Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act”.
Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act
AN ACT
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to 60 diplomats, in recognition of their bravery and heroism during the Holocaust.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
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 Muñoz Borrero (Ecuador), Carlos de Liz-Texeira Branquinho (Portugal), Eduardo Propper de Callejón (Spain), Samuel del Campo (Chile), Aracy Moebius Carvalho de Guimarães Rosa (Brazil), José 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 (Sándor Kasza) (Sweden / Hungary), Elow Kihlgren (Sweden), Joseph Willem (Joop) Kolkman (Netherlands), Julius Kühl (Switzerland), Aleksander Ładoś (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 Punčuch (Yugoslavia / Slovenia), Sebastián 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 Saldívar (Mexico), José Ruiz Santaella (Spain), Ángel Sanz-Briz (Spain), Abdol-Hossein Sardari (Iran), Henryk Slawik (Poland), Robert Smallbones (United Kingdom), Ján Spišiak (Slovakia), Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara (Japan), Ireanaeus Typaldos (Spain), Alexander (Sándor) Újváry (Vatican / Hungary), Selahattin Ülkümen (Turkey), Gennaro Verolino (Vatican / Italy), Vladimír Vochoč (Czech Republic), Ernst Vonrufs (Switzerland), Raoul Wallenberg (Sweden), Guelfo Zamboni (Italy), Peter Zürcher (Switzerland), and Jan Zwartendijk (Holland).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Every diplomat knew the dangers and knew what they were up against, and still pushed forward to save those in the most danger.
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
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.
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.
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.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum—
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.
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
National medal— Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
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
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.
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.