[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 68 (Thursday, May 26, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   ADDRESS BY THE HON. MILES LERMAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE U.S. HOLOCAUST 
        MEMORIAL COMMISSION, AT THE DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY

                                 ______


                            HON. DICK SWETT

                            of new hampshire

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 26, 1994

  Mr. SWETT. Mr. Speaker, recently in the rotunda of our Nation's 
capitol, just a few steps from where we are now standing, the U.S. 
Holocaust Memorial Council organized the annual National Civic 
Commemoration to remember the victims of the Holocaust in connection 
with the annual Days of Remembrance. The ceremony is a key part of the 
yearly observance in memory of the 6 million victims of the Nazi German 
slaughter of innocent women, children, and men.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the principal speakers on that solemn occasion 
was the distinguished Chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, 
Mr. Miles Lerman. Prior to assuming that position, Miles was an active 
and creative member of the Council. Since becoming Chairman of the 
Council just over a year ago, he has demonstrated great sensitivity, 
imagination and leadership in this important position. His remarks at 
the National Civic Commemoration were particularly appropriate and 
insightful.
  Mr. Speaker, a number of our colleagues were not able to attend this 
important solemn occasion because the Congress was in recess at that 
particular time. For this reason, I ask that the remarks of Chairman 
Miles Lerman be placed in the Record, and I urge all of my colleagues 
to read and reflect upon his thoughtful speech.

Address by Miles Lerman at National Days of Remembrance Ceremony April 
                                6, 1994

       Thank you, Secretary West
       Mr. Vice President, members of Congress distinguished 
     ambassadors, honored guests of the diplomatic corps, ladies 
     and gentlemen.
       It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I accept on 
     behalf of the United States Holocaust Museum the flag of the 
     50th Anniversary of WWII commemoration.
       We will display it proudly in the Holocaust Memorial Museum 
     along side the flags of the 14 American Fighting units who 
     were the first to encounter the world of concentration camps. 
     We will display this flag as a symbol of our eternal 
     gratitude to the American fighting men who upon encountering 
     the camps have undergone a remarkable transformation--from 
     warriors to healers and then to eye witnesses.
       In the exhibition of the United States Holocaust Memorial 
     Museum, we do not concentrate only on the horrors and crimes 
     committed by the Nazi murderers, but we also depict human 
     sensitivity and acts of kindness that warm the heart and lift 
     the spirit.
       The first thing the museum visitor encounters as he enters 
     the permanent exhibition is the bewildered faces and angry 
     voices of the American soldiers who first discovered the 
     horrors of the concentration camps. Within the exhibit the 
     visitor learns about the compassion of the military 
     doctors and nurses who so desperately tried to save the 
     lives of the camp inmates who were too far gone and were 
     on the edge of certain death.
       The Holocaust Museum has become the epicenter of education.
       More than one and a half million visitors crossed its 
     portals, and 3,000 school groups have come to learn the 
     devastating results of hatred and bigotry. Two out of three 
     of our visitors are non-Jews so the museum has become a 
     magnet for the American people, a national shrine, a hallowed 
     place of education, remembrance and introspection.
       We have received diplomats and school children, most of the 
     members of Congress, many ambassadors and thirty heads of 
     state from all over the world.
       We are told that this museum is the most powerful lesson in 
     contemporary history.
       We realize that we cannot bring the dead back to life. But 
     within the Museum and within today's ceremony of 
     commemoration we can make sure that the memory of their 
     deaths serves life, deepens our understanding for the 
     sanctity of human life, and intensifies our determination to 
     preserve the freedoms and values that are the hallmark of our 
     nations glory.
       We are approaching the first anniversary of the opening of 
     the Museum. Last April, President Clinton officially opened 
     its doors to the American and International public. This 
     museum is a result of a bi-partisan effort. Four Presidents--
     Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton, and both Houses of Congress 
     have supported the creation of this living memorial. The land 
     is a gift from the United States government. But all the 
     necessary funds to build and equip this center of learning 
     came from broad America--Jews and non-Jews alike.
       Today I stand before you as Chairman of the United States 
     Holocaust Memorial Council to thank the American people, its 
     legislators, and four American presidents for helping us to 
     create this temple of memories.
       As a survivor of this cataclysm who found a haven at the 
     shores of our beloved country, the United States of America, 
     I also must express my gratitude to the state of Israel for 
     opening their gates and providing homes to most of the 
     remnants of the Holocaust.
       I must thank them for embracing the survivors with open 
     arms and above all for helping them to regain their pride and 
     human dignity.
       We survivors know more than anybody else what it meant to 
     live in a world without an independent state of Israel.
       I would like the ambassador of the State of Israel, Itamar 
     Rabinowich and his entire delegation to stand up and accept 
     our public thanks.
       Next year we will address the fiftieth anniversary of the 
     Allied Liberation of Europe and it is most appropriate that 
     the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is now an 
     official World War II commemoration site, and we will fly 
     this flag with honor and gratitude. For this and much more, 
     Mr. Secretary, we thank you and the American people very 
     much.
       As Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial 
     Council, I also have the honor of presenting our Eisenhower 
     liberation medal.
       Each year, the medal is given to extraordinary men and 
     women as an expression of the deep gratitude that we feel 
     toward the members of the US armed forces who brought an end 
     to Nazi tyranny.
       The medal is named in honor of Dwight D. Eisenhower, 
     Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, the leader 
     of the invasion of Normandy that led to the final defeat of 
     Nazi Germany.
       Today I am honored to present the Eisenhower liberation 
     medal to Lt. Gen. Claude M. Kicklighter, executive director 
     of the 50th anniversary of WW II commemoration committee, a 
     US army officer who has demonstrated throughout this career a 
     deep commitment to those democratic principles we all hold so 
     dear.
       Last year, American liberators and survivors whom they had 
     liberated went on a joint pilgrimage to collect soil from the 
     places of martyrdom and from the American military 
     cemeteries, the resting place of our valiant soldiers who 
     fought and died to keep the world free.
       This soil is deposited in the hall of remembrance of the 
     United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and will become an 
     integral part of our task to remember.
       Our journey was painful, tearful, and at times even joyous 
     as it reunited survivors with their liberators in an 
     encounter with memory and destiny.
       Gen. Kicklighter was with us on this emotional journey. He 
     became one of us as he demonstrated the deepest personal 
     sensitivity to the cause of remembrance. On this journey we 
     have gotten to know you, Gen. Kicklighter, we were touched by 
     your emotions, we sensed your soul.
       As we have collected the soil of the American military 
     cemeteries at Margraten and Normandy. You have pointed to the 
     perils of war, but you have also taught us that there are 
     certain values that are worth fighting for, certain freedoms 
     that must be defended and certain moments in time when peace-
     loving men and women must take up the call of arms.
       I want to assure you, Gen. Kicklighter that survivors and 
     their decedents will forever carry in their hearts a sense of 
     gratitude to the Allied forces for putting an end to the Nazi 
     nightmare and for restoring trust and human goodness in the 
     hearts of those who have suffered so much and have survived 
     the Nazi inferno.
       On their behalf and on behalf of the United States 
     Holocaust Memorial Council, it is my honor to present you 
     Gen. Kicklighter with the Eisenhower Medal of Liberation.

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