[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 89 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 89

Expressing the sense of the Congress that a commemorative postage stamp 
  should be issued honoring Varian Fry, and that the Citizens' Stamp 
Advisory Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such 
                           a stamp be issued.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 9, 2007

 Mr. Rothman (for himself, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. 
Honda, Mr. Garrett of New Jersey, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Saxton, 
Mr. Fattah, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Pascrell, and Ms. Woolsey) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                    Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that a commemorative postage stamp 
  should be issued honoring Varian Fry, and that the Citizens' Stamp 
Advisory Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such 
                           a stamp be issued.

Whereas Varian Mackey Fry, of Ridgewood, New Jersey, embodied the spirit of 
        American heroism and demonstrated personal bravery of the highest order 
        during the Holocaust;
Whereas while serving as a representative of the Emergency Refugee Committee in 
        Occupied Vichy, France between 1940 and 1941, Varian Fry helped save the 
        lives of 1,500 Jews and hundreds of other anti-Nazi refugees;
Whereas Varian Fry established a legal French relief organization, the Centre 
        Americain de Secou, as a cover for his heroic but sometimes unlawful 
        actions on behalf of the refugees, including securing false visas, 
        planning daring escape routes through the mountains of Southern France, 
        illegally chartering ships to transport refugees out of the country, and 
        exchanging funding for these operations on the black market;
Whereas in order to save thousands of Jews and refugees threatened by the Nazis, 
        Varian Fry risked his personal safety, forfeited his employment as a 
        writer with the Foreign Policy Association, and was ultimately expelled 
        from France because his actions contravened the policies of the Vichy 
        French government;
Whereas Varian Fry's efforts resulted in the rescue of some 2,000 persons, 
        including such distinguished artists and intellectuals as Marc Chagall, 
        Max Ernst, Hannah Arendt, Franz Werfel, Jacques Lipchitz, Lion 
        Feuchtwanger, and Heinrich Mann;
Whereas in 1967, for his heroic actions, Varian Fry received the Croix de 
        Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, 1 of France's highest civilian 
        honors; and
Whereas in 1996, Varian Fry was named as ``Righteous Among the Nations'' by Yad 
        Vashem, the Holocaust Heros and Martyrs Remembrance Authority in 
        Jerusalem, making him the first American recipient of Israel's highest 
        honor for rescuers during the Holocaust: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),  
That it is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) a commemorative postage stamp should be issued by the 
        United States Postal Service honoring Varian Fry; and
            (2) the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend 
        to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.
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