Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 929 To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl in recognition of his acts of valor during World War II. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 30, 2019 Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ (for herself, Mr. MAST, and Mr. VELA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl in recognition of his acts of valor during World War II. 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 ‘‘Rabbi Michoel Ber 4 Weissmandl Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl was born in 8 Hungary on October 25, 1903, later moving to Slo- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H929.IH H929 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 929 IH vakia to study under Rabbi Shumel Dvoid Ungar in 1 Nitra. 2 (2) During his time in Nitra, he quickly became 3 a senior figure within the local Jewish community 4 and Yeshiva. 5 (3) Weissmandl was responsible for some of the 6 daring efforts to save the Jewish people of Slovakia 7 from the Holocaust, which include the establishment 8 of a ‘‘Working Group’’, an underground organization 9 that raised funds to negotiate ransom with German 10 and Slovakian officials in order to delay mass depor- 11 tations. 12 (4) During the Nazi regime, Weissmandl used 13 his contacts from England to obtain visas, becoming 14 one of the first to actively protect people of Jewish 15 ancestry in Europe. 16 (5) Weissmandl also wrote telegrams to gen- 17 erate awareness of the Jewish people’s plight and 18 encouraged other strategic approaches to stop the 19 Holocaust, including the bombing of railroad tunnels 20 to prevent the transportation of persons to con- 21 centration camps. 22 (6) Weissmandl established a Working Group— 23 a wide variety of people from different political and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H929.IH H929 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 929 IH ideological spectrums—whose common goal was to 1 save people from the ‘‘Final Solution’’. 2 (7) The Working Group was one of the first to 3 document in writing the accounts of Auschwitz 4 Escapees in a document widely referred to as the 5 ‘‘Auschwitz Protocols’’. 6 (8) Weissmandl himself later translated the ini- 7 tial documentation from German to Hebrew and in- 8 cluded a widely known addendum that pleaded for 9 action. 10 (9) Weissmandl wrote the first known appeal 11 for the use of Allied air resources to disrupt the Hol- 12 ocaust. 13 (10) In 1942 when Slovakia started deportation 14 for ‘‘resettlement’’, Rabbi Weissmandl was the first 15 to inform the Working Group that people were being 16 murdered and not sent to work as originally claimed. 17 (11) Rabbi Weissmandl also played an instru- 18 mental role in Solomon Schoenfeld Kindertransport 19 rescue, helping save hundreds of lives. 20 (12) Rabbi Weissmandl came to America and in 21 1945 immediately got to work to establish a home 22 and Yeshiva for Holocaust survivors. The Yeshiva of 23 Nitra he established in Mount Kisco, New York, was 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H929.IH H929 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 929 IH the first Yeshiva campus in America and became an 1 example that other institutions followed. 2 (13) Rabbi Weissmandl has significantly influ- 3 enced the flourishing communities of Talmudic 4 scholars in Brooklyn, New York, and generally 5 across the United States. 6 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 7 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 8 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem- 9 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 10 for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 11 medal of appropriate design, to Rabbi Michoel Ber 12 Weissmandl in recognition of his acts of valor during 13 World War II. 14 (b) PARTICIPATION BY WEISSMANDL COMMITTEE.— 15 For the purpose of the presentation referred to in sub- 16 section (a), the Speaker and President pro tempore shall 17 ensure that the Weissmandl Committee may accept the 18 medal on behalf of Michoel Ber Weissmandl. 19 (c) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 20 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 21 of the Treasury (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the 22 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable em- 23 blems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the 24 Secretary. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H929.IH H929 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 929 IH (d) TRANSFER OF MEDAL AFTER PRESENTATION.— 1 Following the presentation of the gold medal in honor of 2 Michoel Ber Weissmandl under subsection (a), the gold 3 medal shall be given to Samuel Dovid Weissmandl or, 4 should he not be present, to Rabbi Menachem Meir 5 Weissmandl. 6 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 7 Under such regulations as the Secretary may pre- 8 scribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 9 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 at 10 a price sufficient to cover the cost of the bronze medals 11 (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 12 overhead expenses) and the cost of the gold medal. 13 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDAL. 14 (a) NATIONAL MEDAL.—The gold medal struck 15 under this Act is a national medals for purposes of chapter 16 51 of title 31, United States Code. 17 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 18 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 19 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 20 items. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Feb 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H929.IH H929 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS