[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 27 (Wednesday, March 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO FRED KORT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 5, 1997

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a truly 
extraordinary individual, Fred Kort. Mr. Kort has lived an amazing 
life; his story serves as an inspiration to all that know him. I am 
honored today to be able to pay tribute to this man, as recognition is 
long overdue.
  Mr. Kort was born in Germany just before Adolf Hitler came to power. 
In 1938, his family was deported from southern Germany to Poland, and 
Fred was forced to continue his elementary school education at the 
American ORT Program in Poland. Things changed drastically with the 
outbreak of war as the family was separated and Fred and his brother 
were forced into the Lodz ghetto. In 1940, Fred escaped the Lodz Ghetto 
and made his way to Warsaw where he was reunited with his father. 
However, a short time later, he was forced into the Falenti labor camp. 
He toiled in the camp for 19 months, only to return to the Warsaw 
Ghetto where he was again captured and a few weeks later taken to 
Treblinca. Upon arriving at Treblinca, 90 percent of the individuals 
were immediately exterminated. Remarkably, Mr. Kort managed to survive 
in the camp for over a year.
  Eventually, Fred managed to escape from Treblinca, and joined the 
Polish underground. As a member of the resistance he was inducted into 
the Polish Army. A year later the war ended, enabling Mr. Kort to 
return home. There he reunited with his mother and sister and found out 
that his father, brother, and several close relatives had not survived 
the Holocaust. In 1947, Fred left Europe for America to start a new 
life.
  Upon arriving in the United States he worked and lived in New York as 
a technician. Eventually his work led him to relocate to Los Angeles. 
In Los Angeles he learned all that he could about the toy company 
business and in 1969 opened the Imperial Toy Co.
  Mr. Kort always has been generous with his time as well as his money 
supporting various philanthropic charities. Fred's history of giving 
ranges from shipping toys to children left homeless by Hurricane Andrew 
to being an original founder of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in 
Washington, DC. Indeed his work in preserving the memory of the 
Holocaust has been exemplary.
  The memory of the Holocaust has never been far from the heart and 
mind of Fred Kort. From his role in testifying at five Nazi war crime 
trials, to helping build museums in Washington and Los Angeles, Mr. 
Kort has worked to ensure that the knowledge of what happened will not 
be lost on future generations. Mr. Kort's life is a testament to the 
enduring nature of the human spirit as the strength of a lifetime was 
built from the ashes of hatred. Indeed one can say with certainty that 
America, and indeed the world, is a better place with Mr. Kort in it.

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