[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 588 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 588

  Honoring Dr. Feng Shan Ho, a man of great courage and humanity, who 
  saved the lives of thousands of Austrian Jews between 1938 and 1940.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 6, 2008

 Mr. Hatch (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Barrasso, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. 
 Bennett, Mr. Levin, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Kyl, Ms. Collins, 
 Mr. Isakson, Mr. Specter, and Mr. Voinovich) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Honoring Dr. Feng Shan Ho, a man of great courage and humanity, who 
  saved the lives of thousands of Austrian Jews between 1938 and 1940.

Whereas, at great personal risk and sacrifice, Dr. Feng Shan Ho authorized the 
        issuance of Chinese visas to Jewish persons so they could emigrate from 
        Austria and escape the horrors of the Holocaust;
Whereas it is necessary to honor Dr. Ho posthumously because, in the ultimate 
        demonstration of selfless humanitarianism, Dr. Ho never sought 
        recognition for his courageous actions;
Whereas 70 years ago, Adolf Hitler's troops crossed into Austria and announced 
        the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria to Germany), thereby applying 
        all anti-Semitic decrees to Austrian Jews;
Whereas the Nazis brutally persecuted more than 200,000 Austrian Jews, by 
        forcibly segregating them, depriving them of their citizenship and 
        livelihoods, and interning them in concentration camps;
Whereas the fierceness of the persecution in Austria became the model for the 
        future persecution of Jews in other Nazi-conquered territories;
Whereas the Nazis initially assumed a policy of coerced expulsion, with the goal 
        of eventually removing all Jewish persons from Europe;
Whereas most other foreign consulates, although besieged by desperate Jews, 
        offered no help;
Whereas a young Chinese diplomat in Vienna, Dr. Feng Shan Ho, refused to stand 
        by and witness the destruction of innocent human beings, and authorized 
        the issuance of visas for all Jews who asked;
Whereas word spread quickly and Jewish persons formed long lines in front of the 
        Chinese Consulate to obtain the lifesaving visas;
Whereas the Chinese ambassador in Berlin ordered Dr. Ho to stop authorizing 
        visas for Jews, but Dr. Ho nevertheless continued, at risk to his 
        career, to prepare the visas;
Whereas in 1939, the Nazis confiscated the Chinese Consulate building, on the 
        grounds that it was a Jewish-owned building;
Whereas, when the Chinese government refused funds to relocate the Consulate, 
        Dr. Ho reopened the Consulate in another building and personally paid 
        all the expenses;
Whereas in May 1940, Dr. Ho left Vienna, having authorized visas for thousands 
        of Austrian Jews;
Whereas after 4 decades in diplomatic service to China, in 1973, Dr. Ho moved to 
        the United States to join his children;
Whereas Dr. Ho became a United States citizen and lived in San Francisco until 
        September 28, 1997, when he passed away at the age of 96;
Whereas the world only knows of Dr. Ho's courageous actions because of a chance 
        discovery among his diplomatic papers after his death, and the full 
        extent of Dr. Ho's heroism is still being uncovered; and
Whereas in 2000, the State of Israel posthumously made Dr. Ho an honorary 
        citizen of Israel and granted him one of Israel's highest honors, the 
        title of Righteous Among the Nations, ``for his humanitarian courage in 
        issuing Chinese visas to Jews in Vienna in spite of orders from his 
        superior to the contrary'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) honors and salutes the great courage and humanity of 
        Dr. Feng Shan Ho for acting at great personal risk to issue 
        Chinese visas to Jews in Vienna between 1938 and 1940; and
            (2) recognizes his heroic deeds in saving the lives of 
        thousands of Jewish persons by allowing them to escape the 
        Holocaust.
                                 <all>