II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1591 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Raoul Wallenberg, in recognition 

of his achievements and heroic actions during the Holocaust. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. KIRK, Mr. LEVIN, and Mr. JOHANNS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Raoul Wallenberg, 

in recognition of his achievements and heroic actions 

during the Holocaust. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Raoul Wallenberg Cen5 tennial Celebration Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) Raoul Wallenberg was born in Europe on 

9 August 4, 1912, to Swedish Christian parents. 


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1 (2) In 1935, he graduated from the University 

2 of Michigan in Ann Arbor. 

3 (3) In a letter to his grandfather, Wallenberg 

4 wrote of his time in America: ‘‘I feel so at home in 

5 my little Ann Arbor that I’m beginning to sink down 

6 roots here and have a hard time imagining my leav7 ing it . . . Every now and then I feel strange when 

8 I think about how tiny my own country is and how 

9 large and wonderful America is.’’. 

10 (4) Raoul returned to Sweden, where he began 

11 a career as a businessman, and afterwards, a Swed12 ish diplomat. 

13 (5) In 1936, Raoul’s grandfather arranged a 

14 position for him at the Holland Bank in Haifa, Pal15 estine. There, Raoul began to meet young Jews who 

16 had already been forced to flee from Nazi persecu17 tion in Germany. Their stories affected him deeply. 

18 (6) He was greatly troubled by the fate of Jews 

19 in Europe, confiding to actress Viveca Lindfors the 

20 horrific plight of Jews under Nazi Europe. 

21 (7) Under the direction of President Franklin 

22 D. Roosevelt, the War Refugee Board was estab23 lished in January 1944, to aid civilians who fell vic24 tim to the Nazi and Axis powers in Europe. 


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1 (8) One of War Refugee Board’s top priorities 

2 was protection of the 750,000 remaining Jews in 

3 Hungary. 

4 (9) It was decided that Raoul Wallenberg, aged 

5 31 at the time, would be most effective in protecting 

6 Jews and victims of the Nazis in Hungary under the 

7 War Refugee Board. He was recruited by Iver 

8 Olsen, an agent for the United States Office of Stra9 tegic Services and sent to Budapest, Hungary, under 

10 his official profession as a Swedish diplomat. He was 

11 instructed to use passports and other creative means 

12 to save as many lives as possible. 

13 (10) Wallenberg created a new Swedish pass14 port, the Schutzpass, which looked more imposing 

15 and official than the actual Swedish passport. He re16 portedly put up huge placards of it throughout Bu17 dapest to familiarize the Nazis with it. He unilater18 ally announced that it granted the holder immunity 

19 from the death camps. The Schutzpasses alone are 

20 credited with saving 20,000 Jewish lives. 

21 (11) In one example of his heroism, Wallenberg 

22 was told of a Nazi plot to round up several thousand 

23 Jewish women and acted swiftly to save them. 

24 Former Wallenberg staffer, Agnes Adachi, recalls 

25 the time, when she and her colleagues spent the 


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1 whole night making approximately 2,000 

2 Schutzpasses before 6 a.m. They were all completed 

3 and personally delivered to the women in time to 

4 save their lives. 

5 (12) Using the money the United States depos6 ited with the War Refugee Board, Wallenberg was 

7 able to purchase approximately 30 buildings, which 

8 he used as hospitals, schools, soup kitchens, and safe 

9 houses for over 8,000 children whose parents had al10 ready been deported or killed. 

11 (13) Tommy Lapid, a young boy who was stay12 ing with his mother in a Swedish safe house (his fa13 ther was already dead), gave an eyewitness account 

14 of how his family was helped by Wallenberg and the 

15 War Refugee Board: ‘‘One morning, a group of 

16 Hungarian Fascists came into the house and said 

17 that all the able-bodied women must go with them. 

18 We knew what this meant. My mother kissed me 

19 and I cried and she cried. We knew we were parting 

20 forever and she left me there, an orphan to all in21 tents and purposes. Then two or three hours later, 

22 to my amazement, my mother returned with the 

23 other women. It seemed like a mirage, a miracle. My 

24 mother was there—she was alive and she was hugVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:52 Sep 22, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1591.IS S1591

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1 ging me and kissing me, and she said one word: 

2 Wallenberg.’’. 

3 (14) Even as the war was coming to a close, 

4 Wallenberg remained vigilant and attentive to the 

5 people under his care. Adolf Eichmann, the SS colo6 nel charged with the extermination of Jews in East7 ern Europe, was determined to exterminate the 

8 70,000 Jews kept as prisoners in a guarded ghetto 

9 in Budapest. As soon as Wallenberg heard of the 

10 plot, he sent Pal Szalay, an Arrow-Crossman senior 

11 official, who defected and turned to Wallenberg. 

12 Szalay was sent to speak to General Schmidthuber, 

13 who was ordered to spearhead the ghetto extermi14 nation in Budapest. Szalay informed Schmidthuber 

15 that, seeing as the war was coming to an end, if the 

16 planned massacre took place, Wallenberg would see 

17 to it personally that Schmidthuber would be pros18 ecuted as a war criminal and hanged. The plans 

19 were ultimately abandoned and considered 

20 Wallenberg’s last big victory. 

21 (15) Of the 120,000 Jews in Hungary that sur22 vived, Raoul Wallenberg, acting under the War Ref23 ugee Board, is credited with saving an estimated 

24 100,000 of them in a 6-month period. 


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1 (16) These findings show that Raoul 

2 Wallenberg showed exceptional heroism and bravery 

3 with his actions during the Holocaust. Working with 

4 the War Refugee Board, a United States agency, he 

5 was able to save approximately 100,000 Jews in 

6 Hungary, many of whom were later able to immi7 grate to the United States. 

8 (17) Indeed, many American Jews can directly 

9 or indirectly attribute their own lives to Raoul 

10 Wallenberg’s actions during World War II. Many of 

11 the people Wallenberg saved have been influential 

12 citizens contributing to American institutions and 

13 culture, including Congressman Tom Lantos (Feb14 ruary 1, 1928–February 11, 2008) and the Liska 

15 Rebbe, Rabbi Yoizef (Joseph) Friedlander, who car16 ried forth the Liska Hassidic dynasty from Hungary 

17 to the United States after being saved by Raoul 

18 Wallenberg. 

19 (18) His actions and character make him an ex20 cellent contender for a Congressional Gold Medal in 

21 time for the centennial of his birth, to celebrate his 

22 achievements and humanitarian accomplishments. 

23 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

24 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

25 the House of Representatives and the President pro temVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:52 Sep 22, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1591.IS S1591

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1 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

2 for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 

3 medal of appropriate design to the next of kin or personal 

4 representative of Raoul Wallenberg, in recognition of his 

5 achievements and heroic actions during the Holocaust. 

6 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 

7 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

8 of the Treasury (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec9 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

10 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec11 retary. 

12 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

13 Under such regulations as the Secretary (in this Act 

14 referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) may prescribe, the Sec15 retary may strike duplicate medals in bronze of the gold 

16 medal struck pursuant to section 3 and sell such duplicate 

17 medals at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the dupli18 cate medals (including labor, materials, dies, use of ma19 chinery, overhead expenses) and the cost of the gold 

20 medal. 

21 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

22 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu23 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

24 51 of title 31, United States Code. 


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1 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 

2 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

3 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 

4 SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 

5 SALE. 

6 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF CHARGES.—There is author7 ized to be charged against the United States Mint Public 

8 Enterprise Fund, such amounts as may be necessary to 

9 pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant to this 

10 Act. 

11 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

12 sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 4 shall be 

13 deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 

14 Fund. 

Æ 


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