What This Bill Does
This bill authorizes Congress to award a gold medal to honor the people who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against Nazi occupation. The medal serves as a collective commemoration of their armed resistance and their efforts to preserve Jewish culture and history.
Who It Affects
The bill directly affects the Secretary of the Treasury, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the Senate, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It also has indirect significance for Jewish communities worldwide and educational institutions.
Key Provisions
• Congress authorizes the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate to make arrangements for a posthumous presentation of a gold medal honoring the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising participants who led armed resistance against Nazi occupiers (Sec. 3(a))
• The Secretary of the Treasury will design the gold medal with emblems, devices and inscriptions of the Secretary's choosing (Sec. 3(b))
• After the presentation, the gold medal goes to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for display and research following the Museum's policies (Sec. 3(c)(1))
• Congress suggests that the Holocaust Memorial Museum should make the medal available for display at other locations, including those related to Holocaust commemoration and entities like the POLIN Museum of the History of the Polish Jews (Sec. 3(c)(2))
• The Secretary may strike and sell bronze duplicate medals at prices covering the costs of labor, materials, dies, machinery use and overhead (Sec. 4)
What Changes
If this becomes law, a gold medal honoring Warsaw Ghetto Uprising participants will be created and eventually displayed at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Bronze duplicate medals may be produced and sold to the public, with sale proceeds going to the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
Important Definitions
None defined in the bill text.
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1299
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the group of heroic participants
in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising who led an armed resistance against
Nazi occupiers and fought to preserve and protect the Jewish culture.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 1, 2023
Mr. KEATING (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Ms. KAPTUR, and Mr.
TURNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the group of heroic
participants in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising who led
an armed resistance against Nazi occupiers and fought
to preserve and protect the Jewish culture.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Heroes of the Warsaw
4
Ghetto Congressional Gold Medal Act’’.
5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
6
Congress finds the following:
7
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:37 Mar 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1299.IH
H1299
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2
•HR 1299 IH
(1) The Jewish people have long formed an in-
1
tegral part of the culture and history of Europe and
2
of Poland.
3
(2) Europeans Jews contribute to the rich di-
4
versity of society and culture across Europe.
5
(3) For centuries, prior to World War II, Po-
6
land represented a center of Jewish life in Europe
7
and was home to millions of Jews.
8
(4) Prior to World War II, 350,000 Jews lived
9
in Warsaw, representing about 30 percent of the
10
city’s population.
11
(5) Following the Nazi takeover of Poland, the
12
Germans established the Warsaw ghetto in October
13
1940, and unlawfully confined Jewish civilians to the
14
ghetto in November 1940, with the population of the
15
ghetto reaching a height of 400,000 Jews.
16
(6) Life in the Warsaw ghetto was marked by
17
widespread starvation, disease, physical violence, and
18
deplorable conditions unsuitable for life, leading to
19
the deaths of 83,000 Jews between 1940 and mid-
20
1942.
21
(7) In less than two months in 1942, German
22
units deported about 265,000 Jews from Warsaw to
23
the Treblinka death camp and killed an additional
24
35,000 Jews inside the ghetto.
25
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:37 Mar 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1299.IH
H1299
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3
•HR 1299 IH
(8) In early 1943, German and SS units in-
1
tended to deport the remaining Jewish population of
2
the ghetto to forced labor camps, but many Jews re-
3
sisted deportation.
4
(9) The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began on
5
April 19, 1943, when SS and police forces appeared
6
outside the walls of the Warsaw ghetto with the in-
7
tent of liquidating the ghetto and deporting its re-
8
maining inhabitants.
9
(10) Aided in part by arms from the Polish un-
10
derground and relying on clandestinely organized
11
Jewish self-defense groups, the ghetto heroically re-
12
sisted German forces, mounting an organized armed
13
resistance against SS and police units and fighting
14
against impossible odds.
15
(11) Jews in the ghetto continued to fend off
16
their German occupiers for almost one month, fight-
17
ing to the last.
18
(12) After weeks of resistance, the Germans
19
systematically destroyed the ghetto, burning build-
20
ings and razing city blocks in an attempt to erase
21
the memory and existence of the Jewish people.
22
(13) By May 16, 1943, German forces had sup-
23
pressed the uprising and deported the ghetto’s sur-
24
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:37 Mar 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1299.IH
H1299
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4
•HR 1299 IH
viving inhabitants to concentration camps and killing
1
centers.
2
(14) The heroes of the Warsaw ghetto who
3
bravely defended themselves in the face of unimagi-
4
nable crimes set an example for other occupied cities
5
and for other Jewish communities.
6
(15) In total, over 3,000,000 Polish Jews were
7
murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust, with
8
only about 380,000 Polish Jews still alive in Poland,
9
the Soviet Union, or in concentration camps by the
10
end of the war.
11
(16) Genocide involves the erasure and elimi-
12
nation of the memory and culture of a people, and
13
therefore the United States must work to preserve
14
the historical record of Jewish people around the
15
world, many of whom now live in the United States.
16
(17) Current and future generations benefit
17
from the preservation and memorialization of their
18
history and culture.
19
(18) Millions of Jewish people whose ancestors
20
came from Poland now live in the United States,
21
Israel, and around the world.
22
(19) Preservation of the history and culture of
23
Jewish people in Poland is essential to learning the
24
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:37 Mar 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1299.IH
H1299
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5
•HR 1299 IH
lessons of history and ensuring the prosperity of the
1
Jewish people for future generations.
2
(20) Museums are an important contributor to
3
the historical preservation of human memory, pro-
4
viding cultural, education and civic centers where
5
people can learn about the life and record of individ-
6
uals or groups of people from the past.
7
(21) Museums dedicated to the historical mem-
8
ory of Jewish people or the struggle for survival of
9
the Jewish people during the Holocaust play a crit-
10
ical role in preserving the memory of Jewish people.
11
(22) The construction of further museums, in-
12
cluding the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, would be a
13
welcoming place for all visitors who want to better
14
understand the fate of Jews incarcerated in the
15
Warsaw ghetto.
16
(23) The POLIN Museum of the History of the
17
Polish Jews is a central location for Jewish people
18
around the world to learn about the life, history, and
19
culture of their ancestors.
20
(24) The POLIN Museum is an important edu-
21
cational hub for all people to learn about the rich
22
history of Jewish people who were targeted and he-
23
roically fought back against the Nazis in their at-
24
tempt to erase the memory of Jewish life in Europe.
25
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:37 Mar 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1299.IH
H1299
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6
•HR 1299 IH
(25) The POLIN Museum in Warsaw should be
1
celebrated for the important role it plays in the pres-
2
ervation of the memory of Jewish life as it docu-
3
ments the long history of Jewish life in Poland and
4
Europe both before and after the war, and sits on
5
the site of the former Warsaw ghetto where so many
6
heroic Jews fought against the erasure of the mem-
7
ory of the Jewish people.
8
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
9
(a) PRESENTATIONS AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of
10
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
11
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements
12
for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Con-
13
gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in collective
14
commemoration of the group of heroic participants in the
15
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising who led an armed resistance
16
against Nazi occupiers and fought to preserve and protect
17
the Jewish culture.
18
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the
19
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary
20
of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the
21
‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike the gold medal with suitable em-
22
blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the
23
Secretary.
24
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:37 Mar 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1299.IH
H1299
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7
•HR 1299 IH
(c) UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MU-
1
SEUM.—
2
(1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the
3
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal
4
shall be given to the United States Holocaust Memo-
5
rial Museum, where it shall be available for display
6
and research in accordance with the Museum’s poli-
7
cies regarding materials in the Museum’s care.
8
(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of
9
Congress that the United States Holocaust Memo-
10
rial Museum should make the gold medal received
11
under paragraph (1) available for display elsewhere,
12
in accordance with the Museum’s policies regarding
13
materials in the Museum’s care, at other appropriate
14
locations, including those associated with commemo-
15
ration of the Holocaust and other relevant entities
16
such as the POLIN Museum of the History of the
17
Polish Jews, that may make such a request.
18
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
19
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in
20
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 at
21
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor,
22
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.
23
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:37 Mar 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1299.IH
H1299
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8
•HR 1299 IH
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
1
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medal struck pursuant
2
to this Act is a national medal for purposes of chapter
3
51 of title 31, United States Code.
4
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections
5
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals
6
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic
7
items.
8
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF
9
SALE.
10
(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is
11
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint
12
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
13
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant
14
to this Act.
15
(b) PROCEEDS
OF SALE.—The amounts received
16
from the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under
17
section 3 shall be deposited into the United States Mint
18
Public Enterprise Fund.
19
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014
22:37 Mar 16, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H1299.IH
H1299
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS