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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.

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

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

4 The Congress makes the following findings:

5 (1) More than 13,000,000 people were killed

6 during the Holocaust, including Jews, Gypsies, Slavs

7 (Poles, Ukrainians, and Belorussians), homosexuals,

8 and the disabled—each exterminated because Adolf
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1 Hitler viewed them as ‘‘subhuman’’ to the Aryan

2 race.

3 (2) Nazi persecution, arrests, and deportations

4 were directed against all Jewish families, as well as

5 many others, without concern for age. Innocent men,

6 women, and children faced starvation, illness, brutal

7 labor, and other indignities until they were con8 signed to the gas chambers.

9 (3) When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, de10 struction began immediately and in a merciless fash11 ion. Jews were herded into crowded ghettos, ran12 domly beaten, humiliated, and capriciously mur13 dered. Jewish property and businesses were sum14 marily destroyed, or appropriated by the SS, and

15 sold to Nazi ‘‘investors’’, one of whom was Oskar

16 Schindler.

17 (4) Oskar Schindler set up a business in an old

18 enamel works factory in Poland. His workforce con19 sisted of enslaved Jews from the Krakow Ghetto.

20 Schindler learned of the horrible atrocities com21 mitted by Hitler’s regime as he got to know some of

22 the forced workers there. In response, he managed

23 to convince the Nazis that his factory, and more im24 portantly, its trained workers, were vital to the Ger-
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1 man war effort, thus preventing their deportation to

2 death camps.

3 (5) Oskar Schindler used all of the means at

4 his disposal to ensure the safety of those who

5 worked in his factory. Even his wife Emilie’s jewels

6 were sold, to buy food, clothes, and medicine for the

7 workers. A secret sanatorium was set up in the fac8 tory with medical equipment purchased on the black

9 market. There, Emilie Schindler looked after the

10 sick and wounded.

11 (6) Even though Oskar Schindler had a large

12 mansion placed at his disposal close to the factory,

13 he spent every night in his office so that he could

14 intervene should the Gestapo pay a visit. He was de15 tained by the Gestapo twice, but used his connec16 tions to get released.

17 (7) With his own life at stake, Schindler em18 ployed all his powers of persuasion. He bribed,

19 fought, and begged to save Jewish men, women, and

20 children from the gas chambers.

21 (8) Oskar Shindler saved the lives of 1,200

22 Jews from deportation to Nazi death camps.

23 (9) On April 28, 1962, Oskar Schindler was

24 named a ‘‘Righteous Gentile’’ by Yad Vashem.
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1 (10) Varian Fry, together with a small group of

2 unlikely associates, succeeded in assisting nearly

3 2,000 artists, musicians, writers, scholars, politi4 cians, labor leaders, and their families to leave hos5 tile territories in France, either legally or illegally.

6 This effort came to be called the ‘‘Emergency Res7 cue Committee’’.

8 (11) Varian Fry offered aid and advice to Jews

9 and antifascist refugees who found themselves

10 threatened with extradition to Nazi Germany under

11 Article 19 of the Franco-German Armistice—the

12 ‘‘Surrender on Demand clause’’.

13 (12) Though risking his personal security in the

14 face of both Gestapo and Vichy officials, Fry did

15 what was necessary to save as many of the refugees

16 as possible.

17 (13) Varian Fry aided in the rescue of nearly

18 2,000 individuals, including artists Marc Chaggall,

19 Andre Breton, and Max Ernst.

20 (14) The United States Holocaust Memorial

21 Council awarded Varian Fry its highest honor, the

22 Eisenhower Liberation Medal in 1991.

23 (15) In 1996, Yad Vashem posthumously hon24 ored Fry as the first American ‘‘Righteous Among
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1 the Nations’’, and the French government awarded

2 him the Croix de Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.

3 (16) The actions of Oskar Schindler and Varian

4 Fry serve as testimony to all people that even under

5 the worst of circumstances, the most ordinary of us

6 can act courageously.

7 (17) Oskar Schindler and Varian Fry are true

8 heroes and humanitarians, deserving of honor by the

9 United States Government.

10 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

11 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The President is

12 authorized—

13 (1) to award to Oskar Schindler, posthumously,

14 on behalf of Congress, a gold medal of appropriate

15 design honoring Oskar Schindler in recognition of

16 his contributions to the Nation; and

17 (2) to award to Varian Fry, posthumously, on

18 behalf of Congress, a gold medal of appropriate de19 sign honoring Varian Fry in recognition of his con20 tributions to the Nation.

21 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the

22 awards referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the

23 Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec24 retary’’) shall strike gold medals with suitable emblems,
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1 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec2 retary.

3 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

4 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in

5 bronze, of the gold medals struck pursuant to section 2,

6 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe,

7 and at a price sufficient to cover the costs thereof, includ8 ing labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead ex9 penses, and the cost of the gold medals.

10 SEC. 4. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

11 The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national

12 medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United

13 States Code.

14 SEC. 5. FUNDING.

15 (a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is

16 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint

17 Public Enterprise Fund an amount not to exceed $30,000

18 to pay for the cost of the medals authorized by this Act.

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

20 sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be

21 deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise

22 Fund.

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