The publication is reproduced in full below:
IN RECOGNITION OF JOHN ROSENBERG
______
HON. HAROLD ROGERS
of kentucky
in the house of representatives
Friday, October 8, 2021
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I rise today to wish John Rosenberg a happy 90th birthday! The storied life of this Holocaust survivor and retired poverty law attorney has been filled with remarkable trials and triumphs, both figuratively and literally. John is, without a doubt, one of the greatest civil rights attorneys of our lifetime, especially for the people of Kentucky's Appalachian region.
Giving us more reason to celebrate, I also rise to congratulate John on the 50th anniversary of AppalRed, the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, a non-profit law firm that he established to help low-income people in 37 Appalachian counties in eastern and south-
central Kentucky where more than 240,000 people live in poverty. Over the last five decades, John and his team of pro-bono attorneys, have helped folks in our region get and keep basic needs, including: income, adequate food and health care, safe and sanitary housing, and personal protection from violence and abuse. They do not charge for legal services as they fight for justice for the most vulnerable people in the mountains.
John painfully learned the reality of civil injustice at a very early age. When he was only 7 years old, John and his family were pulled out of their home in Magdeburg, Germany by Nazi soldiers. His father spent 17 days in the Buchenwald concentration camp before being released with an ultimatum of 30 days to flee their homeland. After spending a year in an internment camp in Holland, the Rosenberg family safely boarded one of the last ships to the United States with no belongings.
The determination to survive and experience liberty and justice continued throughout his life and inspired his mission for civil rights. John graduated from Duke University and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Using the G.I. Bill, he later earned a law degree from the University of North Carolina in 1962. Before arriving in Kentucky, John was a trial attorney and section chief in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. He was responsible for several high-
profile cases including the first trial under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in Selma. He also was heavily involved in the investigation and trial preparation for the case involving three murdered civil rights workers that inspired the 1988 film, Mississippi Burning. In Kentucky, his work largely focused on advocating for coal miners, fighting for protections and benefits for impoverished families, and closing what he calls the ``justice gap'' in Appalachia.
His journey from a World War II Nazi Germany Holocaust survivor to an Eastern Kentucky pro-bono civil law hero is astounding. I count it a great honor to celebrate John Rosenberg's 90th birthday and the countless accomplishments that he has made on behalf of so many Americans and Appalachian families.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 178
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