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“HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3035-H3042 on May 5, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Hoshoa.
Today is a day of reflection and remembrance, not just for Jews, but for everyone who needs to learn from the world's injustices in order not to repeat them. Today we need not just say, ``never again.'' We must live our lives by this mantra.
A few weeks ago, I attended a solemn ceremony to remember the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. As I reflected upon the horror of the death camps where at least 1.5 million innocent people from many different nations died, 90 percent of whom were Jews, I asked myself the following question: how far have we come as a civil society and a world in the last 60 years? How much have we learned? Have we honored their memory by not allowing these atrocities to be repeated?
Unfortunately, my answer had to be not far enough. In the last 15 years, we have seen genocide raise its ugly head in Bosnia, Rwanda and, most recently, in the Darfur region in Sudan, where at least 180,000 people are dead and over 2 million people displaced from their homes.
On Yom Hoshoa, let us recommit and reaffirm our vigilance against acts of horrific inhumanity. Let us make sure that the lost souls from the Holocaust did not die in vain.
Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the annual observance of the mass genocide perpetrated in the mid-twentieth century by Nazi Germany, the most evil tyranny in the annals of human history.
On Sunday, May 8th, we mark the sixtieth anniversary of V-E Day, when the combined might of the Allied Forces finally ended forever the murderous regime of Adolf Hitler and his brutal henchmen and brought the curtain down on the European theater of World War II. Nevertheless, the Nazi dictatorship already had succeeded in deliberately murdering more than six million Jews and countless other people, in particular gypsies, persons with mental or physical disabilities, and those perceived to have a different sexual orientation or set of political beliefs. They achieved this terrible end through a nefarious network of secret police, a perverted legal process, a barbarous system of concentration camps that doubled as human extermination factories--and the tacit and often active participation of many, many others from a wide variety of backgrounds and national origins.
We observe Holocaust Remembrance Day in part to honor the memory of those men, women, and children who perished in this tragedy unparalleled in the course of human events. We observe Holocaust Remembrance Day to pay tribute to the courage and suffering of so many who lost their lives. But we also observe Holocaust Remembrance Day for an all too practical, and unfortunately still necessary, purpose: because we must never forget.
The six decades that have intervened since the Nazi regime was forcibly ended may make the Holocaust seem like a chapter in history from a bygone era. Yet each succeeding generation has a moral obligation to remember the Holocaust and its lessons for humanity: that mankind has an enormous capacity for evil; that, if left unchecked, evil can and will prevail; and that in order to overcome a massive concentration of power in the hands of those who would achieve evil ends, we have a moral obligation to act and to intervene on behalf of those without the capacity to resist such evil. These lessons, we must never forget.
For the unfortunate truth is that each succeeding generation in the decades following the Holocaust has been obliged to grapple with mass murder on a geopolitical scale. From the tyranny of Josef Stalin's Gulag Archipelago; to the Cultural Revolution of Communist China; to the killing fields of Cambodia; to the ``ethnic cleansing'' in Bosnia and Kosovo; to the senseless slaughters in Rwanda, the Sudan, and Darfur; to the tumbling twin towers at Ground Zero; and in countless other corners of the earth, man's capacity to inflict grievous harm on his fellow man continues to rage on, all too often unchecked.
Mr. Speaker, my distinguished colleagues, that is why we must never forget. We must never forget the more than 6 million victims, their grievous suffering, and the tremendous loss experienced not only by their loved ones who survived them, but by all of mankind. We must never forget the names associated with that greatest of all human tragedies, names which still to this day all too readily roll off the tongue, drenched in a thousand tears: Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka, Babi Yar--the Shoah.
But above all, we must never forget, because we must continue to look forward, as well as behind us. Man must never again allow his fellow man to stand by while the wholesale extermination of entire peoples is attempted under our very noses. We must never forget the maxim offered by Edmund Burke centuries before the Holocaust: that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah.
This is the day that not only the Jewish people should mourn the loss of the six million people stolen from this earth, but a day recognized by all.
We must never forget the attempted extermination of the Jewish people but we must also never forget so we can ensure that is never happens again.
We still see these mass slaughters around the world whether it's in Sudan or what we saw in the 1990's in Rwanda.
The world community must take immediate action so the murder of so many Jews never happens again to any of our brothers and sisters around the world.
This day has a bit more of a special meaning to me this year; 2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the concentration camps that stole the lives of six million innocent human beings in ways that are still unfathomable to me.
I had the unique opportunity this year to attend the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the 60th anniversary of the Liberation of the Nazi Death Camps.
It was a very emotional day listening to the speeches made by many of the world's leaders who were in attendance.
Also this was the first time that I know of that the United Nations convened to commemorate the Holocaust, and the first time that the United Nations convened a special session at the request of Israel.
Along with many of my colleagues, I contacted foreign embassies I have close relationships with to urge them to encourage their home governments to write a letter to Secretary General Annan to allow the general assembly to hold the special session.
Over 135 countries responded to make sure that the special session got underway.
My day at the U.N. also brought me to a special breakout session sponsored by B'nai B'rith International with several Holocaust survivors to talk about their experiences and how they survived the death camps.
One of the speakers was my good friend from California, Mr. Lantos. When we speak about Yom Hashoah in Congress we should remember that we have a survivor among us and should listen and respect his words when he speaks about the current humanitarian crisis like he has done most recently with Sudan.
At the end of the day a special exhibit was held by the Vad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority about the Auschwitz death camps.
It's impossible to describe the overwhelming feeling you get when you see the visuals of the condition the victims of the concentration camps were in. It still troubles my heart that one human could do this to another.
We must never forget and never allow this to happen again in the world to any group of people.
Ms. BEAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a constituent and friend of mine who has visited hundreds of classrooms and spoken to thousands of students about his life in German concentration camps during the Holocaust. Sam Harris--born Szlamek Rzeznik--has taken his remarkable life story and made it a driving force in his effort to help America's children learn the value of tolerance.
In September 1939, when Sam was 4 years old, he and his siblings were taken from their home and confined in the Deblin Ghetto in Poland. Three years later, they were sent to the concentration camp at Deblin and then at Czestochowa until that camp was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945. Only Sam and 2 of his sisters survived their time in the camps, and Sam is among the youngest remaining survivors of the Holocaust.
Currently, Sam volunteers with the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois, discussing genocide and the Holocaust with elementary, middle and high school students to ensure that history does not repeat itself. Part of their effort is the creation of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, due to begin construction in the near future.
It is important to note that this will not be simply a museum. It will also focus on education as a means to prevent hatred and bigotry. So it is fitting that Sam Harris and his Holocaust Memorial Foundation colleagues remain focused on the future, not only with their museum but also on using the classroom as a forum to help understand and deter genocide.
Sam said to me that if children were to take one thing from him, it should be this: ``When there is a bully in the play yard, they should step forth and stop the bully.'' That is advice that we all can live by, whether we are in the schoolyard, in the boardroom or in Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join with me today, Holocaust Remembrance Day, not only to honor the memory of the 6 million people killed during the Holocaust, but to thank people like Sam Harris and the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois for their tireless work in the promotion of tolerance and understanding.
Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, ``Take care and watch yourselves closely so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children . .
.'' (Deuteronomy 4:9)
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May 5, 2005--On Page H 3036 the following appeared: Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker,.
The online version should be corrected to read: Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker,.
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On this day of remembrance we confront stark, unmitigated evil, evil that could impose and did impose starvation, torture, unimaginable cruelty, and--for 6 million human beings--death. We also confront the evil that let this happen, the evil of indifference. It is indifference that Elie Weisel describes as the ``epitome of evil.'' ``The opposite of love is not hate,'' he says, ``it is indifference. . . . The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.''
It was indifference that enabled millions to avert their gaze as the Nazis undertook genocide on a scale never before imagined. Remembrance of the Holocaust affects us deeply as we empathize with the victims and what they endured but also as we recognize: the scourge of indifference, the temptation to indifference, are all too familiar to us today.
Indifference often prevents us from expressing love, achieving justice, or realizing community. And it still operates on a global scale. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has termed the failure of the United States and other nations to intervene to prevent the genocidal massacres of 1994 in Rwanda as her ``deepest regret'' from her years of public service. Every public servant should see Hotel Rwanda; in fact, I think every citizen should see the film, which drives home painfully the effects of the world's indifference.
And now researchers at the Holocaust Museum in Washington have issued a Genocide Emergency for Darfur in western Sudan, where some 300,000 people have died at the hands of violent men, or from the devastation left in their wake, in the past 2 years. Indeed the Holocaust--and the indifference and inaction that permitted the Holocaust--have been frequently invoked as Congress has struggled to shape our country's response.
``Simply saying `never again' does not save lives,'' one colleague wrote recently. Our country's diplomatic efforts and the initiatives of the United Nations and the African Union have thus far fallen woefully short. The international community needs to impose far more stringent economic and diplomatic sanctions on Sudan and to muster a much larger peacekeeping force--and our country needs to invest a great deal more in getting this done. In this connection, I commend to colleagues Nicholas Kristof's column in the April 17th edition of the New York Times.
Today is a solemn day of remembrance. But given the persistence of evil and the perils our world faces, it must also be a day of resolve and action. We keep faith with those we remember by vowing ``Never again'' and not stopping at that, but overcoming the indifference and inaction that would allow unmitigated evil--the ultimate atrocity of genocide--to continue.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah, to memorialize the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust.
In 1933, Europe's Jewish population was over nine million. However, by 1945, almost two out of three European Jews had been killed as part of the Final Solution, a policy to murder the Jews. However, the Nazis' cruelty was not just limited to Jews, they also murdered gypsies, the mentally and physically disabled, homosexuals, and those deemed religious dissidents, like Jehovah's Witnesses.
We must remember the lives of those who were subjected to unspeakable atrocities, targeted simply because of their religious beliefs. We must remember those mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, daughters, and sons who perished so brutally in the camps, in the ghettos, and in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany.
This year, Yom Hashoah comes as we mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. We must never forget what can happen to civilized people when bigotry and hatred rule.
We all share the responsibility to combat ignorance, intolerance, and prejudice no matter what the form. And 60 years later, it is still entirely unbelievable that individuals contemplated in seriousness the systematic destruction of over 6 million people. On this anniversary, as we honor lives lost, I extend my condolences to those who lost loved ones in the Holocaust. They will always be remembered.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, which memorializes the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis during their campaign of genocide in World War II. We mourn the innocent lives lost and vibrant communities destroyed while the world shamefully stood silent, and honor those heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto who faced certain death when they refused to submit to the Nazi's planned extermination of their community.
To this day, Mr. Speaker, many European countries have failed to right the past wrongs of the Holocaust by failing to adequately redress the wrongful confiscation of property by the Nazi and communist regimes. These seizures took place over decades; they were part of the modus operandi of repressive, totalitarian regimes; and they affected millions of people. The passage of time, border changes, and population shifts are only a few of the things that make the wrongful property seizures of the past such difficult problems to address today.
While I recognize that many obstacles stand in the way of righting these past wrongs, I do not believe that these challenges make property restitution or compensation impossible. On the contrary, I believe much more should have been done--and can still be done now--while our elderly Holocaust survivors are still living.
Today I also want to sound the alarm about a disturbing trend that Jews face today: a rising tide of anti-Semitism throughout the world.
I serve as the Ranking Member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), commonly known as the Helsinki Commission. Last year I traveled as part of the U.S. Delegation, with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, to attend a special conference in Berlin addressing anti-Semitism, held under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE is a 55-nation regional security organization which promotes democracy and human rights in Europe, Central Asia, and North America.
Before traveling to Berlin, I made a point to visit Auschwitz for the first time. I was shocked and stunned to see how efficient the Nazi operation was: they wanted to maximize the number of individuals that could be killed.
Seeing the remains of that factory of intolerance, hate and death, it reaffirmed how we must continually stress the importance of advancing understanding throughout the OSCE region and the entire world. We must tirelessly work to build understanding and respect between different communities to prevent future acts of prejudice and injustice.
At the Berlin Conference, I had the privilege of participating as a member of the U.S. delegation, and I gave the official U.S. statement in the session on tolerance. The meeting ended with the issuance of the Berlin Declaration of Action.
The Berlin Declaration laid out a number of specific steps for states to take to combat the rising tide of anti-Semitism, including: striving to ensure that their legal systems foster a safe environment free from anti-Semitic harassment, violence or discrimination; promoting educational programs; promoting remembrance of the Holocaust, and the importance of respecting all ethnic and religious groups; combating hate crimes, which can be fueled by racist and anti-Semitic propaganda on the Internet; encouraging and supporting international organizations and NGO's; and encouraging the development of best practices between law enforcement and educational institutions.
As we commemorate Yom Hashoah, let us honor the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust by pledging to fight intolerance, hate crimes, and violence in our community and around the world. We shall never be silent again.
Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, a day on which we recall the atrocities committed during the Second World War, celebrate the liberation of these horrific concentration camps, and call for continued efforts to fight anti-Semitism around the world.
While 60 years have now passed since the end of World War II, and our Jewish brothers and sisters from around the world have managed to become a remarkably successful and innovative people despite the horrors they were forced to face, it is imperative that we continue to remember the events of the Holocaust to ensure that future generations remain aware. The crime of genocide, which continues to be committed today as we have seen in Armenia, Rwanda, Sudan, and elsewhere, is one of the most reprehensible acts that can be committed by man. To attempt eradication of an entire population based on a misguided prejudice is absolutely vile, and the United States should do everything in its power to try and prevent such atrocities from happening in the future.
Today, we call to memory the atrocities of the Holocaust, while at the same time honoring those individuals that persevered despite them. The success of such Holocaust survivors as our dear colleague, Congressman Tom Lantos, serves to remind us that while the crime of genocide can take our lives and our freedom, it cannot and must not break our will and determination.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, marking the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
Today, as those who witnessed the horrific crimes perpetrated during the Holocaust are becoming fewer, great effort must be taken to ensure that both we and generations to come will never forget this, the most monstrous event in the history of the modern world.
This year, we mark this solemn day by reflecting on the liberation of the Jews of Europe and the pursuit of those responsible for committing these heinous offenses. Sixty years ago as allied forces pressed farther into reaches of Nazi-occupied Europe, the names of places such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau, and Mauthausen had yet to be seared into our collective conscious. As allied soldiers broke down the doors of the camps, they were overwhelmed by the sights of human suffering that confronted them. The scale of that suffering was unimaginable.
The allied powers, faced with the enormous task of bringing to justice the perpetrators of this genocide, together established the International Military Tribunal. The legacy of Nuremberg lives on in the tribunals held for perpetrators of war crimes in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and the former Yugoslavia among others.
Today we remember those destroyed by the Nazis, but unlike sixty years ago, we cannot stay silent when confronted by such crises as the genocide now occurring in Darfur. We must renew our commitment never to remain indifferent in the face of such assaults on innocent human beings.
Mr. BISHOP of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solemn observance of Yom Hashoah, commemorating the commencement of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
Today the Gateway Monument in the Warsaw Ghetto serves as a fixed memorial to the victims who were herded onto railroad cars for deportation to Treblinka, one of many death camps scattered throughout the European countryside. The Gateway Monument has etched upon its stone the names of four hundred Jews who martyred themselves for the cause of saving the lives of their neighbors and their own children, and to defend their religion from annihilation. However, another great monument exists, but in the form of the retelling of the heroic story of the uprising, one generation at a time.
Mordecai Anielewicz, a young man of twenty-three years, led an army of beleaguered men and women against their oppressors, the Nazi war machine. On this day, Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, we celebrate and honor those who offered resistance in a valiant attempt to defy deportation to death camps. Mordecai Anielewicz wrote in his last letter to Yitzhak Cukierman, friend and co-founder of the Jewish Fighting Organization, ``The fact that we are remembered beyond the ghetto walls encourages us in our struggle.''
In our united causes to `Never Forget', nor to repeat the senseless atrocities of the Holocaust, we must be ready to confront similar genocidal slaughter throughout the world. Mr. Anielewicz's heroism and the courage of the over four hundred resistance fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto resistance have earned more than words as their legacy. Our nation and those of the developed world must offer our own resistance to despot leaders who seek to commit murder on the basis of religion or race.
Mr. Speaker, Mordecai was correct in his assessment of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising's impact outside the ghetto walls. Indeed, the resistance has been remembered beyond the ghetto walls, as it has become a testimonial to the human spirit that will be remembered throughout all humanity, for all time.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The Chief U.S. Counsel to the Nuremberg Military tribunal said of the Holocaust: ``The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.''
Today, Jews around the world take a moment to pay tribute to the heroes that were lost. In Israel, where they refer to the day as Yom Hashoah, the ceremony began yesterday with survivors and their families gathering together for a memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. During the ceremony, six torches were lit, representing the six million murdered Jews, and wreathes were laid.
Today's ceremony in Israel began with the sounding of a siren for two minutes throughout the entire country. For the duration of the sirens, work was halted, people walking in the streets stopped, cars pulled off to the side of the road and everyone stood at silent attention.
Mr. Speaker, genocide is a horror that has touched many cultures and religions. Just a few weeks ago, I joined several thousand Armenians in Times Square for a commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The date marks the beginning of a genocide that took the lives of more than one million Armenians in three years during World War I.
Even Hitler exploited the Armenian Genocide to justify his atrocities against the Jews, asking ``Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?'' just before Germany's invasion of Poland. Today, the Armenians are still fighting for recognition of the genocide from the Turkish government.
But Mr. Speaker, despite our attempts to shed light on the horrors of the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, the sad truth is that genocide is not a crime of the past.
Since February 2003, the Sudanese Government has used a combination of Arab ``Janjaweed'' militias, its air force, and organized starvation to kill more than 380,000 Darfurians and displace almost 3 million. Estimates suggest that the Sudanese continue to kill at least 15,000 more Darfurians each month.
The Sudanese government, like the Turkish government, denies any evidence of genocide. Even the United States government seems to be unwilling to label the crisis as ``genocide.''
Mr. Speaker, we as Americans have a moral obligation to stop genocide wherever and whenever it occurs. Americans can never again show the same lack of interest that F.D.R. showed toward the genocide of the Jews during World War II. No world leaders should ever be able to stand and justify their crimes by asking if anyone remembers the annihilation of Darfur?
Today, we commemorate one of the darkest periods in human history in the hopes that it will never be repeated. Future generations--not just Jews, but all people--must learn the history of the Holocaust so that the lives that were taken were not lost in vain.
Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoad. Although 60 years have passed since the end of World War II, not a day should go by without the world remembering the important lessons we so painfully learned from the Holocaust.
The Day of Remembrance was established by Congress as our nation's annual commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust: 12 million people died in concentration camps throughout Europe, including 6 million Jews. Numbers only tell a small part of the story though. Numbers don't reflect the utter devastation that European Jews faced after the end of the war. Numbers don't describe the personal and very individual tragedy of whole families and communities that were destroyed by the hate of places like Auschwitz, Dachau and Flossenburg. The Day of Remembrance pushes us to think beyond the numbers; it forces us to remember that each of these numbers represents a person--someone's father or mother, son or daughter, niece of nephew, or grandchild--a precious life that was never lived to its fullest.
Each of us--the next generations--must rededicate ourselves to speaking out for religious tolerance, peace and justice. We must keep this sentiment within our hearts and minds each and every day.
Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, today, communities in the United States, Israel, and around the world will gather to observe Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah. This solemn day commemorates the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, and this year it coincides with the 60th anniversary of the end of the War World II. On this day, we remember the six million Jews murdered during World War II.
I join all those here today in mourning the innocent lives and vibrant communities lost, destroyed by Nazis while the most of world silently and shamefully watched. We must combat anti-Semitism and intolerance wherever it exists in the world today.
It is vital that we remember this dark period in history. The Holocaust made clear man's capacity to do evil. We remember this tragic event and firm our resolve that history will not be repeated. As human beings, we have a responsibility to keep the Holocaust at the forefront of our collective historical memory.
I thank all those who have put today's program together to commemorate the Day of Remembrance and I appreciate all those who participated.
Mr. Speaker, the Day of Remembrance reminds us that we as people, we as nations, must take action against hatred and incitement targeted against any group; we saw how failure to take action over 60 years ago turned to mass devastation and murder.
Mr. Speaker, by taking the time to remember Yom Hashoah here in our Nation's Capital, we are keeping our promise that we will never forget the past and will fight to protect our future, a future that we hope is one step closer to the goal of ``never again.''
Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of and in mourning for the millions who perished in the Shoah, the Holocaust, the most systematic and brutal persecution of a people ever perpetrated in human history.
We grieve for all human suffering and misery. The death of one is not more significant because of his or her race or their creed. But there were so many ones lost in that time. And not just individuals, whole families, whole villages, an entire way of life in many cases. Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, these countries will never regain the vitality they lost when they lost their Jewish people.
We grieve today not just for the Jewish deaths; Jews were not the only ones to perish in the Holocaust. This atrocity was visited upon Gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled, Catholics, Africans, trade-
unionists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestant Pastors and anyone who opposed the Reich.
The Holocaust was and is an offense, not only to the victims, their families and their friends, but to humanity. Some demonize the Nazi brutality, calling it inhuman. But I think the fact that the Holocaust was a human event makes it all the more terrible. And it makes our obligation to prevent such a thing from ever happening again even more essential and pressing.
Pastor Niemoller famously reflected on his inaction at the time of the Holocaust:
First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.
On this day of remembrance, let us pledge that this will not be our legacy.
Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Yom Hashoah, a day of remembrance for Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes.
Between 1939 and 1945, over 12 million innocent people--including over 6 million Jews--were murdered because of their religion, their race or because of where they were born. Even today, after the passage of 60 years, it is difficult to fully comprehend the intense hatred and intolerance that so consumed this dark period in human history.
On this day of remembrance we cannot think of just those who died, but also of those individuals who embodied the triumph of the human spirit, who bravely acted in the face of overpowering hatred, and of the lessons of their actions. Rather than succumbing to the despair of their situation, the Jews fought against their oppressors in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in April and May of 1943. In a defiant declaration, the Jews of Terezin proclaimed a theme of liberation each time they sang Verdi's ``Requiem.'' The thread of hope continued despite the hopeless moments. As such, when we remember the Holocaust, we remember not only the needless death of so many, but also the heroic voices which continue to inspire us today.
Sadly, we still struggle as a human race to stamp out the evils of anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia. Several years ago in my hometown of Sacramento, we saw the ability of good to overpower intolerance during an act of arson on three area synagogues. We witnessed the heroics of average citizens who rushed into these burning buildings to save precious books, manuscripts and a Torah which had already survived the Holocaust decades earlier.
While Yom Hashoah is a somber day of remembering those who were killed in the Holocaust, it is also a day that offers hope. Hope that the strength and courage in all of us will overcome injustice and intolerance.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. This year's anniversary is particularly compelling not only because it marks six decades since the liberation of the Jewish people from history's darkest hour, but also because our world has failed to heed the universal message of the Holocaust. Crimes against humanity anywhere are an affront to all people everywhere.
Indeed, I would be doing a disservice to the Holocaust survivors throughout South Florida if I do not address that most unconscionable crime of genocide. Sixty years ago the world failed to aid the victims of the Nazi regime. We conveniently dodged our duty by claiming unsubstantiated evidence, a lack of effective resources to respond, and the existence of more pressing concerns elsewhere in the world.
Today, we are remembering the Holocaust while again evading taking the necessary steps to end the genocide in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced from their homes by a bloodthirsty militia backed by the Sudanese military and government. Yet we insist that our resources are spread too thin, that events elsewhere in the world command our attention, and that deciding upon the strict definition of these crimes should determine whether we respond forcefully or not. Mr. Speaker, shame on us for using the same old excuses.
Elected officials often speak about spreading freedom, establishing democracies, and ensuring minority rights around the world. These are noble endeavors indeed, Mr. Speaker. But what about spreading the saving of human lives? The sacred Jewish text the Talmud reminds us that to save one life is to save the whole world. How many worlds are dying every day in Darfur? I am sure that the Holocaust survivors here in the Capitol Building today can tell us because they witnessed firsthand the cataclysmic annihilation of their families, their neighbors, their friends, and their people. Their memories are still fresh, their thoughts still lucid, and their commitment to educating the world about the Holocaust is more than admirable.
Sixty years ago, without rhyme or reason, an entire nation of people were murdered, wrenched from the Earth by an unholy evil. This malevolence persists today in the form of bigotry and intolerance, torture and genocide. Every instance that we ignore and every crime that we brush off feeds the incipient hatred that compels the concentration camp, the slave labor force, the disdain for human life, and the ease with which it is taken.
Mr. Speaker, we owe it to those whose names have since been lost to refuse to condemn the genocide in Darfur with only our words. We have come too far in 60 years to slide back again. If we have learned anything from the Holocaust it is that it must not be allowed to happen again. Today is Holocaust Commemoration Day, but it is not enough for us to simply remember. We must also never forget.
Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in order to honor the millions who lost their lives during the Holocaust as we observe Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day.
Each year, I am confronted with so many emotions as we commemorate this day. It brings great pain to my heart as we remember the victims of one of history's darkest and most murderous eras. To try and grasp the significance of the death toll that resulted from the Holocaust is both a saddening and frustrating exercise. Six million Jews not only lost their lives, but were murdered on the basis of nonsensical, inhumane reasoning--reasoning that dictated action through hate on the basis of religious discrimination. The end result, sadly though, was much worse than what is our conventional idea of religious discrimination. The end result in this tragic situation was genocide.
And though my heart weighs heavily as I reflect on the injustices suffered and the lives lost, there is a part of me that sees an opportunity to celebrate human resilience as we commemorate this somber day. In the face of some of the most intense hatred and inhumanity that this world has ever seen, it gives me great hope to think of the many who seized upon the greatest power that any individual human-being can posses, and in fact, a power that each and everyone of us posses. That power is the power to choose.
And in the face of oppression, persecution and destruction, there were so many who chose to resist, whether it was through physical action, words written and spoken, or in spirit. Some of these people were heroes whose names we celebrate, some were heroes only to those who knew them and some were simply heroes in and of themselves.
To these people we owe a debt of gratitude and respect. Now, more than ever, as the world continues to wrestle with violence spawned by religious and cultural intolerance, we cannot forget or underestimate our own power to choose to act out against this type of hatred and oppression. Let us never forget that silence and inaction provide fertile breeding ground for grave injustices. We all have a moral obligation to choose to act.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day, to honor the memory of the six million Jews who died in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
As the dedication in the United States Holocaust Museum's Hall of Remembrance so thoughtfully observes:
. . . guard yourself and guard your soul carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes saw, and lest these things depart your heart all the days of your life, and you shall make them known to your children, and to your children's children.
Sixty years ago, in 1945, World War II ended and Allied soldiers liberated the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. Through the survivor's stories and other documented evidence, the full extent of the atrocities committed by the Nazi soldiers became known and we learned of the bottomless depths of mankind's capacity for cruelty.
Observing Holocaust Remembrance Day is vitally important. As time passes, our tendency is to disbelieve that people could be so monstrous as to commit such horrific deeds. That is why we have to remain vigilant, to remember what happened so that we can guard against it ever happening again.
Mr. Speaker, thank you for this opportunity to honor the memory of those who were killed in the Holocaust, and the courage of those who survived.
Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, to honor the memory of the victims who perished in World War II during the Holocaust.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Europe from the evil hands of the murderer Adolf Hitler. Hitler's shadow caused darkness to fall upon the earth.He slew the innocent and pure, men and women and children, with vapors of poison, and he burned them with fire. When the light of freedom shined again, tens of millions were dead, cities and nations were in ruin, and a world stood awestruck at the horrors that had occurred.
Justice Robert Jackson, a justice on the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945, said:
The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant and so devastating that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.
We in the United States, the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King, enjoy a great deal of freedom. We must not take these freedoms for granted. We must not forget that genocide and human rights abuses have occurred and continue to occur around the world. We must not remain silent. We must dedicate ourselves to continuing to educate people around the globe about the horrors of the Holocaust. We must be forever mindful of the danger of such intolerance and ensure that it never happens again.
Let us stand here today and affirm our obligation to civilization that we will never forget.
Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, I rise to lend my voice to the cause of remembrance. Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. This is a day aside on the Jewish calendar to remember the murdered Six Million of the Holocaust and to remind us all what can happen when bigotry, hatred, and indifference are allowed to permeate a society.
It has been 60 years since the end of the Holocaust. We mark this passing of time because while the Holocaust serves as a vivid reminder of the worst mankind has to offer, we must remain vigilant so that all might learn its lessons.
Its horror demands that we fight tyranny.
Its victims show us the dangers of ignorance.
Its lesson is that we must never embrace indifference if we are to advance in peace.
Yom HaShoah is the occasion to pay tribute to the lives lost and a time to rededicate ourselves to work together toward greater understanding so that this unspeakable horror never visits our societies again.
Mr. Speaker, I have been to Jerusalem. I have been to Yad Vashem and the Western Wall. The emotional power of these places moved me to a greater belief in two things that the power of faith is unbreakable and that hard work and patience can achieve the goals of peace. Let us today allow Yom HaShoah to remind us of both faith and peace.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah. May 5th marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, and this year is especially important as the world marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
From 1938--1945, 6 million Jewish people, young and old alike, were systematically murdered as a result of ignorance and hatred. Nazi Germany also targeted gypsies, the handicapped, Political dissidents, and others because they were different.
In Jewish communities around the world, there is a simple saying in regards to the Holocaust, ``Never Forget.'' Let us never forget the atrocities committed against a people based on nothing more than their religious beliefs. Let us never forget the 6 million mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, grandfathers and grandmothers who were systematically murdered just 6 decades ago.
I join my colleagues in remembering wonderfully vibrant communities that were senselessly destroyed across Europe. I would also like to pay tribute to the thousands of Holocaust Survivors in the United States and around the world who continue to educate us on the atrocities of the Holocaust.
I implore all of us to take this Remembrance Day one step further and stand up against anti-Semitism, intolerance, ignorance, and discrimination in our nation and around the world today.
Let us never forget.
Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, today, Thursday, May 5, 2005, the people of the world memorialize Yom HaShoah--a special day of remembrance honoring the martyrs and heroes of the Holocaust. Holocaust Remembrance Day is a day that has been set aside to remember the victims of the Holocaust and to remind each of us what can happen when bigotry and hatred are not confronted.
Mr. Speaker, I am humbled as I rise today with my colleagues to honor the memories and the lives of the more than 6 million victims of Nazi hatred and aggression during the pogrom known to us as the Holocaust. I am also humbled to stand in this cathedral of freedom and honor the lives of the many heroes who fought so bravely against unimaginable odds to defeat a genocidal madman.
More than 60 years ago, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime set out to eradicate European Jewry. So committed were they to the accomplishment of this goal, their so-called ``Final Solution,'' that even in the waning days of World War II, when defeat was imminent, the Germans continued even more urgently rounding up Jews all over Europe and sending them to their deaths.
Mr. Speaker, driven by a radical and uncompromising anti-Semitic ideology, the Nazis redoubled their efforts to reach every last Jew before the war ended. They were in a rush; time was running out. Depleting sorely-needed resources from the war effort, German forces swept across Europe, assembling and annihilating community after community, individual after individual, from their homes, ghettos and hiding places.
Mr. Speaker, during the last year of the war in Europe, German defeat was all but accomplished, and yet their hatred and bigotry survived and thrived. Consequently, the Nazis murdered more than 700,000 Jews in that last full year of the war, including most of the Jews of the last large community in Europe, Hungary. There, in one of the most efficient deportation and murder operations of the Holocaust, the Nazi and Hungarian regimes deported 437,000 Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau in just eight weeks and killed tens of thousands more later that year.
Six decades have passed since Allied troops liberated the labor and death camps, and yet the memory of the horrors perpetrated against the Jewish people is seared into the collective conscious of the world. However, Mr. Speaker, sadly, we cannot undo history, and we cannot reverse the atrocities carried out by a barbarous German regime.
What remains for us is to honor and preserve the memories and lives of both the victims and the survivors of the Holocaust. Out of the great tragedy of the Holocaust emerges a tremendous object lesson for humanity: hatred and bigotry can never be taken for granted or left unchecked. We must never forget.
Mr. Speaker, memory is critical--our own and that of the victims of unprecedented evil and suffering. The Holocaust is a horror we must remember, but not only because of the dead; it is too late for them. Not only because of the survivors; it may even be too late for them. Preserving memory is a solemn responsibility, aimed at saving men and women from apathy toward evil, if not from evil itself. We must never forget.
Mr. Speaker, sixty years ago, much of the world overlooked the deadly plight of an entire people until it was almost too late. We have a sacred obligation--in order to truly keep faith with the principles upon which our great nation was founded--to remain vigilant, to remember the horrors of the past, to learn from them, and to protect against them for all eternity. We must never forget.
Mr. Speaker, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, perhaps summed it up best when he said, ``to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all.'' As Americans, we must heed his call and embrace his challenge. We must never forget.
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this Yom Ha'Shoah, we honor those whose lives were lost in the atrocities of one of the darkest periods in human history.
We pay tribute to all who lost their lives during World War II and reflect on the loss of more than six million Jewish lives. We honor the heroes who perished in the one of the most valiant battles for liberty and justice the world has ever known.
The most fitting tribute that we can offer to the countless heroes who suffered under the Nazi regime is to work to ensure that they did not suffer in vain. As we reflect on the unfathomable loss suffered during the Holocaust it is also important that we vow to build a more peaceful world. Today, more than fifty years later, we must teach our children about the horrific events that transformed the world so that the mistakes of the past are never repeated. It is important that we fight ignorance on a daily basis through a dedication to learning about the origins and realities of the Holocaust.
With examples of malice and terror everpresent in today's society, we are reminded of the strength and courage of the Jewish people. Their dedication to begin anew in the aftermath of the Holocaust serves as an example of steadfast determination. Through their example, we learn how the human spirit can triumph over the hollowness of vengeance and anger. On this day we celebrate that spirit.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join the commemoration of Yom Ha'Shoah and I hope that all Americans will join me.
Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, communities will gather in the United States, Israel, and around the world today to observe Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah. This solemn day commemorates the anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. This year, the day comes as the world marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
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In order to prevent the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust from ever being repeated, we all have a responsibility to educate younger generations. We must take time to remember the atrocities suffered by countless Jews during' the World War II era. The martyrs gave their lives for their beliefs, protected their own people, and stood up for their most sacred principles. The heroes did everything in their power to stop the spread of evil across the globe. It is the stories of these martyrs and heroes that need to be repeated, so that young people can better understand this dark period in history.
One resource to help us teach the next generation is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I recommend a trip to this landmark whenever someone from my district is visiting Washington, D.C. There is so much worth to what this museum has documented for the world to see. The documents, photographs, and films offer an appropriate way of remembering such a serious subject matter.
Despite the lessons of the Holocaust, discrimination, persecution, and even genocide still persist around the world. Today, it is imperative to renew our commitment to fighting injustice in all its forms. In doing so, we recognize the sacrifices and suffering of the Holocaust. Let us all work to educate the next generation, so that they never forget the martyrs and heroes who fought to protect their Jewish traditions, and never gave up in the face of evil.
Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, today is Yom Ha-Shoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, and I rise to honor the memory of the 6 million Jewish souls extinguished in the greatest act of organized depravity in history.
There have been many barbaric regimes and there have been many other vicious campaigns of annihilation undertaken both before and after the Holocaust. Some even produced more victims. The Shoah, however, is unique and is thus deserving of special attention, not because the victims were Jews--many millions of innocent non-Jews were murdered by the Nazis--but because the Holocaust revealed a painful and abiding truth about humanity that remains with us. In squalor of the camps, in the ashes of the crematoria, and in the fires of the ovens, it was demonstrated that the norms of civilization, the boundaries of morality, and the protections of society and government are no more protection than a fragile tissue of behavior, one torn aside with shocking ease to reveal the latent bestiality in human beings.
The imperative of Holocaust for us today, as legislators and participants in American government is the same for all Americans and, in truth, all humanity. That imperative is to remember. There are many reasons why: To remember all those people murdered for the crime of their birth and rededicate ourselves to preventing such a crime from being repeated. To remember that bigotry and ignorance can metastasize in politics with horrific consequences. To remember that whole communities can be wiped out with the power of the modern state and to recommit ourselves to the protection of the weak and powerless. To remember all those men and women and children who were cremated and dumped into mass graves, not just to end their lives, but to deny their very existence.
But most of all we must remember because it can happen again.
It is happening again. It is happening in Sudan. Right now. Today. Some 400,000 Sudanese have already been killed and, if today is a typical day, 500 more will join them as the world wrings its hands and wonders what to do. This lassitude, this fecklessness, this disgraceful toleration of genocide is nothing new either. We saw it when there was slaughter in Southeast Europe. And we saw it as a genocide was perpetrated with machetes in Rwanda. And even before the Holocaust, it happened to the Armenians and today we debate whether it ever happened at all.
We must remember the Holocaust because genocide is real. It is not history, it is reality.
Today, genocide is a reality in Sudan. Tomorrow, when Iran acquires nuclear weapons, will we see the mullahs attempt to finish Hitler's barbaric work? Impossible? Incomprehensible? Sophisticated people will ask, ``Who would harness the power of a modern state to the absurd goal of killing Jews? Who would risk their state over it?''
We must remember. A world that doesn't keep Auschwitz fixed in its mind will see it rebuilt. We must remember.
Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day, and to remember the 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.
Sixty years ago, as American, British, and Soviet soldiers moved across Europe in a series of offensives on Germany, they encountered and liberated concentration camp prisoners. Advancing from the west, U.S. divisions freed the major concentration camps of Dora-Mittelbau, Buchenwald, Flossenbuirg, and Dachau in Germany, and Mauthausen in Austria.
In northern Germany, British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen and Neuengamme.
In the east, Soviet divisions liberated Auschwitz in Poland in January 1945. Just a few weeks before the German surrender in early May 1945, they liberated the Stutthof, Sachsenhausen, and Ravensbruck concentration camps inside Germany.
In liberating the Nazi camps, the Anglo-American and Soviet soldiers exposed to the world the horror of Nazi atrocities.
Today, we must rededicate ourselves to fighting intolerance, racism and apathy so that future generations do not experience the suffering, terror and ultimate death endured by the victims of the Holocaust.
Remembrance Day serves as a reminder that we must never forget the appalling tragedy of the Holocaust, and the six million Jews who lost their lives.
Unfortunately, the struggle against anti-Semitism continues today, as recent reports indicate an increase in violence against the Jewish community around the world. Last year alone there were reports of anti-
Semitic desecration and vandalism of about 40 schools, 140 statues and cemeteries, 60 synagogues and 60 businesses around the world. The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States also rose by 17 percent in 2004.
Sixty years after the end of the Holocaust, it is important that we strengthen our fight against anti-Semitism and religious intolerance.
It has been said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Yom Hashoah reminds each of us where racism, bigotry and religious intolerance can lead, so that something as horrific as the Holocaust is never repeated.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bear witness to the millions who perished in the Holocaust.
From 1933 to 1945, a dark cloud descended on Europe and death rolled like thunder across the Continent. Six million Jews died unspeakable deaths at the hands of the Nazis. Thousands of homosexuals, political dissidents, blacks and gypsies were corralled into concentration camps, tortured, and killed. Righteous Germans gave their lives to protect their neighbors, and millions of civilians succumbed as bombs fell like rain during air raids.
Mr. Speaker, we hear the screech of sirens piercing the night, and we say ``Never Again.''
We see shattered glass littering the streets and we say ``Never Again.''
We feel bodies pressed against each other in cattle cars--no room to move, no air to breathe--and we say ``Never Again.''
We hear the hiss of gas pouring from shower spigots and see fingernails scratching at concrete walls, and we say ``Never Again.''
We remember the curl of smoke reaching toward a white winter sky and ashes drifting down amidst snowflakes. Never Again.
Mr. Speaker, in the 60 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, Holocaust survivors across the world have borne witness to the atrocities of the Shoah. They have taught us about the dangers of prejudice and ignorance.
They have shown us by their shining example the power of strength, education and activism. I rise today to thank these survivors for all they have taught us, and to express my sympathy for the loved ones they lost long ago.
But, Mr. Speaker, I also rise today because, somewhere in Darfur, Sudan the electricity has gone out in a small town, signaling that an attack is imminent. Soon, a village will be burned to the ground with only scorched earth to testify to the lives once lived there. When the sun sets on this day, 500 more innocent Sudanese will have died at the hands of Janjaweed killers, bringing the death toll to over 400,000.
Meanwhile, the rainy season is fast approaching in Sudan. In the coming weeks, it will become even harder for aid workers to reach those most desperately in need. Three million Sudanese have already been displaced, and children are dying in refugee camps from illness and malnutrition.
Mr. Speaker, innocent people are being killed because of their ethnicity, and I ask, ``Never again?''
Children are starving in relocation camps, and I ask, ``Never again?''
Homes are being burned, women raped, and men mutilated. Is this what we call Never Again?
Voices rise from the ashes at Auschwitz, the killing fields in Cambodia and the hills of Rwanda, begging us to intervene. It is time we answer their cries, not with words, but with action. It is time to pass the Darfur Genocide Accountability Act, H.R. 1424. We must increase our aid to refugee camps, halt the spread of disease, and provide food where there is famine.
Towards the end of her life, Anne Frank wrote, ``I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.''
Mr. Speaker, today, on this Day of Remembrance, let us make Anne Frank's vision our own, and ensure that this cruelty too will end.
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, today is Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah.
This is an appropriate date for this purpose because it is the anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. But in reality, Americans and all other civilized people should consider every day a Holocaust Remembrance Day because forgetting the evils of the past can too easily be the prelude to their recurrence.
And never was this truer than this year, as we mark the 60th anniversary of the final days of the Second World War when Allied soldiers moving across Europe encountered and liberated concentration camp prisoners.
Advancing from the west, U.S. divisions freed the prisoners in the Dora-Mittelbau, Buchenwald, Flossenburg, and Dachau concentration camps in Germany and the Mauthausen camp in Austria. In northern Germany, British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen and Neuengamme. And Soviet troops, after liberating Auschwitz in Poland in January 1945, in May, 1945 liberated the Stutthof, Sachsenhausen, and Ravensbruck concentration camps inside Germany.
We now understand that many people in Allied countries had known, in greater or lesser detail, about what had occurred in the camps. But it was these Allied soldiers who fully exposed the full horror of Nazi atrocities--and the combat-hardened soldiers were unprepared for what they found.
There were stacks of dead bodies, and barracks filled with dead and dying prisoners, while the stench of death was everywhere. And the camps still housed thousands of emaciated and diseased prisoners who resembled skeletons because of forced labor and lack of food. Many were so weak that they could hardly move. Disease remained an ever present danger and the liberators had to burn down many of the camps to prevent the spread of epidemics.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower made a deliberate visit to the Ohrdruf camp in order to witness personally the evidence of atrocities that
``beggar description.'' Publicly expressing shock and revulsion, he urged others to see the camps first-hand, lest ``the stories of Nazi brutality'' be forgotten or dismissed as merely ``propaganda.''
In the years that have followed, our memories of these atrocities have sometimes dimmed. But they have been refreshed by new histories or exhibits such as those in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum here in Washington, while new barbarities in other parts of the world have reawakened some of the horror that was felt by Eisenhower and the other liberators of Europe.
And the sights and sounds of the liberated camps, so fresh in 1945, helped shape the laws and institutions that arose from the ashes of war.
Military tribunals prosecuted captured Nazi officials under a variety of charges, many of which paralleled what were later defined as
``crimes against humanity.'' The best-known of these prosecutions, of course, were those in Nuremberg, Germany, between November 1945 and August 1946 under the auspices of the International Military Tribunal
(IMT). Prosecutors and judges from the 4 occupying powers tried some of the leading officials of the Nazi regime on four counts, including a newly defined count of ``crimes against humanity,'' in which significant evidence relating to the Nazi effort to murder the European Jews was introduced. Several prominent Nazis were sentenced to death, others received prison sentences, and a few were acquitted.
The Nuremberg trials, and others that followed, have had a major impact on international law over the last 60 years. The International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the recently created International Criminal Court are all part of the legacy of Nuremberg and of ongoing efforts of the world community to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.
Today, on this Day of Remembrance, we should all look back to the horrors of the Holocaust. But we must also look at the world around us and ahead to what is to come.
If there had been any doubt, the 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington, like the killing fields in Cambodia and so many other terrible events, made it clear that we have not reached the end of history--or the end of violence driven by fanaticism. As we struggle to respond to the challenges of our time, we must remember the need for eternal vigilance against those who are prepared to sacrifice others in the name of what they perceive as some transcendent cause.
Our fate, and the fate of humanity, depends on our remembering and our understanding.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, that 6 million innocent souls should not die in vain is the noble purpose of Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day. This is a day to remember the horror and solemnly swear that we will never let it happen again. This is a day to celebrate the resistance of the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. We must remember the horror and we must remember to resist. A civilized nation with the most deadly war machine in history, descended to a level below any known beasts. A clear lesson to our civilization is still relevant: Decent citizens should never stand by passively and allow such atrocities to take place. And vigilant citizens should actively resist any erosion of their rights by a powerful few. Unfortunately, Rwanda and Darfur are present day examples of our failure to take the profound lesson of Nazi tyranny seriously. At the same time, submission to the U.S. government actions which arrest large groupings such as the Pakistanis without due process; and acquiescence to an administration which launches a massive and expensive war based on lies; these positions demonstrate a deep-seated failure to understand the need to resist immoral and dangerous government acts.
There is a need for our generation to make greater sacrifices and take greater risks if we truly want to honor the six million souls annihilated by the Nazi monsters.
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. I join the Jewish people in the State of Israel and across the globe in remembering the 6 million Jews that were brutally murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Today is a time for all of humanity to reflect upon that most horrid period of history. The Holocaust demonstrated the mass atrocities that a supposedly civilized society could tolerate. We must keep in mind, that the Nazi genocide against the Jews was not the action of a lone individual. It was a carefully thought out plan which sought the support of an entire nation. The Holocaust reflects the worst of international relations highlighting a time global politics was plagued by inaction and indifference. The complacency of the United States of America to the cries of those being slaughtered in Nazi death camps will forever tarnish our nation's history. The willingness of the Roosevelt administration to turn back 937 Jewish refugees on the St. Louis to their subsequent deaths in Europe will also not be forgotten.
I am privileged to represent a diverse portion of Brooklyn. In my district there is a large but dwindling population of Holocaust survivors. Many of these survivors rebuilt their lives with nothing more than the shirt on their back. Today, based on the strong foundations of those Holocaust survivors, the beautiful Jewish communities in Brooklyn of Williamsburg, Midwood and Canarsie were built. These communities represent the best of Jewish life and have been instrumental in resurrecting religious life in the aftermath of the Holocaust, by creating synagogues, yeshivas, and other religious institutions.
When I see and hear tragic stories from these heroic individuals it provides living testimony to an event that is hard for many today to phantom. Educating people especially the young, about the events that transpired in Europe over 50 years ago is critical to halting the recent spread of anti-Semitism around the world.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the efforts of organizations in my district that have taken extraordinary steps in servicing and caring for the Holocaust survivor population: The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty; The United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg; The Council of Jewish Organizations of Flatbush; The Jewish Community Council of Canarsie; The Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany; Peasch Tikvah and all the Bikkur Cholim organizations. Their selfless work for Holocaust survivors continues to serve as an inspiration to me and I am honored to recognize their hard work.
Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues here today in remembering the Holocaust. Because there are still Holocaust non-believers today it is imperative that we never forget and continue to learn from this terrible chapter in history.
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, today, I join my friends and colleagues around the world in commemorating the horrors inflicted during the Holocaust.
Today, we bear witness to the millions of Jews and countless other innocent people who were brutally murdered in Nazi concentration camps.
We bear witness to the horrors of genocide that shocked the world, and ask ourselves if we have truly upheld the promise of ``never again,'' when we hear the echoes of the Holocaust in the rising threat of anti-Semitism today.
We bear witness to the millions of people who were persecuted and enslaved for their political or religious beliefs, or their mental handicaps in the name of social cleansing.
But we also remember amazing acts of courage and kindness, when those with everything to lose risked their lives and freedom to help those most in need, and the bravery of those who would not go willingly to a certain death.
There is a reason why we call this day not an anniversary, but a remembrance. Every day, but especially today, we must remember not only the horrible acts committed by the Nazis but also the actions, and the lack of action, that led to those horrors.
In remembering, we honor those who suffered--but our memories must also serve as a constant reminder of the vigilance required from each of us to prevent it from happening again, or to take action if we see it happening.
Never again should the innocent be left to languish. For those who perished, for those who survived, for those who fought and for those who liberated, we must not falter and we must not fail. We must learn from history so that we are not doomed to repeat it.
We must bear witness.
Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker I rise to join people around the world who are commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Ha-Shoah, and mourning the six million people who were murdered simply because they happened to be Jewish. It is important that we take time each year to remind ourselves of the devastating horror of a world in which insanity ruled and it was possible for the Nazis to try to eradicate an entire people from the face of the Earth.
The horror of the Holocaust comes not merely from the fact that massive numbers of people were murdered--in truth the total civilian body count in World War II was enormous, including roughly 20 million Russians and 10 million Chinese. There have been other conflicts in which vast numbers of civilians have died. The true horror of the Holocaust is that a modern nation used organized, efficient, systematic, scientific methods to try to wipe out a minority population. What compounds the horror is that the Nazis brought their peculiar brand of death with them as they swept through Europe and rounded up Jews in occupied countries. We must not forget that the world watched silently and allowed the Holocaust to happen.
The Nazis could never have been as effective at targeting Jews if it were not for the collaboration of local populations. Tens of thousands of people assisted the Nazis in identifying Jews and herding them to the concentration camps and gas chambers. The Nazis succeeded in large part because hatred of Jews was already well entrenched throughout the countries they conquered.
There were always people of good heart who were willing to risk their lives to save Jews. Their bravery and selflessness must also be remembered on this Holocaust Remembrance Day. Jews were hidden in basements and attics. Jewish children were taken into friendly homes or transported to safety elsewhere. Diplomats issued visas, sometimes in violation of their country's policies. Most famous among them is Raoul Wallenberg who saved 100,000 Hungarian Jews. Few nations protected their Jewish populations as effectively as Denmark. The Danes saved virtually all of their Jewish population first by refusing to join the Nazis in singling out the Jewish minority and later by uniting to smuggle them to safety in Sweden.
One of the principal reasons we remember the Holocaust is to ensure that it never happens again. Anti-Semitism is an old hatred, and every generation seems to have a new version. Television and the internet provide new avenues for spreading hatred. Recently, Middle Eastern citizens' nations such as Egypt have been able to watch ``Horsemen Without A Horse,'' a television serialization of the vicious czarist hoax Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Attacks on Jews and Jewish targets around the world are rising. The U.S. Department of State recently released a report on anti-Semitism around the world that found: ``Beginning in 2000, verbal attacks directed against Jews increased while incidents of vandalism (e.g. graffiti, fire bombings of Jewish schools, desecration of synagogues and cemeteries) surged. Physical assaults including beatings, stabbings and other violence against Jews in Europe increased markedly, in a number of cases resulting in serious injury and even death . . . Holocaust denial and Holocaust minimization efforts find increasingly overt acceptance as sanctioned historical discourse in a number of Middle Eastern countries.''
Mr. Speaker, the Holocaust could not have occurred without the complicity of governments and individuals who tolerated stark hatred of Jews. I am hopeful that by reminding ourselves of the horrors of that time, we will remain vigilant about preventing a recurrence of the widespread anti-Semitism that helped the Nazis rise to power.
Mrs. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Martyr and Heroes Remembrance Day. I join the people of Israel and those around the world to memorialize the 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis during World War II. The world is still feeling the Holocaust's effects.
In 1933, there were over 9 million European Jews. By 1945, nearly two of every three had been killed as part of the Nazis' Final Solution. European cities have never recovered the diversity and way of life they had prior to the war. The Jewish people killed were teachers, lawyers, doctors, musicians, parents, and children, and were killed only because they were Jewish and targeted for no other reason.
We must also remember the others who were murdered. Gypsies, the handicapped, and Poles were also targeted for destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic, or national reasons. Millions more, including homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents, also suffered grievous oppression and death under Nazi tyranny for no specific reason except they were different than their captors.
As time moves forward, there are few Holocaust survivors still with us and it is important for them to share their stories and educate people about their experiences. Nearly 60 years have passed since the Holocaust but anti-Semitism still exists. However, I believe passing on the lessons learned from this horrible time from generation to generation will someday destroy the hateful attitudes and ignorance that resulted in the evil of the Holocaust.
The Holocaust was not an accident. It was a planned attempted extermination. Individuals, organizations and governments made choices that not only legalized discrimination but also allowed prejudice, hatred, and ultimately, mass murder to occur. The human race must constantly be reminded of the Holocaust and how the world stood idly by for too long. We must remember these painful events in order to prevent another Holocaust from ever occurring again.
We will never forget.
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