[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 41 (Friday, April 15, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 15, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

                                 ______


                   HON. MARJORIE MARGOLIES-MEZVINSKY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 1994

  Ms. MARGOLIES-MEZVINSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to focus national 
attention on the anniversary of Israel's independence. In 1948, a 
homeland was finally established by the United Nations for the Jewish 
people around the world. On this day we are grateful for the existence 
of the State of Israel, as we recognize the significant role it played 
in light of the Holocaust. Thousands of displaced Holocaust survivors 
were literally saved by the land of Israel.
  One week ago, on April 8, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel and the 
Jewish people halted their daily routines to reflect on the destruction 
and tremendous loss perpetrated by the Nazi regime. Although this event 
affected the Jewish people uniquely, its impact is universal. This 
genocide speaks to all mankind, serving as a reminder of the gruesome 
potential of man's evil instincts. In an age of revisionism, when its 
often easier to overlook what may be painful and difficult to 
understand, it is our duty to not let these events be forgotten.
  In his report to the President as part of the President's Commission 
on the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel referred to the necessity of this 
responsibility:

       First, we cannot grant the kills a posthumous victory. Not 
     only did they humiliate and assassinate their victims, they 
     wanted also to destroy their memory. They killed them twice, 
     reducing them to ashes and then denying their deed. Not to 
     remember the dead now would mean to become accomplices to 
     their murderers. Second, we cannot deny the victims the 
     fulfillment of their last wish--to bear witness. Every ghetto 
     had its historians, every death camp is chroniclers. Young 
     and old, learned and unlearned, everybody kept diaries--
     composed poems and prayers. They wanted to remember and to be 
     remembered--to defeat the enemies conspiracy of silence, to 
     communicate a spark of the fire that nearly consumed their 
     generation, and, above all, to serve as warning to future 
     generations. And third, we must remember for our own sake, 
     the sake of our own humanity.

  In this spirit of remembrance, 5,000 Jewish teenagers marched from 
the work camp at Auschwitz to the death camp at Birkenau as 
participants in a program called the March of the Living. Joined by 
Holocaust survivors, these young people honored the 6 million who were 
murdered, simultaneously affirming life. As they retraced this path of 
death, they forced the world to recognize the dangers of hatred, 
ignorance, and prejudice. I celebrate their moral courage and commend 
their willingness to lead our Nation in the task of remembrance. Please 
joint me in vowing never to forget.

                          ____________________