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History
- Referred to cultural affairs, tourism, parks and recreation
Full text
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Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the parks, recreation and historic preservation law, in relation to establishing the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter state historic site
Purpose
To establish the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter state historic site
Summary of provisions
Section 1 amends the parks, recreation and historical preservation law by adding a new section establishing the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter historic site and authorizing the commissioner of the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation designate the parcels of land consisting of the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter as a state historic site
Section 2 provides the effective date.
Existing law
Article 14 of the Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation Law relates to statewide historic preservation program and state register of historic places.
Justification
During the last years of World War II in an effort to assist some of those being persecuted by the Nazi regime, The United States government brought 982 European refugees to Oswego, New York where they remained for eighteen months between August 1944 and February 1946. Known as the Fort Ontario Safe Haven Refugee Center, the site is the only one of its kind in the United States during the World War II. This legislation properly commemorates the proud history of Safe Haven as a state historical site.
The Nazis created millions of refugees throughout Europe, most of whom were Jewish, sending all those they deemed antithetical to their objectives to prison camps. Among the refugees housed in Safe Haven were Jews who had escaped the concentration camps. At the time, immigration law did not provide for the admission of refugees into the United States. Instead, President Roosevelt invited the selected group of refugees to Oswego as his "guests." By evading the immigration quotas in place at the time, however, the Safe Haven refugees had no legal standing in the United States and their return to Europe was required at the cessation of the War.
Since Safe Haven operated as a refugee shelter, and after the conclusion of the Second World War, the United States has enacted various legislative measures related to refugee asylum and the admission of displaced and persecuted persons into the country. Due in part to the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, those Safe Haven refugees who so desired were able to obtain American citizenship. However, Safe Haven has the unique history of being the first, and remains the only refugee camp for war victims in American history. Designating the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter as a state historic site provides the proper recognition that this remarkable and impressive occurrence in our nation's and state's history deserves.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
By recognizing Safe Haven Refugee Shelter as a state historic site, Safe Haven will become a greater tourist destination, and attraction to the area will be increased, thus accordingly bolstering the state and local economies.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.