Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Congressional Gold Medal Act
This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to commemorate the participants in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising who led an armed resistance against Nazi occupiers.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1299 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1299
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the group of heroic participants
in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising who led an armed resistance against Nazi
occupiers and fought to preserve and protect the Jewish culture.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 1, 2023
Mr. Keating (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Ms. Kaptur, and Mr.
Turner) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the group of heroic participants
in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising who led an armed resistance against Nazi
occupiers and fought to preserve and protect the Jewish culture.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto
Congressional Gold Medal Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Jewish people have long formed an integral part of
the culture and history of Europe and of Poland.
(2) Europeans Jews contribute to the rich diversity of
society and culture across Europe.
(3) For centuries, prior to World War II, Poland
represented a center of Jewish life in Europe and was home to
millions of Jews.
(4) Prior to World War II, 350,000 Jews lived in Warsaw,
representing about 30 percent of the city's population.
(5) Following the Nazi takeover of Poland, the Germans
established the Warsaw ghetto in October 1940, and unlawfully
confined Jewish civilians to the ghetto in November 1940, with
the population of the ghetto reaching a height of 400,000 Jews.
(6) Life in the Warsaw ghetto was marked by widespread
starvation, disease, physical violence, and deplorable
conditions unsuitable for life, leading to the deaths of 83,000
Jews between 1940 and mid-1942.
(7) In less than two months in 1942, German units deported
about 265,000 Jews from Warsaw to the Treblinka death camp and
killed an additional 35,000 Jews inside the ghetto.
(8) In early 1943, German and SS units intended to deport
the remaining Jewish population of the ghetto to forced labor
camps, but many Jews resisted deportation.
(9) The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began on April 19, 1943,
when SS and police forces appeared outside the walls of the
Warsaw ghetto with the intent of liquidating the ghetto and
deporting its remaining inhabitants.
(10) Aided in part by arms from the Polish underground and
relying on clandestinely organized Jewish self-defense groups,
the ghetto heroically resisted German forces, mounting an
organized armed resistance against SS and police units and
fighting against impossible odds.
(11) Jews in the ghetto continued to fend off their German
occupiers for almost one month, fighting to the last.
(12) After weeks of resistance, the Germans systematically
destroyed the ghetto, burning buildings and razing city blocks
in an attempt to erase the memory and existence of the Jewish
people.
(13) By May 16, 1943, German forces had suppressed the
uprising and deported the ghetto's surviving inhabitants to
concentration camps and killing centers.
(14) The heroes of the Warsaw ghetto who bravely defended
themselves in the face of unimaginable crimes set an example
for other occupied cities and for other Jewish communities.
(15) In total, over 3,000,000 Polish Jews were murdered by
the Nazis during the Holocaust, with only about 380,000 Polish
Jews still alive in Poland, the Soviet Union, or in
concentration camps by the end of the war.
(16) Genocide involves the erasure and elimination of the
memory and culture of a people, and therefore the United States
must work to preserve the historical record of Jewish people
around the world, many of whom now live in the United States.
(17) Current and future generations benefit from the
preservation and memorialization of their history and culture.
(18) Millions of Jewish people whose ancestors came from
Poland now live in the United States, Israel, and around the
world.
(19) Preservation of the history and culture of Jewish
people in Poland is essential to learning the lessons of
history and ensuring the prosperity of the Jewish people for
future generations.
(20) Museums are an important contributor to the historical
preservation of human memory, providing cultural, education and
civic centers where people can learn about the life and record
of individuals or groups of people from the past.
(21) Museums dedicated to the historical memory of Jewish
people or the struggle for survival of the Jewish people during
the Holocaust play a critical role in preserving the memory of
Jewish people.
(22) The construction of further museums, including the
Warsaw Ghetto Museum, would be a welcoming place for all
visitors who want to better understand the fate of Jews
incarcerated in the Warsaw ghetto.
(23) The POLIN Museum of the History of the Polish Jews is
a central location for Jewish people around the world to learn
about the life, history, and culture of their ancestors.
(24) The POLIN Museum is an important educational hub for
all people to learn about the rich history of Jewish people who
were targeted and heroically fought back against the Nazis in
their attempt to erase the memory of Jewish life in Europe.
(25) The POLIN Museum in Warsaw should be celebrated for
the important role it plays in the preservation of the memory
of Jewish life as it documents the long history of Jewish life
in Poland and Europe both before and after the war, and sits on
the site of the former Warsaw ghetto where so many heroic Jews
fought against the erasure of the memory of the Jewish people.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Presentations Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make
appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of
the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in collective
commemoration of the group of heroic participants in the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising who led an armed resistance against Nazi occupiers and fought
to preserve and protect the Jewish culture.
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the presentation
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter
in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike the gold
medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be
determined by the Secretary.
(c) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.--
(1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal
under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where it shall be
available for display and research in accordance with the
Museum's policies regarding materials in the Museum's care.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum should make the
gold medal received under paragraph (1) available for display
elsewhere, in accordance with the Museum's policies regarding
materials in the Museum's care, at other appropriate locations,
including those associated with commemoration of the Holocaust
and other relevant entities such as the POLIN Museum of the
History of the Polish Jews, that may make such a request.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold
medal struck pursuant to section 3 at a price sufficient to cover the
cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and
overhead expenses.
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
(a) National Medals.--The medal struck pursuant to this Act is a
national medal for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States
Code.
(b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be
considered to be numismatic items.
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.
(a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck
pursuant to this Act.
(b) Proceeds of Sale.--The amounts received from the sale of
duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 3 shall be deposited
into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
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