On Wednesday, a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives heard testimony from advocates for historic sites seeking federal designation, including Oswego’s Safe Haven museum. Rep. Claudia Tenney sponsored the measure to create the Fort Ontario National Historical Park.
Oswego is home to a unique story of World War II. In 1944, with the war turning towards victory for the United States and its allies, 982 Jewish refugees were evacuated from Italy to Oswego by ship. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it a symbolic gesture towards the Jewish people who were hunted, imprisoned and murdered by the millions by Germany’s Nazis.
They were held at Fort Ontario, confined inside chain-link fences, until the war ended. They were the only refugees ever brought to America during that war.
In 2002, volunteers opened the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum in what had been the administration building for the camp, located just outside the fort, which is a state park. It is those outbuildings, sitting on about 2 acres of land, and not the fort itself, that would become a national park under Tenney’s proposal.
“Physical places such as Fort Ontario provide evidence that connects our history to individual experiences,” Tenney said. “Future generations will have fewer opportunities to hear directly from Holocaust survivors whose population is rapidly declining. Holocaust education helps young people understand that anti-Semitism has consequences for real people and families, and this will help them understand the crucial role the United States has played in combating antisemitism.”
Oswego County Clerk Terry Wilbur testified, telling committee members that surveys show nearly half of young people cannot name a single Nazi concentration camp and nearly two-thirds don’t know that 6 million Jews were murdered in World War II.
“The footprint is small, but the return is real,” Wilbur said. “Oswego County is ready for this opportunity and the volunteers at the Safe Haven have carried this site to preserve the history of Jewish Americans for nearly 40 years and have continued to share the stories of those who fled the Holocaust.”
The measure has already passed the U.S. Senate. The next step would be a vote of the full House, and then on to the president for his decision to approve or veto. However, after the hearing, House Speaker Mike Johnson suddenly adjourned the House until after the November elections, leaving little time in the upcoming lame-duck session for most legislation to advance.
If the bill does not get a vote before the end of the year, it will have to be reintroduced next year and go right back to the starting line. It’s the second year that Tenney has sponsored this bill.
