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HR0338 |
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LRB094 11871 HSS 45232 r |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the |
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| State of Illinois learned with sadness of the death of Lisa |
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| Fittko on March 12, 2005; and |
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| WHEREAS, Lisa Ekstein was born in 1909 in Uzhgorod in what |
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| was then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire; most of her |
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| childhood was spent in Budapest and Vienna; she was evacuated |
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| and sent to the Netherlands with other children for a year |
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| during World War I; after the war, her family moved to Berlin; |
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| and |
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| WHEREAS, She emerged from a leftist, artistic family to |
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| become active in the resistance to Hitler in the early months |
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| of his rule, then fled to continue the fight in other European |
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| countries for seven years; during her time in Europe, she met |
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| and married another leftist activist, Hans Fittko; for seven |
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| tense months in 1940 and 1941, the Fittkos escorted refugees on |
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| a tortuous path over the Pyrenees mountains so they could go on |
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| to Spanish and Portuguese ports to seek passage to safe havens; |
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| and |
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| WHEREAS, Many of the people she helped were intellectuals, |
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| artists, and anti-Nazi organizers; the first refugee she helped |
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| was Walter Benjamin, a Marxist literary critic and philosopher |
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| whose work has drawn new interest in recent years because of |
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| his provocative insights on subjects from consumerism to |
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| surrealism; she had earlier helped the philosopher Hannah |
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| Arendt, who had been her friend in Paris, get out of a prison |
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| in France; and |
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| WHEREAS, Together, the Fittkos became part of the rescue |
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| mission of Varian Fry, an American who is credited with saving |
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| about 2,000 people, many of them artists and intellectuals, |
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| including André Breton, Marc Chagall, and Max Ernst; and |
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HR0338 |
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LRB094 11871 HSS 45232 r |
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| WHEREAS, The Fittkos eventually escaped to Cuba, then went |
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| on to Chicago, where Ms. Fittko's brother lived; Mr. Fittko |
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| preceded her in death in 1960 and was posthumously awarded |
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| Israel's Yad Vashem Medal, an honor reserved for gentiles who |
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| risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust; and |
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| WHEREAS, Ms. Fittko became well known in postwar Germany, |
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| and in 1986, the president of West Germany awarded her the |
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| Distinguished Medal of Merit, First Class; in the United |
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| States, her story was eventually documented in several novels |
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| and films, including the 1998 documentary "Lisa Fittko: But We |
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| Said We Will Not Surrender"; and |
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| WHEREAS, She wrote two books about her experiences; "Escape |
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| Through the Pyrenees" was first published in West Germany in |
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| 1985 and won that country's award for the political book of the |
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| year; it was translated into French, Spanish, Italian, |
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| Portuguese, Japanese, and in 1991, into English; in 1993, her |
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| book, "Solidarity and Treason: Resistance and Exile, |
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| 1933-1940", was published; and |
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| WHEREAS, After settling in Chicago, Ms. Fittko worked as a |
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| secretary to support relatives who survived the Holocaust but |
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| were shattered by the experience; she was always highly |
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| involved with IVI-IPO, including the campaign of the late Mayor |
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| Harold Washington, and was a strong supporter of independent |
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| politics; she was an active member of the Hyde Park Peace |
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| Council and always brought issues of peace to other |
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| neighborhood organizations; she worked with the Hyde |
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| Park-Kenwood Interfaith Council to get temples and churches |
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| involved in peace issues and was very involved with the nuclear |
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| freeze movement; and |
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| WHEREAS, Lisa Fittko had phenomenal energy; she was |
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| creative and had amazing knowledge and a sense of history and |
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HR0338 |
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LRB094 11871 HSS 45232 r |
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| remembrance of the past; and |
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| WHEREAS, The passing of Lisa Fittko has been deeply felt by |
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| many, especially her nieces, Evelyn Marsh, Catherine |
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| Stodolsky, and Marlena Ekstein; therefore, be it |
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE |
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| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that |
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| we mourn the passing of Lisa Fittko, who will be remembered for |
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| the amazing work she did to save the lives of many; and be it |
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| further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be |
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| presented to the family of Lisa Fittko as an expression of our |
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| deepest sympathy and our true respect for the life that Ms. |
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| Fittko lived.
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