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1 1 (December 16, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govddax0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * Congessoa Research Service Two Supreme Court Cases to Test Limits on Foreign Sovereign Immunity for Holocaust Harms December 16, 2020 In two cases this term, Republic of h'ungary v. Simon (Hungary) and Federal Republic ofjGermany v. Philipp (Germany), the Supreme Court is set to address intersecting issues about foreign sovereign immunity and the Holocaust. The plaintiffs in both cases seek to make foreign governments liable for Nazi-era injuries. But the defendants, which include Hungary and Germany, argue the suits should be dismissed based on international comity-a legal doctrine that allows courts to abstain from jurisdiction out of respect for foreign sovereignty. Germany also argues that it is immune from suit because it believes the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) does not permit claims in U.S. courts against foreign governments for taking property from their own citizens within its own territory. The legal questions in both cases may have longstanding implications for when foreign countries can be sued in U.S. courts. The cases also have attracted attention because of the way in which the legal defenses intersect with the tragic events of the Holocaust. Some observers, including some Members of Congress, contend that the defendants' legal arguments contradict the historical timeline of the Holocaust. The United States, on the other hand, supports the defendants' legal theories in its role as amicus curiae. Factual Background The atrocities of the Holocaust form the factual backdrop for Hungary and Germany. In Hungary, a group of 14 Holocaust survivors filed a putative class action against Hungary and a state-owned railway company, Magyar Allamvasutak Zrt (MAV). From 1941 to 1945, Hungary deported more than 440,000 Hungarian Jews to Nazi-run concentration camps, chiefly Auschwitz. According to the survivors, Hungarian officials facilitated the mass deportation using MAV's rail system, and MAV employees robbed Jewish citizens of their last remaining possessions as they were loaded onto trains. The survivors seek compensation from Hungary and MAV for taking their property during the genocidal campaign. In Germany, the heirs of a group of Jewish art dealers working during the rise of the Naziregime sued to recover a collection of medieval relics and art known as the Welfenshatz (Guelph Treasure in English). The art dealers purchased the collection in 1929 before the stock market crash that year, but soon faced persecution when the Nazi party came to power in 1933. In 1935, the dealers sold most of the Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10563 CRS Legal Siebar G :rr~Efi tcescof uorngress

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