2007年VOA标准英语-US Lawmakers Push to Open Holocaust Archive

By Ivana Kuhar
Washington
02 April 2007
 

Sixty two years after the end of the World War II, the largest Holocaust¹ archives in the world still remain closed to the public.  US lawmakers are now calling for the prompt release of the documents.  For producer Ivana Kuhar, VOA's Jim Bertel reports from a recent hearing in the US Congress:

Nazi2 concentration camp

The US is leading a campaign to speed ratification³ of an agreement that would open up the most complete records of Nazi crimes. 

Bad Arolsen, a small village in central Germany, contains original Third Reich documents, which the Allies seized after defeating Hitler's regime, that detail Nazi persecutions.

The files, stored in thousands of filing cabinets in 6 buildings are more than 24 kilometers long and contain up to 50 million pages.  The documents are a testament⁴ of what happened to over 17 million people - Jews, Roma, homosexuals, political prisoners, and others deemed undesirable⁵ by Hitler's National Socialist⁶ (Nazi) Party over its 12-year reign⁷.

The Chairman of the US Congressional Helsinki Commission, Representative Alcee Hastings, says opening the records is a "moral imperative": "It's beyond shameful⁸ that 62 years after the end of the World War [II], the Holocaust archives at Bad Arolsen remain the largest closed World War II era archives in the world."

Bad Arolsen archives are controlled by the International Tracing Service (ITC) of the Red Cross. The ITC is run by a commission of 11 countries. It was only last year that all commission members agreed to make the documents public. But, so far, only five countries have completed the complex legal process required to open the Bad Arolsen archives.

On Wednesday, (March 28th) Congressman⁹ Robert Wexler, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe in the US House of Representatives, called on the governments of Germany, France, Luxembourg, Greece, Italy and Belgium to speed up the ratification of amendments¹⁰ needed to shed more light on the fate of Holocaust victims. "It is unconscionable that Holocaust Survivors¹¹ and their families are facing this delay and are met with bureaucratic¹² red tape when they seek to trace the true events of their families' history. Shamefully¹³, many survivors die each year without knowing the details of family members' deportation¹⁴, incarceration¹⁵ or death. The international community has a moral obligation to address this greatest of injustices¹⁶."

But even though the bureaucratic conditions for opening the Bad Arolsen archives have not yet been met, the archive is being readied for release.

About two-thirds of the massive record have been digitized and will be made available to Holocaust research centers around the world for public viewing.  Experts expect the entire collection to be ready for release within a year.

The President of the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA David Schaechter says 80,000 Holocaust survivors in America live in poverty. Schaechter told the Congressional hearing that opening up Bad Arolsen records would provide the survivors a chance to get restitution¹⁷.

Schaechter added that opening the archives would be a blow to modern day deniers who claim the Holocaust is a myth created after 1945, and that it was never documented as a historical event.

1 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

2 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

3 ratification   

n.批准，认可

参考例句：

• The treaty is awaiting ratification.条约正等待批准。
• The treaty is subject to ratification.此条约经批准后才能生效。

4 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

5 undesirable   

adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子

参考例句：

• They are the undesirable elements among the employees.他们是雇员中的不良分子。
• Certain chemicals can induce undesirable changes in the nervous system.有些化学物质能在神经系统中引起不良变化。

6 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

7 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

8 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

9 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

10 amendments   

（法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案

参考例句：

• The committee does not adequately consult others when drafting amendments. 委员会在起草修正案时没有充分征求他人的意见。
• Please propose amendments and addenda to the first draft of the document. 请对这个文件的初稿提出修改和补充意见。

11 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

12 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

13 shamefully   

可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。
• They have served me shamefully for a long time. 长期以来，他们待我很坏。

14 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

15 incarceration   

n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭

参考例句：

• He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
• Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句

16 injustices   

不公平( injustice的名词复数 )； 非正义； 待…不公正； 冤枉

参考例句：

• One who committed many injustices is doomed to failure. 多行不义必自毙。
• He felt confident that his injustices would be righted. 他相信他的冤屈会受到昭雪的。

17 restitution   

n.赔偿；恢复原状

参考例句：

• It's only fair that those who do the damage should make restitution.损坏东西的人应负责赔偿，这是再公平不过的了。
• The victims are demanding full restitution.受害人要求全额赔偿。