H.R. No. 1691
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, A life defined by extraordinary strength and
resilience drew to a close with the death of Walter Kase of Houston
on March 4, 2015, at the age of 85; and
WHEREAS, Walter Kase was born Wladyslaw Kasrylewicz on August
17, 1929, in Lodz, Poland, where his parents, Chaim and Evalina,
owned a dyeing factory and a commercial laundry; he grew up in a
happy and loving household enriched by music, shared meals, and the
celebration of the family's Jewish faith; and
WHEREAS, This idyllic boyhood was shattered in 1939, when
Germany invaded Poland; Mr. Kase's family lost their home and all
their possessions and were forced to live in the ghettos of Lodz and
Kielce; as the Nazis began their program of extermination, Mr. Kase
witnessed the murder of his little sister, Rysia, and he and his
parents were shipped in a packed freight car to the concentration
camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Kase's mother was sent to another camp, and he
and his father kept each other alive throughout the war, first at
Auschwitz, then in the camps at Pionki, Sosnowiec, Dachau,
Bergen-Belsen, Mauthausen, and Gunskirchen, where they were
finally liberated by the United States Army on May 5, 1945;
Mr. Kase's father died of malnutrition shortly after the war, and,
all told, 70 members of his family were lost in the Holocaust; only
Mr. Kase, his mother, and a cousin in Sweden survived; and
WHEREAS, In 1947, Mr. Kase was one of 400 young Holocaust
survivors selected by the U.S. Children's Committee to begin a new
life in America, and he settled in Kansas City, Missouri; equipped
with a Polish-English dictionary, he taught himself the language
and worked through high school and junior college together in just
two years, ultimately landing a sales job with a wholesale costume
jewelry company; he also met an American girl at the Jewish
Community Center, and at the age of 20, he married Lila Greenstein;
around the same time, he was able to bring his mother to the United
States; and
WHEREAS, After serving proudly in the U.S. Army in Germany,
Mr. Kase moved to Houston with his wife, where they were blessed
with two children, Risha, who was named for his late sister, and
Kenneth; Mr. Kase resumed his career, expanding the company's
territory into Texas and Louisiana and becoming one of its most
successful sales representatives; he also became a silent partner
in an import company and eventually left his sales job to help run
the business full-time; he shared the last four decades of his life
with his second wife, Sylvia Christine Oshman; and
WHEREAS, After Mr. Kase retired in 1990, he devoted much of
the next 25 years to speaking to high school audiences about his
experiences during the Holocaust, and he shared with thousands of
students his hard-won wisdom about the effects of bigotry and
prejudice; his efforts earned him the St. Augustine Award from
St. Thomas University, the Houston Civil Rights Hero Award from the
Anti-Defamation League, a lifelong honorary membership from the
national commission of the ADL, and the State of Texas Governor's
Award for Volunteers, among many others; the ADL's annual Walter
Kase Teacher Excellence Award and the Walter Kase Commons at
Hamilton Middle School were named in his honor, and in 2011, he
received an honorary doctorate from the University of Houston for
his support of its graduate college of social work; he also served
on the board of the Houston Holocaust Museum; and
WHEREAS, Over the course of a remarkable life, Walter Kase
endured some of the worst cruelties that people can inflict on one
another, and yet he survived to become a loving father and husband,
a successful businessman, and a champion for freedom, tolerance,
and human dignity; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 84th Texas
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the memory of Walter Kase and
extend sincere condolences to the members of his family: to his
wife, Sylvia Christine Kase; to his daughter, Risha Dozark, and her
husband, Patrick; to his son, Kenneth Kase, and his wife, Linda; to
his grandson, Daniel Dozark; to his stepdaughter, Heidi Massin, and
her husband, David; to his granddaughter, Kaitlyn Massin; to his
stepson, Randy Oshman; to his cousins, Sara Mankowitz and her
husband, Lennart, and Jonny Belchatowski; and to his many friends;
and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Walter
Kase.
Davis of Harris
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 1691 was unanimously adopted by a
rising vote of the House on April 23, 2015.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House