Senate Bill S2773

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S2773

 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 :

S.7253 Referred to Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks & Recreation.

 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.