[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3155 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3155
To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the
Congress to Oskar Schindler and Varian Fry in recognition of their
contributions to the Nation and humanity.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 3 (legislative day, September 22), 2000
Mr. Lautenberg introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the
Congress to Oskar Schindler and Varian Fry in recognition of their
contributions to the Nation and humanity.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) More than 13,000,000 people were killed during the
Holocaust, including Jews, Gypsies, Slavs (Poles, Ukrainians,
and Belorussians), homosexuals, and the disabled--each
exterminated because Adolf Hitler viewed them as ``subhuman''
to the Aryan race.
(2) Nazi persecution, arrests, and deportations were
directed against all Jewish families, as well as many others,
without concern for age. Innocent men, women, and children
faced starvation, illness, brutal labor, and other indignities
until they were consigned to the gas chambers.
(3) When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, destruction began
immediately and in a merciless fashion. Jews were herded into
crowded ghettos, randomly beaten, humiliated, and capriciously
murdered. Jewish property and businesses were summarily
destroyed, or appropriated by the SS, and sold to Nazi
``investors'', one of whom was Oskar Schindler.
(4) Oskar Schindler set up a business in an old enamel
works factory in Poland. His workforce consisted of enslaved
Jews from the Krakow Ghetto. Schindler learned of the horrible
atrocities committed by Hitler's regime as he got to know some
of the forced workers there. In response, he managed to
convince the Nazis that his factory, and more importantly, its
trained workers, were vital to the German war effort, thus
preventing their deportation to death camps.
(5) Oskar Schindler used all of the means at his disposal
to ensure the safety of those who worked in his factory. Even
his wife Emilie's jewels were sold, to buy food, clothes, and
medicine for the workers. A secret sanatorium was set up in the
factory with medical equipment purchased on the black market.
There, Emilie Schindler looked after the sick and wounded.
(6) Even though Oskar Schindler had a large mansion placed
at his disposal close to the factory, he spent every night in
his office so that he could intervene should the Gestapo pay a
visit. He was detained by the Gestapo twice, but used his
connections to get released.
(7) With his own life at stake, Schindler employed all his
powers of persuasion. He bribed, fought, and begged to save
Jewish men, women, and children from the gas chambers.
(8) Oskar Shindler saved the lives of 1,200 Jews from
deportation to Nazi death camps.
(9) On April 28, 1962, Oskar Schindler was named a
``Righteous Gentile'' by Yad Vashem.
(10) Varian Fry, together with a small group of unlikely
associates, succeeded in assisting nearly 2,000 artists,
musicians, writers, scholars, politicians, labor leaders, and
their families to leave hostile territories in France, either
legally or illegally. This effort came to be called the
``Emergency Rescue Committee''.
(11) Varian Fry offered aid and advice to Jews and
antifascist refugees who found themselves threatened with
extradition to Nazi Germany under Article 19 of the Franco-
German Armistice--the ``Surrender on Demand clause''.
(12) Though risking his personal security in the face of
both Gestapo and Vichy officials, Fry did what was necessary to
save as many of the refugees as possible.
(13) Varian Fry aided in the rescue of nearly 2,000
individuals, including artists Marc Chaggall, Andre Breton, and
Max Ernst.
(14) The United States Holocaust Memorial Council awarded
Varian Fry its highest honor, the Eisenhower Liberation Medal
in 1991.
(15) In 1996, Yad Vashem posthumously honored Fry as the
first American ``Righteous Among the Nations'', and the French
government awarded him the Croix de Chevalier de la Legion
d'Honneur.
(16) The actions of Oskar Schindler and Varian Fry serve as
testimony to all people that even under the worst of
circumstances, the most ordinary of us can act courageously.
(17) Oskar Schindler and Varian Fry are true heroes and
humanitarians, deserving of honor by the United States
Government.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Presentation Authorized.--The President is authorized--
(1) to award to Oskar Schindler, posthumously, on behalf of
Congress, a gold medal of appropriate design honoring Oskar
Schindler in recognition of his contributions to the Nation;
and
(2) to award to Varian Fry, posthumously, on behalf of
Congress, a gold medal of appropriate design honoring Varian
Fry in recognition of his contributions to the Nation.
(b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the awards referred to in
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act
referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike gold medals with
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the
Secretary.
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze, of the gold
medals struck pursuant to section 2, under such regulations as the
Secretary may prescribe, and at a price sufficient to cover the costs
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead
expenses, and the cost of the gold medals.
SEC. 4. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.
The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for
purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
SEC. 5. FUNDING.
(a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund an amount
not to exceed $30,000 to pay for the cost of the medals authorized by
this Act.
(b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate
bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in the United States
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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