H. Res. 226 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
June 11, 2007. 
Whereas some 6,000,000 Jews were slaughtered pursuant to 
Adolf Hitler’s diabolical plan for the total extermination 
of the Jews during the Third Reich, and even more would 
have perished had it not been for the efforts of a number 
of United States Government officials who spoke out 
forcefully against American policy and persuaded Presi-
dent Franklin D. Roosevelt of the need for extraordinary 
measures to save Jewish lives; 
Whereas on November 9, 1943 – the 5th anniversary of 
Kristallnacht, when pogroms against Jews and the burn-
ing of synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes were 
carried out throughout Nazi Germany – identical Con-
gressional resolutions were introduced in both houses of 
Congress calling for the creation of a United States Gov-
ernment commission ‘‘to formulate and effectuate a plan 
of immediate action designed to save the surviving Jewish 
people of Europe from extinction at the hands of Nazi 
Germany’’; 
Whereas the Senate version was introduced by Senator Guy 
Gillette of Iowa with the support of Elbert Thomas of 
Utah and Edwin Johnson of Colorado and was unani-
mously approved in the Senate Foreign Relations Com-
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mittee on December 20, 1943, and scheduled for a full 
Senate vote in early 1944; 
Whereas the House version was introduced by Representative 
Will Rogers, Jr., of California and extensive hearings on 
the resolution were held by the House Foreign Affairs 
Committee; 
Whereas United States Government agencies were receiving 
extensive credible information about the extent of Nazi 
atrocities against the Jews and other minorities in Eu-
rope, nevertheless, the policy of the United States as de-
veloped and implemented in the Department of State op-
posed American government action to save the lives of 
Jewish and other minorities who were being systemati-
cally exterminated by the Nazi German government; 
Whereas in 1943 and early 1944, an extraordinary group of 
officials at the United States Department of Treasury 
sought to change those policies and Secretary of the 
Treasury Henry Morgenthau directed the preparation of 
a memorandum to the President of the United States 
urging more direct and forceful American action to aid 
Jewish victims of the Nazi atrocities, and this document, 
prepared by Josiah DuBois, Jr., Assistant General Coun-
sel of the Treasury Department, and John Pehle, a 33- 
year-old attorney in the Foreign Funds Control unit of 
the Treasury Department, was presented to President 
Franklin D. Roosevelt by Secretary Morgenthau, Ran-
dolph Paul and Pehle on January 16, 1944; 
Whereas President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9417 on 
January 22, 1944, affirming that ‘‘it is the policy of this 
Government to take all measures within its power to res-
cue the victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent 
danger of death and otherwise afford such victims all
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possible relief and assistance consistent with the success-
ful prosecution of the war’’ and creating the War Ref-
ugee Board, composed of the Secretaries of State, Treas-
ury and War, to carry out this policy; 
Whereas John Pehle was appointed the Acting Executive Di-
rector and subsequently Executive Director of the Board 
and Josiah DuBois, Jr. was appointed General Counsel 
of the Board; 
Whereas on January 25, 1944, the Board issued a critically 
important diplomatic cable to all United States diplo-
matic missions abroad ordering that ‘‘action be taken to 
forestall the plot of the Nazis to exterminate the Jews 
and other persecuted minorities in Europe’’ and devel-
oped new programs to increase the flow of Jewish and 
other refugees from Nazi persecution to neutral countries 
in Europe, including Turkey, Portugal, Switzerland, 
Spain, and Sweden, from where they were assisted to go 
to North Africa, Palestine and North and South America; 
Whereas the Board assisted the International Red Cross to 
provide food parcels to ‘‘stateless’’ civilians in internment 
camps, to support and protect some 3,000,000 Allied and 
Axis prisoners of war, and to streamline Federal licensing 
procedures for the transmission of funds to pay for Red 
Cross relief supplies and rescue operations, thus saving 
the lives of thousands of Jews and other internees; 
Whereas in April 1944, John Pehle, on behalf of the War 
Refugee Board, urged all neutral nations to increase 
their diplomatic representation in Hungary to help pre-
vent the accelerating deportation of Jews to Auschwitz- 
Birkenau and other Nazi extermination camps and to 
begin providing vital funding and other resources to as-
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sist in saving Hungarian Jews from concentration and 
extermination camps; 
Whereas the War Refugee Board sought out Swedish citizen 
Raoul Wallenberg and, with the support of the Swedish 
government and its legation in Budapest, supported one 
of the most extensive and successful rescue efforts during 
the Holocaust; and 
Whereas subsequent academic studies have credited the War 
Refugee Board with rescuing as many as 200,000 Jews 
from Nazi occupied countries through the efforts of 
Wallenberg and others: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) honors the efforts and contributions of those 
who worked for the establishment of the War Refugee 
Board and for a more active United States policy to res-
cue Jews and other victims of Nazi repression who were 
in imminent danger of death and to provide these per-
secuted minorities with relief and assistance during 
World War II; and 
(2) commends in particular the actions of Secretary 
of Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Josiah DuBois, Jr., and 
John Pehle for their dedication and devotion to helping
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rescue Jews and other persecuted minorities in the Holo-
caust. 
Attest: 
Clerk.