[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 178 (Friday, October 8, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IN RECOGNITION OF JOHN ROSENBERG

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HAROLD ROGERS

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 8, 2021

  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I rise today to wish John 
Rosenberg a happy 90th birthday! The storied life of this Holocaust 
survivor and retired poverty law attorney has been filled with 
remarkable trials and triumphs, both figuratively and literally. John 
is, without a doubt, one of the greatest civil rights attorneys of our 
lifetime, especially for the people of Kentucky's Appalachian region.
  Giving us more reason to celebrate, I also rise to congratulate John 
on the 50th anniversary of AppalRed, the Appalachian Research and 
Defense Fund of Kentucky, a non-profit law firm that he established to 
help low-income people in 37 Appalachian counties in eastern and south-
central Kentucky where more than 240,000 people live in poverty. Over 
the last five decades, John and his team of pro-bono attorneys, have 
helped folks in our region get and keep basic needs, including: income, 
adequate food and health care, safe and sanitary housing, and personal 
protection from violence and abuse. They do not charge for legal 
services as they fight for justice for the most vulnerable people in 
the mountains.
  John painfully learned the reality of civil injustice at a very early 
age. When he was only 7 years old, John and his family were pulled out 
of their home in Magdeburg, Germany by Nazi soldiers. His father spent 
17 days in the Buchenwald concentration camp before being released with 
an ultimatum of 30 days to flee their homeland. After spending a year 
in an internment camp in Holland, the Rosenberg family safely boarded 
one of the last ships to the United States with no belongings.
  The determination to survive and experience liberty and justice 
continued throughout his life and inspired his mission for civil 
rights. John graduated from Duke University and enlisted in the U.S. 
Air Force. Using the G.I. Bill, he later earned a law degree from the 
University of North Carolina in 1962. Before arriving in Kentucky, John 
was a trial attorney and section chief in the Civil Rights Division at 
the U.S. Department of Justice. He was responsible for several high-
profile cases including the first trial under the Voting Rights Act of 
1965 in Selma. He also was heavily involved in the investigation and 
trial preparation for the case involving three murdered civil rights 
workers that inspired the 1988 film, Mississippi Burning. In Kentucky, 
his work largely focused on advocating for coal miners, fighting for 
protections and benefits for impoverished families, and closing what he 
calls the ``justice gap'' in Appalachia.
  His journey from a World War II Nazi Germany Holocaust survivor to an 
Eastern Kentucky pro-bono civil law hero is astounding. I count it a 
great honor to celebrate John Rosenberg's 90th birthday and the 
countless accomplishments that he has made on behalf of so many 
Americans and Appalachian families.

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