II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3001 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 17, 2012 

Received 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Raoul Wallenberg Cen3 tennial Celebration Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds as follows: 

6 (1) Raoul Wallenberg was born in Europe on 

7 August 4, 1912, to Swedish Christian parents. 

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

9 of Michigan in Ann Arbor, completing a five-year 

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

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

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

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

14 roots here and have a hard time imagining my leav15 ing it. . . . Every now and then I feel strange when 

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

17 large and wonderful America is.’’. 

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

19 a career as a businessman, and afterwards, a Swed20 ish diplomat. 

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

22 position for him at the Holland Bank in Haifa, Pal23 estine. There Raoul began to meet young Jews who 

24 had already been forced to flee from Nazi persecu25 tion in Germany. Their stories affected him deeply. 


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

2 in Europe, confiding to actress Viveca Lindfors the 

3 horrific plight of Jews under Nazi Europe. 

4 (7) Under the direction of President Franklin 

5 D. Roosevelt, the War Refugee Board was estab6 lished in January 1944 to aid civilians that fell vic7 tim to the Nazi and Axis powers in Europe. 

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

9 was protection of the 750,000 Hungarian Jews still 

10 alive. 

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

12 31 at the time, would be most effective in protecting 

13 Jews and victims of the Nazis in Hungary under the 

14 War Refugee Board. He was recruited by Iver 

15 Olsen, an agent for the Office of Strategic Services 

16 and sent to Budapest, Hungary, under his official 

17 profession as a Swedish diplomat. He was instructed 

18 to use passports and other creative means to save as 

19 many lives as possible. 

20 (10) Wallenberg created a new Swedish pass21 port, the Schutzpass, which looked more imposing 

22 and official than the actual Swedish passport. He re23 portedly put up huge place cards of it throughout 

24 Budapest to make the Nazis familiar with it. He 

25 unilaterally announced that it granted the holder imVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:32 Jul 11, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3001.RDS H3001

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1 munity from the death camps. The Schutzpasses 

2 alone are credited with saving 20,000 Jewish lives. 

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

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

5 Jewish women and acted swiftly to save them. 

6 Former Wallenberg staffer, Agnes Adachi, recalls 

7 the time when she and other staff, spent the whole 

8 night making around 2,000 Schutzpasses before 6 

9 a.m. They were all completed and personally deliv10 ered to the women in time to save their lives. 

11 (12) Using the money the United States put 

12 into the War Refugee Board, Wallenberg was able to 

13 purchase about thirty buildings, which he used as 

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

15 over 8,000 children whose parents have already been 

16 deported or killed. 

17 (13) Tommy Lapid, a young boy who was stay18 ing with his mother in a Swedish safe house (his fa19 ther was already dead), gave an eyewitness account 

20 of how his family was helped by Wallenberg and the 

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

22 Hungarian Fascists came into the house and said 

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

24 We knew what this meant. My mother kissed me 

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


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1 forever and she left me there, an orphan to all in2 tents and purposes. Then two or three hours later, 

3 to my amazement, my mother returned with the 

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

5 mother was there—she was alive and she was hug6 ging me and kissing me, and she said one word: 

7 Wallenberg.’’. 

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

9 Wallenberg remained vigilant and attentive to the 

10 people under his care. Adolf Eichmann, the SS colo11 nel charged with the extermination of Jews in East12 ern Europe, was determined to exterminate the 

13 70,000 Jews kept as prisoners in a guarded ghetto 

14 in Budapest. As soon as Wallenberg heard of the 

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

16 official, who defected and turned to Wallenberg. 

17 Szalay was sent to speak to General Schmidthuber, 

18 who was ordered to spearhead the ghetto extermi19 nation in Budapest. Szalay informed Schmidthuber 

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

21 planned massacre took place, Wallenberg would see 

22 to it personally that Schmidthuber would be pros23 ecuted as a war criminal and hanged. The plans 

24 were ultimately abandoned and considered Wallen25 berg’s last big victory. 


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1 (15) Of the 120,000 Hungarian Jews that sur2 vived, Raoul Wallenberg, acting under the War Ref3 ugee Board, is credited with saving an estimated 

4 100,000 of them in a six-month period. 

5 (16) Raoul Wallenberg’s fate remains a mys6 tery. In January 13, 1945, he contacted the Rus7 sians in an effort to secure food for the Jews under 

8 his protection—as he was still working hard to pro9 tect them. 

10 (17) In 1981, President Ronald Reagan made 

11 Raoul Wallenberg an honorary citizen of the United 

12 States, an honor only previously extended to Win13 ston Churchill. 

14 (18) These findings show that Raoul Wallen15 berg showed exceptional heroism and bravery with 

16 his actions during the holocaust. Working with the 

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

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

19 many of which were later able to immigrate to the 

20 United States. 

21 (19) Indeed, hundreds of thousands of Amer22 ican Jews can directly or indirectly attribute their 

23 own lives to Raoul Wallenberg’s actions during 

24 World War II. Many of the people Wallenberg saved 

25 have been influential citizens contributing to AmerVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:32 Jul 11, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3001.RDS H3001

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1 ican institutions and culture, including Congressman 

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

3 2008), Annette Lantos, and the Liska Rebbe, Rabbi 

4 Yoizef (Joseph) Friedlander, who carried forth the 

5 Liska Hassidic dynasty from Hungary to the United 

6 States after being saved by Raoul Wallenberg. 

7 (20) His actions and character make him an ex8 cellent contender for a Congressional Gold Medal in 

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

10 achievements and humanitarian accomplishments. 

11 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

12 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

13 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem14 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

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

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

17 representative of Raoul Wallenberg, in recognition of his 

18 achievements and heroic actions during the Holocaust. 

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

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

21 of the Treasury shall strike a gold medal with suitable em22 blems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the 

23 Secretary. 


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1 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

2 Under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treas3 ury may prescribe, the Secretary may strike duplicate 

4 medals in bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to 

5 section 3 and sell such duplicate medals at a price suffi6 cient to cover the costs of the duplicate medals (including 

7 labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead ex8 penses) and the cost of the gold medal. 

9 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

10 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu11 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

12 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

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

14 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

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

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

17 SALE. 

18 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF CHARGES.—There is author19 ized to be charged against the United States Mint Public 

20 Enterprise Fund, such amounts as may be necessary to 

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

22 Act. 

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

24 sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 4 shall be 


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1 deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 

2 Fund. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 16, 2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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