[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3352 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3352

To award a congressional gold medal to representatives of Varian Fry in 
recognition of the tremendous effort he made at great personal risk to 
secure the escape of thousands of trapped Jewish artists, writers, and 
  intellectuals from the Nazis in Europe and the greatly detrimental 
treatment he received at the hands of the United States Government as a 
                                result.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 30, 1996

   Mr. Hastings of Florida introduced the following bill; which was 
      referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To award a congressional gold medal to representatives of Varian Fry in 
recognition of the tremendous effort he made at great personal risk to 
secure the escape of thousands of trapped Jewish artists, writers, and 
  intellectuals from the Nazis in Europe and the greatly detrimental 
treatment he received at the hands of the United States Government as a 
                                result.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Varian Fry Gold 
Medal Act''.
    (b) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 1935, Varian Fry, an American scholar and editor, 
        traveled to Germany to witness the Third Reich.
            (2) Varian Fry returned from Germany greatly concerned 
        about the plight of refugees.
            (3) After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Mr. Fry raised 
        funds to bring refugees from Nazism to America but he was 
        particularly concerned about the fate of thousands of artists, 
        writers, and intellectuals who were trapped in France after the 
        establishment of the collaborationist Vichy government.
            (4) Determined to help these trapped artists, writers, and 
        intellectuals, in 1940 Mr. Fry secured a passport and 200 visas 
        from a reluctant United States Department of State and traveled 
        to Marseilles, France.
            (5) Mr. Fry's mission, which was expected to last only a 
        few weeks, was to help no more than 200 endangered Jewish 
        intellectuals escape the Nazi regime.
            (6) Posing as a relief worker, Mr. Fry secured passports 
        and visas for almost 4,000 Jews and ingeniously smuggled them 
        out of France.
            (7) 14 months later Mr. Fry was forced to leave France when 
        the United States Department of State, furious that he had 
        countermanded his orders to help only a small number of people, 
        revoked his passport.
            (8) After Mr. Fry's return to the United States, he 
        condemned the restrictive immigration policies of the United 
        States which were greatly hindering the effort to help the 
        victims of the Nazis escape from Europe.
            (9) His dissent with regard to these policies prompted the 
        Federal Bureau of Investigation to open a file on Mr. Fry which 
        virtually prevented him from ever again working for the United 
        States Government.
            (10) Unable to secure a good position, and largely ignored 
        by those whose lives he had saved, Varian Fry died in 1967 
        while writing a book about his wartime experiences.
            (11) Shortly before his death, Mr. Fry was awarded the 
        Croix de Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur by the French 
        Government which was the only recognition he received before 
        his death.
            (12) Varian Fry was posthumously honored by Yad Vasham as 
        one of the ``righteous among nations'' in a ceremony attended 
        by Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Mr. Fry's life has 
        been the subject of an exhibition at the Holocaust Museum in 
        Washington, DC.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The President is authorized to 
present, on behalf of the Congress, to the representatives of the late 
Varian Fry a gold medal of appropriate design, in recognition of the 
tremendous effort he made at great personal risk to secure the escape 
of thousands of trapped Jewish artists, writers, and intellectuals from 
the Nazis in Europe.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred 
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury shall strike a gold 
medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined 
by the Secretary.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriation.--Effective October 1, 1996, 
there are authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $25,000 to carry 
out this section.

SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    (a) Striking and Sale.--The Secretary of the Treasury may strike 
and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to 
section 1 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at a 
price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, materials, 
dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold 
medal.
    (b) Reimbursement of Appropriation.--The appropriation used to 
carry out section 2 shall be reimbursed out of the proceeds of sales 
under subsection (a).

SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS.

    The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for 
purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
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