[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 42 (Monday, April 18, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 18, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          RAOUL WALLENBERG BUST PLACEMENT IN THE U.S. CAPITOL

  Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Con. Res. 222) authorizing the placement of a bust of 
Raoul Wallenberg in the Capitol.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 222

       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That the Joint Committee on the Library is 
     authorized to accept a bust of Raoul Wallenberg and to place 
     the bust in an appropriate location in the Capitol, as 
     determined by the Joint Committee on the Library.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
North Carolina [Mr. Rose] will be recognized for 20 minutes, and the 
gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. Barrett] will be recognized for 20 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Rose].
  Mr. ROSE. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague, Mr. Lantos, for 
introducing this important resolution, and I am honored to be able to 
manage the measure on the floor today.
  Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate that, in this time when we approach 
the 50th anniversary of World War II, and we reflect on the tragic 
holocaust that took so many lives, Jewish and others, that the United 
States honor a man whose dedication to compassion for fellow human 
beings was remarkable.
  I am not referring to the worthy German, Oskar Schindler--the subject 
of the film ``Schindler's List''--but to a Swede, Raoul Wallenberg, who 
volunteered to enter Nazi-occupied Europe in an effort to save Jews 
from mass murder. In Hungary he saved an estimated 100,000 men, women 
and children from Hitler's gas chambers.

  Wallenberg, a graduate of the University of Michigan, restored our 
faith in humanity when he left the safety of neutral Sweden, his 
homland, to risk his life on behalf of others. Sweden was neutral, but 
Wallenberg was not neutral. He was committed to the cause of justice 
and humanity.
  I favor the placement of a bust honoring Wallenberg in the U.S. 
Capitol to join the busts of other great foreign champions of freedom--
like Garibaldi and Pulaski.
  As we gaze upon this likeness of Wallenberg, we can reflect on the 
need to support the human rights of all those throughout the world who 
are subjhected to tyranny.
  It is my pleasure now, Mr. Speaker, to yield such time as he may 
consume to my distinguished colleague, the gentleman from California, 
the Honorable Tom Lantos, who is the architect of this worthy 
undertaking.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, let me first thank my good friend and 
distinguished colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Rose], 
the Chair of the Committee on House Administration, for managing, 
supporting and making possible this legislation.
  Let me also thank all my friends on the Republican side who have been 
so instrumental in moving this legislation.
  Most of all, let me thank my wife, Annette, who has been the 
inspiration and the driving force behind this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, within a few weeks we will be debating on this floor 
another resolution that I had the privilege of submitting, the 
resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Allied landing in 
Normandy, which was the pivotal point in the liberation of Europe from 
Nazi tyranny. Today we honor a man who--behind Nazi lines, at enormous 
risk to his own life--put himself between persecuted victims of the 
Holocaust and the mighty Nazi German war machine and saved as many as 
100,000 lives.
  My first act in this body, Mr. Speaker, some 13 years ago, was to 
introduce legislation conferring honorary citizenship on Raoul 
Wallenberg, the Swedish hero of the Holocaust, and I want to thank you 
for being so instrumental in the passage of that legislation.
  Today we are considering a resolution that would authorize the 
placing of a bust of Wallenberg in this Capitol, along with busts of a 
number of other heroes whom we have honored, from Kosciusko and Kossuth 
to Garibaldi and Winston Churchill.
  Raoul Wallenberg, against overwhelming odds, placed himself in a 
situation of ultimate danger, but through his heroism and sacrifice, 
100,000 human beings were allowed to survive the Second World War.
  It is so appropriate that we do this today, when apparently--not 
having learned the lesson that we cannot yield to aggression--some 
200,000 innocent human lives have been lost in Bosnia, and over 1 
million innocent people are refugees in 1994, 50 years after the 
conclusion of the Second World War.
  The Normandy landings and the heroism of Raoul Wallenberg a half 
century ago taught us that we cannot yield to tyranny. We must stand up 
to oppression and brutality, and we must be willing to take risks to 
save human lives.
  Raoul Wallenberg, who paid for his heroism with decades of 
nightmarish existence in the Soviet gulag, is the ultimate inspiration 
to all of us, teaching us that we are all our brother's and sister's 
keeper; that we cannot look away at moments of the most danger, but we 
must have the courage and the determination and the will to resist 
tyranny.
  When Raoul Wallenberg's statue is unveiled in this Capitol, we will 
pay tribute not just to this great humanitarian, this great son of 
Sweden, but we will pay tribute to all men and women who recognize that 
there are issues beyond themselves, there are causes that transcend 
their lives, for which they are prepared to sacrifice their own.
  I want to thank all of my colleagues for their support.
  Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  (Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I, like the gentleman from 
North Carolina [Mr. Rose], want to commend the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Lantos] for bringing this matter to the attention of 
this body.
  Mr. Speaker, at a time when many lives have been lost throughout the 
world due to crime and military conflicts, it is encouraging to go back 
in history and remember the plight of a real life hero who ended up 
saving 100,000 innocent men, women, and children.
  Many people from Europe will proudly tell you the story of Raoul 
Wallenberg. However, Mr. Wallenberg's legacy is not limited to Sweden 
or Eastern Europe. You can go to so many towns and cities in my 
district, and elsewhere across this country, and the many people of 
Swedish descent will tell you the story of this remarkable individual.
  Raoul Wallenberg was a son of one of Sweden's most distinguished 
families and a graduate architect of the University of Michigan. During 
World War II, at the request of the United States, Raoul Wallenberg 
volunteered to conduct a dangerously complex rescue mission in the 
heart of the Hungarian Holocaust.
  He armed himself with documents he printed as Swedish protective 
passports, that he would later provide Jewish victims who were 
condemned to death. Wallenberg also set up safe havens in large 
apartment houses in Budapest.
  After retrieving these victims from certain death, he would put them 
in the shelters he had created. There, his underground messengers could 
provide food and medicine to the rescued individuals.
  Mr. Speaker, we have the opportunity to commemorate this heroic man 
and his incredible feat. This gentleman was the second person in the 
history of the United States, behind Winston Churchill, to be awarded 
honorary American citizenship by the U.S. Congress.
  House Concurrent Resolution 222 will authorize the placement of a 
bust of Mr. Raoul Wallenberg in the Capitol. I urge my colleagues to 
support this resolution.

                              {time}  1240

  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
distinguished gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Lewis]
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my strong 
support for House Concurrent Resolution 222, authorizing the placement 
of a bust of Raoul Wallenberg in this Capitol Building. I also want to 
commend my good friend and colleague Tom Lantos for introducing this 
resolution and for his tireless efforts on behalf of Raoul Wallenberg.
  Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat who literally put his life on 
the line to save the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews 
during the dark dark days of World War II. Wallenberg issued thousands 
of Swedish protective passports to Jews in Hungary, set up 
international safe houses where refugees were kept alive with food and 
medical treatment, and repeatedly put himself in harm's way to 
literally pull people from the death trains headed for the Nazi 
extermination camps.
  Raoul Wallenberg was a man of uncommon courage and incomparable 
spirit. His story is a testament of the good that one man can do, a 
legacy of heroism in the face of ultimate adversity, or righteousness 
in an era of insanity. He is a hero whose deeds serve as an inspiration 
for all mankind. It is only appropriate that Rauol Wallenberg's bust 
stand in the U.S. Capitol alongside other great champions of freedom 
and human liberty like Taddeaus Kosciusko, Casimir Pulaski, and Rev. 
Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Mr. Speaker, the fate that ultimately befell Raoul Wallenberg after 
his arrest by Russian troops in Hungary in 1945 is still not known. We 
hope and pray, Mr. Speaker, that one day soon that mystery will be 
solved.
  Mr. Speaker, today let Raoul Wallenberg's bust stand in our U.S. 
Capitol as an inspiration to us all, as a testament to the triumph of 
good over evil, as a tribute to the notion that one man or woman can 
make a difference.
  Support House Concurrent Resolution 222.
  Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from California [Mr. Horn].
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from 
Nebraska [Mr. Barrett] for yielding me this time, and I commend my 
colleague, the gentleman from California [Mr. Lantos], for bringing 
this matter before Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, as we look around this Chamber, we see above the galley 
of 24 medallions of the great lawgivers of history. As we look on our 
side of the Chamber, we see a portrait of one of the first foreigners 
to be imbued with the spirit of liberty and freedom and with compassion 
for humanity, the Marquis de Lafayette, a French nobleman who came over 
here in his twenties to become a major general in Washington's army and 
to help a band of revolutionaries gain their freedom from the tyranny 
of that day.
  Mr. Speaker, a few decades ago, we honored a British statesman and 
Prime Minister who was one of the great men of the 20th century, 
Winston Churchill, who came back to the land of his mother to be 
honored by Congress as one of the leaders of the free world. Churchill 
was the lone leader, who in the 1930's protested the growing tyranny--
and the butchery to be--of Adolf Hitler.
  Mr. Speaker, today we honor Raoul Wallenberg, son of a distinguished 
Swedish family; a diplomat himself who carried on the spirit of freedom 
and the spirit of compassion for humanity by his actions in wartime 
Hungary.
  Mr. Speaker, at that time in the 1940's Hungary was dominated by the 
puppets of Adolf Hitler, one of the horrible tyrants of the modern age. 
In his early thirties, Wallenberg defied that tyranny, took great 
risks, and overcame great odds in his dedicated quest to preserve human 
life, liberty, and freedom for 100,000 Jews. His bust in this Capitol 
will stand as a beacon of freedom and compassion for people who are 
oppressed all over the world. Today, he joins Lafayette and Churchill.
  Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to participate in this ceremony. In 
conclusion, I say to our new friends in Russia who have democracy in 
their eyes and hopefully in their hearts that someday we must get at 
the truth as to what happened to Raoul Wallenberg when one of the other 
principal butchers of this century, Joseph Stalin, had Wallenberg in 
his hands. What happened to this great humanitarian remains to be told. 
I hope, Mr. Speaker, that our new friends in Russia will help reveal 
that untold story before the end of this century. Men and women who 
believe in freedom need to know.
  Mr. SWETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of House 
Concurrent Resolution 222, which authorizes the placement of a bust 
honoring Raoul Wallenberg in the U.S. Capitol. I would like to commend 
two of our distinguished colleagues for their leadership on the matter 
before the House today.
  First, Mr. Speaker, I commend the distinguished gentleman from North 
Carolina, Chairman Rose of the Committee on House Administration, for 
his support of this legislation and his leadership in bringing this 
measure to the floor of the House today.
  Second, I commend the distinguished gentleman from California [Mr. 
Lantos] for his consistent efforts in Congress to honor Raoul 
Wallenberg and to seek the freedom of Wallenberg from Soviet prisons. 
As the Members of this body know, Mr. Lantos is more than a colleague 
to me--we share considerably more. His daughter is my wife; my children 
are his grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, the direct efforts of Raoul Wallenberg in saving the 
lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews and the motivation to 
numerous others which his example inspired have very directly touched 
my life. Tom and Annette Lantos were saved through those efforts--
without that effort, my wife Katrina, never would have been born.
  Mr. Speaker, it is most appropriate that we honor Raoul Wallenberg by 
placing a bust in our Nation's Capitol. Wallenberg's life-saving 
activities in Budapest were undertaken at the request of and with 
significant financial support from the United States War Refugee Board. 
By 1944 the unmitigated horror of the mass slaughter of innocent women, 
children, and men by Nazi officials was so blatant and well-known, that 
Americans could not continue to deny the Holocaust. When Nazi military 
forces occupied Hungary and Adolf Eichmann arrived in Budapest 
personally to supervise the massacre of Hungarian Jews, our Government 
could no longer look the other way. Raoul Wallenberg undertook a 
mission to save the lives of those destined for the gas chambers of 
Auschwitz at the request of representatives of our Government.
  Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, Raoul Wallenberg is the second person 
following Sir Winston Churchill to be granted honorary American 
citizenship. It is appropriate that, as we honor Churchill with a bust 
in our Nation's Capitol, we also so honor Wallenberg.
  The time when the Congress takes this fitting action, Mr. Speaker, is 
also most appropriate. Just a few weeks ago we marked the 50th 
anniversary of the Nazi German occupation of Hungary and the beginning 
of the Holocaust in Hungary, as well as the arrival in Budapest of 
Raoul Wallenberg on his mission of mercy.
  It is appropriate that just 2 weeks ago in the rotunda of our 
Nation's Capitol, just a few steps from this Chamber, the U.S. 
Holocaust Memorial Council conducted the annual National Civic 
Commemoration to remember the victims of the Holocaust in connection 
with the annual Days of Remembrance. This year the commemoration was 
dedicated to the Hungarian Jewish community which was decimated in the 
Holocaust--when Nazi military forces occupied Hungary in March 1944 
there were 750,000 Jews in Hungary but 10 months later in January 1945 
when the Soviet Army liberated Budapest, there were only 139,000 
remaining. Without Wallenberg's mission of mercy tens of thousands more 
would have been wiped out.
  If my wife and six children had lived in Hungary in 1944, they would 
have been declared racially unfit to live. They could well have been 
among those forced into cattle cars by Nazi soldiers or Hungarian Arrow 
Cross troops and sent to Auschwitz, as Tom Lantos' mother was. Or they 
might have been lined up on the banks of the Danube River, and shot in 
the back and pushed into the river, as Annette Lantos' father was.
  In the face of this brutality and horror, the actions of Raoul 
Wallenberg stand in stark contrast. It is one of the horrible ironies 
of history that after saving the lives of tens of thousands, 
Wallenberg's own life was snatched away from him by the Soviet Union. 
On January 17, 1945, he was taken into custody by Soviet military 
authorities in Eastern Hungary. He was subsequently imprisoned in the 
Soviet gulag. Although Soviet authorities claimed that he died of 
natural causes in a Soviet prison in 1947, there were a number of 
reliable sightings of him within the Soviet prison system as late as 
the late 1970's and possibly into the early 1980's.

  It is truly tragic that this man who personally did so much to save 
the lives of other languished for decades in Soviet prisons. Despite 
the changes that have transformed the Soviet Union over the past few 
years, we still have not received staisfactory information regarding 
his whereabouts since 1945 and an accounting of his life in the Soviet 
prison network.
  Mr. Speaker, it is most appropriate that the American people, acting 
through their representatives in Congress by this resolution today, 
honor this genuine hero who did so much to serve and save others, but 
who suffered such a tragic fate. I urge my colleagues to support this 
resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that the brief description about the activities of 
Raoul Wallenberg taken from the program of the National Civic Ceremony 
of the Days of Remembrance be included in the Congressional Record.

                            Raoul Wallenberg

       Early in January 1944, Secretary of the Treasury, Henry 
     Morgenthau, successfully persuaded persuaded President 
     Franklin Roosevelt to actively involve the United States in 
     rescue attempts in Europe. Later that month Roosevelt 
     established the War Refugee Board (WRB); its staff began 
     immediately to seek help from the international community for 
     rescue efforts. Only Sweden responded.
       On the recommendation of the Swedish branch of the World 
     Jewish Congress and with the support of the WRB, the Foreign 
     Ministry in Stockholm sent Raoul Wallenberg to Hungary as the 
     Third Secretary to their Legation. Wallenberg was a Swedish 
     aristocrat, the heir of a prominent banking family who has 
     received architectural training at the University of 
     Michigan. He arrived in Budapest on 9 July 1944, as the 
     massive deportations of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau 
     were ending. However, keenly aware of the continuing 
     precarious position of Budapest Jews, Wallenberg quickly 
     formed a special section within the embassy to aid these 
     Jews, personally designing the famous ``letters of 
     protection'' (Schutz-pass) that would save many Jewish lives 
     when deportations resumed on 8 November.
       During the fall and winter of 1944, Wallenberg's feats were 
     not only courageous but effective. He organized ``safe 
     houses'' where Jews holding Swedish letters of protection 
     cold find refuge and comparative safety from arrest and 
     murder by Arrow Cross thugs linked to the Hungarian fascist 
     government, which came into power in October. Disregarding 
     threats to his own person, he placed himself between Jews and 
     Arrow Cross squads. During the siege of Budapest, he arranged 
     to feed the Jews in the ghetto and his protected houses. He 
     intervened to prevent the destruction of the Ghetto in 
     January shortly before the liberation. To aid those condemned 
     to the forced marches and deportation, he and his staff often 
     appeared suddenly, offering food and medical care, or 
     demanding that Jews possessing Swedish protective passes be 
     returned to Budapest.
       As a result of the rescue work of Raoul Wallenberg and the 
     Swiss diplomat Charles Lutz, more than twenty-five thousand 
     Jewish lives were saved.
       After the liberation by the Red Army of the eastern sector 
     of Budapest on 17 January 1945, Wallenberg was taken into 
     custody by the Soviets. He is alleged to have died in their 
     hands in 1946, but his fate is still unknown.

  Mrs. KENNELLY. Mr. Speaker, I want to add my strong support for House 
Concurrent Resolution 222, which would authorize a bust of Raoul 
Wallenberg to be placed in the Capitol.
  This is a most appropriate way to commemorate the fiftieth 
anniversary of the Hungarian Holocaust and the heroic efforts of Raoul 
Wallenberg who helped save 100,000 lives during 1944-45. Raoul 
Wallenberg has already been honored by Congress by being awarded 
honorary American citizenship--the second man in history so honored--
and this bust further commemorates his heroic efforts and lends support 
to the fact that one person, or a small number of people, can make a 
significant difference.
  The facts surrounding this mission by Raoul Wallenberg are well 
documented. This was a man who volunteered at the request of the U.S. 
Government to go to Nazi-occupied Hungary to organize a network to save 
lives. Using Swedish passports and safe houses in Hungary, he developed 
a network that saved thousands and thousands of lives--people who 
otherwise would have been sent to the gas chambers of Nazi Germany.
  After World War II, Raoul Wallenberg was arrested by the Soviet Army 
when they occupied Budapest, and after years of denial it was finally 
revealed that he had been taken to Lubyanka prison. What happened to 
him there remains in doubt, but no doubt exists about his heroism, his 
sacrifice, his unselfish devotion to the cause of humanity, and to the 
tens of thousands of people who owe their lives to his devotion to 
duty. These people, their children and their grandchildren, are a 
living legacy to the world. This bust will commemorate that legacy to 
every school class, every guided tour group, and every individual who 
walks by.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend the full House Administration Committee 
chairman, Charlie Rose, for introducing this resolution, Representative 
Tom Lantos for working so hard to make this a reality, and Libraries 
and Memorials Chairman Bill Clay for moving this resolution 
expeditiously for our consideration.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise in the strong support for 
House Concurrent Resolution 222, legislation that authorizes the Joint 
Committee on the Library to accept a bust of Raoul Wallenberg, and to 
place the bust in an appropriate location in the Capitol Complex.
  I can thing of a no more fitting manner in which to honor and 
commemorate the life and contributions of Raoul Wallenberg, a truly 
righteous individual.
  I praise the distinguished chairman of the Committee on House 
Administration, the gentleman from North Carolina, [Mr. Rose] for 
introducing this important concurrent resolution. And, I commend my 
colleague from California [Mr. Lantos] for his tireless commitment to 
promoting freedom and justice throughout the World.
  As we remember the life and remarkable accomplishments of Swedish 
diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg, we are reminded of the goodness and 
kindness that human beings are capable of achieving. His life 
represents a triumph of good over evil and glorifies freedom and 
humanity.
  At a time of the world's instability and chaos, Raoul Wallenberg 
provided strength, hope, and compassion to a people in need. Armed with 
Swedish diplomatic protective passports, Raoul Wallenberg saved the 
lives of over 100,000 Jews during World War II. He also organized the 
distribution of food, clothing, and medicine to those in need. Even 
when his own life was in danger, Raoul Wallenberg pressed on; 
performing daily, what many thought could never be done.
  It is because of the courage of people like Raoul Wallenberg that 50 
years later, the world remembers the 6 million Jews who lost their 
lives during the Holocaust.
  Many remember by visiting the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum here in 
Washington, DC. The museum, which is visited by hundreds daily, 
chronicles the horrors and the atrocities that were systemically 
committed just 50 years ago. For years to come, the museum will 
continue to serve, not only as a memorial, but also as an educational 
tool--reminding us of man's greatest transgression.
  Others are able to remember by viewing academy award winner, Steven 
Spielberg's cinematic production of ``Schindler's List, which tells the 
true story of Oskar Schindler, an unlikely hero who is credited with 
saving the lives of thousands of Polish Jews. Oskar Schindler's 
achievements, like those of Raoul Wallenberg, serve as a testimony, 
demonstrating the greatness that individuals are capable of.
  I am hopeful that in the near future visitors to our Nation's Capitol 
will also be reminded by the placement of Raoul Wallenberg's bust in 
the U.S. Capitol. It reminds us of the righteous individual who gave 
the precious gift of life to a many. Although his fate is still 
unknown, the legacy of Raoul Wallenberg and his spirit continue to live 
on.
  Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support this importation 
resolution.
  Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Mazzoli). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Rose] that the House 
suspend the rules, and agree to the concurrent resolution, House 
Concurrent Resolution 222.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5, rule I, and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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