[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 537 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 537
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 12, 2024
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing,
and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to 60 diplomats, in recognition of
their bravery and heroism during the Holocaust.
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.
Passed the House of Representatives June 11, 2024.
Attest:
KEVIN F. MCCUMBER,
Clerk.