Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise as the proud sponsor of the Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2017, which will award a Congressional Gold Medal to the rabbi for his acts of valor during World War II.

Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl was born in Hungary in 1903. In 1931 he moved to Slovakia and quickly became a senior figure within the local Jewish community and Yeshiva.

As fascism spread across Europe in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Rabbi Weissmandl led some of the most daring efforts to save the Jewish people of Slovakia from the Holocaust.

When the Nazis, aided by members of the puppet government in Slovakia, began to move against the Slovak Jews in 1942, Rabbi Weissmandl became a key member of the Bratislava Working Group. This underground organization was comprised of a wide variety of people from different political and ideological spectrums, but united by a common goal: to protect the Jewish people of Europe from Hitler's Final Solution.

In his role as a member of the Working Group, Rabbi Weissmandl worked to raise funds to negotiate ransom with German and Slovakian officials in order to delay mass deportations. We cannot understate the dangers the rabbi undertook in this endeavor.

Had he approached the wrong official or an unyielding Hitler supporter, he most certainly would have put his own life in jeopardy. Despite that peril, he persevered, demonstrating an unyielding determination to stop the slaughter of the innocent.

Using his contacts in England, Rabbi Weissmandl also worked to secure British visas for more than 60 European rabbis after the annexation of Austria, becoming one of the first individuals to protect European Jews by arranging for their escape to England.

The Working Group was also one of the first to record the accounts of Auschwitz escapees in a document widely referred to as the Auschwitz Protocols. Weissmandl later translated the initial documentation from German to Hebrew and included an addendum that pleaded for further action.

He also wrote the first known appeal for the use of Allied air power to disrupt the Holocaust, including the use of aerial bombs to destroy the rail lines and tunnels leading to Auschwitz.

During one of the darkest periods in human history, Rabbi Weissmandl's efforts to protect the lives of European Jews at the risk of his own life reflect true heroism in the face of unspeakable evil.

We must never forget these contributions, and it is fitting that we honor his legacy by awarding a Congressional Gold Medal in his name.

Mr. Speaker, at a time of unparalleled evil, Rabbi Weissmandl took extraordinary risks to save the lives of Slovakian Jews. To this day, his influence can be felt throughout the Jewish community, not only here in the United States, but around the world.

It is with the utmost respect and honor that I have introduced this bill to award Rabbi Weissmandl with a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, Representative Brian Mast, for introducing this bill with me and his work to advance this legislation. I also want to thank my 295 other colleagues who have cosponsored the bill. I strongly urge passage of the bill.

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