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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, A life defined by extraordinary strength and |
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resilience drew to a close with the death of Walter Kase of Houston |
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on March 4, 2015, at the age of 85; and |
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WHEREAS, Walter Kase was born Wladyslaw Kasrylewicz on August |
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17, 1929, in Lodz, Poland, where his parents, Chaim and Evalina, |
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owned a dyeing factory and a commercial laundry; he grew up in a |
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happy and loving household enriched by music, shared meals, and the |
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celebration of the family's Jewish faith; and |
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WHEREAS, This idyllic boyhood was shattered in 1939, when |
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Germany invaded Poland; Mr. Kase's family lost their home and all |
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their possessions and were forced to live in the ghettos of Lodz and |
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Kielce; as the Nazis began their program of extermination, Mr. Kase |
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witnessed the murder of his little sister, Rysia, and he and his |
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parents were shipped in a packed freight car to the concentration |
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camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau; and |
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WHEREAS, Mr. Kase's mother was sent to another camp, and he |
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and his father kept each other alive throughout the war, first at |
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Auschwitz, then in the camps at Pionki, Sosnowiec, Dachau, |
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Bergen-Belsen, Mauthausen, and Gunskirchen, where they were |
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finally liberated by the United States Army on May 5, 1945; |
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Mr. Kase's father died of malnutrition shortly after the war, and, |
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all told, 70 members of his family were lost in the Holocaust; only |
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Mr. Kase, his mother, and a cousin in Sweden survived; and |
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WHEREAS, In 1947, Mr. Kase was one of 400 young Holocaust |
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survivors selected by the U.S. Children's Committee to begin a new |
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life in America, and he settled in Kansas City, Missouri; equipped |
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with a Polish-English dictionary, he taught himself the language |
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and worked through high school and junior college together in just |
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two years, ultimately landing a sales job with a wholesale costume |
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jewelry company; he also met an American girl at the Jewish |
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Community Center, and at the age of 20, he married Lila Greenstein; |
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around the same time, he was able to bring his mother to the United |
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States; and |
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WHEREAS, After serving proudly in the U.S. Army in Germany, |
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Mr. Kase moved to Houston with his wife, where they were blessed |
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with two children, Risha, who was named for his late sister, and |
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Kenneth; Mr. Kase resumed his career, expanding the company's |
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territory into Texas and Louisiana and becoming one of its most |
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successful sales representatives; he also became a silent partner |
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in an import company and eventually left his sales job to help run |
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the business full-time; he shared the last four decades of his life |
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with his second wife, Sylvia Christine Oshman; and |
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WHEREAS, After Mr. Kase retired in 1990, he devoted much of |
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the next 25 years to speaking to high school audiences about his |
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experiences during the Holocaust, and he shared with thousands of |
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students his hard-won wisdom about the effects of bigotry and |
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prejudice; his efforts earned him the St. Augustine Award from |
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St. Thomas University, the Houston Civil Rights Hero Award from the |
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Anti-Defamation League, a lifelong honorary membership from the |
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national commission of the ADL, and the State of Texas Governor's |
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Award for Volunteers, among many others; the ADL's annual Walter |
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Kase Teacher Excellence Award and the Walter Kase Commons at |
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Hamilton Middle School were named in his honor, and in 2011, he |
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received an honorary doctorate from the University of Houston for |
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his support of its graduate college of social work; he also served |
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on the board of the Houston Holocaust Museum; and |
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WHEREAS, Over the course of a remarkable life, Walter Kase |
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endured some of the worst cruelties that people can inflict on one |
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another, and yet he survived to become a loving father and husband, |
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a successful businessman, and a champion for freedom, tolerance, |
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and human dignity; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 84th Texas |
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Legislature hereby pay tribute to the memory of Walter Kase and |
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extend sincere condolences to the members of his family: to his |
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wife, Sylvia Christine Kase; to his daughter, Risha Dozark, and her |
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husband, Patrick; to his son, Kenneth Kase, and his wife, Linda; to |
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his grandson, Daniel Dozark; to his stepdaughter, Heidi Massin, and |
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her husband, David; to his granddaughter, Kaitlyn Massin; to his |
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stepson, Randy Oshman; to his cousins, Sara Mankowitz and her |
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husband, Lennart, and Jonny Belchatowski; and to his many friends; |
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and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
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prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of |
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Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Walter |
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Kase. |