A bill to add the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum in Oswego to the National Parks Service has been reintroduced in Congress after last year's failed attempt to pass in the House.
A 2024 National Parks study found a two-acre portion of Fort Ontario including the Safe Haven museum met the criteria to become a national park, meaning things were moving forward for the years-long fight to have the location recognized. However, while the bill passed in the Senate last year, it did not come up for a bill in the House. That hold-up prevented the authorization from being passed last year.
Now, the legislative process has to start over. A new bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and in the House by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-Cleveland), and museum leaders are hopeful the bill will be passed. Acting president of the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum - Judy Coe Rapaport says the site is the only Holocaust-related site in America and should be recognized.
"I'm hoping that they are ready to go because this is really historically important," Rapaport said.
The process began in 2016 but saw several delays. Coe Rapaport said being a part of the National Parks system would help preserve the museum and share the story of the 982 refugees who stayed at the shelter between 1944 and 1946.
"People love to go to National Parks, they put that on their bucket list to visit every one, the tourism potential for this is just incredible," Rapaport said.
Oswego County Administrator Phillip Church agrees. He said that if the site becomes part of the National Parks System, more funding can be used to expand educational opportunities and awareness.
"Any time you get a national monument or park in your area it's going to raise the area's awareness in the national scene," Church said. "That will help drive tourism for people who want to come see the historical location particularly if they are interested in World War II or Jewish history."
Church and Rapaport both say support from local and federal representatives has been encouraging and are hopeful that this is the year legislation will get passed.
