Hatch, Feinstein Resolution Honoring Feng Shan Ho Adopted

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HATCH, FEINSTEIN RESOLUTION HONORING FENG SHAN HO ADOPTED
Chinese Diplomat Rescued Thousands of Austrian Jews During the Holocaust

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) joined Senate colleagues today in passing a bipartisan resolution honoring the late Feng Shan Ho, a Chinese diplomat who rescued thousands of Austrian Jews from Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution."

Sponsored by Hatch and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the resolution honors Ho for "acting at great personal risk to issue Chinese visas to Jews in Vienna . . . and recognizes his heroic deeds in saving the lives of thousands of Jewish persons by allowing them to escape the Holocaust."

"This honor is long overdue," Hatch said about Ho. "Not only do the thousands of Jews he saved owe their lives to him, but also their descendents, which I'm sure number in the tens of thousands. And we all owe Dr. Ho a debt of gratitude for the life he led, the courage and compassion he demonstrated and the inspiration he instilled in millions all over the world."

Ho, who eventually became an American citizen and died in San Francisco in 1997 at age 96, was the Chinese consul-general in Vienna in 1938 when Hitler's Germany annexed Austria during the Anschluss. Tyranny and terror against Austria's 185,000 Jews began immediately after Nazi occupation.

To prevent Austrian Jews from being sent to Nazi death camps such as Dachau and Buchenwald, Ho issued thousands of Chinese visas to Shanghai, knowing full well the recipients would use them to emigrate to the U.S., England and other destinations. When the Chinese ambassador to Berlin ordered him to cease, Ho persisted, at great risk to his own career, to issue the visas.

Humble as he was heroic, Ho did not tout his accomplishments. His courageous actions came to light only after his death, when mention of his work issuing the lifesaving visas was discovered by chance among his diplomatic papers.

Noting Israel in 2000 bestowed honorary citizenship on Ho and accorded him the honor of "Righteous Among Nations," Hatch said it is only right for the world's greatest deliberative body, the U.S. Senate, to honor him and his example as well.

"Doctor Ho was an extraordinary man whose humanity is and should always be an inspiration to humankind," Hatch said. "I join with my Senate colleagues in saluting this extraordinary American and humanitarian."

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