RESOLUTION B3-208, 0218, 0219, 0228 and 0284/93

Resolution on European and international protection for Nazi concentration camps as historical monuments

The European Parliament,

A.mindful of the current threats to the preservation of the sites of the Nazi concentration camps and to their special significance in historical terms,

B.rejecting all arbitrary correlations between the reality of the Nazi camps and the uses to which they may have been put after the war,

C.considering that the millions of people who died in Nazi concentration camps deserve the respect of present and future generations and that the value of the sacrifices they made for freedom, human rights and peace must serve as an example for the education of our young people,

D.maintaining that remaining loyal to the memory of the millions of victims entails not just preserving the sites but also informing visitors of the widely differing origins of the people imprisoned in these camps and the reasons for their deportation;

E.attaching paramount importance to the conservation of all archives relating to Nazi concentration camps, particular those at Arolsen, and to these being made available for research purposes,

F.protesting against all current manifestations of racism, anti-semitism and xenophobia and any return to Nazi ideologies condemned by the civilized world,

1.Calls on the Member States, the Council and Commission to give financial and other support to all measures designed to preserve the special significance of the Nazi concentration camps and to place them under European and international protection;

2.Calls for a survey, to be conducted under its authority, of all laws or regulations of the Member States designed to combat all forms of neo-Nazism, racism and xenophobia and insists that it is the duty of the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament, as signatories of the Joint Declaration against Racism and Xenophobia, to use all possible means to combat all manifestations of neo-Nazism in the Community and any denial of the fact that extermination took place in the camps;

3.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of the Member States.