Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act

Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, and I am always proud to have this preeminent privilege of standing here and addressing those who are within the Chamber as well as people who may be without.

I rise today still a liberated, unbought, unbossed, unafraid Democrat. I rise today to deliver a special message as it relates to slavery and the Holocaust.

Before I get to the message, I have a bit of housekeeping. I have had persons tell me that it appears that I am looking down and that my eyes are closed when I am speaking. I have no control over the camera angle. I am looking straight ahead now, and I will be looking straight ahead most of the time. So if there is some adjustment that the persons who operate the camera can make, I would greatly appreciate it, and I thank them very much.

I am very proud of some things that have happened. Just this week on Wednesday, this House passed S. 91--that would be a Senate bill--and I am proud to know that the House passed this bill because this bill was a special piece of legislation. This bill, S. 91, passed by voice vote at about 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, and this bill, S. 91, was to award a Congressional Gold Medal collectively to 60 diplomats in recognition of their bravery and heroism during the Holocaust.

I am proud that this piece of legislation passed the House. There are many reasons to be proud. The people who were there to rescue persons and assist persons during the Holocaust, the victims, they ought to be recognized. The Holocaust occurred, and it was one of the worst crimes ever committed against humanity.

I am proud to also tell you that I supported the legislation. I have my signature on that legislation, and that means something to me. I want people to know that when it comes to stepping up and standing out and standing for the people who have suffered in this country and around the globe, I would like to let people know that I am among those who are always going to be there as best as I can. I can't take on every challenge, but I want to take on as many as I can, and this is one that I am proud to say that I am a cosponsor of.

In fact, I became a cosponsor on March 17 of 2023. The legislation itself was filed on January 26, 2023. A few months later I became a cosponsor of this legislation.

This legislation when it was filed had 13 original persons on it, an original sponsor and then original cosponsors, and it proceeded through the House. In the House it was H.R. 537. On June 11, 205 Members were on this legislation. I was one of them. I am proud to say it again. As one of them on June 11, this piece of legislation was passed in the House. It passed the House and then went to the Senate with 295 Members having signed on to it.

On December 4 it passed in the House by voice vote, and I was a Member that signed on to that bill. I was one of the persons that signed on to it.

Now, I mention this bill, and I am proud to be associated with it, but I am also proud to be associated with another piece of legislation, H.R. 1244. This piece of legislation would posthumously award a historic Congressional Gold Medal collectively to Africans and their descendants enslaved within our country from August 20 of 1619 to December 6 of 1865. I am proud to be the original sponsor of this legislation.

This legislation has 125 Members on it. Just as the legislation to recognize the heroes of the Holocaust had 290-plus Members, this legislation has to have 290 Members or more for it to pass the House. We have 125.

This legislation was filed on February 28 of 2023 about a month after the legislation was filed to honor the heroes associated with the Holocaust. I am proud to be on both pieces of legislation. The legislation that we have filed to honor the persons who were enslaved, whose lives were sacrificed has been in the House now for about the same length of time as the legislation to honor the heroes of the Holocaust.

So let's just take a moment and read some of what this legislation says that would honor those persons who were enslaved posthumously with a Congressional Gold Medal. I might add that the heroes of the Holocaust received this posthumous honor as we are trying to acquire the same for the persons who were enslaved.

I will read from a Dear Colleague that we sent out to our colleagues here in Congress:

Support the historic Congressional Gold Medal for America's

economic foundational fathers, mothers and children, the

enslaved.

It reads:

On July 18, 1956, Congress, the House and Senate, awarded a

Congressional Gold Medal to Confederate soldiers.

I might also add to soldiers who associated themselves with the Union.

However, to this day, Congress has never awarded a

Congressional Gold Medal to the over 10 million enslaved men,

women, and children who toiled for over 240 years to build

the economic and infrastructural foundation of the wealthiest

nation ever to exist on our planet.

These foundational mothers and fathers of our country

labored arduously constructing our cities, roads, bridges,

and wells. They laboriously planted as well as harvested the

food that fed our Nation. They were the de facto producers of

the cash crops that fueled our Nation's foundational wealth.

These enslaved human beings of African ancestry toiled as

slaves without remuneration or recompense. Their humble hands

were relied upon for the construction of some of our Nation's

most renowned edifices and monuments including the White

House, the Capitol building, and the Washington Monument.

In truth, their sacrificed lives provided the genesis of

our Nation's economic preeminence. These sacrificed human

beings, men, women, and children, were the greatest

contributors to the American foundational economy . . .

Why would I say they were the greatest contributors?

Because for more than 240 years--it has been estimated to be about 246--but for more than 240 years they sacrificed their lives. Their lives were sacrificed. They didn't do it willingly. They were forced into slavery. They were enslaved, and it was intended that this would go on ad infinitum. It was never intended at the genesis of slavery that it would be for just a few months or a few years, maybe a few decades, one century--no, it was to be forever. Their lives were sacrificed to make America great.

So if you are in this country today, regardless as to why you are here or how you arrived, know that you are standing on the sacrificed lives of more than 10 million people who were enslaved. And their enslavement is what has made this country what you see and what you experience today.

Let me continue:

Yet their contributions are almost universally forgotten,

under-recognized, ignored, overlooked, and/or undervalued.

For these and countless other justifications--this is what I said to my colleagues in the letter I sent to them asking for their support.

For these and countless other justifications, I am

beseeching Congress as a matter of conscience to award a

Congressional Gold Medal collectively to the human beings who

are the foundational mothers, fathers, and children that

toiled as slaves without recompense or recognition for their

unparalleled contribution to the infrastructural and economic

development of the nation we enjoy today.

We have awarded similar Congressional Gold Medals to others. My prayer is that we can do it for them. But we haven't.

That doesn't mean that what we did on Wednesday should not have occurred. I supported it. I believe that people of good will should have the courage to support the victims of the Holocaust and the heroes of the Holocaust.

Just as I believe it strongly, I believe equally as strongly that people of good will, the same people that signed on to the legislation so that we could have the vote on Wednesday, I believe people of good will such as these people can sign on to a bill to accord a Congressional Gold Medal to the enslaved persons, the economic foundational mothers and fathers of the country whose lives were sacrificed for more than 240 years to make America great.

Yes, I thank all who have signed on.

I have to be candid. I regret that we didn't get 290 signatures so that we could pass this legislation in this Congress. I regret it.

It is a painful thing to say we didn't get those 290 signatures. We made the appeals. It is a painful thing to say we didn't get 290 people to honor them just as we honored the victims of the Holocaust, just as we honored the persons who were heroes of the Holocaust. Some 60 of them have been honored as of Wednesday. I believe that we can do a similar thing for the persons of African ancestry who suffered here in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I want you to know that notwithstanding the fact that it didn't pass, hasn't passed in this Congress, and I don't think it will, I would love to think that we could push it through now. I don't think we will. However, I plan to file it in the next Congress. If it is God's will, I plan to do it and ask my colleagues to sign on to it again, and maybe we will get the 290.

Nevertheless, it is a painful thing to know that we could not get the 290 in this country in this Congress, which means we have to start all over again with the bill to honor the persons who are the economic foundation, the mothers and fathers, of the country. We have to start again in a new Congress next year, a new House, a new Senate, and a new President and push forward.

I just hope and pray that the 290 persons plus who signed on to the legislation to accord the Congressional Gold Medal to the heroes of the Holocaust posthumously, I just hope and pray that they will sign on to this legislation to honor persons who were the foundational mothers and fathers.

They never received any recompense, they never received any remuneration, and they never received any kind of thank you for your sacrifice.

The country has not been fair to them. The Congress has not been fair to them, but I still have hope. I will still come back and present the bill again. As long as I am breathing and I am in this Congress, I will be pushing for this legislation to pass.

I just want to know that people treat all crimes against humanity similarly, maybe not exactly same, but similarly. I just hope that we will treat this crime against humanity the same way we have treated the crime against humanity that we respect as the Holocaust.

Two crimes have been committed against humanity. One has been treated fairly in terms of what we are doing here in the House, the other has not. However, I believe in second chances and third chances.

So I close with these words, Mr. Speaker: I think it is difficult for people in this country to embrace what happened to the enslaved because it happened here. It is easy to look through the window of life and take a principled, conscience, and laudable position. It is difficult to look into the mirror of life and be equally as principled and conscience and laudable.

It is difficult because when you look through the window of life, you are looking at someone else and what they have done and you can see the horrors and you can speak with fervor about those horrors. However, when you look into the mirror of life, you are looking at yourself, and I believe that it is difficult for a good many people in this country and in this House, the House of Representatives, and in the Senate to look into the mirror of life and speak truth to yourselves about what happened and what we ought to do to show respect for some 246 years of suffering and sacrifice that made America great.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 537) to award a Congressional Gold Medal to 60 diplomats, in recognition of their bravery and heroism during the Holocaust, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 537, a bill that will posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to the forgotten heroes of the Holocaust.

Madam Speaker, on September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis began their invasion of Europe, which started World War II and threw humanity into what would become one of the darkest periods in history.

The Nazis sought the mass extermination of the Jewish people and wasted no time carrying out their vile plan. They hunted, rounded up, and sent Jews to concentration camps across Europe to be murdered in state-sponsored genocide that we now refer to as the Holocaust.

However, a handful of diplomats from around the world took quick and heroic action to save Jews attempting to flee Europe. They resisted the anti-Semitic Nazi agenda, risking their families, careers, and lives to help innocent Jewish people flee persecution.

Despite some receiving direct orders not to help the Jewish population, these diplomats issued passports and travel visas, set up safe houses and getaways to hide adults and children, and communicated with local communities to help fleeing Jews escape by traveling underground to safety.

Because of the actions of these diplomats, hundreds of thousands of Jewish families in Europe escaped death at the hands of Hitler's Nazi regime. Although they were not the only ones who risked their lives to aid the Jewish community, today we celebrate 60 of those diplomats and honor their lives and actions with a Congressional Gold Medal.

Sadly, anti-Semitism is an endemic and unrelenting scourge on history, rearing its ugly head even today just as it did 80 years ago during World War II.

H.R. 537 honors those 60 diplomats who valiantly defied the systemic hatred by bravely doing what was right to stand up not only for the Jewish community but of all mankind. It is my hope that their courage will continue to inspire Americans today.

Madam Speaker, I support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it, as well. I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Salazar), the bill's sponsor.

Madam Speaker, I would just underscore the importance of this bill in reminding us of the evils that existed 80 years ago and still exist today, and the bravery that embodied and continues to embody mankind today.

I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for introducing this bill, and I thank the gentleman from New York for his cosponsorship. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge the passage of my bill, the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act.

Anti-Semitism has always been a tragic feature of world history, but there was no greater display of anti-Semitism than when the Nazis tried to wipe out the Jews from the face of the Earth. Hitler and his satanic advisers were the architects of one of the cruelest chapters in the history of humanity called the Holocaust.

We all know too well the horrors of that period, but we often forget the remarkable individuals across the world who, at great personal risk, helped millions and millions of Jews escape the death camps.

H.R. 537 recognizes 60 diplomats--some of them are pictured right here--who used their positions and influence to help those under persecution escape death. How? By issuing fake visas or hiding them in the embassies. They simply smuggled the Jews destined for concentration camps out of the hands of evil.

These heroes come from a variety of nations, including the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Spain, Italy, Poland, Japan, and even Nazi Germany. They displayed undeniable courage and embodied the best of humanity during one of the darkest times of human history.

History, unfortunately, repeats itself, and today denial of the Holocaust is at an all-time high, with one out of five Americans under the age of 30 believing it never happened. Meanwhile, anti-Semitic incidents in this country, in the United States, have gone up more than 300 percent since the terrorist attack on Israel last October.

Honoring the heroes of the past helps us acknowledge the Holocaust as a real event and serves today in the present as a chilling reminder of one of the devastating consequences of silence in the face of evil. Nonetheless, despite these unspeakable atrocities that defined that period, these people demonstrated that humanity also has the capacity for extraordinary acts of courage.

By supporting this legislation, we will honor the memory of these heroes, we will preserve the truth of the Holocaust for future generations, and we will continue to fight anti-Semitism in all its forms.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge Abe Foxman and Art Reidel, as well as my co-lead of this bill, the gentleman from New York, the Honorable Congressman Ritchie Torres.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 537, the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act, sponsored by Representative Salazar and myself.

Following the sacrifices honored over the weekend on the anniversary of the historic battle of Normandy, Congress today has the opportunity with this bipartisan bill to honor 60 diplomats from around the world in recognition of their courage, devotion, and sacrifice to rescue countless numbers of Jewish and other persecuted people during the Nazi occupation of Europe.

The Holocaust was the genocide of over 6 million Jews and millions of others by the Nazis and has come to symbolize the depths of human cruelty, dehumanization, and mass violence.

We remember the lives of over 10 million victims of Nazi Germany's persecution and mass executions, and today we recognize some of those individuals who demonstrated humanity and courage. The diplomats recognized by H.R. 537 and honored with this medal come from across the world. They faced a choice between being complacent with their then- Nazi occupiers or following their conscience. Risking their lives and careers, they chose humanity and became heroes.

After the Nazis took control of Germany and waged war on Europe, diplomats and foreign officials were in difficult positions. The diplomats recognized today made the decision to directly confront their own governments, the Nazi occupiers, and sympathizers to protect and rescue Europe's persecuted Jews.

From issuing visas and protective documents to establishing safe houses with hospitals, nurseries, and soup kitchens for Europe's Jewish population, these individuals often defied explicit orders from their superiors.

Individually, these diplomats saved thousands of Jews from persecution. With H.R. 537, each of us can honor their heroism and affirm for the whole Nation how one person, one act of kindness, and one act of civil disobedience can make a difference.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.