FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

President Klestil, Chancellor Schuessel, who has done so much to make this day possible and whose leadership and vision we deeply appreciate, Maria Schaumayer who was my partner and, if I may say so, I was the junior partner and she the senior partner, Heinz Fischer, President of the Austrian Parliament, Ambassador Sucharipa, Ambassador Winkler, Excellencies.

"History" is a much-abused word, used so often that it has become debased. But today's signing is genuinely historic because, by providing a measure of justice to many forgotten victims of the Nazi era, the Austrian Reconciliation Fund will set an example for others both today and in the future. President Clinton has sent a letter to President Klestil which I have the privilege of reading, dated October 19th:

Dear Mr. President:

I commend you and the Austrian Government for your efforts to address the issue of Nazi-era forced and slave labor on the territory of the present day Republic of Austria. The establishment of the Austrian Reconciliation Fund, which will provide many aged survivors with a measure of justice in their lifetimes, will be a historic achievement.

We look forward to working with you and Chancellor Schuessel's Government to find a similar resolution to the remaining property and Aryanization issues arising out of the Nazi era and World War II.

Again, I commend your gesture which combines responsible action with vision and humanity.

Signed Bill Clinton, President of the U.S.A.

Let me also quote from the last two paragraphs of a letter that President Clinton sent to President Klestil on September 8^th in the midst of our negotiations: he said that "in conclusion, let me also note that I have greatly admired your efforts, Mr. President, as Federal President, to bring about reconciliation between Austria and Holocaust victims. Your remarks before the Israeli parliament in November 1994 and at the Mauthausen concentration camp this year in May have reflected your strong personal commitment to reconciliation."

All nations must be willing to confront their past, however painful and difficult, if there is to be justice today. Through establishment of the Reconciliation Fund, Austria recognizes its moral responsibility for the suffering of slave and forced laborers on its territory during the Nazi period.

I want to commend President Klestil and Chancellor Schuessel for their contribution to establishment of the Reconciliation Fund. President Klestil has been at the forefront of the effort for Austria to come to terms with its past. I want to thank President Klestil for his acknowledgement today of the role of Austrians in committing the crimes of the Nazi era. I have greatly admired your efforts as Federal President to bring about reconciliation between Austria and Holocaust victims and, as the President said, your remarks before the Israeli Parliament and at Mauthausen have reflected your strong personal commitment to reconciliation.

The establishment of this Fund, and the statements today by Austrian leaders, as well as, I may say, the moving statements by all of our Central European colleagues and indeed by the attorneys, are part of a powerful movement among nations to confront their history and to take moral responsibility for crimes committed against humanity and other actions or inactions that grievously injured their own citizens and others.

What is important for all of us here today is to acknowledge that confronting the past is a continuing endeavor that must be based on knowledge and truth. Truth is not something that we admit to one day, and forget about the next. Each generation must re-examine the truth about the past and come to terms with it.

It is therefore of great importance and to its great credit that Austria has established a Historian's Commission to review Austria's role in the Holocaust and its postwar efforts at restitution and compensation. The Commission's interim report on leased apartments that has just been released is the first of its contributions. The reports of this Commission will provide a record of past events and can be expected to have an important impact on Austria's self-image. How Austria responds to the Commission's own findings will affect how Austria is perceived around the world.

The labor agreement today is genuinely historic. But it does not end all moral responsibility for the crimes committed and the suffering endured during the Nazi era on the territory of present-day Austria. Nor, may I add, and I think this is important, do the governmental officials say so. They indicate that more needs to be done. Nothing can erase the memory of those who died, of the culture and potential achievements lost, of the suffering of those who survived, of the lessons the Holocaust and other crimes of the Nazi era must teach us about the importance of tolerance and the rule of law, of the need for good people not to remain silent in the face of evil, of the need for prompt international response to human rights violations.

Nor does the signing of this truly historic agreement complete the actions we hope Austria will take to right the wrongs of the past. That will require an agreement on property restitution.

It is important for the Austrian people to know that they and their government are helping a group of World War II survivors -- almost all of whom are non-Jews -- who have lived behind the Iron curtain, or who otherwise have received little or no postwar benefit from any country. It is also gratifying that Romani people and Jehovah's witnesses will also be benefiting.

Immediately following this ceremony, Austria and the victims groups will initiate an effort to address property restitution and compensation issues that were not adequately addressed in the past. It is critically important that these talks succeed. We have set an ambitious schedule of property meetings to achieve success by the end of this year. This is an important historic task, equally essential to building and defining the community in which we all wish to live in this new century. We hope President Klestil will continue to add his moral authority to this last effort and will encourage Austrian industry to broadly participate in the property fund, as they are doing for the labor fund, with the same prospect for legal peace being provided as we are now providing for the labor cases. We very much welcome the involvement of Dr. Pichler, representing the Austrian private sector, who will join Ambassador Sucharipa for the property negotiations. To be successful, all parties to the negotiations will have to compromise. Victim groups will have to be flexible and realistic, and the Austrian Government and private sector will be expected to make a reasonable contribution to the General Settlement Fund. It will be important for the Austrian Government and Austrian enterprises to keep in mind the moral dimension as we begin the property negotiations, in the same way as they have done so forthrightly in the labor negotiations.

At the same time, we are very much aware that Austria is taking these steps in a season of budget austerity, and that it has therefore required forthright and praiseworthy political leadership to bring us to this point. We should all recognize that Chancellor Schuessel and the Austrian Government are providing that leadership and parliamentary President Hans Fischer and all the parliamentary leaders of the major parties are doing likewise - an extraordinary effort at bi-partisanship. It is important to recall that providing these measures of justice for surviving victims is also part, however, of a very practical process as well. The resolution of pending legal claims and legal peace which we seek to achieve are also of real benefit to the Austrian economy and Austria's investment climate. By engaging in this important business, the Austrian Government is acting both on behalf of justice and a moral imperative and, quite practically, on behalf of the real interests of the people of Austria.

For almost 50 years, Nazi victims have waited for the rest of mankind to offer some measure of justice for their suffering, and we all know not enough was done. The recent efforts to assist survivors is part of a new stirring of the moral conscience of the world, evident not just regarding Holocaust issues and other crimes of World War II, but to human rights violations everywhere -- in the Balkans, Rwanda, East Timor, or Iraq. As long as crimes against humanity continue, remembrance of the Holocaust and other injustices and suffering perpetrated by the Nazis is essential.

The last word on the Nazi era should not be about the money that survivors receive. Rather, it should be the truth of what happened, how it happened and the roles played by its perpetrators, as well as those who were not perpetrators but nevertheless profited from millions of Holocaust victims and others injured during the Nazi era. It should also be about what we do to prevent a recurrence of such horrific crimes.

So it is not merely the forthcoming property talks that must be concluded by the end of the year, but also the opening of archives and the completion of historical reports and the acceleration of art restitution in Austria and around the world. Only by examining the mistakes of the past can we absorb their lessons and act on them in the future. Only by examining the past can we gain self-respect as individuals, and collectively as a nation. So we congratulate Austria, with the leadership of President Klestil, Chancellor Schuessel, and Maria Schaumayer for this historic step on labor, and we look forward to completing this task with an agreement by year's end on property with Ambassador Sucharipa.