I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3001 

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

of his achievements and heroic actions during the Holocaust. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 

Mr. MEEKS (for himself, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. BERMAN, Ms. HAYWORTH, and 

Mr. GRIMM) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

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, completing a five-year 

3 program in three-and-a-half years. 

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

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

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

7 roots here and have a hard time imagining my leav8 ing it. . . . Every now and then I feel strange when 

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

10 large and wonderful America is.’’. 

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

12 a career as a businessman, and afterwards, a Swed13 ish diplomat. 

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

15 position for him at the Holland Bank in Haifa, Pal16 estine. There Raoul began to meet young Jews who 

17 had already been forced to flee from Nazi persecu18 tion in Germany. Their stories affected him deeply. 

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

20 in Europe, confiding to actress Viveca Lindfors the 

21 horrific plight of Jews under Nazi Europe. 

22 (7) Under the direction of President Franklin 

23 D. Roosevelt, the War Refugee Board was estab24 lished in January 1944 to aid civilians that fell vic25 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 Hungarian Jews still 

3 alive. 

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 Office of Strategic Services 

9 and sent to Budapest, Hungary, under his official 

10 profession as a Swedish diplomat. He was instructed 

11 to use passports and other creative means to save as 

12 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 place cards of it throughout 

17 Budapest to make the Nazis familiar with it. He 

18 unilaterally announced that it granted the holder im19 munity from the death camps. The Schutzpasses 

20 alone are 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 other staff, spent the whole 


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1 night making around 2,000 Schutzpasses before 6 

2 a.m. They were all completed and personally deliv3 ered to the women in time to save their lives. 

4 (12) Using the money the United States put 

5 into the War Refugee Board, Wallenberg was able to 

6 purchase about thirty buildings, which he used as 

7 hospitals, schools, soup kitchens, and safe houses for 

8 over 8,000 children whose parents have already been 

9 deported or killed. 

10 (13) Tommy Lapid, a young boy who was stay11 ing with his mother in a Swedish safe house (his fa12 ther was already dead), gave an eyewitness account 

13 of how his family was helped by Wallenberg and the 

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

15 Hungarian Fascists came into the house and said 

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

17 We knew what this meant. My mother kissed me 

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

19 forever and she left me there, an orphan to all in20 tents and purposes. Then two or three hours later, 

21 to my amazement, my mother returned with the 

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

23 mother was there—she was alive and she was hug24 ging me and kissing me, and she said one word: 

25 Wallenberg.’’. 


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

2 Wallenberg remained vigilant and attentive to the 

3 people under his care. Adolf Eichmann, the SS colo4 nel charged with the extermination of Jews in East5 ern Europe, was determined to exterminate the 

6 70,000 Jews kept as prisoners in a guarded ghetto 

7 in Budapest. As soon as Wallenberg heard of the 

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

9 official, who defected and turned to Wallenberg. 

10 Szalay was sent to speak to General Schmidthuber, 

11 who was ordered to spearhead the ghetto extermi12 nation in Budapest. Szalay informed Schmidthuber 

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

14 planned massacre took place, Wallenberg would see 

15 to it personally that Schmidthuber would be pros16 ecuted as a war criminal and hanged. The plans 

17 were ultimately abandoned and considered Wallen18 berg’s last big victory. 

19 (15) Of the 120,000 Hungarian Jews that sur20 vived, Raoul Wallenberg, acting under the War Ref21 ugee Board, is credited with saving an estimated 

22 100,000 of them in a six-month period. 

23 (16) Raoul Wallenberg’s fate remains a mys24 tery. In January 13, 1945, he contacted the Rus25 sians in an effort to secure food for the Jews under 


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1 his protection—as he was still working hard to pro2 tect them. 

3 (17) In 1981, President Ronald Reagan made 

4 Raoul Wallenberg an honorary citizen of the United 

5 States, an honor only previously extended to Win6 ston Churchill. 

7 (18) These findings show that Raoul Wallen8 berg showed exceptional heroism and bravery with 

9 his actions during the holocaust. Working with the 

10 War Refugee Board, a United State’s agency, he 

11 was able to save about 100,000 Hungarian Jews, 

12 many of which were later able to immigrate to the 

13 United States. 

14 (19) Indeed, hundreds of thousands of Amer15 ican Jews can directly or indirectly attribute their 

16 own lives to Raoul Wallenberg’s actions during 

17 World War II. Many of the people Wallenberg saved 

18 have been influential citizens contributing to Amer19 ican institutions and culture, including Congressman 

20 Tom Lantos (February 1, 1928–February 11, 

21 2008), Annette Lantos, and the Liska Rebbe, Rabbi 

22 Yoizef (Joseph) Friedlander, who carried forth the 

23 Liska Hassidic dynasty from Hungary to the United 

24 States after being saved by Raoul Wallenberg. 


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1 (20) His actions and character make him an ex2 cellent contender for a Congressional Gold Medal in 

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

4 achievements and humanitarian accomplishments. 

5 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

6 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

7 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem8 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

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

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

11 representative of Raoul Wallenberg, in recognition of his 

12 achievements and heroic actions during the Holocaust. 

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

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

15 of the Treasury shall strike a gold medal with suitable em16 blems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the 

17 Secretary. 

18 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

19 Under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treas20 ury may prescribe, the Secretary may strike duplicate 

21 medals in bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to 

22 section 3 and sell such duplicate medals at a price suffi23 cient to cover the costs of the duplicate medals (including 

24 labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead ex25 penses) and the cost of the gold medal. 


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1 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

2 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu3 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

4 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

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

6 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

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

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

9 SALE. 

10 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF CHARGES.—There is author11 ized to be charged against the United States Mint Public 

12 Enterprise Fund, such amounts as may be necessary to 

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

14 Act. 

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

16 sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 4 shall be 

17 deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 

18 Fund. 

Æ 


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