to learn its lessons and honor the promise of 'Never Again.'"

Video of Durbin's opening statement is available here.

Audio of Durbin's opening statement is available here.

Footage of Durbin's opening statement is available here for TV Stations.

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