[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 117 (Monday, July 10, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S2273]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE IN SMALL TOWN IOWA: FROM DUISBERG TO DANVILLE

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, it is no secret this U.S. Senator loves 
history. I like to learn about history, talk about history, and 
preserve history. I am Iowa proud today to share a community's efforts 
to preserve history in my home State.
  Next month, a small farming town located 13 miles west of the 
Mississippi River will welcome a poignant relic from World War II to 
its local museum. An authentic rail cattle car used in the Holocaust 
has been meticulously refurbished in Duisberg, Germany, and is being 
shipped to Danville, IA.
  This story begins in 1939 when a local teacher named Miss Birdie 
Mathews organized an international pen pal exchange for her class. She 
gave her students a list of names from which to write a letter. Two of 
her students chose another pair of sisters who lived across the world 
in Amsterdam: Anne and Margot Frank. Juanita and Betty Wagner wrote to 
the Frank sisters about life on an Iowa farm. Anne Frank's letter to 
Juanita is dated April 29, 1940, and she also enclosed a picture card 
of the Amsterdam canals. Margot's letter to Betty is dated April 27, 
1940. She wrote ``having a frontier with Germany and being a small 
country we never feel safe.''
  Less than 2 weeks after these letters were written, Germany invaded 
the Netherlands. The Wagner sisters later recalled fearing they would 
never hear from their new pen pals again. Of course, history tells us 
the Frank sisters perished in a concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen.
  When the war ended in May 1945, Betty wrote to the Frank's Amsterdam 
address. Their father Otto Frank survived his imprisonment in Auschwitz 
and responded to her letter. He explained what happened during the war 
and about the family's time in hiding in the attic in Amsterdam. That 
is when the Wagner sisters learned their pen pals were Jewish.
  The Frank letters were donated to the Simon Wiesenthal Center which 
gave permission to the museum in Danville to display digital images of 
the letters. Danville Station also includes a replica of the attic 
where the Frank family lived in hiding and other artifacts that 
memorialize the historic connection between the Frank and Wagner 
sisters.
  The museum's curator is Janet Hesler, a lifelong resident of 
Danville. Her father served in World War II and was awarded a Bronze 
Star for his service in the Battle of the Bulge. He was among the 
American forces who liberated the concentration camp in Dachau on April 
29, 1945.
  People from around the world have visited Danville Station. Here they 
bear witness to this Iowa community's commitment to never forget and to 
keep shining a light on history. From my years in public office 
representing the people of Iowa, I certainly appreciate the can-do 
spirit at the grassroots. The museum curator, Janet Hesler, was the 
driving force behind efforts to expand the museum's exhibit to include 
a rail car used to transport Jewish people during the Holocaust.
  Janet worked with Dr. Ruthie Eitan, Claudia Korenke, and Bernhard 
Mertens to fulfill her mission to find one. The restoration of the rail 
car was managed by Martin Kaufmann at Die Schmiede in Duisberg.
  The people of Danville have worked to raise funds $1 at a time to 
help pay for the restoration and shipping of the rail car. They also 
are working to collect 1.5 million postcards from around the world to 
honor the number of children who perished in the Holocaust.
  I applaud the tenacious efforts and support of local civic and 
religious leaders to help make this happen, including Allan Ross, who 
leads the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities. Anyone who visits or 
donates are helping to preserve history, build community, and 
strengthen civic engagement, cornerstones of a strong society.
  Without a doubt, this restored, authentic rail car will serve as a 
profound reminder about the atrocities of the Holocaust. We must learn 
from history to avert the mistakes of the past. Never again can society 
ignore religious intolerance. The community of Danville is heeding the 
advice of Simon Wiesenthal, who survived the Holocaust and brought 
1,100 Nazi war criminals to justice. In his words, ``Antisemitism did 
not die with Hitler in his Berlin bunker in 1945.''
  By bringing this rail car across the world to Danville, this Iowa 
community is bringing a piece of history to life so that our children 
and grandchildren can learn from history for a more peaceful, just 
future.

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