What This Bill Does
This bill awards a single Congressional Gold Medal (a high honor given by Congress) to 60 diplomats who saved Jewish people during World War II. The medal recognizes these diplomats' brave actions in helping Jews escape Nazi persecution during the Holocaust (the systematic murder of six million Jewish people by Nazi Germany). After being awarded, the gold medal will be given to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for public display and research.
Who It Affects
The bill directly affects the 60 named diplomats (who are being honored posthumously, meaning after their deaths) and their eldest living family members who will receive the medal. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will also be affected, as it will receive and display the medal. The Secretary of the Treasury is responsible for designing and creating the medal.
Key Provisions
- Congress authorizes the Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange the presentation of one gold medal honoring the 60 diplomats for their service saving Jews during World War II (Sec. 3(a))
- The Secretary of the Treasury will design the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices and inscriptions of the Secretary's choosing (Sec. 3(b))
- The gold medal will be presented collectively to the eldest next of kin of each of the 60 diplomats as part of a delegation that includes a senior official representative from each diplomat's country and the cochairs of the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Committee (Sec. 3(c))
- After being awarded, the gold medal shall be given to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum where it will be available for display and research (Sec. 3(d)(1))
- The Secretary may manufacture and sell duplicate bronze medals at a price that covers all production costs, and money from those sales goes back to the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund (Sec. 4 and Sec. 6(b))
What Changes
Congress will authorize the creation of a Congressional Gold Medal to honor 60 specific diplomats. The medal will be physically created and presented to the families of these diplomats. The gold medal will then become part of the permanent collection at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Important Definitions
- **Concentration camps**: forced labor and imprisonment facilities where the Nazis sent Jewish people and others they targeted
- **Congressional Gold Medal**: the highest civilian honor Congress can award to recognize exceptional bravery or service
- **Numismatic items**: collectible coins and medals
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
IIB
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 Hol-
ocaust.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Forgotten Heroes of
2
the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act’’.
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
4
Congress finds the following:
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(1) The following diplomats will be honored
6
posthumously: Per Anger (Sweden), Jose Maria
7
Barreto (Peru), Lars Berg (Sweden), Philippe
8
Bernardini (Vatican / Italy), Hiram (Harry) Bing-
9
ham IV (United States), Friedrich Born (Switzer-
10
land), Manuel Antonio Mun˜oz Borrero (Ecuador),
11
Carlos
de
Liz-Texeira
Branquinho
(Portugal),
12
Eduardo Propper de Callejo´n (Spain), Samuel del
13
Campo
(Chile),
Aracy
Moebius
Carvalho
de
14
Guimara˜es Rosa (Brazil), Jose´ Arturo Castellanos
15
(El Salvador), Carl Ivan Danielsson (Sweden), Luis
16
Martins de Souza Dantas (Brazil), Georg Ferdinand
17
Duckwitz (Germany), Harald Feller (Switzerland),
18
Francis (Frank) Foley (United Kingdom), Jean-
19
Edouard Friedrich (Switzerland), Carlos Almeida
20
Afonseca de Sampaio Garrido (Portugal), Raymond
21
Herman Geist (United States), Feng-Shan Ho
22
(China), Constantin Karadja (Romania), Alexander
23
Kasser (Sa´ndor Kasza) (Sweden / Hungary), Elow
24
Kihlgren (Sweden), Joseph Willem (Joop) Kolkman
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(Netherlands),
Julius
Ku¨hl
(Switzerland),
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Aleksander 4ados´ (Poland), Valdemar Langlet (Swe-
1
den), Charles (Carl) Lutz (Switzerland), George
2
Mandel-Mantello (El Salvador), Florian Manoliu
3
(Romania), Aristides de Sousa Mendes (Portugal),
4
Salomon Jacob (Sally) Noach (Netherlands), Giorgio
5
(Jorge) Perlasca (Spain / Italy), Ernst Prodolliet
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(Switzerland), Franjo Puncˇuch (Yugoslavia / Slo-
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venia), Sebastia´n de Romero Radigales (Spain),
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Konstanty
Rokicki
(Poland),
Angelo
Giuseppe
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Roncalli (Vatican / Italy), Angelo Rotta (Vatican /
10
Italy), Albert Emile Routier (Turkey), Stefan
11
Ryniewicz (Poland), Gilberto Bosques Saldı´var
12
(Mexico), Jose´ Ruiz Santaella (Spain), A´ngel Sanz-
13
Briz (Spain), Abdol-Hossein Sardari (Iran), Henryk
14
Slawik (Poland), Robert Smallbones (United King-
15
dom), Ja´n Spisˇiak (Slovakia), Chiune (Sempo)
16
Sugihara (Japan), Ireanaeus Typaldos (Spain),
17
Alexander (Sa´ndor) U´jva´ry (Vatican / Hungary),
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Selahattin U¨lku¨men (Turkey), Gennaro Verolino
19
(Vatican / Italy), Vladimı´r Vochocˇ (Czech Republic),
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Ernst Vonrufs (Switzerland), Raoul Wallenberg
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(Sweden), Guelfo Zamboni (Italy), Peter Zu¨rcher
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(Switzerland), and Jan Zwartendijk (Holland).
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(2) On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler and
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the Nazis began their invasion of Europe, which
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started World War II and threw the world into
1
chaos. The Nazi plan of mass murder of the Jewish
2
population was in full motion. As battles were being
3
fought between countries, Jews were being rounded
4
up and sent to concentration camps throughout Eu-
5
rope. This process began a mass exodus of people
6
out of Europe, especially those in the Jewish com-
7
munity.
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(3) During the war, members of the Jewish
9
community used every tool and means at their dis-
10
posal to flee Nazi tyranny. Thousands tried to flee
11
on trains or boats to escape from Europe.
12
(4) While the armies of countries were fighting
13
each other, a handful of diplomats, from around the
14
world, stepped forward and took heroic actions to
15
save Jews fleeing Europe. This was an incredibly
16
dangerous process. If the Nazis discovered the ac-
17
tions of these diplomats they would be expelled, as
18
a few of them were. Also, while worrying about the
19
Nazis, diplomats had to worry about their careers
20
and livelihoods back home. Many of them had strict
21
orders from their home countries to not aid the Jew-
22
ish population in any way.
23
(5) These diplomats used every means at their
24
disposal to help Jews fleeing persecution. One of the
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most powerful tools the diplomats had to use was
1
the issuing of passports and travel visas contrary to
2
the instruction of the governments of the diplomats.
3
This process alone is responsible for saving hundreds
4
of thousands of Jewish families in Europe. This was
5
not the only tool used as many of the diplomats were
6
connected with the local populations and were great
7
communicators for Jews trying to travel under-
8
ground. They were able set up safehouses and
9
getaways to hide Jews and especially Jewish children
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from Nazi authorities. In the most dangerous of
11
times, several of these diplomats confronted the
12
Nazis directly on behalf of the Jews and personally
13
put themselves in grave danger.
14
(6) Every diplomat knew the dangers and knew
15
what they were up against, and still pushed forward
16
to save those in the most danger.
17
(7) The Congressional Gold Medal authorized
18
under this Act will help remind humanity that when
19
the diplomats were faced with terrible crises, they
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went beyond the fold, including risking their careers
21
and the lives of themselves and their families, to en-
22
gage in this humanitarian mission. The diplomats of
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today and future generations can look towards these
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heroes and be inspired by their lives of heroism and
1
sacrifice.
2
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
3
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of
4
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
5
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements
6
for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a single
7
gold medal of appropriate design in honor of the 60 dip-
8
lomats identified in section 2(1), in recognition of their
9
brave and vital service of saving Jews during World War
10
II.
11
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the
12
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary
13
of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-
14
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems,
15
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
16
retary.
17
(c) PRESENTATION
OF MEDAL.—The single gold
18
medal presented under subsection (a) shall be presented
19
collectively to the eldest next of kin of each of the 60 dip-
20
lomats identified in section 2(1), who shall receive the
21
medal as part of a delegation consisting of a senior official
22
representative of the country that each diplomat served
23
and the cochairs of the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust
24
Committee.
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(d) UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MU-
1
SEUM.—
2
(1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the
3
gold medal in honor of the 60 diplomats identified
4
in section 2(1), the gold medal shall be given to the
5
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where
6
it will be available for display as appropriate and
7
available for research.
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 awarded
11
pursuant to this Act available for display elsewhere,
12
particularly at appropriate locations associated with
13
Holocaust remembrance.
14
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
15
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in
16
bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price
17
sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, mate-
18
rials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.
19
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
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(a) NATIONAL MEDAL.—Medals struck pursuant to
21
this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51
22
of title 31, United States Code.
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(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections
24
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals
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struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic
1
items.
2
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF
3
SALE.
4
(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is
5
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint
6
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
7
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under
8
this Act.
9
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the
10
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section
11
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public
12
Enterprise Fund.
13
Passed the House of Representatives June 11, 2024.
Attest:
KEVIN F. MCCUMBER,
Clerk.
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