[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 127 (Friday, October 8, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10836-S10837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AN AMERICAN PATRIOT

 Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I rise today to honor an American 
patriot who, although not American by birth, demonstrated the best 
ideals of our country. Steen Christian Fischer was born in 1920 in 
Copenhagen, Denmark; he died in August in Boise, ID, and I had the 
opportunity to get to know him during the last ten years of his life. 
Steen had a wonderful outlook on life and believed strongly in freedom 
and opportunity. Prior to the German occupation of Denmark during World 
War II he served in the Danish Navy. After the occupation, when the 
Navy was disbanded by the Germans, he joined the Danish Resistance and 
was a part of the remarkably successful evacuation of Danish Jews to 
neutral Sweden. He was ultimately captured by the Gestapo in 
Copenhagen, sentenced to be hanged, and transported to Neuengamme 
Concentration Camp near Hamburg. His sentence was not carried out as 
the paperwork never arrived. Of 106,000 inmates at Neuengamme only 
55,000 survived. After 9 months in the camp, with the Allied army 
approaching, the surviving inmates were loaded onto a train to be 
transported to another camp, but he and some friends jumped off the 
train and escaped to freedom into the surrounding countryside. He spent 
the rest of the war hidden in various locations in Denmark. As soon as 
he could do so after the war ended, Steen emigrated to the United 
States and continued his quest for freedom and opportunity.
  In New York State, he met a lovely young woman, Mary Anne Bruun, who 
also had Danish ancestry, and married her. Together they became the 
parents of seven children--Peter, Anne, Douglas, Barbara, Paul, Karin, 
and Mary. He called his children ``the best thing in his life'' and he 
passed his zest for life onto them. Steen was fearless and wanted to 
experience all that he could in the world. He told his children he 
wanted them to develop ``wide horizons;'' he was willing to go 
anywhere, do anything for the experience. Steen was the kind of guy who 
would take the dotted line on the map over the freeway every time. He 
was successful in passing down that philosophy to those seven children 
who have lived all over the world and are passing onto the next 
generation of Fischers that attitude of ``wide horizons.''
  During Steen's last decade of life, he spent his time in Idaho where 
his commitment to freedom and his efforts during World War II were 
recognized by Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne. The Danish government 
considered him a hero and awarded him a war pension. His experiences 
were recorded for the U.S. Holocaust Museum and stand as a testament to 
the efforts of so many like him throughout the world who are committed 
to freedom.
  Steen passed away in August of 2004 at the age of 83, having lived a 
remarkable, courageous life. He will be remembered by so many who loved 
him as well as many who had found freedom through his efforts during 
World War II. There is no higher compliment I can pay him that to call 
him a patriot who found freedom during some of the darkest times in our 
world's history. He will be missed, but never forgotten.

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