Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. FLOOD. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 537) to award a Congressional Gold Medal to 60 diplomats, in recognition of their bravery and heroism during the Holocaust, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 537
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The following diplomats will be honored posthumously: Per Anger (Sweden), Jose Maria Barreto (Peru), Lars Berg (Sweden), Philippe Bernardini (Vatican / Italy), Hiram (Harry) Bingham IV (United States), Friedrich Born (Switzerland), Manuel Antonio Munoz Borrero (Ecuador), Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho (Portugal), Eduardo Propper de Callejon (Spain), Samuel del Campo (Chile), Aracy Moebius Carvalho de Guimaraes Rosa (Brazil), Jose Arturo Castellanos (El Salvador), Carl Ivan Danielsson (Sweden), Luis Martins de Souza Dantas (Brazil), Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz (Germany), Harald Feller (Switzerland), Francis (Frank) Foley (United Kingdom), Jean-Edouard Friedrich (Switzerland), Carlos Almeida Afonseca de Sampaio Garrido (Portugal), Raymond Herman Geist (United States), Feng-Shan Ho (China), Constantin Karadja (Romania), Alexander Kasser (Sandor Kasza) (Sweden / Hungary), Elow Kihlgren (Sweden), Joseph Willem (Joop) Kolkman (Netherlands), Julius Kuhl (Switzerland), Aleksander 4ados (Poland), Valdemar Langlet (Sweden), Charles (Carl) Lutz (Switzerland), George Mandel-Mantello (El Salvador), Florian Manoliu (Romania), Aristides de Sousa Mendes (Portugal), Salomon Jacob (Sally) Noach (Netherlands), Giorgio (Jorge) Perlasca (Spain / Italy), Ernst Prodolliet (Switzerland), Franjo Puncuch (Yugoslavia / Slovenia), Sebastian de Romero Radigales (Spain), Konstanty Rokicki (Poland), Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (Vatican / Italy), Angelo Rotta (Vatican / Italy), Albert Emile Routier (Turkey), Stefan Ryniewicz (Poland), Gilberto Bosques Saldivar (Mexico), Jose Ruiz Santaella (Spain), Angel Sanz-Briz (Spain), Abdol-Hossein Sardari (Iran), Henryk Slawik (Poland), Robert Smallbones (United Kingdom), Jan Spisiak (Slovakia), Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara (Japan), Ireanaeus Typaldos (Spain), Alexander (Sandor) Ujvary (Vatican / Hungary), Selahattin Ulkumen (Turkey), Gennaro Verolino (Vatican / Italy), Vladimir Vochoc (Czech Republic), Ernst Vonrufs (Switzerland), Raoul Wallenberg (Sweden), Guelfo Zamboni (Italy), Peter Zurcher (Switzerland), and Jan Zwartendijk (Holland).
(2) On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis began their invasion of Europe, which started World War II and threw the world into chaos. The Nazi plan of mass murder of the Jewish population was in full motion. As battles were being fought between countries, Jews were being rounded up and sent to concentration camps throughout Europe. This process began a mass exodus of people out of Europe, especially those in the Jewish community.
(3) During the war, members of the Jewish community used every tool and means at their disposal to flee Nazi tyranny. Thousands tried to flee on trains or boats to escape from Europe.
(4) While the armies of countries were fighting each other, a handful of diplomats, from around the world, stepped forward and took heroic actions to save Jews fleeing Europe. This was an incredibly dangerous process. If the Nazis discovered the actions of these diplomats they would be expelled, as a few of them were. Also, while worrying about the Nazis, diplomats had to worry about their careers and livelihoods back home. Many of them had strict orders from their home countries to not aid the Jewish population in any way.
(5) These diplomats used every means at their disposal to help Jews fleeing persecution. One of the most powerful tools the diplomats had to use was the issuing of passports and travel visas contrary to the instruction of the governments of the diplomats. This process alone is responsible for saving hundreds of thousands of Jewish families in Europe. This was not the only tool used as many of the diplomats were connected with the local populations and were great communicators for Jews trying to travel underground. They were able set up safehouses and getaways to hide Jews and especially Jewish children from Nazi authorities. In the most dangerous of times, several of these diplomats confronted the Nazis directly on behalf of the Jews and personally put themselves in grave danger.
(6) Every diplomat knew the dangers and knew what they were up against, and still pushed forward to save those in the most danger.
(7) The Congressional Gold Medal authorized under this Act will help remind humanity that when the diplomats were faced with terrible crises, they went beyond the fold, including risking their careers and the lives of themselves and their families, to engage in this humanitarian mission. The diplomats of today and future generations can look towards these heroes and be inspired by their lives of heroism and sacrifice. SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a single gold medal of appropriate design in honor of the 60 diplomats identified in section 2(1), in recognition of their brave and vital service of saving Jews during World War II.
(b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
(c) Presentation of Medal.--The single gold medal presented under subsection (a) shall be presented collectively to the eldest next of kin of each of the 60 diplomats identified in section 2(1), who shall receive the medal as part of a delegation consisting of a senior official representative of the country that each diplomat served and the cochairs of the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Committee.
(d) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.--
(1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal in honor of the 60 diplomats identified in section 2(1), the gold medal shall be given to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where it will be available for display as appropriate and available for research.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum should make the gold medal awarded pursuant to this Act available for display elsewhere, particularly at appropriate locations associated with Holocaust remembrance. SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
(a) National Medal.--Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
(b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.
(a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under this Act.
(b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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Mr. FLOOD. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 537, a bill that will posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to the forgotten heroes of the Holocaust.
Madam Speaker, on September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis began their invasion of Europe, which started World War II and threw humanity into what would become one of the darkest periods in history.
The Nazis sought the mass extermination of the Jewish people and wasted no time carrying out their vile plan. They hunted, rounded up, and sent Jews to concentration camps across Europe to be murdered in state-sponsored genocide that we now refer to as the Holocaust.
However, a handful of diplomats from around the world took quick and heroic action to save Jews attempting to flee Europe. They resisted the anti-Semitic Nazi agenda, risking their families, careers, and lives to help innocent Jewish people flee persecution.
Despite some receiving direct orders not to help the Jewish population, these diplomats issued passports and travel visas, set up safe houses and getaways to hide adults and children, and communicated with local communities to help fleeing Jews escape by traveling underground to safety.
Because of the actions of these diplomats, hundreds of thousands of Jewish families in Europe escaped death at the hands of Hitler's Nazi regime. Although they were not the only ones who risked their lives to aid the Jewish community, today we celebrate 60 of those diplomats and honor their lives and actions with a Congressional Gold Medal.
Sadly, anti-Semitism is an endemic and unrelenting scourge on history, rearing its ugly head even today just as it did 80 years ago during World War II.
H.R. 537 honors those 60 diplomats who valiantly defied the systemic hatred by bravely doing what was right to stand up not only for the Jewish community but of all mankind. It is my hope that their courage will continue to inspire Americans today.
Madam Speaker, I support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it, as well.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 537, the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act, sponsored by Representative Salazar and myself.
Following the sacrifices honored over the weekend on the anniversary of the historic battle of Normandy, Congress today has the opportunity with this bipartisan bill to honor 60 diplomats from around the world in recognition of their courage, devotion, and sacrifice to rescue countless numbers of Jewish and other persecuted people during the Nazi occupation of Europe.
The Holocaust was the genocide of over 6 million Jews and millions of others by the Nazis and has come to symbolize the depths of human cruelty, dehumanization, and mass violence.
We remember the lives of over 10 million victims of Nazi Germany's persecution and mass executions, and today we recognize some of those individuals who demonstrated humanity and courage. The diplomats recognized by H.R. 537 and honored with this medal come from across the world. They faced a choice between being complacent with their then- Nazi occupiers or following their conscience. Risking their lives and careers, they chose humanity and became heroes.
After the Nazis took control of Germany and waged war on Europe, diplomats and foreign officials were in difficult positions. The diplomats recognized today made the decision to directly confront their own governments, the Nazi occupiers, and sympathizers to protect and rescue Europe's persecuted Jews.
From issuing visas and protective documents to establishing safe houses with hospitals, nurseries, and soup kitchens for Europe's Jewish population, these individuals often defied explicit orders from their superiors.
Individually, these diplomats saved thousands of Jews from persecution. With H.R. 537, each of us can honor their heroism and affirm for the whole Nation how one person, one act of kindness, and one act of civil disobedience can make a difference.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. FLOOD. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Salazar), the bill's sponsor.
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Mr. FLOOD. Madam Speaker, I would just underscore the importance of this bill in reminding us of the evils that existed 80 years ago and still exist today, and the bravery that embodied and continues to embody mankind today.
I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for introducing this bill, and I thank the gentleman from New York for his cosponsorship. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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