[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 78 (Thursday, May 22, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3300-S3301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 458--RECOGNIZING MAY AS JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE 
 MONTH AND HONORING HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 
                        UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Brown, Mr. Booker, 
Mr. Menendez, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Nelson, Mrs. Gillibrand, and Mr. 
Portman) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 
agreed to:

                              S. Res. 458

       Whereas in May of each year, people across the United 
     States recognize and celebrate over 350 years of Jewish 
     contributions to the United States through Jewish American 
     Heritage Month;
       Whereas during the Holocaust, the Nazi regime murdered 
     approximately 6,000,000 Jews, in addition to millions of non-
     Jews, between 1933 and 1945;
       Whereas the Nazi regime also imprisoned, persecuted, and 
     tortured hundreds of thousands of Jewish victims who 
     nonetheless survived;
       Whereas the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 
     Holocaust Encyclopedia estimates that more than 200,000 
     persecuted Jews found refuge in the United States between 
     1933 and 1945, and that approximately 137,000 Jewish refugees 
     settled in the United States after World War II in the years 
     between 1945 and 1952;
       Whereas in subsequent decades, Jewish refugees continued to 
     immigrate to the United States from Europe, the Middle East, 
     and the former Soviet Union;
       Whereas many survivors of the Holocaust have dedicated 
     their lives to educating future generations about the dangers 
     of bigotry and anti-Semitism and the resiliency of the human 
     spirit; and
       Whereas countless survivors of the Holocaust living in the 
     United States have made numerous and substantial 
     contributions to society in the areas of the humanities, 
     science, government, law, history, medicine, military 
     service, philosophy, social justice, technology, and more, 
     including--
       (1) a Marylander who bravely led the decades-long fight for 
     reparations from the French rail companies that transported 
     victims to Nazi concentration camps and killing centers;
       (2) a former judge on the International Court of Justice 
     and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, who was a 
     member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and who 
     is currently a professor specializing in international 
     justice at The George Washington University Law School;
       (3) a native of France who survived a series of Nazi 
     concentration camps and became a well-known author, lecturer, 
     and actor who appeared as Corporal Louis LeBeau on the 1960s 
     television series Hogan's Heroes;
       (4) a native of Poland who spent his childhood in a Nazi 
     labor camp, was educated in the United States, and became a 
     renowned chemist, author, professor, and poet, winning the 
     1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry;
       (5) a former Member of the House of Representatives and 
     Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and 
     founder of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, who, along 
     with his wife and fellow survivor, devoted his life to 
     championing human rights and freedom around the world;
       (6) a Polish-born author, historian, educator, member of 
     the United States Holocaust Commission, and recipient of the 
     2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom;
       (7) an Austrian native, literary scholar, and professor who 
     authored a 1992 autobiography, Still Alive: A Holocaust 
     Girlhood Remembered, and numerous scholarly publications on 
     the Holocaust and anti-Semitism;
       (8) a Croatian-born survivor who helped produce the movie 
     Schindler's List and became an advisor to the USC Shoah 
     Foundation, an archive of testimonies of genocide survivors 
     chaired by Steven Spielberg;
       (9) an Illinoisan who created the International Monetary 
     Market, served as chairman of the Chicago Mercantile 
     Exchange, and revolutionized markets by creating financial 
     futures after fleeing Holocaust-era Poland as a child;
       (10) a Hungarian survivor who served in the United States 
     Army in the Korean War and who was awarded the Medal of Honor 
     in 2005 for his heroic actions while being held in a Chinese 
     POW camp that saved the lives of at least 40 fellow soldiers;
       (11) a native of Germany who escaped Nazi Germany as a 
     teenager, served as a corporal in the United States Army, was 
     an interpreter and analyst during the Nuremberg Trials, 
     served in the Foreign Service of the Department of State, and 
     authored a book about a Jewish resistor who assassinated a

[[Page S3301]]

     Nazi official and another about Allied intelligence near the 
     end of World War II;
       (12) a world-renowned psychosexual therapist, radio and 
     television personality, professor, and author who escaped 
     Nazi Germany as a child and fought in the Israeli War of 
     Independence; and
       (13) the winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, an author, 
     professor, and activist, whose memoir Night is an 
     internationally acclaimed account of the terrors of the 
     Holocaust:

       Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes May 2014 as Jewish American Heritage Month;
       (2) expresses appreciation for the substantial and varied 
     contributions made to the United States by the survivors of 
     the Holocaust;
       (3) encourages the people of the United States to learn 
     about the efforts and achievements of Holocaust survivors who 
     immigrated to the United States in the years following World 
     War II;
       (4) expresses admiration for the more than 100,000 
     Holocaust survivors living in the United States who continue 
     to bear witness to their personal stories and educate the 
     world; and
       (5) understands the hardships Holocaust survivors have 
     endured, and supports their desire to age with dignity and 
     comfort in their homes and communities.

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