On June 11, 2024, U.S. Representative Mike Flood (NE-01) led Republicans on the House floor as lawmakers debated H.R. 537, the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act. The proposed legislation seeks to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to 60 diplomats in recognition of their efforts to save Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Rep. Flood delivered remarks in support of the bill, emphasizing its significance. “I rise in support of H.R. 537, a bill that will posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust,” he stated.
He provided historical context by noting, “Madam Speaker, on September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis began their invasion of Europe, which started World War II and threw humanity into what would become one of the darkest periods in history.”
Flood highlighted the genocidal actions taken by the Nazis: “The Nazis sought the mass extermination of the Jewish people and wasted no time carrying out their vile plan. They hunted, rounded up, and sent Jews to concentration camps across Europe to be murdered in a state-sponsored genocide that we now refer to as the Holocaust.”
He then acknowledged the heroic actions of several diplomats who defied orders to help Jews escape persecution: “However, a handful of diplomats from around the world took quick and heroic action to save Jews attempting to flee Europe. They resisted the antisemitic Nazi agenda, risking their families, careers, and lives to help innocent Jewish people flee persecution.”
Despite direct orders not to assist Jews, these diplomats issued passports and travel visas; set up safehouses; and communicated with local communities for underground escapes. Flood noted that due to these actions, “hundreds of thousands of Jewish families in Europe escaped death at the hands of Hitler’s Nazi regime.”
The bill aims to honor these diplomats’ sacrifices: “Although they were not the only ones who risked their lives to aid the Jewish community, today we celebrate sixty of those diplomats and honor their lives and actions with a Congressional Gold Medal.”
Flood also addressed ongoing issues related to antisemitism: “Sadly, antisemitism is an endemic and unrelenting scourge on history, rearing its ugly head even today just as it did 80 years ago during World War II.”
In conclusion, he expressed hope that this recognition would inspire future generations: “H.R. 537 honors those sixty diplomats who valiantly defied that systemic hatred by bravely doing what was right to stand up for not only the Jewish community but all of mankind. It is my hope that their courage will continue to inspire Americans today.”
“Madam Speaker,” Flood concluded his remarks by urging bipartisan support for H.R. 537.
