Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2026

Key Points

• This bill proposes awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl for his heroic actions during the Holocaust. This medal is the highest honor Congress can give to a civilian.
• During World War II, Weissmandl led an underground group in Slovakia that raised money to bribe officials and delay the deportation of Jewish people. He also helped create the first written reports detailing the mass murders happening at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
• Weissmandl was a pioneer in calling for military action to stop the Holocaust, including asking Allied forces to bomb the railroad tracks used to transport people to death camps. He later moved to New York and established the first campus for Jewish religious studies in the United States.
• The leaders of the House and Senate would arrange for the medal to be presented to the Rabbi's family. The U.S. Treasury would also sell bronze copies of the medal to the public to help pay for the production costs.

Impact Analysis

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