[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 132 (Wednesday, September 24, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1871-E1872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO BILL BASCH ON HIS RECEIVING THE RAOUL WALLENBERG MEDAL

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                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 24, 2003

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. Bill 
Basch on the occasion of his receiving the Raoul Wallenberg Medal. For 
the past twelve years, the Raoul Wallenberg Executive Committee of the 
University of Michigan has awarded the Raoul Wallenberg Medal to an 
individual who has demonstrated through their work an unwavering 
commitment to upholding the humanitarian values that the legacy of 
Raoul Wallenberg embodies.
  Raoul Wallenberg's extraordinary rescue efforts saved tens of 
thousands of Hungarian Jews from certain death at the hands of the 
Nazis and their allies in Hungary during the Second World War. His 
subsequent kidnaping by Soviet troops and his disappearance into the 
Soviet gulag elevated him into one of the truly outstanding heroes and 
role models of modern times. Both my wife, Annette, and I owe our lives 
to the valor and ingenuity of Raoul Wallenberg in his heroic 
humanitarian efforts.
  Mr. Speaker, I am delighted that Bill Basch, a Holocaust survivor, 
has been selected to receive the thirteenth Raoul Wallenberg Medal. His 
efforts to assist Wallenberg in the rescue of Hungarian Jews during 
World War II render him a worthy recipient of this outstanding 
humanitarian award. As the Nazi occupation spread into Hungarian 
territory in 1944, Bill Basch, only sixteen years old at the time, was 
sent from his small Hungarian village to survive in the streets of 
Budapest. Though his own life was in constant danger, he nevertheless 
undertook the extremely dangerous mission of assisting Raoul Wallenberg 
in the production and distribution of protective passports for those 
incarcerated within the walls of the so-called international ghetto in 
Budapest.
  Before he was captured and deported to the concentration camp at 
Buchenwald, Bill delivered hundreds of schutzpasse (protective 
passports) which were instrumental to the survival of those hiding in 
the Swedish houses protected by Wallenberg. He used underground 
passages and the sewage system to get into the houses, but he was 
captured as he tried to leave through one of these secret routes. As he 
accidentally surfaced outside one of the safehouses, he was suddenly 
confronted by Arrow Cross (Hungarian Fascist) guards. He attempted to 
elude the Arrow Cross by mingling with a group of people in the area. 
Unbeknownst to him, this group, suddenly surrounded by more Arrow Cross 
soldiers, was in fact being marched to the deportation trains headed 
for Buchenwald.
  Mr. Speaker, in spite of many months of endured suffering in Nazi 
concentration camps, Bill Basch survived one of the darkest eras of 
human history. In 1946 he arrived in the United States of America after 
having been transferred from one displaced persons camp to another, 
first in Austria and then in Southern Italy.
  Like so many immigrants who sought refuge and renewal in the United 
States, Bill arrived by ship at Ellis Island in New York Harbor. He was 
penniless, without family, and unable to communicate in the English 
language. Despite all of these obstacles, he persevered. He had already 
demonstrated that as a survivor. He eventually settled in the Los 
Angeles area and established himself as a successful businessman in the 
garment industry, property investment, and numerous other business 
ventures, all of which brought him much prosperity.
  Mr. Speaker, in addition to the material comfort Bill has earned in 
America, he finds greater happiness in the personal prosperity he has 
found with his family. Bill is father to one son and two daughters, and 
grandfather to two grandsons and three granddaughters. Sadly, in 1979 
Bill Basch lost his wife, Rose, a survivor of Auschwitz, due to 
complications stemming from torturous medical experiments

[[Page E1872]]

conducted by Nazis in the concentration camp. Nevertheless he has 
continued to appreciate and value the gift of life for which he so 
arduously fought in the Second World War.
  Fifteen years ago Bill Basch retired from the business world, and 
this gave him the opportunity to reflect on his past, particularly his 
experience in the Holocaust. He began to wonder why he survived while 
so many others were murdered. Five years into retirement, Bill's ten-
year old granddaughter, Heidi Basch, asked him to speak to her sixth 
grade class about his experience in the Holocaust. This began the next 
phase of Bill's life.
  Mr. Speaker, Bill continues his commendable humanitarian work by 
dedicating his life to Holocaust education. He regularly gives lectures 
and interviews to students young and old in Southern California, where 
he still resides. He hopes to instill an obligation and trust in youth, 
which compels them to speak out against crimes against humanity, 
wherever they occur.
  Bill's moving story of survival came to the attention of the Shoah 
Foundation, an organization created by Steven Spielberg after he made 
the movie Shindler's List. The Shoah foundation employs numerous 
individuals dedicated to the accumulation of testimonies of Holocaust 
survivors throughout the world, and one of the accounts they added to 
the archive was Bill Basch's personal history.
  In 1997, Spielberg began researching survivors' testimonies for the 
The Last Days, the academy award winning documentary film which focused 
upon five Hungarian survivors whose stories intertwine through their 
connections with Raoul Wallenberg. Due to Mr. Basch's involvement in 
Wallenberg's heroic efforts to save thousands of Hungarian Jews, he was 
selected to take part in this film. My own personal story is also told 
in The Last Days, and it was in the making of that documentary that I 
came to know Bill Basch. I stand before you today to commend Bill both 
as an outstanding humanitarian and as my personal friend.
  Mr. Speaker, since 1990 the University of Michigan has awarded its 
Wallenberg Medal to twelve individuals whose humanitarian actions 
exemplify those of Raoul Wallenberg. Medal recipients include Nobel 
Laureates Elie Wiesel, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Miep Gies, the 
woman who supported Anne Frank and her family in hiding.
  Mr. Speaker, this year, Bill joins the ranks of these remarkable 
human beings who have made incredible efforts to speak and act out 
against man's inhumanity to man. I urge my colleagues to join me in 
paying tribute to Bill Basch, the Raoul Wallenberg Medal recipient of 
2003.

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